My priorities

While the supply of multi-family units especially geared for CU students has increased, we still haven’t created the right environment to encourage middle housing, like cottage courts and duplexes. The newest comprehensive plan creates zoning, but we’ll need to find incentives and process changes to see it built.

During my last term, we initiated and concluded a study to address homelessness while also creating safe, welcoming public spaces. Now, some of the priority recommendations need to be implemented with clear communication and engagement with our non-profit partners, individuals that are homeless and the larger community.

We are actively completing the wildfire mitigation priority to identify the most impactful work we can do. In addition, we are about to look at options to prevent power shut-offs and make them less damaging when they do happen. We are already working with the community to provide power backup for our most vulnerable neighbors.

The city is working toward outcome-based budgeting. This is the right direction, but I am looking forward to making it clearer how we prioritize funding based on program outcomes. As our budget changes, this will help us make better decisions to serve the community.

My experience on school board and on council has proven time again that different voices and perspectives result in better policy, even if there is disagreement. Prior to making decisions, I seek out different points of view throughout the community. In addition, I insist upon a public, transparent process anytime we make a decision.

Years of deferred maintenance have caught up to us and we need to identify a path to address it. Everyone in Boulder interacts with infrastructure every day - sidewalks, clean water, bike paths, roads or recreation centers. Maintenance won’t make headlines - unless it fails.

I also am interested in developing clearer policy around how our assets (buildings) are declared surplus, and how we dispose of those assets. With the move to the new Municipal Building, we need a clear strategy that offsets other costs. I also hope to create a citizen committee to be a part of this process.

Due in part to the new federal administration, the city is already evaluating its data collection and understanding when data is shared. Similarly, the city is re-evaluating its license plate reader technology to ensure data is not shared without permission from our own staff and quickly deleted. I am also exploring how we can let people know about when surveillance data is being collected and possibly shared by private entities over which we don’t have control.