Progress for Public Infrastructure and Safety

We have a problem with deferred maintenance of public infrastructure. Government restrictions make it harder and more expensive to be safe in our homes. Property owners face rising insurance costs, and those costs get passed on to renters, too. We deserve to be safe in our homes, on our roads, and in public places.

Most urgently, our communities need help with the State’s Defensible Space requirements. These rules help keep us safe from wildfires. However, local laws prevent, slow down, and make it more expensive to follow these rules. In order to defend our homes, we must be allowed to deal with vegetation that poses a danger, including the removal of unhealthy trees and trimming of branches overhanging homes. We need leaders who will update local laws, so we can keep ourselves safe. I will be that leader.

Supporting our public safety workers must be a priority for the City. Our firefighters are burdened with decades-old facilities and equipment. Combine this with the local restrictions on vegetation management, and our communities face unnecessary levels of risk in the event of a wildfire. We need a plan in place now to finance and update our fire services as soon as possible. 

In the long term we must look at more permanent solutions. We need City resources to help our neighborhoods establish certified “FireWise” communities, both to decrease risks and insurance costs. Utility under-grounding is ultimately necessary to make Monterey safer from wildfires. We must create a plan to remove the obstacles and figure out financing and grants so we can get that done. It will not be easy due to the cost, but we can manage that by prioritizing the highest-risk neighborhoods. Once a wildfire starts, it can move to other neighborhoods, so prioritizing higher-risk areas protects us all. We owe it to ourselves to make the hard choices that could ultimately save us from a more devastating cost.