In a town known for its small-town quaintness and unique
atmosphere, San Juan Bautista has its share of problems like any
thriving metropolis
– just on a smaller scale.
Much of the responsibility to pacify indignant residents,
negotiate smooth transitions for all of San Juan’s resolutions and
attempt to keep the chicken population under control ultimately
falls on the mayor.
In a town known for its small-town quaintness and unique atmosphere, San Juan Bautista has its share of problems like any thriving metropolis – just on a smaller scale.
Much of the responsibility to pacify indignant residents, negotiate smooth transitions for all of San Juan’s resolutions and attempt to keep the chicken population under control ultimately falls on the mayor.
The newly selected mayor, George Rowe Jr., has dreamt of being mayor of his hometown all his life. With his recently appointed position, he said he hopes to give back to San Juan a fraction of what it’s given to him.
Free Lance: Why take so much personal time out of your life to commit to San Juan?
George Rowe: I consider San Juan as my city. I was born and raised here, my father was born and raised here. I would like to see San Juan get back on track, because I think for a few years there we were getting a little out of hand. The previous council that have not lived in San Juan for many years didn’t really understand the background of San Juan, and I do.
FL: What will be the most challenging aspect of being mayor?
GR: This coming year, we are working on a million dollar grant to help us with our infrastructure. That’s always been our number one priority – to get our infrastructure done and our streets, our water lines and so on. We’ve been working hard on it for years.
FL: What are you going to do to help move that along?
GR: Whatever it takes – we’ve already submitted applications. It’s in the final stages of being approved, but if there’s anything that I need to do I’d be more than happy to do it – like a presentation or a letter. Anything I could do to push it along.
FL: Other than infrastructure, what are other problems facing the city right now?
GR: Now with the budget crisis in Sacramento, it’s going to take money away from San Juan, which is why we asked to put a sales tax increase (to bring it up to eight percent) on the March ballot, and also the hotel tax, which will help.
FL: Do you think the citizens realize the problem and will vote for the sales tax?
GR: I hope so. We need to get it out there, we need to campaign, we need to make the citizens aware of the problem. Right now, when you say sales tax, they go ‘Oh no, we’re going to have to pay more money,’ but in San Juan we make our money off of tourism. I would say that 60 percent of our sales tax money comes from tourism and the rest from citizens that do shopping in San Juan. The citizens aren’t going to get hit that bad… it would be the tourism.
FL: So the message is that it’s not going to hurt the people who live in San Juan, but, in a way, help them?
GR: Definitely it will help them. It’s going to provide more services, better services.
FL: I hesitate to ask this question, but I’m going to because it’s brought up at every City Council meeting. Chickens.
GR: Oh, the chickens. Well, chickens are good… I’ve seen tourists go crazy over the chickens. I don’t have a problem with chickens, the only problem I have is that we have too many of them. I’d like to see them thinned out, not get rid of all of them. If the tourists like them and they’re coming into town because of them, then it’s good for us. But they definitely need to be thinned out.
FL: At a past City Council meeting resident Jim Pereyra made a comment that you shouldn’t be mayor because you have an alcohol problem. How do you deal with things like that being said about you in front of your friends and family?
GR: For one thing, my friends and family know me, they know how I am – they know that yes, I got in trouble.
FL: You’re referring to the driving under the influence arrest?
GR: The DUI, which was a very stupid thing, but it happened. Jim has been after me for such a long time – he’s tried to dig up any kind of dirt that he can. But as far as that goes, my life’s an open book, all you have to do is ask.
FL: Is there any truth to Pereyra’s accusations?
GR: No. Just because you see a person in a bar doesn’t mean that person is drinking, but right away people assume you are. My days off are my personal time and if I decide to go in and have a beer or so, then I have a beer or so. And sometimes a little more. But a drinking problem, no, he’s totally wrong. Jim is more than welcome to come sit with me when I’m at a bar, but he needs to get his facts straight. I let it go, though, because I’m not going to lower myself – why should I?
FL: What do you think will be the most rewarding aspect of being mayor?
GR: Seeing people’s smiles, people saying thank you. Just knowing that I have accomplished something; it doesn’t matter how big or how small. I will be able to put my input into a lot of things – a lot of projects, whatever comes by us. Living in San Juan my whole life and serving 10 years on the planning commission is a really good advantage… We’ve had people that have run for City Council and people that are on the City Council that only ran because they wanted things done their way, instead of taking the ideas and opinions from the citizens. That’s mainly what I’ve done and what I will continue to do. What the majority of the citizens of San Juan want, I will go along with.
