- Created a nationally recognized Ayuda Linea (Help Line) for day laborers to prevent and prosecute abuse of undocumented workers.
- Led effort to invest part of the City's reserve funds in local financial institutions to stimulate the local economy -- an effort praised by the National Center for Local Sustainability as a model practice.
- Negotiated a historic settlement with UCSC that will protect the city's housing and water supplies, promote alternative transportation, and improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods.
- Authored the Clean Ocean, Rivers and Beaches Fund that will monitor and reduce pollution in rivers and the Bay.
- Developed an innovative policy to incentivize small for-sale housing units to be built, allowing public servants and young professionals to buy into an expensive housing market.
- Voted to hire a Climate Change Coordinator for the City of Santa Cruz and to engaged Ecology Action in a program to "green" businesses and city facilities to dramatically reduce energy usage and pollution and to enable private and public cost savings.
- Voted to preserve six acres of the City's Greenbelt from development.
- Worked with local artists to streamline the City's permitting process so that musicians could play in restaurants and cafes without having to seek a permit from the Police Department.
- Created an interagency task force to coordinate efforts to increase the safety, cleanliness, and promotion of Downtown Santa Cruz.
- Formed a working group to establish a hi-tech research and development park and university-city technology transfer project on vacant industrial lands.
- Voted to create a National Marine Sanctuary Center for the Monterey Bay.
- Passed measure that has will repair all of Santa Cruz's roads over the next five years and increase patrols of neighborhood parks and open spaces.
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