2018 July PASO Magazine

LOCAL BUSINESS
SUMMIT from Page 32
levels of shopping, opportunities
for people to buy goods and services
that we never had before. We
see a community whose quality of
life has not diminished, but has improved.”
Nearly 30 years later, and Martin
has a new vision to offer Paso Robles,
but the same mantra.
“We are at a crossroads in Paso
Robles,” Martin said. “Are we going
to become … gentrified — with
very expensive housing, very expensive
shopping, and we become
a retirement community where everyone
else needs to go find a place
to live in the hills. Or are we going
to continue that philosophy of being
a balanced community where
a great majority of the people can
live, work, and shop?”
Martin advocated for tourism,
but warned against putting all Paso
Robles’ eggs in one basket.
“During the great recession, but
for tourism, we would have suffered
mightily,” Martin said. “Tourism
accounts for roughly 50 percent of
City revenue, when you take into
account transient occupancy tax
and sales tax generated by visitors.
We are blessed by that fact, but the
problem is, it is a monolithic industry.
So goes tourism, so goes Paso
Robles. Diversify … that is what we
need in Paso Robles if we are going
to proceed with the vision of being
a place where people can live, work,
and shop. We need employment
opportunities in sectors other than
tourism so that over the years, Paso
Robles will have a resilient economic
base — to provide head of
household jobs, goods and services,
and things that cities are expected
to provide for citizens and maintain
a high quality of life. That is why
this meeting is so important, and
why all of you are so important.”
Martin expressed the importance
of the Chamber of Commerce’s
role in economic development.
“It is so important to Paso Robles,
and we are relying on the
Chamber of Commerce to spread
the word about Paso Robles — to
spread the story that we are the retail
hub of the North County, and
we will be the economic development
hub of this county — not just
for tourism, but other industrial
sectors: light manufacturing, tech,
things that come in and provide
diversity of jobs and a bigger employment
base so people can afford
to buy new homes in Paso Robles.”
Likely recalling the consternation
of the community 30 years ago,
Martin recognized the possibility
of fear in pioneering a new direction
for the community.
“Being at the beginning of Paso
Robles can be a little scary,” Martin
said. “It can be fun, but it can
be scary. Now is the time to be very
careful how we plan our residential
development, our roads, our infrastructure,
our sewer and water, to
maintain that quality of life and
give those who live here the confidence
that the quality of life will
not be compromised.”
Steadying the ship, Martin readied
the leadership crew for the next
phase of the summit to answer
questions about the future of Paso.
“This is our time,” Martin said.
“The city of Paso Robles has always
been a wonderful place to live, but
it has been a community that is
catching up, technologically, economically,
but we are now primed
like no time in the past to proceed
forward down this trail. Never have
we been so prepared to take advantage
of the change.”
With a fire in his belly, an excitement
shared verbally to PASO
Magazine by other members of the
City Council, Martin urged the
34 | pasomagazine.com PASO Magazine, July 2018