Frantz is focused on transit

Tom Frantz

Tom Frantz has set two intertwining goals as mayor: developing a comprehensive transportation plan and reducing the city's demands on businesses.

Improving parking, public transportation, pedestrian safety and accessibility are all ways that the city can support not only downtown merchants, but the students, tourists, retirees and everyday Ashlanders, as well, he said.

"I see transportation as a way to reintegrate schools — Ashland public schools, SOU and even RCC — with the city, its retired community, its tourists, and that it is the No. 1 way to improve our city," he said.

He would like to see more parking options for downtown employees closer to where they work, explore the options for 20-minute shuttles around town and create more parking spots for scooters and two-wheeled vehicles to encourage what he views as a more sustainable form of transportation.

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In addition to getting employees and customers to Ashland's merchants safely and efficiently, the city can support businesses by leaving them alone, he said.

"Government as a whole needs to have fewer fingers in the businesses," he said. "The biggest support for merchants is leaving them alone and letting them do their job without choking them with more rules, more regulations, more grading. If anybody needs to be graded, it's our local politicians.

What Frantz calls "creative permitting" is key to supporting merchants, making it easier for entrepreneurs to move forward with their plans. A friend trying to start a bicycle shuttle, for example, was having difficulty getting the business off the ground because he couldn't get the necessary permits, Frantz said.

Frantz's hands-off philosophy extends to his plans for interaction with city staff and building more affordable housing.

"Some people feel like, 'OK, I'm here, I need to change everything,'" he said. "[City staff] need the mayor less because they're already great."

He sees the mayor's job as exercising fiscal responsibility during the budgeting period, but otherwise letting staff, merchants, schools and the Shakespeare festival "stick to its work."

To that end, he would like to half the number of study sessions held by the City Council.

"When we have a study session and we 'look into' something, it tends to create problems that don't even exist," he said. "Study sessions are very important but they cost a lot of money and they create problems where problems do not exist."

Regulations on homeowners building mother-in-law cottages and other accessory units, such as secondary electrical, water and sewer hookup requirements, should be loosened so individuals can contribute to affordable housing in the city, he said. He does not support arbitrary limits on rent.

"The market available for rentals has a built-in balance point for prices. Right now, rents are going up. If there are more available, naturally the prices go down," he said. "To have rent control is one more government program we do not need or even need to talk about or look into."

Frantz, a 1980 Ashland High School graduate, has experience as a construction general contractor, high school construction technology teacher and platoon leader in the California and Oregon National Guards, he said. Those careers have taught him to listen well and lead by example, he said, especially when he was in charge of 55 men in the guard.

"I'd give each one a certain amount of time to talk, and we had to stick with that," he said. "I really like listening to people — students, employees, business owners, retirees, young and old."

Staff writer Julie French can be reached at 482-3456 ext. 227 or jfrench@dailytidings.com.To post a comment, visit www.dailytidings.com.