Candidate for
Council Member; City of Santa Cruz

1. Neighborhood safety is a key focus of mine. I have worked with the Police Department all the time on various neighborhood crime issues. No one should be accepting criminal behavior as a normal part of neighborhood life. Bike thefts, car break-ins, drug deals, graffiti, speeding traffic and more are all unacceptable activities that we can make a serious dent in by working together and not tolerating it.

2. Keeping a very vibrant and thriving local business climate is also very important to me. We need to present ourselves as a town that cares about giving our own businesses a chance to do well. The streets, sidewalks, median strips and public spaces should reflect a town that cares about how we present ourselves to others. It is unacceptable to let ourselves decline as a city the way we have. We live in such a stunning natural environment, yet somehow don't care how rough we look around the edges? We can and must do better.

3. I am on the General Plan Committee and is acutely aware of future growth plans that both the University and the City of Santa Cruz need to deal with eventually. As a City, we need to work very thoughtfully and deliberately with a realistic plan for our housing, transportation, water, and business needs, as well as Public Safety. Santa Cruz is becoming denser over time because we cannot realistically stop all growth from happening. What we can do is plan wisely, in environmentally sound ways, keeping the scale and uniqueness of Santa Cruz always in balance.

4. Finally, we need to focus on keeping our parks and open spaces safe and environmentally strong. We are so lucky that we haven't had a fire break out at any one of our greenbelts, open spaces and larger parks. I sit down with all the City Department Directors on a quarterly basis and it is shocking to see the damage that is currently happening in some of our most cherished natural settings. I will focus more public safety efforts to keep our family parks safe, and our greenbelts free of the current ongoing hazards.

I have a real passion for the city of Santa Cruz and it is important to me that more people get involved with the decisions being made on their behalf. There are too many wonderful people in town that have given up and there is no reason for that. We can make a difference together!