We asked each candidate to answer a few questions so that you can know a little more about their priorities. See responses from other candidates: Stacy Korsgaden
Rank the issues in order of importance for the County of San Luis Obispo:
If elected, what will you do to address the issue you identified above as most significant?
Regional collaboration is essential to strategically address the challenges we collectively face in our SLO County community. What I will do is what I do now which is convene and listen to diverse voices, experiences, and expertise to arrive at solutions addressing water, housing, homelessness, neighborhood safety, public/mental health, and climate resiliency. Solid, long-term solutions require bringing all stakeholders to the table, digging into the details and factor equity and affordability into the solutions. As your county Supervisor, my role and responsibilities are to create and support such efforts, build trust, be accountable and ensure opportunity for all residents.
Which theme in the Chamber’s economic vision, Imagine SLO, do you think deserves the most focus in the next four years and why?
Big kudos to the Chamber for creating “Imagine SLO” as each Vision has deep value and showing results in SLO City. My pick of Regional Collaboration sees the “We Before Me” as critical to work on policy priorities and long-term challenges. To achieve this, it will be important to restore trust, express humility and offer good will to enhance working relationships. I must note “Doers and Dreamers” section is just as important to streamline processes and reduce unnecessary, overlapping, and contradictory regulations to improve the path to solve our challenging issues.
What is the biggest opportunity for the County as a whole in the next four years?
The biggest opportunity for SLO County is to reinvent our energy industry legacy. The existing infrastructure (transmission lines) are open invitations to welcome a variety of new clean energy generation and storage prospects. The Morro Bay “call area” provides SLO County a front row seat to participate in the multibillion-dollar global offshore wind industry with endless opportunities to harness clean wind energy. There are other potential energy storage and generation projects, critical to our energy security, climate protection and economic future. Projects will have the highest environmental accountability to ensure community support.
Do you think our business environment is healthy? If not, what would you do to change that?
SLO County has great advantages with Cal Poly and Cuesta College’s direct and indirect economic benefits including influx of vibrant populations and innovations. Then add the county’s natural beauty and resources for hospitality, agriculture, and energy industries. However, the curse of being an attractive region is the considerable competition threatening workforce access to an affordable living standard. I will seek non-conventional yet proven remedies, encourage private and public partnerships, utilize pioneering technologies to secure our natural resources while promoting streamlined paths to implement these solutions so that our children will thrive in a changing world.