Media Coverage, Public Comments, and Positions

Responsible growth

Flagstaff is going to experience enormous pressure to grow in the coming years—more so than in the past!—as climate refugees from southern Arizona seek relief from record-breaking temperatures. We can't stop growth entirely, and nor should we try. But I'm not going to be a rubber stamp for every development project that comes our way. I support planned communities, green construction, and integrated conservation design. I pledge to evaluate all growth opportunities against their potential impacts on water resources, traffic, the long term health of ecosystems, our dark skies, and our small town's rural and cultural heritage.

NAU's Growth

NAU is experiencing an epoch of unprecedented growth, and the administration is being incentivized with bonuses for accelerating that growth! Parking garages are going up all over campus, and the University is encouraging students to utilize them. I believe in a different approach. We should work with NAU to encourage and strengthen alternatives to car use. As NAU grows, city property often transitions to university property, cutting off valuable tax revenue. Flagstaff ought to be the master of its own growth, and not subservient to the Arizona Board of Regents. NAU provides countless positive outcomes for our city, to be sure. But the city council must continually make a renewed effort to ask a difficult question: What are the costs to Flagstaff's other interests when NAU enjoys significant power over our city's employment, real estate, policy-making, and financial resources?

Affordable Housing

Flagstaff is far too expensive for far too many residents. And far too many absentee home owners and investors control our housing markets, all while enjoying tax breaks! Flagstaff's families need more affordable housing opportunities. We should use all the tools we can to cap rising housing costs, especially in certain downtown and university-adjacent neighborhoods. I support efforts to create affordable housing using infill on vacant parcels. Arizona's Prop 207 limits the tools we have to control our own destiny, but we should seek opportunities at every turn to make the dream of home ownership for our hardworking families more achievable.

Traffic, traffic, traffic

It's imperative that Flagstaff tackle congestion. This is a perennial issue, and one that has no "magic wand" fix, but past councils have made the situation worse. What will traffic look like on Milton once The Hub is up and running? What about the hundreds of homes going up on McMillan Mesa? Before any development projects get my vote, I'll require a detailed traffic impact study. How many new cars will it bring to Flagstaff? How many new traffic lights? What will be the impact on commute times?

Wider roads and bypasses risk simply inviting greater growth and more traffic. Decisions at the council level ought to consider a wide spectrum of solutions to make it easier to get around town without a car. I'm very proud of our wonderful urban trail system, but to truly realize the ideal of a walkable community, more routes must be developed to better connect pedestrians and cyclists in every corner of Flagstaff. I will advocate for more bike lanes, tunnels, and routes that maximize safety and access for alternative commuters.

The city must collaborate with NAU to address the university's role in exacerbating congestion. There's a lot NAU can do to help. They can deny parking passes to first-year students, a solution that has worked in many college towns throughout the country. Student fees can provide greater access to public transit, which in turn improves quality of public transit for the whole city.

Winter traffic is its own beast. The new snow park at Fort Tuthill is a great development. I would like to explore the feasibility of scaling back the Wing Mountain Snow Play area, and doing all we can to relocate Phoenix visitors to alternative locations, preventing thousands of cars from disrupting our residential traffic.

Community Policing

Neighborhoods stay safer and crimes are more likely to be reported when community and police are developing solutions in partnership. Flagstaff has demonstrated an honest appetite for strong binds between the police department and community members. However, we must make further structural gains. For example, the heavily-skewed percentage of youth of color in our juvenile detention centers illuminates the need for broader solutions.

In Sacramento, I engaged first-hand with a successful effort called Cease Fire to bring community and police together to effectively combat gang violence with broad public buy-in. These efforts require lots of dialogue, relationship building, resources, and policy directives.

I've heard directly from city police officers who feel that their department is urgently understaffed. Our city's growth has been accompanied by an uptick of violent crimes, yet our police department is not experiencing the necessary increase in resources. Our department has high turnover, as officers seek better opportunities for their families elsewhere. The police have told me that we're a "one crisis" town. With only five officers on duty per 20,000 residents, the department would be hard-pressed to address a simultaneous shooting and robbery on opposite ends of town, for example. Our city must recruit and retain the finest talent for our police force, alongside developing strategies to strengthen community partnerships.

Road Conditions

Road conditions throughout town are deteriorating faster than we're addressing the problem. Trash litters our streets and highways. Road construction projects are taking far, far too long to complete. I pledge to demand greater efficiency and more resources as the next council continues to tackle these concerns. I understand that several of our main thoroughfares—including, but not limited to Milton, Route 66, and the highways—are state property and do not fall under city jurisdiction. Regardless, I will use my office to lean on ADOT, the state legislature, and our Congressional representatives as much as possible to make sure our constant road headaches are heard and more efficiently addressed.