Residents voiced their concerns about issues such as the plight
of the homeless in San Benito County, tax cuts and the war in Iraq
when Congressman Sam Farr held his town hall meeting Wednesday
night.
Residents voiced their concerns about issues such as the plight of the homeless in San Benito County, tax cuts and the war in Iraq when Congressman Sam Farr held his town hall meeting Wednesday night.
About 50 people showed up to hear the congressman talk about the current affairs in Washington, issues on the international scene and those that trickle down to life in San Benito County.
Hollister was Farr’s seventh stop on an eight-city tour of his district, which include San Benito, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.
“I have a vision that looks at the area and says, ‘What can we do to sustain the cultural values and still grow and be economically prosperous?'” said Farr, who is up for reelection in November. “We can have a place where the rest of California will come and recreate, but not have to live here… The struggle is, how do we do that with a tax base that is not necessarily friendly to local governments?”
Two homeless residents asked Farr to help foster a program in the county to help people living on the street get back on their feet.
“I’m living this life I don’t want to live and I feel this is the saddest community because no one will help us,” one woman said. “I go every day to the One Stop Career Center… but people judge you, you go around dirty. I just want a job.”
Farr said that of the 40 or 50 town hall meetings he’s hosted, the two residents were the first ever to attend from the homeless community.
“You speak very well, you should think about running for public office,” Farr told the woman. “You’ve got a lot of good-hearted people in this room. Maybe someone’s heard your story and will help.”
One county resident questioned President Bush’s tax cut to people in the upper echelon tax bracket, and any future cuts or increases government is planning.
“Those folks got a bigger tax cut than I did, but that’s no problem,” he said. “My question is, what taxes are ya’ll going to be raising?”
Farr assured him that “no one’s going to repeal the middle-class tax cut.”
Farr also said he’s concerned about costs in Iraq.
“The money spent on Iraq is about $180 billion. That’s almost double the state of California’s total budget,” he said. “That’s money being spent in Iraq and not in counties such as San Benito and other places.”
He also said the government needs to place more of an importance on its military personnel, who are risking their lives for their country.
“I’m committed to making the quality of life for our military better,” he said. “We have an all-volunteer military, and we can’t let the volunteers down.”
