As I sat and listened to the presentation made by Richard Knoll to the Lakeport City Council on Tuesday night, many thoughts ran through my mind and what I was going to say. After walking away from the podium that night, I never really said what I wanted to.

To set the story straight, on what I really wanted to say, the city of Lakeport has properties in its boundaries that are basically doing nothing, and some are vacant land. They have been put up for sale over the years, with no takers or qualified buyers.

Now, the city has an opportunity to do something with the least desirable ones and derive monies from them through the sale to their redevelopment agency. The city now has monies to put into the general fund to use as they deem fit.

First and foremost, they want to take care of police and fire departments, which, we all know, are necessary for the protection and needs of the citizens of Lakeport. The secondary use of these funds would be for small business stimulation loans, that would help our local businesses get through these troubled economic times.

We, as an employer, don’t want to lay off employees, or even let them go, because there isn't the business to support them. When businesses close, people lose their jobs and it all trickles down through the community. These monies should help get us through these times, and isn't meant to just enhance anyone's business.

Furthermore, there has to be shown to the city the financial means to repay them for the loans. Credibility is what will make this program work.

Once our city, county, state and country get back on track, the redevelopment agency can offer these purchased lands back up for sale and recover the monies that were originally used to acquire them, and would go back into the redevelopment of downtown Lakeport, remodeling of the business fronts, creation of the lakefront area for parks and beautification of our precious asset, our city and its tourist attractions.

Lastly, for the record, most businesses will dig into their reserves, create credit lines and sell off assets to raise capital to keep their dream going. But, when there is no one or no financial institution to obtain monies from, where do go then?

After being in business in Lake County for over 45 years and 13 of those years in the city of Lakeport, we have seen the ups and downs. This economic downturn we are having now is unlike anything I have experienced before. But, with all of us working at the solution, we will get through it.

Paul Breunig is owner of Hillside Honda in Lakeport.

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