Erin, Tobin, daughter Reagan, son Alex

Click here to read Tobin's Biography

Community Speech

Thank you for inviting me to speak with you this morning. I will be a candidate for the 3rd ward of San Bernardino City Council. I have lived in the third ward for 9 years. I grew up in the Inland Empire and attended San Bernardino Valley College where I received an Associates degree in Liberal Arts and Cal State San Bernardino, where I received a Bachelors degree in Political Science and a teaching credential. I am currently a middle school teacher in Rialto and I was a Colton School Board member for four years.

I came here today to introduce myself to you and ask for your support in my campaign. I believe the city’s biggest problem is crime and public safety. First we must hire more cops immediately. Current police staffing rates are below 1991 levels when the city had 21,000 fewer residents. Second, as we hire more cops and invest in rebuilding our police force we must hold them accountable for results. We must convince the criminal elements in our community to leave because there is no place to hide. We must raise their cost of doing business and instill a real fear that they will be caught, prosecuted and convicted.

Only after we get the crime problem under control can we really begin to grow our local economy. To spur economic growth I will pursue policies that simplify city codes and increase efficiency. We need to make more services available on-line. Staff must become more accountable to the tax paying citizens. The city has already undertaken a full audit of all departments to determine where waste is occurring and where new efficiencies and cost savings can be found. I look forward to the results of the audit and will aggressively push for any business friendly improvements that we can make.

In the area of business development we must build on what works. Currently the city is growing around Hospitality lane in the South and Cal State San Bernardino in the North. The city should focus on expanding that growth towards the city center. We should follow the example of Fontana to increase the tax base where it is already growing organically. The additional revenue will fund the downtown revitalization later.

We must also begin to ask more of companies that do business in our city. We should encourage and reward businesses with a social conscious like Target, which gives thousands of dollars to area schools each year. We should offer tax incentives for businesses that hire employees predominately from San Bernardino. The benefits of reduced traffic and increased local incomes seem obvious.

An issue that may be on the ballot is an increase in the sales tax. The proponents of this tax claim it will be for law enforcement. If it was directed solely to public safety and actually had the intended result of lowering crime then I would support increasing the sales tax but I have my doubts and therefore I will set out 5 criteria that I believe must be met before I could possibly support this increase. First, the tax must be for a specific and predetermined time period. Second, an oversight board must be created to insure that the funds are used as the voters expect. Third, that traditional police and safety funds will not be reduced or diverted because of this new revenue stream. Fourth, that there would be a requirement for a quarterly report that specifies how the money was spent and if there was any increase or decrease in crime. Finally that the city council would have the authority to end the sales tax increase if it other funding sources are identified.

Besides attacking the immediate causes of crime (namely the criminals) with additional police, I believe we must address the root causes of crime. There is a substantial amount of data that suggests a link between education level and crime. Currently San Bernardino city schools only graduates 40% of the students that start as freshmen. What happened to the other 60%? We must work with the School District to address this issue. Truancy is often the first sign of a potential drop out. When we hire the additional 40 cops we must also begin to have regular truancy sweeps to get kids back in to school. We also need to partner with the business community to develop pathways for educational success followed by financial success in the form of a job.

We must work together to redefine the proper role of government. More government programs are not the answer. Government’s most basic job is to protect the liberties and uphold the values of our community. We can do that if we work together to solve the crime problem and commit ourselves to economic development based on investing in our youth, our future. We must instill in them the principles of self-reliance, self-discipline and self-respect, which we can only do by working together with mutual respect until the job is done.

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