Everyone's Opinion Newsletter

Altoona City Councilman Matt Garber talks with Everyone’s Opinion about his experience on council so far, and what he plans to accomplish before his term ends. Having nearly six months left in office, his efforts focus on connecting city council with the community through improved communication means in the most responsible ways possible. But as Garber explains, there is much more work to be done.

An active member in the community, Garber is proud to have encouraged various community groups and initiatives since the start of his term, such as downtown revitalization and clean-up projects. Over the last few years, Altoona City Council has made many informal partnerships with organizations, businesses, and individuals to make Altoona a better place to live. The councilman said, “I’m thankful that I had the opportunity to meet many of these people.”

Financially, Matt Garber states, Altoona is doing very well when faring with other 3rd class cities in the state, citing Altoona City Council’s fiscally conservative efforts.
“It [Altoona] has an excellent credit rating and is ready to make loans to interested business owners,” said Garber. He reminds Altoona business owners that there are city employees waiting to help them, and explain how to get their business started in the city.

“While Altoona is financially attractive, its blight and crime isn’t.” He said, “Our focus lately has been on fixing these problems, and we were fortunate enough to get funding from the state to hire five police officers.”

While blight and crime remains a great concern for Garber and his colleagues, he believes that Altoona residents should keep the city informed about other problems as well.

Developing better communications between the people of Altoona and its government has been another undertaking for Matt Garber, which is why he is pushing to create an e-mail newsletter for residents to sign up and receive updates in the city. This newsletter will be managed at no additional cost to residents, and will include ordinances, minutes, and other news from the City.

“We have been making headway in improving communications between people and city government,” Garber said as he talked about the city’s new and improved website. The site contains promotional videos, which were made at no cost to the city, and has more information available to the public than it ever has before.

Altoona’s website is: www.altoonapa.gov.

“We’d like to add more info to the website and promote it and get people to the site. There are lots of things going on behind the scenes with it,” he said. Garber even made mention of the possibility of social networking in Altoona on its website as a way to get citizens more involved with their government.

Garber would like to see an Emergency Notification System established for Altoona. This system would alert residents in case of emergencies. Residents will be able to sign up on the city’s website to receive e-mail, text, home or cell phone alerts in case of weather, imminent danger, or other emergencies in the Altoona area.

During Garber’s time on council, he mentions, he has dealt with ordinances which he felt he should resist, mainly those which pertained to property ownership.

Garber said, “Council has overstepped its bounds in the way property ownership is handled by putting an additional burden on property owners.” He prides himself as one who resisted additional regulations that were overbearing and discouraged investment in the city by property owners. He believes that there should definitely be property maintenance codes, but doesn’t believe each code should always be enforced unless the individual issue at hand substantially affects other people. Sometimes, he says, it is hard to balance between addressing the concerns of neighbors and protecting property owners’ Constitutional freedoms.

While blight, crime, and property ownership seem to have caught Councilman Garber’s attention, he encourages residents to keep the city council informed on what concerns them. He wishes to hear your feedback about your experiences in Altoona so that the city can continue to improve itself.

As big plans for the city’s website unravel, along with the Emergency Notification System, and community alliances, Garber plans on seeing changes in Altoona City government in his remaining months.

With no time to waste, Garber’s plans simply are to get the city more involved with what’s happening with its people through communication.

Approved by Matt Garber
©Everyone’s Opinion Newsletter 2009