‘No More Surveys, Give Us More Action,” Ouzan Says

By
Steve Larson

A little less talk and a lot more action is what Calexico Councilman David Ouzan would like to see for downtown.
He voiced his frustration at Tuesday’s city council meeting when the city was presented with yet another bill for another survey.
“We keep spending money on surveys and downtown looks exactly the same. When are we going to stop doing surveys and start doing something?” He said.
“We have enough surveys. we already spent $120,000 to fix up Second Street, why can’t we just do the same thing there?” he told Redevelopment Agency head Rosalind Guerrero and City Manager Ralph Velez.
The occasion was the presentation of a bill to the city for $24,000 for a survey of First Street that she said was overlooked. That was enough to draw the ire of the councilman. “first you present a bill for
$38,000 and now you come back with another one for $24,000. We spend all our money on surveys and don’t do anything.
Guerrero told the council that this was the last bill and one that had been overlooked. That was the reason it was being presented to the council at this time.
“This is the last one,” she said, but Ouzan was not appeased. “We have enough surveys. We need something done,” he said.
The council voted to pay the bill, but Velez and Guerrero were to bring back a progress report on downtown.
That wasn’t the only complaint to come before the council about the need for action.
Eligio Alvarez made a presentation to the council with regard to the installation of a natural gas line on Vega Street.
The line was never put in when the development was constructed in 1978 and houses have operated only on electricity since.
However, the residents want to have a gas line installed and Alvarez has been trying, he said, since 2006 to get a line put in.
“The city has not been very cooperative,” he said, describing his contacts with city hall staffers. “I’m feeling ignored,” he said.
The council, however, was a little more sympathetic. “ I feel that these people should have the option for a gas hookup and we need to get this corrected,” said council member Carmen Durazo.
The council agreed and voted to have the pipe installed. It did not, however, include laterals to each homeowners property. Just a pipe down the center to the street.
The council also heard a presentation for a study of annexation fees to determine if they should be charged.
That raised the question of whether the city should be charging annexation fees or impact fees to developers and if doing both was “double dipping.”
No action would be taken until the survey results are reported.