Chuck Geiger’s campaign platform is the same as it was when he
ran two years ago for the San Juan Bautista City Council seat in a
neck-and-neck race with Larry Cain: It’s time for a change.
Chuck Geiger’s campaign platform is the same as it was when he ran two years ago for the San Juan Bautista City Council seat in a neck-and-neck race with Larry Cain: It’s time for a change.
“My support is stronger than it ever was two years ago,” said Geiger, 46. “I’ve received more phone calls and more support for this election, and what this tells me is the voters feel it’s time for a change.”
Self-proclaimed as a man who “walks the talk,” Geiger may have lost his bid by a couple of votes two years ago, but it was the kind of support he cited that encouraged him to give it another shot.
A San Juan Bautista resident since 1991, Geiger said not much has been done to improve the city’s frail infrastructure. “We still have the same problems,” he said.
Despite a recent water agreement with the San Benito County Water District to construct a new storage tank and update improvements to the city’s treatment plant among other water system improvements, Geiger said
the city is only troubleshooting the problems.
“They haven’t moved forward with the projects,” he said. “There’s talk about the city being allocated certain federal funds ($3.7 million) from a grant and with the county water district. This is good, but they’re on a long list, which is not good. I understand they’re trying, but that’s only one of the issues.”
Over and over, Geiger said he keeps hearing the same thing: residents want change.
“We need leadership, new blood and new ideas,” he said. “We need people willing to get involved solving the problems instead of just showing up once a month for a meeting.”
Geiger said tourism needs a boost to increase city revenue, and the city should start the grant writing process to fund its own police department and provide supplement funds to the fire department.
Because the city recently lost water pressure because of a water line break, a confident Geiger made a campaign promise that if elected he would immediately install two inline water shut-off valves that could prevent a total loss of pressure in the event of another break.
Geiger also said he would make sure the city’s 1-percent growth cap would stay in place, which is what his supporters want. He said he was not against development, but that it had to be the right project for the needs of San Juan.
“Low-income housing is a big issue for people here and we need to make it the responsibility of the developer to build low-income housing,” he said.
Geiger said the Council needs to discuss the best method to make sure low-income and senior housing are available.
But the big issue?
“The people’s voice is not being heard by the majority of the Council, which is why I am running for the election,” he said. “Robert Quaid is gone, and whoever gets in there will show more care for the voice of San Juan Bautista.”
