Mayor Amabile Quotations

In two or three years the college will be annexed into the city.

The most important thing is small businesses find their niche.

He has a lot of development and planning experience in the Central Valley, not Bay Area experience, and that's important.

It's not because we want to discriminate against any race. We're not prejudice up here. The decision by the City Council was that new streets be named after past presidents and possibly after the people that you talked about. We do not want to name existing streets because we are worried about what the cost would be to our neighbors who live on that street.

It's really the first look companies will have of our city. It's very competitive because we're in competition with every other city in California (to attract businesses).

I don't disagree that if you're ill you should be able to get marijuana and decrease your pain, especially if you're critically ill. Our stand here is that we are torn between federal and state law. We don't want to violate federal law and go along with the state law, so we are making dispensaries illegal until they get the laws in order.

In 1996, when we were looking at our general plan, we decided our sphere of influence will include land we would annex within 20 years. This is in our sphere of influence. If we didn't do this the college would have no septic system or water.

I'm personally not against billboards, but I am worried about the looks within the city limits. I see billboards as more of a process of, as you're coming into town, wanting people to stop and service our businesses, buy their gas and stuff like that. Once you come into town and get into high density growth and mini-stores it becomes more of a distraction and a nuisance.

I'm pushing hard for affordable housing. I'm encouraging developers to bring in projects at a lower cost to locals.

Today as we celebrate the birth, the life, the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, it is a time for our nation to remember the injustices that Dr. King fought (against). It is a time to remember his fight for freedom, equality and dignity of all races and all people. He was an incredible man ... he forced our nation to look inside and face our own flaws.