James Khatami

Economy We need to protect our sales tax generating business core, both our tourist dependent businesses in our historical downtown and local serving businesses in Seven Hills. Sales tax accounts for over 40% of our revenues and pays for our police, fire protection and Public Works. As a City Council member, I will do everything in my power to work with the business community to improve the economic vitality of our downtown and Seven Hills. Environment / Energy One of my most important goals as a Council member will be to work on maintaining and expanding our open spaces and trails. Our parks and open space lands should continue to be a proud priority. They have the potential to form a natural fire break around the city. We should consider assisting private landowners adjacent to our public lands with their fuel reduction projects with this goal in mind. Economy Downtown Nevada City is our calling card and also an important source of sales tax revenue. I will continue to protect the historic integrity of downtown as well as the predominance of retail business on the ground floor. Environment / Energy An updated Open Space Element to the General Plan will be adopted by the next City Council. I hope to help see it become a visionary plan that will continue Nevada City’s status as a leader in open space protection. Acquisition of the BLM lands and preservation of more Deer Creek access should be priorities. Housing I support affordable housing that is in scale and character with our small town and our neighborhoods. The City has plenty of land already within city limits zoned for affordable housing – we should follow and vigorously implement the General Plan. Environment / Energy We need to close the fire break circle around the city using readily available grants to acquire public open space land on the BLM parcels, Hirschman’s Pond area, and Deer Creek. Environment / Energy I’m also glad to live in a community that acknowledges the central role of climate change in creating these new conditions in California that have put us all at risk. I will work hard to make sure that Nevada City does our fair share to achieve Net Zero emissions. Taxes / Budget We need to get on top of this issue. Let’s look into the possibility of using recent new sales tax sources to help lower our sewer and water rates and help residents out.