If elected, what will your top priority be for the city of Colorado Springs?
To work to ensure that the growth that we area experiencing is done objectively and with thought. We must stop giving away millions of dollars of incentives while our small businesses suffer. We are a destination now, growth needs to be held accountable to the infrastructure, traffic, public safety and natural resources that we have a limited amount of, and to ensure that those fundamentals of government are provided.
What should city council implement to address the impacts of COVID-19?
If we are a home rule city, why are we not applying the appropriate responses specific to our community instead of the blanket brushed upon us from the state? That we need more engagement directly with the business community, especially the small businesses, to provide what they need. The County led the charge in pushing back on the system with our own standards, the city was slow to follow, that should change. And to address why we are still lacking in what is necessary to take care of our seniors with the appropriate amount of vaccines based on population. I read that it was a problem but that it was being worked. And yet after a couple of weeks, it still seems to be presenting itself as an issue...
What needs to be done to address the growth the city has been experiencing?
Artificially incentivizing rapid business growth seems like a good idea, right up to the point that nothing else within the city supports that growth. It can be said that our housing, infrastructure, street debris, traffic, public safety, resources and transportation issues that are lagging are an impact of the explosive growth. People have found that Colorado Springs is a wonderful place to live, to raise a family, and to enjoy our beautiful environment. If we don’t start doing something to address those issues, we will start to lose those people. Our counter to the situation should not be an “add on” of problems tomorrow to quick fix something today. Let’s work with reasonable calm and speed to address the issues based on priority so that we don’t unduly or negatively impact our community while providing for those issues with the limited resources that we have.
