Platform

• Improve local childcare problems
  • Four years ago, I was the only candidate who brought childcare into the community conversation as a platform issue. I championed increasing wages for childcare professionals in my first term. In the next four years, we need to dig in again to help our entire community while building on the success of increasing the wages of the lowest paid hourly workers in the state—Who. Are. Trained. Professionals. Taking. Care. Of. Our Kids. I pledge to work with staff, my fellow councilors, and local municipalities to answer “what’s next?”
• Increase mental health support in Iowa City
  • As a state, Iowa ranks the worst for the number of psychiatric beds relative to needs. And yet we know that far more need exists at a multitude of levels before a person needs to be hospitalized. I see increased mental health support as an important part of public safety and am committed to making sure that we increase funding to help where and how we can—and this means working closely with community partners already on these front lines.
• Continue smart, strategic advances for affordable housing across needs; attract housing for all needs
  • As a councilor-representative of the Comprehensive Plan overhaul for Iowa City, I know the intense need of those who are most vulnerable in our community; I also am championing the need to address workforce housing and first-time homeowners being priced out of the city they want to live in. I am here to make a real difference while also making sure we do not jettison City goals to integrate affordable housing into every neighborhood. We need to be proactive and strategic at the same time. I am here to say these can fit well together and I am the Councilor who knows how to make strategies into reality. 
• Revitalize the Eastside, specifically the IC Marketplace 
• This is one I didn’t get done in my first four years, but just because it didn’t happen doesn’t mean I forgot about it. I am passionate about taking this huge chunk of blight and making something awesome of it. We still need a place to buy socks and underwear, and we can be creative with the community’s input. I KNOW we can make something wonderful out of a place so close to many of us. Why can’t this vast parking lot be more walkable while also catering to the needs of Eastsiders? Truth is, all of Iowa City needs this extensive square footage to work for US! 

• Strengthen our local fiscal health.
  • We can’t maintain, let alone improve, Iowa City priorities if we don’t have a strong local economy. Attracting and supporting good businesses that fit in Iowa City helps bring jobs to our residents and expands our ability to provide and improve services. Additionally, I am a proponent of community wealth-building, putting strength and choice in the community. We must bolster groups who know best how their networks and communities need support. I also will be supporting an Iowa City LOST (Local Sales Option Tax) initiative because we are uniquely positioned as a four-season tourist attraction with people spending money here from outside the community. I commit that the public will know how these community-spent dollars are spent at a project level.