Governor Schwarzenegger Visits San Diego and Brookfield Homes!
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
Governor Schwarzenegger At Trellis, by Brookfield Homes
California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, took time out of his busy schedule to visit San Diego and the Brookfield Homes community of Trellis on Friday, February 5th, to promote his State Tax Credit for New Homes and his Jobs Creation Initiative. The Governor was supported in his efforts by local officials, legislative representatives and business / industry professionals. Local television and radio stations, print media and internet media covered the event. Local citizens and school children turned out to see the Governor and hear his remarks.
The Governor’s remarks focused on the need for California to take responsibility for job creation into its own hands. He said: “You know, in my State of the State Address I made it very clear that with all the big challenges that are ahead of us this year and the things that we want to accomplish, the most important thing for us is to bring our economy back and to bring jobs back. It’s jobs, jobs, jobs, that’s what this is all about. … we need to get people out there and buying the homes, that’s the important thing, so we can build more homes and so we can put people back to work. And the great thing is that when we give tax incentives for home buyers that has a rippling effect, a domino effect, because then all of a sudden builders begin pulling their permits. And we have seen that with last year’s tax credit, that builders began pulling the permits and the subcontractors began hiring again. And that means that people go back to work, if it’s the framers, if it’s the roofers, if it is the electricians, if it is the carpenters, if it is the plumbers. Everyone gets a job right away again.
“So Brookfield Homes, which is the building development where we are right now, they had a 300 percent increase in the sales of homes last year. And then, of course, 70 percent of those buyers used the tax credit. But then, as soon as the money ran out, then you saw again a drop in the sales of homes. And this is why I made the recommendation this year in my job creation package that I put forward that we should put it back again, this $10,000 tax credit for home buyers, which is so important. We are offering a total of $200 million in the credits to buyers. We want to get people off the fence and into the sales office to buy those homes and to be part of the American Dream, because I think it is the American Dream, to own your own home.”
The Governor also commented on the balance of his Jobs Creation Initiative. The list includes:
- Eliminating the sales tax on green technology manufacturing equipment,
- Streamlining regulations to get shovels in the dirt, which means to move forward with ready to go construction jobs and projects,
- Eliminating frivolous lawsuits that hurt small businesses and kill jobs,
- And, the creation of as many as 100,000 new jobs through the $500 million new-hire tax credit.
Specifically he said, “The bottom line here is, of course, that we don’t want to wait for the world economy to come back. Why should we just sit there and wait? We can do something about that. We also don’t wait for Washington to create action. We can create the action. Anytime we don’t do something now about creating jobs, those are self-inflicted wounds. This has nothing to do with the world economy. We can do certain things. We only have a small amount of power when it comes to bringing the economy back or creating jobs but, whatever power we have, let’s use that power. And this is what this initiative is all about here.”
The Governor then answered questions from the media and guests. He took time to visit with local residents and took pictures with the children. Then, to the chagrin of his startled staff, the Governor ventured onto the construction site to shake hands with the workers, thank them for their hard work and encourage them to support his Job Creation Initiative.
