Our Future
This race is about expanding City Council to hear from all of our voices, not just the few loud voices we hear from over and over and over. I want to hear from you about the values we share. I've spent time getting to know my neighbors and business owners and attending Council and the City’s boards and commissions meetings: listening, learning, and readying myself to get to work for you
Affordable and Varied Housing Options
On City Council I plan to take an active role in supporting the development of affordable and attainable housing. This includes defining key terms, as the current ambiguity around "affordable housing" makes effective policy development challenging. Defining these terms helps us to do work at the municipal level, like creating a more coherent set of zoning policies to address housing issues and finding more win-win solutions like single-stair housing.
I support proactive adoption of beneficial state legislation, such as recent laws concerning Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) and the City's first right of refusal on multi-unit buildings. Specifically, the first right of refusal ordinance is currently deadlocked in Council, and I will cast the tie-breaking vote to ensure its passage.
The City Center development represents a transformational opportunity for our City. We need a forward thinking approach that incorporates what we need today and into the future.
This could mean exploring innovative ideas such as granting offsets for public transit funding in exchange for decreased parking minimums, or establishing programs that encourage retailers to hire our school-aged population to address the struggle for first jobs in their hometown.
Safe and accessible transportation means providing a true range of mobility choices. Residents and visitors must be able to traverse Englewood not only by car, but also via walking, biking, improved public transit, and expanded options for neighbors with limited mobility.
Partnerships with RTD and dedicated investments in BERT (Bringing Englewood Riders Together) are essential to meeting our mobility and environmental goals. We need strong East/West and North/South bike routes to connect our neighborhoods to small businesses.
Prioritizing pedestrians at street crossings near schools, parks, and businesses is also something that I look forward to working on with residents and the Englewood Transportation Advisory Committee. I advocate replicating the traffic calming measures planned for East Dartmouth on West Dartmouth to reduce speeds and enhance the safety of existing biking infrastructure.
I look forward to continuing the good work being done with the Complete Streets and Safe Routes to Schools programs and continued implementation of the Walk and Wheel Master Plan.
Safe and Accessible Transportation Options
Strong Public Education
Given the threats to federal and state funding, we must find new ways to collaborate with the Board of Education to ensure our students have everything they need to succeed. I plan to attend the upcoming community town hall co-hosted by the City and Englewood Schools on April 9 to gain a deeper understanding of their shared goals and determine how I can best support their work once elected.
While education budgets and City budgets are addressed through distinct, separate mechanisms, I support the upcoming state ballot initiative that would raise the TABOR cap to increase education funding.
Thriving Local Economy
For our economy to thrive we need to make it easier to start a business in Englewood. Equally, we need to actively support our existing small businesses and prioritize incentives for those looking to expand into our vacant retail spaces or new developments.
Through my conversations as both a patron and a candidate, a consistent theme of feedback from our small business community is that the City's current level of support is insufficient, leading some to consider relocation. My goal is proactive support, not post-mortem analysis. While engagement with the City’s economic development team, EDDA (Englewood Downtown Development Authority), and the Chamber is important, our top priority must be actively listening to and implementing solutions based on business needs.
Welcoming and Inclusive Community
the City. It is often referred to here as a divide, but I think we are experiencing the growing pains of a changing city. Progress is hard, takes work, but IS inevitable. The speed and intentionality of that progress requires a concerted effort.
As a City Councilor, I will work to remove the systemic barriers that slow progress and use my position to ensure city services and opportunities benefit all constituents, not just those with privilege, access, or existing connections. A large piece of removing the barriers is doing the active work of going out into underserved communities that are underrepresented in engagement with Council. The City must work to proactively bring the City out to all of its residents and bring the voices of our neighbors with us to the dais.
