http://www.nytimes.com/ref/travel/20080601_SUMMER.html?ref=travel#

Fredericksburg has been getting national press for awhile now and it doesn’t look like the interest will diminish anytime soon.  I had another writer call me yesterday about Dogologie.  She’s doing a story entitled, “The Town without a Starbucks.”  Love the title.

As I said in the campaign, affordable housing is my #1 priority, therefore on June 2nd, I moved to create an Affordable Housing Task Force with the expressed purpose of distilling all that we know and can learn about this very important issue into a set of recommendations for Council to vote on in September.  The Task Force is operating in an advisory capacity and will not be implementing policy on its own.  This gives the group the broadest authority to consider many aspects of affordable housing, namely:

–To the extent that Fredericksburg has experienced market failure in providing afordable housing for lower and middle income earners, what housing is most needed and where can we start?

–What improvements can be made to update our existing zoning ordinance to accomodate, encourage and support non-profit organizations like the Habitat for Humanity in their efforts to build and provide homes for those in need?

–What programs can we implement to educate first time home buyers to help them prepare their credit and finances when securing financing?

–What tax credit programs (local and federal) can we promote to encourage development of affordable housing in our area?

–What organizational changes must our City and County consider to staff an entity with the purpose of overseeing the programs we decide to implement?

These are just a few of the questions before the Task Force.  Please provide any thoughts and ideas you might have that could assist us in this very important endeavor.

I want to thank the other candidates for their participation in this election.  Without them, there wouldn’t have been an election and with no election, there wouldn’t have been the dialogue voters got to become educated on some of the issues facing our City. 

I’m grateful to Kevin for his service to the City these last 4 years.  He’s served with distinction and Fredericksburg’s a better place because of his service.  I’m also looking forward to working more with Randy in the coming months.  In particular, his perspective and energy on the affordable housing issue is something I hope to see his participation on. 

In closing this post, I want to thank my supporters and the voters of Fredericksburg for their confidence in me.  We have so much to be grateful for and there’s still so much we can do.  I’ll look forward to hearing from you and will depend on your involvement to continue Fredericksburg’s prosperity.  Thank you.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

I first came across Seth when I read his book, Permission Marketing. If you email groups for anything in business, charity or personal reasons, this book is a must read. Anyhow, I read his post today Titled:

Marketing the charity auction

and was floored by the common sense of it. I’m associated with organizations that put on annual fundraising events and I attend many events as a patron. That said, I’ve always been intrigued by the psychology at work with patrons bidding on items. Seth’s observations make, what for me were implicit observations, explicit common sense.

If you are affiliated with a charitable cause that has an auction in the works for its next fundraiser, print out a copy of today’s Seth’s Blog entry for them…they’ll appreciate that you did.

How true that is.

We’ve been debating things a lot lately. The City decided to adopt a formula business ordinance, then this week’s decision on the noise ordinance and this weekend the voters will decide on the much debated tax cut and bond issue. There has been passionate discussion on all sides of these issues. Friends and family members have had tough discussions with each other about what they believe is the right decision.This morning I ran into Ken Knopp. Anyone who knows Ken knows that he is a resident expert on Fredericksburg’s history. I shared my concern with him about the disagreement and perceived unrest in the community. He related to me a story of one of our past mayors from 40 or so years ago by the name of Henke. Mayor Henke had a vision for a park on the edge of town with a pavillion for community and citizen events. It was hotly debated, but in the end the City voted for spending $50,000 to purchase the land and build the building. The opposition to this decision was so strong that the voters removed the Mayor at the next election.

That park’s name ultimately changed to Lady Bird Johnson Park.

The point of his story was this: Nothing we cherish in this town came without debate and disagreement. There has always been passion on all sides of these issues. His point was that leaders “have got to stick to their guns” and do what’s right for Fredericksburg. Wise words…thank you, Ken.

Main Story with Brian Williams (click here)

Additional Footage (click here)

I thought the blog was interesting. It gives some of the same information, but it talks more about the spreading of the curriculum into other schools. Something that surprised me in the blog, was the comments made. Most were appreciative of the positive impact being made on education in our country through this program. However, some made other, more negative comments (click here). I suppose that just comes with the territory. When you decide to take initiative, be ready for those that will come out in support of your plans, but also be ready for those that would come out in opposition.

My name is David Pedregon and I’m running for City Council.  My education began here with St. Mary’s and FHS followed by a degree from Texas Tech.  I began working at age 9, waiting on customers at The Peach Tree, our Family’s business of 36 years.  Ultimately, I went away to Boston to work in the investment business, further my education at Harvard and consult in the technology industry.  When our Family moved back to Fredericksburg in 2001, I immediately got involved with the Community because I believe our success as a City is an inheritance to be cherished…not an entitlement to be taken for granted.  We are the beneficiaries in this great Community of ours and my service today is an expression of my gratitude. 

Experience is an essential ingredient Citizens should consider when selecting their leaders.  Over the past 7 years, I’ve served on the Planning & Zoning Commission (Vice Chairman), Convention & Visitor’s Bureau (Chairman), Economic Development Commission Board, Ignite Education Board, Hill Country Evangelical Free Church Deacon Board, Ambleside School Board (Chairman) and Texas Retailer’s Association Board (Executive Committee). 

Our Community is facing many issues such as a lack of affordable housing for low and middle income earners, a workforce to feed into and sustain our local industries and higher wages to retain our skilled workers.  While nothing is ever certain, I believe the only true constant is change.  Change brings potential for good and change brings challenges.  Facing those challenges and decisions requires strong, thoughtful and experienced leadership.  The potential to lead is not the same as leading and your elected leaders must be able to hit the ground running on day one.  If you elect me to City Council, I’ll commit to working hard to keep Fredericksburg strong and prosperous into the future.

I want to start a conversation with the citizens of Fredericksburg.

There is so much happening in our City and we’ve seen a lot of change in recent years.  I’m often reminded of the old saying, “the only true constant is change.”  Is change bad?  Is it good?  If you ask me, I think change is just what it is.  One thing I know you can be sure about with change is that it will bring people out who are for it and it will also bring out those who are against it.  I think that’s a good thing.  We need dialogue and even debate to determine what’s best for Fredericksburg and to constantly improve as a Community.  However, in order for this to be possible, I believe our City needs leaders with the perspective, experience, skills and knowledge to facilitate that dialogue and move through it to action with sound decision making. 

During the coming weeks, I hope to prove to you that I meet those qualifications.  I may not know all the answers (in fact I’m sure I don’t know all the answers), but I do care very deeply about our Community and I’m willing to do the work required to determine the best solutions for our City’s challenges.

During the Campaign, I’ll be posting frequently so be sure to check back regularly.  If you’d like for me to proactively keep you informed, please sign up for my newsletter/update list at http://david.pedregon.com/. 

I look forward to hearing from you and welcome you to join the conversation.