Public Safety, Listening to Residents, Better Access to Services and Mental Health Care, More Affordable Housing, Prioritizing Our Kids, Jobs and Businesses, and Keeping Taxes and Regulations Low, Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Improve the County Government's Green Footprint, Reduce Taxpayer Expenditures:
As your County Commissioner, I will work to understand your needs, input, and opinion of the priorities which a county commissioner can help. Here is what East Side residents and businesses have told me is important to them:
- Defending the interests of East Siders. Listen to the needs of residents and businesses in the East Side and negotiate strongly with other Commissioners to achieve the best outcomes for the East Side in county policymaking, while including public input in all stages of environmental, transportation, and real estate development projects that county government undertakes.
- More resources for law enforcement. We are in a temporary, solvable crime wave, but crime can be reduced and has been before. This can be achieved with broad community engagement and input; training and initiatives to increase trust; and hiring and retaining more diverse law enforcement personnel; as well as appropriate allocation of more resources when needed.
- Improve access to government services, including mental health services. It should not be so hard for individuals to access the basic government services that state and federal law provides for them to obtain the assistance and services they need.
- Moving toward a county workforce that reflects the diversity of our communities and works to make access to government services easier and less expensive for everyone.
- More affordable housing by making Ramsey County more attractive for private investment in housing, thus increasing housing supply and keeping rents down. Rent is too high, but the resulting homelessness is caused by an acute shortage of homes, so by providing conditions that make it easier to build more homes where people of all income levels want to live – such as making more real estate available for housing, reducing regulations, making it faster to obtain required permits, and providing transportation options for new developments, we can end homelessness.
- Provide athletic, educational, and environmental programs for kids, especially economically disadvantaged youth. Explore ways to keep kids safe and off the streets during night hours by using county facilities and rec centers for programs to enforce existing curfew laws in a non-punitive way.
- Finish the Gold and Purple light rail lines, connecting the East Side to the light rail system, which will provide for higher density development, leading to more jobs and business opportunities and make the East Side more attractive to residents, business, and visitors.
- Expand the tax base to keep taxes lower. Increasing the value and quantity of industrial, commercial, and residential property through more sustainable transportation and energy designs as well as developing some of the former county-used land can achieve this, always including public input and consensus, including Native American input, in the process.
- I believe Ramsey County can do more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and I am committed to maintaining Ramsey County's amazing 8000 acres of parks, trails, and recreation areas.
- As commissioner I will look for federal grants to install solar panels on county buildings to produce electricity, and I will improve the county government's green footprint in ways which also reduce taxpayer expenditures.
- I will seek present users input regarding effects on Vento Trail.
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