TRAFFIC & UNSAFE DRIVING
Our primary experience of our community is on the roads, while we travel to schools, jobs, grocery stores or the park. And I know we have all felt frustration amidst traffic on key corridors like Wadsworth, Federal, or 120th. Especially when we witness unsafe driving behaviors like running red lights. Or we lay awake at night hearing street racing a block or two away from our homes. These behaviors are difficult to catch, but we are working on them at the City level and with partner cities and agencies. Know that I am supportive of keeping our community safe and will continue to ask to fund red light cameras, signal coordination, and support our Police Department's efforts to tackle these issues.
public infrastructure
The provision, improvement, and maintenance of public infrastructure is one of the City’s primary responsibilities with our tax dollars and fees. The quality and maintenance of Westminster’s infrastructure is sometimes highly visible, like our well-maintained roads, or when we take to the streets that have been cleared after a snow storm. However, what we don’t see is the infrastructure below ground—much of which was constructed between the 1970s to 1990s, during the City’s greatest period of expansion and population growth. Most sewer and water infrastructure installed during this timeframe has a lifespan of 50 years, and either soon, or already, needs replacement. Like most cities, the cost to replace this infrastructure far exceeds the City’s funding sources. This infrastructure serves our existing neighborhoods, businesses, and schools, and it is important to me that we fund and plan for this maintenance to occur over time.
eQUITY & COMMUNITY NEEDS
The City cannot bridge society's gap in equity alone--whether that's addressing lack of housing, mental health needs, or disparities in income and opportunity. However, we can work with organizations in our community, businesses, school districts, healthcare providers, our counties, and regional partners to build on their work and provide complementary programming and policies to support their efforts.The City can also examine its own actions to ensure investments, location of amenities, and maintenance is equitable throughout the community. Additionally, the City should continue to engage the Inclusivity Board as well as the community as a whole to reach under-represented residents, business owners, and community leaders.
public safety
Westminster provides our own services like water, fire, and police. In so doing, we are able to chart our own path on the quality and delivery of these services. For example, our Fire Department is one of a few in the nation that hold both top national and international accreditations (ISO and CFAI). However, our facilities need reinvestment and expansion to continue to meet these high standards. And our Police Department is working to expand and redefine the way they communicate and operate in our community, with the addition of mental health providers on their calls. I support and encourage both department's efforts toward ensuring a high quality of service that is inclusive, safe, and healthy for our entire community and workforce.
ACCESS TO HOUSING
Having both lived experience and on-the-ground work experience building affordable housing, I understand the need to expand housing options and what it takes to make it happen. Did you know our senior population will double over the next 25 years--and that over 80% of seniors who rent in Westminster spend over 40% of their fixed income on housing? As our community changes, it will be even more important to preserve and provide affordable and attainable housing throughout the city that is available to all of our residents.
economic resilience
Our city has a vibrant economic foundation, with a range of stable and growing industries. We have many large employers that have found their home in Westminster as well as a wide range of small businesses. It will be essential to look for opportunities to support our business environment and retain jobs. Maintaining a variety of employers and industries will ensure our economic resilience into the future. Likewise, creating environments to foster investment in our community is also essential, whether these are well-established employment centers like Park Center, dense, mixed-use centers like Downtown Westminster, or unique destinations like Historic Westminster's 73rd Avenue, they are critical to our City's identity and economic longevity.
downtown westminster
For eight years, I worked with our community to create the vision and first phase of our Downtown. Every element of our Downtown, from the width of the streets, the design of our public spaces, and the uses above were planned to be resilient, accessible, and devoted to building community. The Downtown will develop, one building at a time, with a wide variety of owners and businesses. Because of this variety of ownership and uses, the health and vitality of our Downtown is not banking on the financial stability of just one developer. Additionally, as the Downtown builds out, it will increasingly be able to contribute back to our City through property and sales tax revenues. Over time, our vital Downtown will be a significant source of revenue for our city, and more importantly, an important source of community.
ENVIRONMENT
Environmental stewardship and preservation of open space is very important to me. I want my children to live in and enjoy this city and region with the same quality of life and environment we have today. This includes ensuring a safe and healthy environment, responsible residential and commercial wastewater management, safe disposal of hazardous materials, and supporting residential and business recycling. Our open space is also a very important component of our city’s experience. Access to well-maintained trails and open space is one of our community’s most valued assets. Additionally, these spaces are also critical habitat for a rich variety of native animals and plants. The City should continue to protect these environments and look for opportunities to expand or connect them through strategic acquisitions.
water use
My family has felt the increase of water rates over the past year. However, our efforts over the years to reduce our water use have certainly reduced this impact. We changed all of our toilets and fixtures to low-flow within the house, took the City's water audit for our landscaping, replaced our sprinkler heads with low-flow devices, and installed a sprinkler controller that syncs with local weather forecast data. While my family has been able to invest in these improvements, I recognize that many families with fixed or lower incomes can not. The City should continue to find creative solutions and pursue programming to assist these households in transitioning to lower water use and managing the impact of increased water rates.
GROWTH
Whether we are seeing new development near our neighborhoods, driving in increased traffic, or unable to find affordable housing options in the city, the impact of growth has likely affected us all. However, growth has also benefited our quality of life, increasing our amenities and options for retail and restaurants, and bringing more jobs to our city and region. Regardless, growth should be measured and strategic, and designed to position our community for long-term resilience. Denser growth should be located near shopping, transportation corridors, and transit to reduce the impacts to our local streets. Additionally, it should be designed and integrated into the surrounding community, whether that is through transitions in height, provision of parks and open space, or enhancement of connectivity and access for the community.
mobility & Transit
As our community and world changes over time, our options for how we get around will require adapting to technology like electric bikes and scooters and increased need for ride services for our older population. We will need to foster these alternative modes of travel like biking and walking, and increase our access to ride share options like Via Paratransit and transit for all residents. But transit needs to work for us--I will continue to work for greater frequencies, better amenities, and implementation of our train stations like Downtown Westminster and Westminster Station.
arts & culture
As an artist myself, I truly value the importance of nurturing art and culture in our community. Westminster has developed its own arts identity over the years, and includes a historic arts district along 73rd Avenue and a public art program that has brought art throughout the city through commercial development. Over the past several years, the City has also expanded its arts and culture programming through city events. These have included welcoming events like the Latino Festival to the city as well as City-run events like Harvest Fest, Dance Parties, and the Adult Easter Egg Hunt. Events like these, as well as arts and culture as a whole, contribute significantly to our city’s identity and ability to remain vibrant and to foster belonging and diversity in our community.