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Some people have said that I’m crazy to run for city council right now. The state is withholding money that is intended for local governments. Unemployment is high. There are budget deficits and revenue shortfalls.
It is really difficult to be a city council member right now because council members are being forced to make difficult decisions and sometimes, no one is happy.
I’m running for city council because too often, cities are trying to solve their problems by raising taxes or cutting essential services. I think there is a better way.
I’ve lived in Fountain Valley for more than 20 years and I’m running for city council in these difficult times because I want to do my part to ensure that Fountain Valley is as great a place to live 20 years from now as it is today. As a new council member, I will bring new ideas to the table and can draw on my business experience to balance the budget without cutting essential services or increasing taxes.
How do we do this? The formula is simple. We increase revenue and decrease expenses. But doing this without raising taxes or cutting essential services will take some creative thinking.
As a council member, I will spend my first year focusing on two priorities.
1. Increase sales tax revenue by bringing more businesses to Fountain Valley
2. Review expenditures with a fresh face to look for areas to improve efficiency
It will start by look at ways to increase revenue. There are several ways we can work towards increasing sales tax revenue. The most obvious is that we need to make it easier to do business in Fountain Valley. We’re losing businesses to neighboring cities because Fountain Valley has more bureaucratic red tape than almost every other city in Orange County. We need to streamline the approval process to ensure that we are not losing businesses because it is too difficult to do business here.
Then I will work on reducing expenses. As a new council member, I will look into every city department and scrutinize every item on the budget to see what can be improved. I think a new face on the city council is necessary to find new ideas for improvement.
It’s important that we balance the budget without raising taxes or cutting essential services because raising taxes will hurt families that are already struggling and cutting essential services will harm our community for many years to come. The strength of our community is dependent on our police and fire, good roads, and sound infrastructure. Cuts in these areas might solve the problem in the short term but will have devastating effects over the long term.
Like I said before, the formula is simple: we need to increase revenue and reduce expenses. I’ve built a business that provides for my family and the families of my employees based on these principles and I’m looking forward to apply what I’ve learned in business to government. I think a fresh face will bring new ideas and even though this is a difficult time to be a council member, I’m ready to serve and I’m looking forward to working with all of you to make Fountain Valley a better place to live and do business.
Thank Everyone
- April 30th, 2010 will mark 35 painful years that the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) has enslaved Vietnam.
- One of the five remaining communist countries in the world in 2010, the VCP dictatorial regime is a brutal, ruthless, corrupted and inhuman government.
- The VCP imprisoned millions of Vietnamese without formal charges. Hundreds of thousand people died in the so-called “re-education camps.”
- The entire country has suffered poverty, famine, diseases and intolerable oppression.
- Millions fled the country by sea and land, most died in their search for freedom and liberty. The inhuman treatment of the boat-people reached international crisis level in the 80’s.
- International financial investment since the 90’s only widens the gap between the rich and the poor due to the deep corruption embedded in the entire system. The corrupted VCP government and their cohorts are obscenely wealthy, whereas the rest of Vietnam remains in severe poverty.
Host: Michael Vo
Location:
Le V Cuisine
17431 Brookhurst St
Fountain Valley, CA 92708 US
When: Friday, April 9, 12:00PM to 1:30PM
Friends and Family,
This November I'm going to be a candidate for Fountain Valley City Council. I'm having a campaign kick-off luncheon this Friday at Le V Cuisine from 12:00 to 1:30pm. I'm inviting some of my closest friends and advisors to be a part of my campaign team and I'd like you to be there.
Michael