CLEARLAKE>>> Alan Flora, City Manager of Clearlake addressed attendees of this week’s Judge’s Breakfast forum by asking an overarching question – why? Not only in a why are we here sense, but taking it a step further, asking why people are continuing the fight to make the city better.
Flora began his presentation with “So why do we care? Why do I care?” He compared Clearlake to Lakeport, noting the difference in budgets as Lakeport has an approximate $7 million dollar budget for 5,000 citizens, while Clearlake has a budget of $8.5 with 17,000 citizens. Flora stated “They have a poverty rate of 15 percent, ours is over 25. One quarter of the people in this city live under the poverty line. We have the same number of people living under the poverty line as the entire population of Lakeport.” He followed up with “All of that info may have you mentally packing your bags right now.”
Flora noted how these differences could be attributed to Lakeport being the county seat, or to having an attractive and historical downtown area. Yet, despite its major differences, Clearlake is home to a majority of the county’s population and according to Flora, has the only school district in the county that is experiencing annual increases in their student body population.
Noting the numerous projects that the city has taken on including the sports complex and Lampson Field airport property improvements, Flora explained how quickly the city is experiencing growth. He shared “Since 2016 we have seen significant improvement. We have grown six percent faster than the state average, and 10 percent faster than the national average.” Continuing he said, “In 2016 our poverty rate was over 38 percent as both U.S. and California averages have remained rather stable with minimum improvements, while Clearlake has improved a total of 13 percent.”
Many breakfast attendees shared their “why”, which led to prideful moments and reasoning of all sorts. District 2 Supervisor Bruno Sabatier shared his perspective of Lakeport’s struggle during the COVID 19 pandemic, detailing how the lack of official county meetings put Lakeport in a negative tax revenue space. He said, “I think there’s certain elements we see in Clearlake and Lakeport, there’s vastly two separate things happening in those cities and if it wasn’t for (it’s designation as) the county seat, Lakeport would be struggling while Clearlake thrived as business was mainly continuing, as were essential services.”
Former Mayor Dick Slooten stated “We have to look forward and have a higher expectation of every one of us here.” Lake County Office of Education Brock Faulkenberg shared “Thank you for your leadership, the city council leadership, and school leadership, I see a bright future.”
Flora concluded his speech with “Every morning I arrive at City Hall and test to see if my key still works. But know that as long as it does, I will fight for Clearlake and I hope that when you think about your ‘why’ you will fight for it too.”
The Judges Breakfast is held every Thursday morning at 7 a.m. inside the Clearlake Highlands Senior Center located at 3245 Bowers Ave.
