Candidate for
Council Member; City of Santa Cruz

Name the most critical issues your city faces, and how you as a member of the City Council will address those issues.

1) Addressing current public safety issues through enforcement and preservation of programs and services that are essential to effectively tackle these challenges. The challenges we face with public safety in our community affect all aspects of our community right now. This is why we must have a strong, multi-faceted approach to dealing with all of our public safety issues, including enforcement, and funding preventative programs to redirect youth away from gangs and get chronic offenders off our streets. This is also the reason I worked so hard to keep the Beach Flats Community Center open. We raised money and gained local support to ensure continuity for essential services. By bringing the right people together, we proved that our community is able to solve Santa Cruz's challenges by working collaboratively and creatively on solutions.

2) Advocating for our small local businesses and creating a thriving economy that leads to the development of good jobs for our local workforce. I have been a small business owner in Santa Cruz for over 10 years and I know what it is like to start and try to maintain a business in this town. I am committed to supporting and advocating for our local businesses, but I am also aware that investment requires optimism and nobody will invest in Santa Cruz if they are cynical or are uncertain about the outcome. It is essential that City Council reach out to small businesses in this time of crisis and provide them with the resources they need to survive and thrive, including a simplified permitting process, reduced fees, lower interest loans during the critical first 5 years, and addressing the myriad ways that local government can have a negative or positive impact on business.

3) Protecting and preserving our parks and open spaces for future generations. We must ensure, even with tight budgetary constraints, that we provide adequate resources to protect and preserve our natural resources. As a City Parks and Recreation Commissioner, I have already been working to do just that.