My top 3 priorities if elected are adapting to climate change, serving the unhoused, and addressing the City tax burden. The most tangible measure of our community’s success is how we support our most socially and economically vulnerable.
- What do you think are the most important issues the city needs to address?
In order for our City to be resilient and responsive must address our aging infrastructure and departmental needs. Of equal importance and priority are the needs of our residents, community members, and the economic vitality at-large. The most tangible measure of our community’s success is how we support our most socially and economically vulnerable.
These are not divergent priorities. If we want to grow our housing stock, we must ensure that we can provide quality water and sewer treatment. All areas of the City should have access to adequate water supplies so that we can respond in case of a fire, but there are areas that are currently at risk if more than one incident were to happen at once. We need enough building inspectors to make sure all residential units have a current Certificate of Compliance. Our police and public safety services must be adequately staffed and supported so that officers can be active in the community and that residents in every part of the City feel safe in their neighborhoods and their homes. We need properly maintained sidewalks and trail systems so that those who are visually impaired, in wheelchairs, pushing strollers, and riding bicycles have safe access. Our streets, potholes and drainage issues need to be addressed.
Like other communities across the US, COVID disrupted our City’s municipal work plans, impacted our labor force, and created strains on our services. We have not fully recovered from those delays, and we need to focus on bringing our staffing and services back up to pre-pandemic levels.
- What would be your top 3 priorities if elected?
My top 3 priorities if elected are adapting to climate change, serving the unhoused, and addressing the City tax burden.
The majority of the new First Ward is in the 100-year flood plain, and our vulnerability to flooding is increasing with climate change and our warming environment. We need both short-term and long-term plans to mitigate the impacts of climate change on residents, and adapt future development and housing to prepare for our changing reality. This will involve changes in zoning, building requirements, and planning for the future with neighboring municipalities.
A growing number of those living unhoused are not receiving the assistance they need to be stable in their housing or guide them into safe and supportive shelter, resulting in them having no alternative but to live rough. We need collaborative and supportive strategies to not only improve people’s housing stability and reduce the causes of unsheltered homelessness, but also support those living rough so that they can be safe and have immediate access to needed services.
The City’s tax burden is a large contributor to the rising cost of housing. Two ways to address this are through increasing shared services and eliminating tax abatements for developers. Parks and recreation is an area where the City is carrying the financial burden of providing services that benefit the larger community. We need to re-open discussions with the County to create new partnerships to fund and manage our regional assets such as our waterfront parks, natural areas, and recreational resources. Additionally, I will strongly urge the Tompkins County Industrial Development Agency to stop granting tax abatements to housing development projects that do not demonstrate a significant community benefit. We need to stop subsidizing luxury and market-rate housing.
We need collaborative solutions and new programs conducted across municipalities to serve the larger metropolitan area, and address our housing, development and service needs in a way that is resilient and equitable.
- How would you balance accomplishing the goals of reimagining public safety with addressing what some residents perceive as an increase in crime?
Everyone deserves to feel safe and to be safe. Fundamentally the goal of reimagining public safety is to foster an environment where people know and trust that when they call for help from the police, that they will receive a safe and appropriate response. All individuals, regardless of the color of their skin, should be and feel safe interacting with law enforcement. Our community fully and reasonably expects government and law enforcement to be accountable, appropriate, and unbiased at all times.
What happens is that when people do not trust police, they will not call 911 when incidents happen. When criminal events occur without a report or response, it is more likely to happen again and again, and the cycle continues. Police reform works to increase community engagement with law enforcement and does not create an increase in crime – rather it is just the opposite. This is a case when one must think critically about data being reported and be connected with the community to understand what is happening. If call volumes go up to report a crime – is it because crime is going up, or is it because people feel confident with police and feel safe calling for assistance?
The City and County are working together to ensure an appropriately funded and trained police department which works in tandem with mental-health and peer-supported co-response teams, will work to ensure that individuals receive the assistance they need. The City’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program pairs case workers with officers to assist those who are making bad decisions due to their economic situation and diverts them to support systems rather than the criminal justice system. Community healing programs, which build avenues of communication between community members and law enforcement officers, are essential tools in identifying and addressing implicit bias in law enforcement and the system, improving community engagement and trust with law enforcement.