Adams, Quiggle exchange CalCity EDC gavel

Plan to work together for city
QUOTE: “We are going to clean up this town!,” Jim Quiggle
BY BILL DEAVER

CALIFORNIA CITY — A new hand is on the throttle of the volunteer group that works to attract jobs, residents, and businesses to this city.
Jim Quiggle, who served as California City Economic Development Corporation President for the past five year, handed the group’s reins over to former Mayor Larry Adams at a diner last Thursday evening in the Community Center.
Quiggle, who heads the corporation that owns this newspaper, said the biggest challenge facing California City is to clean it up.
“We are going to clean up this town!,” Quiggle said, finishing an effort begun during his presidency.
Refurbishing the city’s Central Park was begun last year, and Quiggle said he hopes that effort can be completed now that voters approved the city’s special tax. Quiggle commended Ed Waldheim, councilman Mike Edmiston, members of CalCity Forward, and everyone else who worked to get the tax approved.
Summer Concerts in the Park begun last year will provide entertainment again this summer, he added.
Attracting business
Quiggle, a veteran builder and developer, reported that he had shown the town to numerous developers and others interested in bringing their businesses to the city during the past five years.
That resulted in attracting the Hyundai-Kia automotive test center, the Corrections Corporation of America prison, developer Mike Ellison, and others to the city.
“Only about one out of 100 of the people we meet are for real, if that many,” Quiggle noted.
One of the problems facing communities in California is that other states offer incentives including tax relief that are not available in California.
“We are fighting an uphill battle to get even one new business to locate here,” he said.
Supporting businesses
Noting that a non-elected city official recently bought a huge flat-screen television in Lancaster, Quiggle said that same item could have been purchased at the city’s new Sear store.
“We need to buy locally, support local businesses, and keep that sales tax here,” he emphasized. (Passage of Prop. 13 by California voters in 1978 shifted local tax revenues from property tax to sales taxes).
Although he will no longer head the EDC,  Quiggle said he will continue to volunteer his services to improve the city.
Larry Adams
After Adams and the EDC’s director were sworn in by Mayor David Evans, Adams thanked Quiggle for his efforts, and shared some lessons he said he had learned over the years.
“Reality is what you perceive it to be, people are not motivated by other people, and there is no absolutely right way to do anything” Adams said.
“You motivate people by creating an environment that motivates them, “ he explained. “You have to be open to what other people say and do.”
Adams said his goals for the coming year will be to “personally ask every member of the EDC, in person if possible, what you want us to do.”
Central Park
Supporting the project to upgrade Central Park and clean up the city and looking for ways to bring new money to the city to help the city budget are alos on his “to-do” list, Adams said.
He will set up committees to help improve the city, and emphasized that he doesn’t want to hear people complain. “We need people who are oriented to getting things done rather than complaining!”
“My last and most important goal is to find someone else to do this job when my term is up!” he said to laughter.
Hew also commended Jay Sprague for his efforts to uograde the Sprague Building, which houses the EDC and Chamber of Commerce offices. The building was constructed over one weekend 16 years ago in a community effort headed by Sprague.
Adams opened the meeting with a moment of silence for Anita Bogan and Mel Baker, long-time community leaders who passed-way this year.
 

Adams, Quiggle exchange CalCity EDC gavel

Plan to work together for city
QUOTE: “We are going to clean up this town!,” Jim Quiggle
BY BILL DEAVER

CALIFORNIA CITY — A new hand is on the throttle of the volunteer group that works to attract jobs, residents, and businesses to this city.
Jim Quiggle, who served as California City Economic Development Corporation President for the past five year, handed the group’s reins over to former Mayor Larry Adams at a diner last Thursday evening in the Community Center.
Quiggle, who heads the corporation that owns this newspaper, said the biggest challenge facing California City is to clean it up.
“We are going to clean up this town!,” Quiggle said, finishing an effort begun during his presidency.
Refurbishing the city’s Central Park was begun last year, and Quiggle said he hopes that effort can be completed now that voters approved the city’s special tax. Quiggle commended Ed Waldheim, councilman Mike Edmiston, members of CalCity Forward, and everyone else who worked to get the tax approved.
Summer Concerts in the Park begun last year will provide entertainment again this summer, he added.
Attracting business
Quiggle, a veteran builder and developer, reported that he had shown the town to numerous developers and others interested in bringing their businesses to the city during the past five years.
That resulted in attracting the Hyundai-Kia automotive test center, the Corrections Corporation of America prison, developer Mike Ellison, and others to the city.
“Only about one out of 100 of the people we meet are for real, if that many,” Quiggle noted.
One of the problems facing communities in California is that other states offer incentives including tax relief that are not available in California.
“We are fighting an uphill battle to get even one new business to locate here,” he said.
Supporting businesses
Noting that a non-elected city official recently bought a huge flat-screen television in Lancaster, Quiggle said that same item could have been purchased at the city’s new Sear store.
“We need to buy locally, support local businesses, and keep that sales tax here,” he emphasized. (Passage of Prop. 13 by California voters in 1978 shifted local tax revenues from property tax to sales taxes).
Although he will no longer head the EDC,  Quiggle said he will continue to volunteer his services to improve the city.
Larry Adams
After Adams and the EDC’s director were sworn in by Mayor David Evans, Adams thanked Quiggle for his efforts, and shared some lessons he said he had learned over the years.
“Reality is what you perceive it to be, people are not motivated by other people, and there is no absolutely right way to do anything” Adams said.
“You motivate people by creating an environment that motivates them, “ he explained. “You have to be open to what other people say and do.”
Adams said his goals for the coming year will be to “personally ask every member of the EDC, in person if possible, what you want us to do.”
Central Park
Supporting the project to upgrade Central Park and clean up the city and looking for ways to bring new money to the city to help the city budget are alos on his “to-do” list, Adams said.
He will set up committees to help improve the city, and emphasized that he doesn’t want to hear people complain. “We need people who are oriented to getting things done rather than complaining!”
“My last and most important goal is to find someone else to do this job when my term is up!” he said to laughter.
Hew also commended Jay Sprague for his efforts to uograde the Sprague Building, which houses the EDC and Chamber of Commerce offices. The building was constructed over one weekend 16 years ago in a community effort headed by Sprague.
Adams opened the meeting with a moment of silence for Anita Bogan and Mel Baker, long-time community leaders who passed-way this year.

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