What in your background makes you qualified for office?
I have leveraged my 29 years of management experience from the telecommunications, IT and transportation industries to provide thought leadership on Arvada City Council for the last 12 years as an At-Large Arvada City Councilmember. My engagement in local, regional, and national committees has helped me bring new and innovative perspectives to the City Council and leadership. I also have a successful track record advocating in regional and national committees on matters that impact our community. Lastly, living in west Arvada for the last 4 years, I have gained a unique perspective on Metro Districts and their challenges, the need for improved transportation infrastructure/capacity and wildland fire planning and resiliency.
What elements would you like to see included in the Olde Town Arvada Reimagined 20-Year Plan? Would you like to see the street closures changed/altered?
For many years, I always imagined closed streets that are safe and inviting to our residents, businesses, and visitors, 15 years later we finally closed the streets in Olde Town to support the business and community during the COVID pandemic. And what a success, now it’s time to take it to the next level! I support the City Team in their efforts to make our temporary street closures a permanent design. In the Council Workshop on this, I expressed I was just happy we are finally leaning forward and making this a reality for our downtown district! I just want to make sure it is safe, clean, and vibrant. I would not change anything what the Team and Council agreed on with the closure design.
What areas of Arvada’s infrastructure do you believe need the most immediate attention?
We need to continue to increase maintenance funding for our road infrastructure. When I was first elected in 2011, we only put approximately $3M when we needed to be closer to $16M. Over the years we have increased our annual maintenance for roads to closer to $13M in 2023-24, but now we need to target around $20M+ which is mostly due to inflationary costs. We also have over $80M in sidewalks repair and replacement including ADA needs. Lastly, we need to continue to be aware of the demands on our utilities infrastructure that support our sewer, water, and stormwater systems, including a new water treatment plant. Our utilities maintenance and replacement demands have far exceeded our revenues, which requires the Council to make tough and thoughtful decisions on how to move forward. This in-depth knowledge of these issues is critical to maintaining a healthy, vibrant and financial sound City.
What role do you believe the City of Arvada should fill in providing resources for individuals experiencing homelessness?
As far as those experiencing housing insecurities are concerned, I would like to increase our contribution to Section 8 housing voucher program as that has several successful outcomes, yet we still have a waiting list. For those that are unhoused, I believe there are two groups within this category, those who are invisible and those who are chronically criminals. We spent close to $1.5M on approximately 80 individuals who are continuously committing crimes who are also unhoused. Where we spend ~$400k on several hundreds of individuals to assist with housing, who are working to survive every day. I want the City to find a way to flip the spending and help those who appreciate the hand up and prevent them from becoming unhoused. We also need to focus on how to deal with those unhoused criminals that are impacting our residents and businesses. These are tough issues, and I will continue focusing on these matters when I am elected.
RELATED ARTICLES
Leave a comment
We encourage comments. Your thoughts, ideas and concerns play a critical role helping Colorado Community Media be more responsive to your needs.
We expect conversations to follow the conventions of polite discourse. Therefore, we won't allow posts that:
Contain vulgar language, personal attacks of any kind, or offensive terms that target protected classes
Promote commercial services or products (relevant links are acceptable)
