Mayor: Lodi on the rise
Lodi city officials talk growth, challenges at Mayor’s State of the City breakfast
Hundreds of civic and business leaders gathered at Woodbridge Country Club on Thursday morning for the Mayor’s State of the City Breakfast.
During the breakfast, Mayor Doug Kuehne touted the continued growth the city has experienced in recent years in the housing, commercial and retail sectors, as well as efforts to tackle the city’s homelessness problem and gang activity.
While the mayor touched on the city’s successes, City Manager Steve Schwabauer spoke about the challenges the city is currently facing. Daniel Wolcott, president and CEO of Adventist Health Lodi Memorial Hospital, talked about the hospital’s efforts to improve health care in the community and the growth of the hospital.
Several new businesses and housing developments are making their way to Lodi, Kuehne said. A Planet Fitness, Grocery Outlet and DD’s Discount Store will be filling the space left vacant by the departure of Kmart.
PetSmart, Sprout’s, Kelly’s Car Wash and Fairfield Inn and Suites will be coming to Reynolds Ranch. Chevron, Rubio’s and Habit Burger Grill are moving into the Walmart Shopping Center at the corner of Lower Sacramento Road and Kettleman Lane, Kuehne said.
A Papapavlo’s restaurant is planned at the corner of Lockeford and School streets in Downtown Lodi, and not too far away, a bowling alley is planned for the corner of Lockeford and Sacramento streets. The Dancing Fox restaurant on School Street is in the middle of an expansion, and the World of Wonders Science Museum has acquired five of the buildings needed for its own planned expansion, Kuehne said.
He also noted that Liebherr, a company that manufactures cranes, recently moved into the old Mataga site, and MHA Construction, an international company, recently purchased the former Calturas space and is set to have a grand opening in December.
MHA builds wall paneling for multi-family developments, including the Rubicon Reynolds Ranch complex in Lodi, which will have 156 units.
In addition to the Rubicon complex, FCB Homes is building a housing subdivision in Reynolds Ranch with 220 units along with a senior and independent living community. The Van Ruiten Subdivision by Elliott Homes is expected to have 67 units while the FCB Homes Rosegate subdivision first phase is almost complete with 230 units. The second phase will have 345 units.
Grupe’s infill project Harvest Crossing, will bring in 42 units and their other development, the Vine, will bring in 57 units, Kuehne said.
He also addressed the city’s progress in reducing gang activity, noting that reported gang incidents have dropped from 256 in 2011 to 39 in 2017.
Kuehne spoke of the city’s efforts to combat homelessness, noting that three months ago, the city council decided to fund a community liaison officer and adopted a shopping cart ordinance. Since then, Community Liaison Officer Ryan Holz has made contact with 175 homeless individuals and has helped at least 41 get off the streets.
Holz and Mark Armstrong at the Lodi Grape Festival Grounds have been able to collect 600 shopping carts off of the streets since the adoption of the shopping cart ordinance.
The city is exploring the idea of installing parking meters in Downtown, Kuehne said. The meters could bring in revenue for maintenance and sidewalk cleaning in Downtown, as well as continue to fund the community liaison officer position,
Schwabauer briefed guests on the $200 million “monster” that threatens the city, the pension crisis. According to Schwabauer, the city’s pension bill is projected to go from $6.5 million last year to $13.5 million in the 2022-23 fiscal year.
The city has been communicating with the Legislature and the CalPERS board to address the issue, Schwabauer said. A small coalition of city managers has been putting together advocacy materials to get the state to take notice of the issue.
However, the Legislature isn’t convinced there is a problem, and enough cities aren’t taking action, Schwabauer said.
In order to soften the city’s pension woes, Schwabauer said, the city has put away $5 million in a stabilization fund and has also reduced its employee load to save money.
Wolcott highlighted the hospital’s efforts to partner with the community to improve overall health. He noted that the hospital is partnering with Lodi Unified School District to decrease childhood obesity. Decreasing childhood obesity increases the probability of a child graduating from high school, and if they graduate from high school, the probability of them getting a living wage increases at their jobs, Wolcott said.
Wolcott has joined Supervisor Chuck Winn as one of the executive chairs of the San Joaquin Area Health Sector Partnership to address the shortage in health care employees in the county. Wolcott also announced that in the coming months Lodi Memorial will become a comprehensive stroke center and it recently hired a new orthopedic surgeon. Three new neurologists have been hired as well. Wolcott also announced the upcoming addition of a neonatal intensive care unit.
“We are on a journey to be a world-class health care organization that partners with our community to create a livable lovable, Lodi to have a future for our community that we can all be proud of,” Wolcott said.