Hi, I'm Lance Ralston and I'm running for the District 2 seat on the Oxnard City Council this November. I'm running because it's time to restore trust to local government. My wife and I have lived here for 38 years. We raised our three children here. I ran a restaurant for a while and then 36 years ago started the city's second largest church, Calgary Chapel of Oxnard. I part my heart and my soul into this community. It's time to bring a quality of leadership to match the pureless beauty of where we live. If elected, I will work to restore trust through openness and honesty. We'll properly manage the city's resources and prioritize its services. We need to provide a warmer and welcoming environment to the business community so that our residents can thrive and it's time to restore the frayed relationships with our neighbors. I would appreciate your vote on November 6th. If elected, I'll work to restore trust in local government that's been lost due to mismanagement. We'll rebuild that trust by conducting city business in the open, remembering that the city council is accountable to those who put us into office. The key to the prosperity of our community is a healthy business environment. But Oxnard has a reputation for making it inordinately difficult for businesses to get established here. Venture and thousand Oaks, communities much smaller than Oxnard, have more businesses than we do, and many of our residents have to leave the city to go to their jobs. This is because the permitting process in Oxnard is unduly restrictive and slow. Our church is outgrown in its current facility and so we purchase the building next door as an expansion. Our proposed construction is relatively minor. It's just an interior build out. And yet it has taken two years and a check to the city for $67,000 just for permits. For Oxnard to prosper, we need to make it easier for businesses to flourish. We need to better manage the city's resources and re-prioritize its services. Let's be excellent at the basics, the things that we ought to put our primary focus on. Public safety, our police and fire, public works, our streets, parks and lands, and the city's infrastructure, water, sewer and wastewater. Let's set aside projects dictated by the latest FAD, projects that may score points with special interest groups, but divert funds needed for the city's primary responsibilities. We ought to take on secondary issues only after we've attained excellence at our core, public safety, public works and infrastructure. Also if elected, I'll work with the rest of the city council to restore the frayed relationships with our neighbors. There's always bound to be some competition with the county, Ventura and Camarillo, but it needn't be so adversarial as it is at present. Politics is the art and the science of compromise. Each party gives a little to get much more. We need to negotiate with our neighbors to find a mutually agreeable solution to the mounting challenges that we all face. And that brings me to my last point. Now that there are seven on the council, getting anything done requires persuading at least three others to gain a majority of four. Relationships of respect will be crucial for those on the city council. If elected, I'll work hard at hearing all sides, weighing the evidence, and then once convinced of the proper course, respectfully seeking to persuade the other council members, while allowing myself to be persuaded, if their position is more sound. I believe that is what the people of Oxnard are looking for, somewhat a principle who's humble enough to be persuaded when the evidence points in a different direction. I encourage anyone that doesn't know me to talk to someone who does and ask if I'm that kind of person. Let's restore trust to Oxnard's governance. Alect Lance Ralston to the District 2 seat on the Oxnard City Council, November 6th.