Only candidate to offer a vision for the people – The Bridge to a Brighter Future
Today, Thursday, October 8, 2020, Gabe Makinano, in fulfilling the slogan “Vision With Action” for his campaign for Mayor of Antioch, presents his Vision 2020 for Antioch to show what our city can have and become in the very near future, and what he will take action on during the next four years following his election. Vision 2020 Antioch by Gabe Makinano for Mayor
“It’s a leader’s job to provide the vision for the people to know the direction we are all heading, together and to take action to make it a reality,” said Makinano. “These are the items – many I find very exciting – that I will work to make happen, some of which build on plans that have already been in place for several years.”
“The problem is the two incumbents have been talking about doing things to make Antioch better, but they haven’t taken the necessary action,” he continued. “That’s what I offer, action. We must stop the foot dragging, playing political games and get things done that our people need, want, and will benefit them.”
“It will produce an upward spiral, not downwards as we’ve been on for the past four years,” Makinano added. “I’m releasing this vision on 10/8 because we must be ‘ten-ate-ious’ when getting things and not give up until they are. If you want action, not just talk, then I need your vote.”
Makinano’s vision includes a variety of items under the five areas he is focusing on during his campaign and will work on once elected: Increased Public Safety; Local, Quality Jobs; Education; Housing; and a Revitalized Rivertown – Antioch’s Historic Downtown.
Makinano will take his leadership skills, community connections and what he’s already been working on, along with the rest of the city council and staff to make the items in his vision a reality.
Vote Makinano for Mayor, the only candidate with a vision for a brighter future for Antioch and a plan to make it happen.
Gabe Makinano for Mayor of Antioch
The Bridge to a Brighter Future!
“Where there is no vision, the people perish” – Proverbs 29:18
It’s a Leader’s Job to Provide the Vision for the People to Know the Direction
We are All Heading, Together and to Take Action to Make it a Reality!
VISION STATEMENT
To ensure Antioch is a clean, safe, vibrant and diverse community
where all residents can live, learn, work, worship and play in
a positive, encouraging environment of unity and
to serve as an example of the type of City others desire to be.
1. Increased Public Safety
Work with community leaders, law enforcement agencies, and all residents of our community to create a safe environment for all citizens in Antioch.
a. Hire More Police using Measure W funds as the people voted for to get to 2 Officers per 1,000 Population.
b. Require Diversity Training for each officer before being hired.
c. Bring back Community Policing with Officers on the Beat on foot or on bicycles in Highest Crime Areas of Sycamore and Cavallo. Include it in the field training of new officers to get to know the people they’re working to serve and protect.
d. Body Cameras for Every Officer.
e. Strengthen Role of the Antioch Police Crime Prevention Commission.
2. Local, Quality Jobs
Work with Antioch Economic Development Commission, Economic Development Director, Antioch Chamber of Commerce Economic Development & Government Affairs Committee, and the private sector to follow and implement Antioch’s Downtown Specific Plan and County’s Northern Waterfront Economic Development Initiative Strategic Action Plan.
a. Antioch Tech Center – Create master plan to attract businesses for the 200-acre site set aside in 1998 near the Laurel Road/Highway 4 interchange between Slatten Ranch Shopping Center and the Antioch BART Station, for employment, including commercial office and high-tech businesses creating a Green Technology Cluster including Advanced Transportation Technologies. – Get our residents out of the commute to spend more time with their families and in our community.
b. Convention Center, Art Gallery and Visitors & Convention Bureau – work with private sector to build a hotel and convention center and establish a visitors and convention bureau to host business and art events and conferences in Antioch. Build a rotating restaurant on the top of the hotel with views of the river, hills and Mt. Diablo for a unique feature in our city.
c. Bring Back Manufacturing to Antioch for more, quality, high-paying jobs. Clean industry, using the reclaimed water from the Desalination Plant and the excess electricity generated by the solar-powered transit system extension to BART. Establish an Advanced Materials & Diversified Manufacturing Cluster, a Food & Beverage Processing Cluster, and a Biomedical/Biotechnology/Life Sciences Cluster.
d. Antioch Gateway Port deep water facility – take advantage of the Stockton Deep Water Channel and the BNSF railroad line, along the Wilbur Avenue corridor for shipping goods in and out of Antioch to and from all over the world, creating well-paying dock and shipping jobs. Truly making Antioch the Gateway to the Delta and World!
Location in Antioch:
e. Job Center at 18th & A Streets using the fiber optic cable network hub located there.
f. No More Cannabis Businesses – four is too many. No expansion citywide. It’s bad for other business and the city’s reputation to attract major employers and causes more police impacts.
g. Complete the BART Extension to Oakley, Brentwood, Discovery Bay, Byron, Byron Airport, Mountain House and Tracy, connecting Antioch to Livermore and Pleasanton and the California High Speed Rail system. Using a smaller, quieter, solar-powered electric system that can move commuters during the day and evening and move goods in and out of Antioch at night.
h. Complete the widening of Highway 4 (bypass/extension) to four lanes from Balfour Road to Marsh Creek Road for greater safety for commuters and trucks.
i. Build Route 239 – the long-planned 4-lane highway from the end of Highway 4 (bypass) and Vasco Road to Interstate 5 in Tracy, connecting Antioch to the rest of the Bay Area and Golden State, and for trucking products in and out of East County creating more local jobs and completing the beltway around Mt. Diablo. It’s been on the books for over 60 years. It’s time to work with our state and federal representatives to secure the funding and get it built. I will work to get Antioch a seat on the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, again.
j. Expand Byron Airport – for more commercial and freight flights, getting products manufactured in Antioch to the statewide, national and global marketplace quicker.
3. Housing
a. Homeless – Identify and implement long-term solutions to combat homelessness in Antioch, to get them off the streets, out of the encampments, out of the cold and wet of winter and heat of the summer. Work with the Community Outreach Center on E. 18th Street and other churches and non-profit organizations. Use all of the $500,000 the Council set aside last year. And no more hiring consultants!
b. Increased Home Ownership – Partner with both the private and public sectors to create a clear and achievable path for greater home ownership in Antioch.
c. Sustainable Development – Take decisive action to create sustainable housing and community development. Transit Villages surrounding and near the BART Stations, preserve hillsides, and protect habitat and the Sand Creek corridor.
d. Complete Mix of Housing Types – Ensure Antioch has a complete mix of housing types so our residents can remain living in our city throughout their lives.
4. Education
My first-hand experience working with local school campuses has given me unique insight to the issues facing our students and teachers on a daily basis. My plan is to establish regular meetings between city council, school board, and parents to collaborate on safe and academically-enriched opportunities for all students. Identify new resources to generate education-related programs, such as civic engagement activities including intern/extern/apprenticeship programs for eligible students. An improved education helps students, improves our economy and home values.
a. 4-Year Private College in Antioch – raise the education level in our community, improving the educational opportunities for our youth in a multi-disciplinary, 4-year, private, liberal arts college, while improving the culture as well as property values.
b. Job Training – work with local businesses and Los Medanos College for job training and retraining for Antioch workers.
c. Antioch YES – Youth Employment Services – for after school and summertime jobs, internships and apprenticeships with local businesses and at City Hall. Work with Antioch Chamber of Commerce and Central Labor Council to establish a website and database for local businesses and students to use to offer or apply for and fill the positions.
d. Teach Antioch History in our schools. Work with the Historical Society Museum.
e. After School Education Programs – like Math Intensive Program and mentoring programs for students.
5. Revitalized Rivertown – Antioch’s Historic Downtown
Find creative ways to procure long-term investment and revenue to enhance the development of the waterfront. Seven ferry boats, historical artifacts and vessels, family attractions, and beautification programs. These changes aid to the creation of an infrastructure that attracts business.
a. Remove the Dilapidated House on the Water at the end of A Street. It’s Rivertown not Shantytown!
b. Sell the 9 City-Owned Parcels that are part of the exclusive negotiations with one developer for the past 5 years, including the old lumber company lot. Get it done!
c. High-End High-Rise Condos with river views on the former Cannery Site next to A Street on the east end.
d. Rezone Property on West 2nd Street between I and L Streets for high-rise condos and apartments with river views.
e. Obtain Ownership of the Hard House from the State – for a non-profit to revitalize the home of Antioch’s first mayor on First Street.
Hard House
f. Implement Antioch Downtown Specific Plan – expanded park at Waldie Plaza, and allow new buildings facing the river, etc.
g. Antioch Sesquicentennial Celebration – 150th Anniversary of Cityhood 1872-2022. Re-establish the City Council subcommittee recently dissolved for events and activities celebrating our city’s rich history in Rivertown and citywide, all year long.
h. Bring Back July 4th Fireworks to Rivertown – shoot them from a barge on the river like used to happen. Work with Celebrate Antioch Foundation.
Photo by Antioch Herald. 2012
i. Rename Streets to Rivertown – as in the 1996 Antioch Economic Plan to promote Rivertown on Highway 4 with such names as Rivertown Drive, Smith’s Landing Way, Marina Parkway, or Veterans Blvd. in time for July 4, 2022.
j. Arched Entranceway Signs – 3 signs at A & W. 6th Streets, L & W. 10th Streets, and 4th and Auto Center Drive.
k. Smith’s Landing Pier-39 type attraction over the water from H to F Streets, with an outdoor amphitheater, Ferris wheel, carousel, shops and food vendors.
l. New East Antioch Marina at Roger’s Point and the former Tommy’s Harbor with big boat berths.
m. Historic Boats for rides throughout the Delta and to and from San Francisco and other stops in the Bay Area.
n. Ferry Stop next to Riverview Lodge and Amtrak Station – part of the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transport Authority (WETA) for commuter line to Martinez, Richmond and San Francisco. – From the WETA 2016 Strategic Plan: “changes in technology and the limited ability to build out other modes may warrant reconsideration of ferry service in the future in communities such as Martinez, Benicia, Rio Vista, Antioch or Discovery Bay. Demand for these services is steadily increasing, and WETA is prepared to work with regional stakeholders to identify and develop cost-effective options for serving travelers in these corridors.”
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