Today we are posing questions to Brian E. Hawkins, a conservative trying to win a seat on the council for the first time.

Q. Why do you think you are the best candidate for the job?

A. Our Country is currently divided. While the media and many politicians are playing the left against the right, I believe these elections need more than politicians running for office. I’m running as a patriot. I love this country, and I love the city of San Jacinto. I didn’t decide to make this city better the day I pulled papers to run for the city council seat. I have tried to help in every area of the community. I have volunteered to help trouble youth at San Jacinto Unified School districts. When the city had an issue involving a deputy of the San Jacinto Sherriff Department and a young man at the High school, I intervened to bring unity. Our Supervisor, Chuck Washington, presented me with a certificate to bring harmony in the city between law enforcement and faith-based organizations. I believe in my voice to bring change and strong leadership to move this city forward

Q. What do you see as the biggest challenges facing San Jacinto in the future.

A. The current COVID-19 crisis has challenged this nation. Our city being a small town, seem to be hit the hardest. We have a few businesses that meet the full needs of our community. During this pandemic, I have noticed a shortage of rental property. I only can imagine the many residents evicted due to financial hardship. The current jobs available will not help take care of the average size of families in the area. We need better jobs in our city. We must petition the governor with a plan to aid residents with either rental assistance or rental forgiveness. I realize this may not be an issue for all; I believe that along with opening up our city entirely without fear of being shut down. The Board of Supervisors should give Every small business and schools the same guidelines and procedures that Wal-mart currently has in place to operate and stay open.

Q. What ideas do you have to help the city attract new businesses and create new jobs.

A. I want to help current businesses that have endured the covid crisis bring in more revenue. I’ve watched the city support the new companies that eventually shut down and left. I believe it’s essential that businesses know that they will thrive here when they come here. I also plan to help revive the downtown main street area. We have some historic buildings in San Jacinto. It’s time we provide a beautiful city that will invite many to visit our valley. Cleaning up San Jacinto of its homeless, gangs, and drug problems will promote a healthy business atmosphere.

Q. How can the council assist the Sheriff’s office in combating crime in the city?

A. As a community pastor, I have helped the sheriff department over the years in San Jacinto. I will continue to be a bridge of support for our law enforcement. My campaign has supported our police. During the call to defund the police by outside communities, I petitioned the community to encourage the current city council to hire more officers. The fight against crime will take more than a local authority. We need full community support. We need to bring back trade programs and better substance abuse centers. We also need to consider working with mental health facilities.

Pastor Brian E. Hawkins

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Q. Why are you running for Hemet City Treasurer’s position?

A. I have the knowledge and experience to do it. I’ve been in the financial industry for 40 years, 31 of those years as a registered principal. I’ve helped thousands of people to invest prudently, and that is with regard to suitability, risk and market conditions. A treasurer has to do that; has to know that. Otherwise, how can you help somebody properly invest? Also, I’ve been reporting to the regulatory agencies for 39 years. I am required to present a monthly balance sheet, income and expense statement. As a recorder, I am required to send in a quarterly report to the financial industry regulatory authorities. Once a year, I am required to submit an annual audit to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Every Treasurer must do these things. Also, investing for the city comes under another California Government Code that describes what can be used when investing in bonds. Just as in stock, there is a certain risk in bonds which can change interest rates. There is a relationship in the value of bonds and the direction of the interest rate. When interest rates go up, and you’re holding bonds, the value goes down. If a bond has a higher interest rate, the value goes up. I follow the Federal Reserve. They set the interest rates. Also, my policy regarding investing, the Treasurer’s first concern is safety, the second is liquidity because the city needs money to pay its bills. Third is interest rates. The reason I put that last is because it deserves to be. If the money’s not safe, that presents a serious problem. So the interest rate is really the last consideration. You seek invest in bonds that are not compromised with too much risk.

Q. Are you a licensed broker?

A. Oh, yes.

Q. How do you feel the current Treasurer, who has termed out, has handled the money as a Treasurer?

A. I have nothing against her.

Q. What do you believe has been wrong with the outgoing City Treasurer?

A. Nothing.

Q. Do you think she has done a good job?

A. I do.

Q. Have you had any debates with your only opponent in this race?

A. No. I follow her comments. I know she goes to City Council meetings and has opinions. I don’t want to go down that road because I have signed the County Regulation not to say anything negative about your opponent. I must stick with that. One of the things I have noticed, however, and this is an issue, is that I haven’t seen her qualifications. I know she has an interest in what happens in this city and that’s commendable. That’s not the same as being qualified for city office. As I iterated to you before, I have the qualifications. So what is her experience? What is her knowledge? That is yet to be seen. That’s my only comment on her.

Q. What changes would you make if you are elected?

A. I would like to see a more prominent place on the city website. We don’t have that now, and I think it is important that we keep the status of the city’s finance available for anyone to see. You know, a Treasurer is an elected official and doesn’t really come under the influence of the City Council except as reporting to them. As an independent officer, I think I would have a duty to present a review of the finances of the city. The other thing I would do, we need to explore additional sources of revenue that the city might have, which would be of interest to the taxpayers and important to the city’s revenue availability. That would be an important addition. Of course, I can’t go out and spend money to find those resources; the council does that. But I can adhere to any practice that increases income to the city because in the long run, it tends to not only make the council look good, but provides more services to the taxpayers.

Q. The Treasurer’s sole job as far as money goes, is to invest. Is that correct?

A. Yes. Check writing is not in the Treasurer’s authority and duties. Only investing.

Q. How do you feel about the lack of a really good audit? According to your opponent, we have $90 million dollars just sitting around.

A. I certainly believe in transparency. I’ve undergone an annual audit for 31 years. It is required if you’re in the business of financial services. Cities undergo annual audits as well.

Q. Pretty much like attorneys and their trust accounts.

A. Exactly. It is necessary.

Q. And what other changes would you like to see happen? If you don’t pay attention, money can disappear and not be noticed, maybe until later on.

A. That’s the purpose of the audit.

Q. Would you keep the Nunn Group as auditors?

A. I don’t see anything wrong with the Nunn Group. I reviewed the 2019 audit and their opinion was that there was no material to disagree with.

Q. According to your opponent, the city pretty much agrees with whatever the Nunn group tells them and do not disclose items in detail.

A. Of course they do. I particularly asked the auditors about that and they contacted the city and the city published the auditors’ response. I put it on the Hemet Policy’s website. The auditors do send out letters to the banks and other financial institutions. That’s what an auditor is supposed to do, to look at the statement the city has made about its financial condition.

Q. Then you would be a part of that?

A. The Treasurer is in charge of the fiduciary funds and that’s obviously going to be audited, so it is not a problem. The auditors seem to be following rules and regulations required by the state.+

Q. The state audited the City of Hemet, but they are still working on that. There still is not a final report of their audit, according to one of the members of the City Council that I spoke to.

A. The state has an obligation to announce the financial condition of cities. As to Hemet, the problem is not enough revenue and the city has a lot of expenses. If you don’t have enough to pay your bills, you have to change something. They have been a little slow to change that but now they’re catching up. I think the city had a deficit of $12 million dollars. Now it is down to $2 million. So the city is moving in the right direction.

Q. What do you think of the new City Manager?

A. I really don’t know him, but look forward to meeting him if I’m elected.

Q. You seem so well-qualified, it is difficult to ask questions at times. Have you ever been elected to an official city position before?

A. No. But I’ve served on the boards of the Diamond Valley Arts Council and the Hemet Library Foundation. I believe that serving your community in any capacity is a good thing to do. I hold a strong belief in public service and volunteering. That’s part of the reason I am running for this office.

Q. Also, the primary reason I write for the Hemet/San Jacinto Chronicle. It keeps me involved in the community. You don’t get rich writing for local newspapers but it keeps me involved.

A. The City Council is, in a sense, a volunteer organization.

Q. What do you think of the current City Council as composed?

A. I have no opinion and the reason is they’re volunteers. They’re doing their best.

Q. They do run for office, often in competitive races.

A. Yes, they do run for office but that’s how they get into the office. That process is like making sausage. You don’t want to see the process but you enjoy the results. They are just like other people but are a little more dedicated to serving the community. I admire everybody who runs for office.

Q. Do you believe in term limits?

A. I do.

Q. Like having too much power for too long?

A. That’s right. Every office needs new blood to stimulate public policy. I also think it is helpful that new people come with a different point of view.

Q. How about oversight committees? The city hasn’t had one until recently. Do you or do you not consider oversight committees to be an important method of keeping elected officials on their toes?

A. I don’t really know. I’d have to think about that. I think there is enough oversight in one respect; an oversight committee cannot do what an auditor can do. Oversight committees voice opinions, whereas a declaration of actual evidence will tell you what happened. I think the Treasurer publishes an investment folio. As to what the City Council does is a matter of public record where the money is. So I just don’t quite understand the necessity for an oversight committee.

Q. I’ve lived in this community for almost 40 years and I have no idea how the city spends its money, and most people I talk to don’t know. Transparency is important.

A. It is, and there is transparency. If you go to the city website, they publish it. The warrants, the expenditures, the financial reports. Everything is there. You just have to be willing to go and look. Nobody’s going to hand it to you on a silver platter. That’s why I would like to see a Treasurer’s page on the city website. So that people who aren’t willing to search where those reports are, they can get all that information off the Treasurer’s space on the city’s website. If they click on that site, I’ll tell them what they want to know.

Q. That’s pretty transparent. How about accountability? I hear people saying all the time that there is no accountability in the Hemet City Council. What does that mean?

A. I have no idea. You may not agree with somebody’s opinion. That’s different from being accountable. Being accountable means that you stay within the limits of the law. The Treasurer also has to do that. The Treasurer is audited just like every other elected position that deals with public funds. Most complaints are a matter of opinion.

Q. Now I have a poser for you. Do you think the city should have invested in a take-over of Highway and not had the Florida Avenue median?

A. I don’t really know about that. But I do know – I’m a driver – and before the median, people were crossing in the middle of the block.

Q. Nothing has changed. Now they get on the median and then continue across the street.

A. None of it is good but the median may dissuade some people from doing that. But going back to previous years, I have no opinion why the city chose as it did.

Q. If they did take it over with the costs of repairs involved, they would probably have had to issue bonds and that would involve the Treasurer.

A. Yes. That would be my job and I would have done that. But they chose not to.

Q. Businesses up and down Florida Avenue are closing their doors because of that median and some of them may never open again.

A. I would like to add something to that. Business is what makes Hemet exist and grow.

Q. Hemet is known for being a difficult place to open a business. Too many regulations. A friend of mine opened a business here in 1988 and was required to get 21 permits before they let him open the doors.

A. That’s a lot of permits. I would be in favor of cutting back the number of permits, and being more business-friendly because businesses are what keeps the city afloat. I have noticed when new businesses come here, they settle in and seem to prosper.

Q. Did you know that 17% of Hemet workers have jobs in the community. The rest commute. That’s a lot of commuting. We need manufacturing that will hire locals. We need businesses that will hire here and spend their money here.

A. I believe the city can do more to stimulate that.

Q. We used to have a guy the city hired to bring businesses here. He went to all the expos and business conventions to present the attributes and conveniences of the city, but he left quite a while back. We need some to do that now.

A. We should do that. I believe in promotion of new business for the city. As far as being Treasurer, I want to promote the city. I want more businesses to come here. I want it to be easier for them to come here. I want there to be growth, especially for younger people who are raising families. I’d like to see more jobs that hire local workers. I don’t enjoy seeing so many having to commute to other cities to find work.

Q. One important thing I did not know until one of your supporters brought it up, is that you are a licensed broker.

A. Not only that, but I ran my own firm for 31 years.

Q. What kind of firm?

A. A securities firm and that’s how I came to be a registered principal.

Q. What do you think your odds are in this election?

A. I have no idea. You can’t really project the outcome in a political race. You put yourself out there, do the best you can and see how the vote turns out.

Q. Do you have endorsements?

A. Sure. Two members of the City Council have endorsed me, Mayor Russ Brown and Linda Krupa. The retiring Treasurer Judith Altman has endorsed me. Diane Mitchell and Peter Odecrans, both of whom have played an important role in the City of Hemet. Dr. Straub and his wife have endorsed me. Also, I have a good amount of support from people in this community.

Q. Good endorsements.

A. Very good endorsements and I’m proud of them all.

This reporter is not a prophet, but I would never doubt Howard’s abilities. He is unusually curious about everything and a forthright observer of details. Details matter when it comes to a taxpayer’s investment into the city treasurer. As he said, “Who knows.

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Q. What makes you qualified and why are you running?

A. Why am I running? Because I was asked to. Someone very involved in Hemet’s affairs came up to me and said, “Will you run for city treasurer? In a moment of weakness, I said, “sure, why not?” Why she asked me is because for two and a half years, I was once or twice a month show up at city council meetings and advised them that, “You guys have got to get your investment policies to comply with the law,” and I’ve made them do that. I advised that they needed to get an investment oversight committee going. The city now has $90 million dollars and I’ll bet you didn’t know that.

Q. I did not know that.

A. No one is watching the cash box. They finally formed an investment oversight committee. I was looking at $495,000 dollars. To me, that’s a lot…I said, “This money is not earning anything for the city. Everything else is earning 3% and this $495,000 is only earning 1/4%. Why is that?” I’m just pushing and pushing for them to move it somewhere in two accounts because according to FDIC rules, you can have $250,000 dollars and it is automatically insured by the FDIC. Beyond that, you are gambling with a possible loss in the event of some unforeseen catastrophe. I later learned at another meeting that the city had $100,000 dollars in checking.

Note: I probed about and found that it was the Bank of Hemet.

A. I went down and met with the CEO and president of that bank and I said, “I want that money out.” he said to me, “Fine. Okay.”

I asked, “If it is okay, what’s the roadblock here? I’ve been to city council meeting after meeting and they say you won’t let them take it out and now you tell me it’s okay. What’s the problem here?” I then went back to the city council and confronted them and said, “I’ve always thought that you guys were the most powerful people in town. You’re not…the most powerful people in town are its citizens. So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to let people know about the bank and about the money so that the citizens of Hemet can begin to choose whether to continue banking at a bank that I feel isn’t properly taking care of the citizens’ tax-payer money.”

A. So you ask me why I am running for city treasurer. The treasurer that we have now has been the treasurer since 1996.

Q. Who is the current treasurer?

A. Judy Altman. She came in to be when Lori Van Arsdale was on the council. They started city counseling Hemet together and Lori Van Arsdale has still got her finger in the pie, but Judy ran unopposed. She ran six times unopposed. So this time I came at her, those guys got to work. They hadn’t done anything about their policy in four years. After I got after them, they had it done in eight days. I pushed the Bank of Hemet thing and the city got $15,000 dollars more with that same money, so now the money is safe in more than one other bank. Here’s what I think. Hemet is not rich. Hemet is not Hollywood, nor is it a sleepy little town overloaded with seniors. The average age used to be 65 in Hemet. Now it is about 38. Young people with young families moved here because housing and living conditions were less expensive.

Q. We’re definitely younger.

A. About 20 to 22 percent are under the age of 18. People in Hemet work hard for their money. Their money doesn’t come to them easily. So I feel if they are forced to pay property taxes and sales taxes should only be invested in AAA investments. I believe they should be liquid. Say we have a serious earthquake or major fire and find the city with no revenue for a period of time, so now you have to pull some of those investments out. Currently, we would be penalized for early withdrawals, so we should be in five-year stuff, whereas we are currently investing in ten-year programs. Most importantly, however, because everybody works hard for their money, I think that an investment folio of $90 million should work hard to generate revenue to offset a general fund deficit. I believe that government should work for the people, not the reverse.

Q. Okay. I have a question. What’s going on with the Measure U funds?

A. Measure U is outside the scope of the Hemet City Treasurer. The treasurer is like a savings account. I’ll be in charge of the savings account; Measure U is a checking account, let’s talk about local area investment funds. The treasurer makes investments. So $90 million dollars is available for investment and you are only insured for $250 thousand dollars per account. So you begin to put money in what is known as local area investment funds. Forty-three percent of Hemet is Latino and forty-three percent is white. Most people don’t know that.

Q. I did.

A. I was asked the question, “What are you going to do for the Latinos??

Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to look up how much money we have in local investments and what are they? We have $43 million dollars in local investments. I don’t know yet where they are invested. I’m a citizen of Hemet and it is not listed anywhere. Hemet citizens should know where every penny is invested. Their money is listed in the monthly investment report but not broken down to specifics. The job of the city treasurer is indeed to invest. Which means, invest in schools, invest in bonds that build roads, invest in environmental improvements -each of those benefits the 43% Latinos exactly the same way it benefits the Whites because we all go to those schools no matter the ethnicity. When they widen or improve the roads like they should be doing on highway 79. Who benefits from that? Everyone benefits from such improvements. It is not limited to one race or the other. The investments by the city of Hemet benefits every resident of Hemet, not just Whites. The treasurer invests for everyone. Investments come from our savings accounts.

Q. Away from investments for a moment. I’m seeking an opinion now. What do you think about the Florida avenue median?

A. I am a property owner. What happens on my property happens on my property. The city of Hemet does not own Florida avenue; it is owned by the state of California. What I’m telling you is that the state of California owns that property and they are going to do what they want with it. You asked for my opinion. Here it is. The city of Hemet should have sucked up and accepted the offer made to them by the state. They didn’t. It is a complete disaster for emergency vehicles and a disaster for businesses on Florida Avenue.

Q. Okay. How about the crime problem here and we definitely have one? Homelessness?

A. Homeless people don’t always want to be helped. So don’t come with that in my face.

Q. There’s more to the homeless problem than a place to live.

A. So now do you want to talk to me about defunding the police?

Q. That’s a stupid argument. We need the police.

A. Wait a minute. We allocate funds to the homeless because they need drug help, mental illness help, job training. Things that shouldn’t be the policeman’s job.

Q. Social services in each occasion like that.

A. Yes. They need help in training and finding jobs. They need help with mental illnesses, how to get clean and how to present themselves for a job. The police shouldn’t have to deal with those things. They are social issues, not criminal issues. So when someone comes to me and talks about defunding the police, all I’m saying is that some of that money that is allocated to those poor police officers that show up in the homeless camps should be given to social organizations trained and equipped in those things. You’re not going to change how they live by sending in the police. I am an advocate of reallocating money to the social organizations trained in those matters. If the city of Hemet wanted to put up housing on land that it owns, then the investment department should be involved.

Q. Ask any cop and he or she will tell you that it is beyond their abilities to change the homeless situation. The law cracks down from time to time on homeless encampments all over the country and that happens is that setup housekeeping at some other vacant area. You’ve got to do more to help the homeless than to feed their physical appetites.

A. Absolutely. The police shouldn’t be forced to absent themselves from police work to take care of social issues. There’s certainly plenty of official police work to do. That’s what I’m saying.

Q. Back to treasurer. What changes would you immediately make if you are elected?

A. First, I have never been – this is me being honest – not a politician. Let me be plain Rusty. $90 million dollars, 24 years a treasurer and I don’t know Jean Altman, but I doubt she and

I think alike. For instance, if $1000 was missing out of $90 million, would you know it?

Q. Most likely not.

A. If there was $10 thousand missing, would you know it? $100 thousand, would you know it? If 1 million dollars was missing, would you know it?

Q. I think I’d notice a million.

A. No, you would not know by the way the city’s portfolio is reported. Maybe if $10 million were missing. So the first thing I would do is an audit. If I am elected, I will not take over responsibility for $90 million dollars without a complete audit is performed. I want to know where the fees went, where the commissions went.

Q. Isn’t that the job of the Punn group?

A. The Punn group shows up and says, “Show me your excel spreadsheet and I want you to show us where you added that 2 plus 2 is 4. That’s their audit. They don’t really look into things. They add up the numbers presented to them and see that everything looks good. Done. That’s why when I ask for an audit; it will not be from the Punn group. I want an audit that finds every dollar spent or transferred and for what reason. I want to know how long that $90 million dollars has been in the folio and every item accounted for down to the last penny. That’s my kind of audit. The city of Hemet has finally agreed to form an oversight committee and Karlee Meyers was a big help in getting that committee formed. Remember, the treasurer invests money however she wants. So currently, some of that money is invested in unrated banks. The oversight committee must be comprised of people who care what happens to the city investments. None of the current council knows where all that money is invested. I’m really passionate about this. So who is on that oversight committee? The same old tired eyes ignored what the treasurer was doing. That’s my number one promise, number two, I’m going to have a real investment oversight committee. You got me all fired up.

Q. That is my aim.. so what is number 3?

A. Finding the highest interest from solid sources to help secure the city’s investment income.

Note: I thought I knew something about financing. This lady took me through a PHD course.

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During the 21 years of employment with a major aerospace company, Miguel Madrid Jr. has held various management positions in contracts and procurement departments. He had graduated from high school in New Mexico and attended Redlands University majoring in management. Mike Madrid Jr. has also been a resident living in District 4 since 1999 in which he has served as a Hemet Police Volunteer & coordinator of the program as well as being vice-president of the homeowners’ association, treasurer, secretary & membership chairman of the men’s golf club.

INTERVIEW

Q: What qualifies you for this office?

A: Most of my working years, I was in management, one sort or another, contract negotiations for the military, preparing proposals for the government and performing audits. Originally I wanted to be an engineer. When I started college at Long Beach State, my aspirations were to be a draftsman. Then, I found out that draftsmen didn’t make very much money, so I decided to be some kind of engineer; therefore, I went into tool engineering. Later, I progressed into a manufacturing manager where my people did all the planning. Now, as far as what the city council does, they are a group of five who have to decide what’s the best thing for the city itself. Having been in negotiations and made proposals. I believe I understand all of that. I also have knowledge of planning of a city.

Q: How long have you lived in the Hemet area?

A: We’ve lived in the same house for 21 years.

Q: What are your underlying issues with the city right now, that you believe are wrong and need to be addressed?

A: I’m not going to say the current council hasn’t done a good job. But they are limited in resources. I’m not for overtaxing the individual. However, if businesses are working right and revenue is coming in, everything would be better, but that is not the case. We need more income to start to build up the downtown area, re-developing and paving all the streets, cleaning up the trash and stuff that the homeless leave around in order to make our city a city again. I’m a very conservative person and I know how to save and deploy funds in the right way.

Q: So, your basic issues are?

A: Not enough finances generated by the city. Without income, the city is strapped. It can’t do much more than maintain a status quo. It gets worse if we don’t produce revenue. The city has undergone some audits by the state that haven’t gone so well.

Q: I think there may still be an ongoing audit.

A: I understand that. I don’t like taxes. I think the revenue you get from businesses will sustain the city.

Q: An article in Atlantic Magazine sometime back said that Hemet would never recover from the recession.

A: Because we don’t have a freeway coming through town to attract new business.

Q: But we have close access to the 215, 60 and I-10.

A: We need to offer manufacturers and others something that will attract them to Hemet, to spend their money in Hemet instead of Temecula and Murrieta. If you go out of the city to spend your dollars how are we going to find enough revenue to support the city?

Q: I’ve been told that only 17% of the people who live here, work here. The rest commute. Why do you think that is?

A: We have little manufacturing; we do have the travel trailers.

Q: More for retirees than young working couples raising kids. Let’s go to some other issues. How do you feel about the new median on Florida Avenue?

A: That forces the city to make a lot of changes. I would have moved to Stetson Avenue, which is a wide street and better to accommodate it. The way it is restricts a lot of turns into businesses. It means going a block or so and back to the place you were going to. If I had been on the council, I would have voted no on that because it is too restrictive of business.

Q: How do you feel about the lack of low-income housing as it relates to the homeless?

A: The only thing I can say now about the homeless is that they need someplace to live. If they would do a better job of cleaning up for themselves, most people would probably not be so objective to the homeless.

Q: Do you think people should be living on the streets?

A: I don’t believe in that. No.

Q: So what can the city council do to alleviate homelessness?

A: Part of it would be the services offered here for people that do not have homes—the indigent. If you don’t have money for rent and that sort of thing, this would be the place as I see it. When they can go down to the county offices, pick up a check and live the streets, they don’t worry about paying rent.

Q: There are a lot of empty buildings that would be suitable as temporary housing.

A: Who is going to pay for that? Right now, the city doesn’t have the money to take care of the really important things like safety.

Q: So you don’t think the city can do anything about the housing situation?

A: They could build some low-income housing, but what that does in most cases is kind of deteriorate the city. Low-income housing has to be controlled because what ends up happening is if you don’t have the resources to clean up after low-income people in those places, they become ghettos of the city. Everyone should have a place to live, but I’m not in favor of the city having to provide for people like that. There are jobs out there.

Q: They’re getting $10 million dollars a year for public safety, thanks to Measure U.

A: It might end up being $10 million a year, but with the economy it is, people not being able to go out and spend money; money the city might not be able to tax. It might have been okay before the pandemic, but after that, everything goes down.

Q: Outside dining is popping up all over town. People are going out to eat.

A: That’s also a problem. Most places don’t have enough space to do that.

Q: Back to the homeless, there just aren’t enough jobs in Hemet.

A: That’s also a problem. But like I said, they go down on State street and pick up their weekly checks and not worry about housing.

Q: Well, many of them are mentally unstable.

A: Somebody should be able to have them committed to a mental institution, but that law was changed a long time ago. Someone can be really out of it on the streets and nobody can commit them to an institution that might be able to help them.

Q: How do you feel about kids going back to the classrooms?

A: The schools should be open. Absolutely. The fact that young kids can fight off illness better than anyone else. Kids going to school pick up every germ there is, but their immune systems are strong and they overcome.

Q: But the argument is that even if they overcome it, they take home to their parents and grandparents whose immune systems don’t work so well as the kids.

A: No different than have the flue. If you go to school, they have the responsibility to send you home. So that means you’ve already had it at home. You’ve already exposed parents and grandparents. They’re not doing anything new. Education at this point in time is leading us to a country that is becoming too liberal. They are teaching kids to be an individual, but not teaching the basic things like math, reading and civics. They don’t understand what made this country what it is anymore. They teach them to be an individual, a free thinker outside the box, forgetting anything else. Just be your own person, not think of yourself as part of a larger picture, like ANTIFA which is part of our college liberal systems. This got started in the sixties during the Vietnam War when our veterans came back but weren’t respected.

Q: What do you think can be done to attract new business and manufacturing to Hemet?

A: First of all, you have to make it easier to get a business license. The major complaints I hear from business people or people trying to come here with a business is that the city is too tough on new business. They place a lot of obstacles on people who try to open a new business in the city of Hemet. They are not business-friendly.

Q: Would you bring back trade schools?

A: Absolutely. Schools used to cover, besides the basics, automotive, workshops and home economics classes. We need to bring them back. Currently, we are teaching kids something that is not saleable in the work market today. You can sell yourself as a machinist, a tradesman, but not just as being educated as the schools prevent today. Not everyone wants or is qualified for college. There is still demand for tradespeople.

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Stanford’s “American Voices” Interview Program here in Hemet

The American Voices Project is coming to a community near you!

The American Voices Project is a fact-finding census launched by Stanford University and Princeton University that will interview 5,000 people in 200 communities across the country. We’re doing this to understand local successes and struggles, hopes and dreams, and ideas for improving our shared experiences in America. Through a random sampling of addresses, AVP interviewers will visit homes and ask residents to sit for in-depth, 2-3 hour conversations. Interviews are structured to put power in residents’ hands rather than that of the interviewer. They’ll cover topics like health, finances, neighborhood quality, and family history. The random address sampling is part of our effort to end up with a nationally representative set of powerful stories. Its scale will lead to new kinds of insights that can help us understand the economy in our region and how to make it work for everyone

We know your insights would be valuable as they work here in Hemet, and they would be very grateful for your time.

For more information, visit: americanvoicesproject.org.

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Search: Hearing Voices?

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