If I were Mayor of my hometown of Gustine I would work towards bringing businesses into my town. Gustine has a bright future ahead of it if we were to grow our economy, and collect more money from the businesses we have. As Mayor I would work towards getting a dispensary in my town so that we could get benefit from an untapped source for income. I realize that in a small farming community that many will be against it, but it is the only way to get a gross amount of revenue into our town, and the taxes collected would go towards our police force & fire station to upgrade our current equipment. I see a future for the town of Gustine that has more youth involvement because, our town's youth is where the life of the town truly lies at. Working with KABOOM, and The Tony Hawk Foundation to see if our town could qualify for the grants they offer we would be able to get upgraded playground equipment, and even a skateboard park for the youth to use.

This would upgrade our current recreation facilities, and help keep youth off of the streets where they could possibly get hurt. As Mayor Id work towards creating an incentive to get more experienced offers in Gustine, and keeping them here. One idea for the future would be possibly offering a $6000 dollar incentive to experienced officers to come to Gustine, and work for our police station. This would get us experienced officers, and help save the town money on training officers who end up leaving a couple months after getting trained through our town. If an officer were to leave before two years they would have to repay the town the incentive they received when they joined the Gustine Police Department. If I was Mayor of Gustine I would work with our Public Works department to see about in the future reaching out to the city of Modesto, and creating a training program for the homeless in Modesto to be able to work for Gustine in the Public Works department. This would help Modesto with a tiny bit of their homeless problem, and get Gustine more workers. Now funding for such a program, and to be able to afford the extra man/woman power would come from the money collected in taxes that the city made thanks to the new dispensary.

The reason for this extra man/woman power is because Gustine Public Works does not have that many workers which causes things like checking water meters, and mowing the park lawns longer then it should really take. With additional workers task would take less time, and with these new trained workers we are offering the homeless who agree to take part in this program a second chance. This shall grow the bond between the cities of Gustine & Modesto while also improving our town's image by showing Gustine is a town where a person can start a new beginning in life. My vision for Gustine also involves getting the people out, and active in their community by getting more public events, recreational activities, and clubs formed so that outsiders from other towns who come to take part in these activities will hopefully want to move to Gustine once they see how exciting the town is.

Ideas for this would be having large dances at ranches to include the farming community, wine & paint nights for the 21+  members of the community to take part in, and movie nights for the kids in town to relax at, and able to hangout with their friends in a safe environment. These will all bring money into town if promoted right, and received help from clubs in Gustine like the Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club, and Rotary so that they can bring their personal experiences of doing these types of events. The money raised would go towards the Gustine Recreation Department so that the town can plan more events for members of the community to participate in. This would even help lower the cost for one of Gustine’s favorite youth programs called Y-LEAD by making it cheaper for the parents to sign up their children to be apart of the summer program. This program is an amazing way for youth to stay active during the summer, and not inside all day wasting their time on electronics. Ever since we had the slight price increase parents were more reluctant to sign up their son or daughter due to not having enough to pay for the sign up fee which is now $50 dollars for the first side, and $40 for every other child signed up after. I envision a future for Gustine that has the fee even smaller than $40 which used to be the original price for so many years.

The interesting slash funny part about me writing this essay for this contest is that I am actually planning on running for a City Council seat in my hometown of Gustine. I have a strong love for Gustine because, it is a dieing breed of small town in California. We are proud of are small size, old time charm, and farming community. Are FFA Program at our High School is one to not be reckoned with, we have students who work hard, and have bright futures, and our football team is filled with athletes who know how to give it their all on, and off the field. I love my hometown, and it would be an honor to serve the hardworking Gustinian’s who live here as well as helping my community continue to grow into a great place to start a family.