Patrick Mulvaney: Why I support Measure L

Sacramento is where I am from. I was born in New York, but since I came here 20 years ago the people, the culture and especially the food let me know this is home. At my restaurant, the B&L, we are always looking for ways to get better and improve the experience when you come to visit. I feel the same way about Sacramento today and that is why I support Measure L.

Our city and region are on a roll, building the arena downtown, moving forward in the rail yards, and the farm-to-fork movement, near and dear to my heart, has been a rousing success.

But as a small-business owner, I can tell you that our city government is cumbersome and often unresponsive. Who should you go to when you want to start a project? The mayor? The city manager? All nine council members? And who will take responsibility to “get you to success”?

In our restaurant if you don’t like the soup, you tell me and I fix it. The buck stops with me, helping us to be nimble and efficient. Business owners need that same accountability from city government as we try to grow and create more jobs. We, as a city, elect the mayor. We should give him the tools to fix the soup.

As a chef, the key to success is creating a menu your customers love, balancing the tried and true with the creative and new. That’s what we need in Sacramento, a system that works better and more efficiently, especially for small businesses. I love Sacramento and I want it to reach its full potential and that’s why I strongly support Measure L.