Priorities

If you re-elect me as Mayor of Boulder, I will continue to work to:

Create a more inclusive community

• Create more affordable housing and more housing choices for a variety of incomes.

  We have a serious housing crisis in Boulder, and we need to ensure that we provide housing for lower- and middle-income residents, as well as for families and seniors. This is a huge problem that requires many different tools. We should work to increase the supply of affordable housing including a variety of housing types such as townhouses and duplexes that are attractive to families as well as smaller units for younger folks and empty nesters. We should make it easier to build deed-restricted affordable housing, with reduced fees and easier permitting. And we should encourage more housing choices like tiny homes and accessory dwelling units.

• Support our social service nonprofits.

  Boulder has the good fortune to be a relatively affluent community, but our community still has many people who are in need. We should do what we can to support the nonprofits that are working hard to provide a safety net for our community. City government can take action by allocating additional funding for social service nonprofits and by focusing on policies that support the neediest among us.

Protect and maintain the best things about Boulder

• Support for culture and the arts.

  Boulder has a dynamic artistic and cultural community with many extraordinary people working in all art forms. City government should support these individuals and groups by removing barriers to success and by providing funding to and strengthening our public art program. I will continue to work to include public art in new development, enable public art in spaces where it isn’t currently allowed, support our cultural institutions, and create opportunities for artists to perform and display their work in civic and public spaces.

• Support our vibrant business and start-up communities.

  Boulder has an active entrepreneurial spirit that encompasses many different sectors. As a city, we should encourage and build on that innovative spirit. A strong job base and economy create the revenue the city needs to fund the services that benefit us all.

• Focus on management in Open Space.

  Our city’s open space program is among the best in the world, a true community treasure. As the system matures, we should turn our focus from acquisition to management. We should preserve healthy ecosystems, restore damaged lands, work on our maintenance backlog, and look for targeted opportunities to add new trails and amenities.

Fight climate change at the local level

• Create more 15-minute neighborhoods.

  If people live and work near the services they need, they don’t have to get in their cars to meet daily and weekly needs. I advocate for creating neighborhoods that provide those services, putting housing near jobs and vice versa, and locating services near both. Boulder residents should be able to walk and bike easily and pleasantly to take care of their regular needs. We are making great strides in this area in East Boulder and in Boulder Junction, and we need to continue that work.

• Promote alternative transportation.

  Boulder has great facilities for biking, walking, and taking transit. We should build on our successes and make these activities so pleasant, enjoyable, and convenient that Boulder residents who are able to do so would rather take alternative transportation than drive. Safety should be a focus of our efforts, with continued focus on our Vision Zero program to eliminate deaths and serious injuries on our roads and paths. We should also add the next generation of regional transit, with bus rapid transit lines to Longmont, Lafayette and other places.

• Maximize renewable energy.

  Climate change is the existential threat of our generation. We have established aggressive goals in the city of 100% renewable electricity and 70% reduction in emissions by 2030. This is an ambitious but attainable goal that we can accomplish by installing more local renewable energy and participating in new initiatives like Community Choice Energy or Zero Emissions Communities that would allow the City of Boulder to fund new renewable projects outside the city limits but designated for use by our residents and businesses.