LAKE COUNTY ? Keeping tax dollars and youth in Lake County is why candidate James Comstock said he joined the race for district 1 county supervisor. He joined five others in the district race, which will go before voters in the June 3 Primary Election along with supervisor districts 4 and 5.
Three seats on the lake County Board of Supervisors will go before voters in the June 3, 2008 Primary election for districts 1, 3 and 5. District 1 includes the communities of Middletown, Hidden Valley, Cobb, Lower Lake and a portion of the City of Clearlake.
Comstock, who was born in Lake County, said he is running because he is concerned about growth and change ? good and bad ? in Middletown and south Lake County.
“We are exporting our youth, because there are not job opportunities for them. And we are exporting our sales tax dollars to Sonoma County. It”s time to promote business and keep our money and our kids in Lake County,” Comstock said.
He continued, “Lake County is rural, and we all want to maintain that rural lifestyle. But on the other token, for our long-term success, we need the tax and business base.”
Comstock said among his priorities is “first and foremost to promote business in district 1, where the leakage is. You hear about economic leakage ? southern Lake County has a hemorrhage. Commuters are going over the hill to work, we all go there to spend our money.
He continued, “The jobs-housing balance is off in southern Lake County. There are way more houses than jobs.
The commuters buy housing in Lake County because it”s affordable and drive to their jobs in Santa Rosa and beyond. We need to promote goods and services here so people don”t have to travel. We need to keep jobs and sales tax in the county.”
Comstock”s priorities include infrastructure, protecting the environment and preserving agriculture. As a rancher, Comstock said another of his ideas is to expand promotion of agritourism.
“Any new development must have sewer and water. We need to protect our environment. If we do not protect the water we all need for our infrastructure we”ve all lost. There”s only so much water, and it can”t be created or destroyed, but it can be polluted,” Comstock said.
“The Hidden Valley Lake Community Service District estimates it will be built out at 600 more houses. And at that, they”ve only used two-thirds of their water and sewer capacity. And there is your availability for business development,” he said.
Comstock is serving his fifth consecutive term on the Middletown Unified School District Board, and has been its president for six years. He is a Vietnam veteran, having served in the U.S. Navy between 1969 and 1973. Comstock is a financial representative with Beneficial Financial Group in Middletown, where he handles life insurance, mutual funds and annuities.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com
