Candidate Response - Walter Fluegel
Candidate Information:
District: 2
Name: Walter G. Fluegel
Occupation: Urban Planning/Director of Planning for Heidt & Associates, Fort Myers
Website: http://www.myspace.com/walterfl
Email: wfluegel@comcast.net
Phone: 542-3396
What is your vision for the City of Cape Coral? What will the city look like after your first full term in office?
Following is a brief overview of my Vision for the City, the complete vision can be found on my campaign website: http://www.myspace.com/walterfl
Some campaigns are focused on what’s wrong with the City and offer little to no solutions for the future. I have intentionally focused my platform on a renewed sense of hope for the City that is based on a Comprehensive Vision for the future. Within the lifetime of our children or our grandchildren this City will grow to reach a population of 500,000. This election is as much about today as it is about tomorrow. All of the candidates are out campaigning hard and we are all dealing with the reality of today’s economy, as we talk about the budgetary issues of the day, it is easy to lose sight of tomorrow and the implications of how we arrived at the budgetary problems of today. The simple fact is, today’s budgetary issues are rooted in yesterday, it is partially, a result of the failure to plan in the past. Will future generations look back at us and agonize over our failure to plan, I hope not. Given the current downtrend in the market, we have the opportunity to do more planning for the future of the City. We need to develop a meaningful long-term Comprehensive Vision, including quality growth that brings jobs and long term stability to the tax base. Improving citizen perceptions of the City is a moral imperative; a government without the confidence of its people cannot effectively serve the people. The National Citizen Survey correctly identified a disconnect (the distrust factor) between the citizens and the City, we do not have a good perception of our City. This is what I will refer to as the identity crisis; the fact is we have begun the transition from a “Small Town” to a major urban center. At this crossroads we do not a have a good handle on our self-identity as we go through this transition; it is tantamount to the analogy of the typical teenager’s struggle to transition from childhood to adulthood.
Where do we go from here, it is obvious that our self-esteem as a community is in need of some major home improvements. Based upon the thoughts expressed in the National Citizen Survey and my 19 years of experience as a professional urban planner, I have developed the following core values to create a Comprehensive Vision for the City and a new sense of self-identity. It is my belief that these core values will lay the foundation for a City that is an attractive place for corporations to locate, as well as a great place to live.
The six main pillars of the Comprehensive Vision are as follows (Details on each topic can be found on my website: http://www.myspace.com/walterfl
1. 1. Growth Management, 2. Economic Development, 3. Redevelopment, 4. Citywide Beautification, 5. Public Safety and 6. Fiscal Responsibility.
The solutions that I am proposing are based in a long term vision for the City, I don’t expect all of the results to be in place after one term. However, I would expect after one term that the citizens would begin to feel a renewed sense of civic pride. Also, I would expect to see the beginnings of tree canopy along our major roadways. Also, I would expect that we will have seen recovery in the real estate market, which hopefully will translate to progress in the CRA. Most important to me, I want to see a return of citizen confidence in the City, citizens must feel like their opinions are valued at City Hall.
What do you see as the largest challenges facing the city? What are your plans for addressing these challenges?
Right now, in large part, we are the victim of a bad real estate market and since development is our main industry, we will need to focus on finding solutions that do not further exacerbate current market conditions. Also, as I mention in my Comprehensive Vision, we need to start looking beyond today and find solutions for tomorrow. We must build a long term stable tax base.
What are your plans for controlling the costs of government services, assessments, taxes and fees to our citizens and businesses?
During economic downturns, sound financial management is imperative. The City budget needs to reflect current fiscal realities facing the residents of the City. The budget should be value engineered to ensure that the residents get the most value for their tax dollar, without compromising the level of service they expect. Beyond the current fiscal crisis, we must focus on creating a long term sustainable tax base, by bringing corporations to Cape Coral, otherwise we will be caught in a perpetual cycle of fiscal crisis with every downturn in the residential real estate market.
What are your plans for improving the economic situation and general appeal of our city for current and future residents and businesses?
Provide sufficient economic incentives (such as substantial property tax abatement/rebates, expedited permitting, permit fee waivers, impact fee waiver fund, equipment reimbursement and/or cash incentives for livable wage job creation) to attract major employment generators, jobs that pay a meaningful livable wage, not a teenager’s part-time salary, i.e. jobs that don’t further exacerbate affordable housing shortages.
Creating long term stable tax base is the best method of preventing current budget issues from becoming an ongoing annual problem. It cannot be stressed enough how important the balance of the core values, identified herein, are to creating a successful economic development atmosphere, which also includes a successful Charter School System and Parks and Recreation System. The simple fact is, Corporations look at many factors when deciding where to locate and of utmost importance is whether or not the community, as a whole, is an attractive place for employees to live.
What are your plans for using new communication and business tools provided over the Internet for residents and businesses to contact you, or for you to share your ongoing work with residents?
Having recently read Wikinomics, I’m still learning about the potential for this new medium of communication and how it can be integrated with existing mediums of communications for citizens to provide meaningful input in the public decision making process. I will give some consideration to maintaining a blog for citizen input on the MySpace account that I’ve created for my campaign, but I have a lot to learn about this medium.
Political message approved by Walter G. Fluegel for Cape Coral City Council District 2
