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City Councilmember Ed Grimes has announced his intent to run for another term on the Tehachapi City Council.
“I think it’s time to let every body know that I’m going to be filing my papers to run for reelection,” Grimes said.
Filing for city offices begins on July 15.
Grimes who has served on the council for the past 6 years, two years of that as mayor is looking forward to serving for another four years. 
Grimes said, “There’s a lot of important issues I think I can probably summarize in about three categories.”
“We have to get the depot rebuilt, that’s something that the people want and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to work very hard on that issue.” He continued, “Another issue is, we need to make sure that our infrastructure is are able to handle the load in terms of sewage, water, and things of that nature. We are working on that, we have two new water tanks that we built. Those are the infrastructure kind of things that we need to do to make sure that we have everything in order.”
“The other thing is the continuation of the beautification of the downtown. People are pleased with it we still have some work to do on the east side. We want to continue with that,” he said.
Grimes continued, “Those are issues that need to be dealt with, we need to be responsible on how we deal with it. I think I’ve got the experience and the knowledge to deal with those issues and I think that can make a positive difference.
When ask about the ‘big box’ stores coming to Tehachapi, Grimes responded, “The big boxes are going up everywhere not just Tehachapi, but every small town. I think if it’s properly planned and we’ve have to have a good environmental impact study report. That’s something that Bakersfield didn’t do and we have learned form their mistakes. I really believe that it’s going to deal with issues of blight and with what if it forces this particular store out of business. How is that going to be mitigated, so it’s going to answer a lot of those kinds of questions?”
“Even a bigger question is do people want to shop here in Tehachapi?” He continued, “With the price of gas, the way it is now, if I go to Bakersfield to buy groceries, Costco or to go to a department store. I’m going to spend $50 on gas just to go there and back. I would rather spend that $50 here in Tehachapi.
Grimes currently represents the city on the Emergency Preparedness committee for Tehachapi, the Common Interest Group that is a forum of local governments, the Kern County Air Pollution District, League of Cities, and is a liaison to the Golden Hills Community Services District. He is also the State President of the Department of Corrections, ACCAP and Citizens Advisory Organization.
For something to do in his spare time, he announces all of the Tehachapi Warriors home football games and organizes the pancake fundraiser for the Warriors Booster football program.
Grimes