If elected, what will your top priority be for the city of Colorado Springs?
Supporting local business, strengthening our neighborhoods, and protecting our parks and open space.
What should city council implement to address the impacts of COVID-19?
Our small business community has been hard hit. We need to evaluate and expand efforts such as Survive and Thrive COS, a partnership with Exponential Impact, to offer emergency relief to businesses. The City can do more to promote the resources that are available to small businesses—including the federal PPP program and tax rebates. The more we can do to build awareness, the more likely our small businesses will remain resilient and successfully emerge from the pandemic. The pandemic has also worsened our affordable housing crisis. One out of 3 families are spending more than 30% of their income on housing. We need to expand the efforts of our Community Development Division and remove barriers to housing. Finally, let’s prioritize development plans that create and bring good paying jobs to Colorado Springs. We’re poised for a comeback; however, City Council must be pro-active in its response to ensure Colorado Springs comes through from the pandemic with the wind at our back.
What needs to be done to address the growth the city has been experiencing?
This is the question I get most as I talk to voters. Growth is a good thing: it means Colorado Springs is a city on the rise. However, we must make sure we have a responsible approach to growth. We’re in the middle of an affordable housing crisis; our roads and infrastructure need to be modernized and built to last; we need to protect our parks and open spaces; and we need to be building a local economy that prioritizes our local businesses and is diverse in the types of industry we have. All of these issues require creative problem-solvers who know how to work collaboratively and will engage constituents every step of the way. I believe government gets it wrong when it doesn’t include the very people it serves in the decision-making process. The best way to take on the challenges of growth and to make sure we’re setting Colorado Springs up for success is through a collaborative approach to problem-solving that truly brings residents to the table early on in the process.
