Mayoral Candidate Spotlight: Steve Martin

Posted: 7:44 am, September 5, 2018 by Access Publishing

-Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of candidate spotlights for both candidates running for Paso Robles Mayor.

Working with the community of Paso Reach to reach goals

—Paso Robles Mayor Steve Martin says he has been working diligently for the past four years at being the best mayor he can be, and with the upcoming November election, he hopes to extend his seat another four years. Martin is up against current council member, Jim Reed for the position as Mayor. He has served on the council previously from 1987 to 1996 and was Mayor of Paso Robles from 1988 to 1990.

At the top of his list, Mayor Martin hopes to be re-elected to help ensure and address street repairs, economic development, public safety, budget accountability, and transparency.

He shared, ” In the next four years we will accelerate our street repair program, implement our new economic development policies to create new, good-paying jobs and focus on more improvements to our police and fire departments. We will move forward with options to re-use the abandoned California Youth Correctional facility. We will partner with the Mid-State Fair and TravelPaso to explore the exciting potential for a regional conference center at the fairgrounds. We will tackle downtown parking and the expansion of our city library. We will work with our public employees and county/state representatives to pay down retirement liabilities, which will further stabilize our finances and assure high-quality city services.”

Mayor Martin grew up in Atascadero, and I has been living in Paso Robles since 1973. His goals for Paso Robles include safe & attractive streets, more & better-paying jobs, top quality public safety/disaster preparedness, and homes. The vision of the city is to be a place where people can work, live and play. “I want to help reach that vision,” said Martin.

In addition to running council meetings, he also represents the city on numerous agencies and committees. The duties of mayor include quite a bit of studying and being available at short notice. He spends a lot of time with city staff, experts, and consultants. Acting as the spokesperson for the city council, he delivers their decisions to the media and others. Most important to Martin, the job is about listening and responding. He responds to letters, emails and phone calls constantly, and meets up with groups and individuals to discuss matters that concern them. At council meetings, he makes sure that everyone who wants to be heard gets to be heard, with kindness and respect. The job as mayor is a very busy life, he also attends ribbon-cuttings, grand openings, speaker panels and many other activities.

“I will continue to make myself available to the public to the greatest extent possible because I want to be the best kind of Mayor.” According to Martin’s website, Paso Robles has established multiple water sources to sustain the needs of residents and businesses, under the General Plan, streamlined application times, re-opened the Centennial Pool, and many more positives while in office. He continued, “As difficult as it is sometimes, the best place to be is where everyone disagrees with you.”

Mayor Martin looks forward to being involved more with the community on so many issues. “I have learned that everyone has something to offer. Often it’s difficult and time-consuming to go through the process, but you never know what good ideas you will uncover. People like good ideas. They get excited. And then, in Paso Robles, they get busy. We are still a “can-do” community where we routinely turn good ideas into great reality. That’s a good lesson for any Mayor to learn!”