Candidate Profiles

a. Our first challenge is still the continuing recovery from the pandemic, Derecho and Flood of 2008. These challenges form a trifecta that influences our daily decision making, city budget, economic recovery and mental wellbeing. While we have made great progress, we need to stay focused on efforts to rebuild, retain and create sustainable jobs and recruit people to fill the positions that are currently empty. We are a city that has survived two of the worst disasters in our nation’s history. We are moving forward on many issues and have accelerated our flood control construction. We need to be prepared for whatever comes our way in these days of uncertainty and unpredictability.



b. Public safety is—and will remain—my highest priority. If residents do not feel safe in their homes and neighborhoods, it becomes difficult to focus on any other issue. While recent data shows some types of crime trending downward including "shots fired," I still remain deeply concerned by emerging patterns of crime here and across the nation. Crime today is not isolated to one part of the city—it touches every quadrant. Even as shots-fired incidents decline, the randomness of gun violence and the trauma it leaves behind continue to destabilize neighborhoods and inflict lasting harm. For those living near homes targeted for retribution, the constant anxiety and fear are real and corrosive.

In my next term, I will continue to make the prosecution of violent offenders a top priority, while expanding the programs that offer a pathway out of violence. That means supporting job creation, recreation, and afterschool opportunities that give young people and at-risk residents positive alternatives to crime.

We have made real progress over the past four years. Our Police Department has always known who the key players in gun violence were—but today, we finally have a comprehensive community strategy to address it. The infrastructure is now in place. The Police Community Action Team (PCAT) is seizing illegal weapons and targeting repeat violent offenders, while the Group Violence Intervention (GVI) initiative is reaching directly into neighborhoods to engage those caught in the cycle of violence, offering resources to help them change direction.

These efforts work because they are grounded in strong partnerships—with our accredited and professional Police Department, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Community Corrections, and WARN program, and with community-based partners like RISE and CRUSH. Together, we are building bonds of trust and a safer Cedar Rapids for every neighborhood.


c. And to strengthen our local economy so that it can support both recovery and growth—maintaining full funding for the completion of our flood control system while protecting the city services our residents rely on every day.

A sound and balanced city budget is essential. We must continue to invest in the infrastructure that drives redevelopment and growth, while ensuring that our citizens continue to have access to high-quality parks, recreation, and public safety services.

This work is taking place in a time of uncertainty at both the state and federal levels. Property tax revenues—our most dependable local funding source—are under continued scrutiny by the Iowa Legislature, even as state and federal support for critical services declines. The demands on city government are growing, and so are the needs of those who depend on us most.

My commitment is to keep Cedar Rapids financially strong, focused on responsible growth, and prepared to meet these challenges without sacrificing the quality of life that makes our city such a great place to live.

The greatest challenge facing Cedar Rapids and other like cities today is maintaining local stability—financially, socially, and operationally—amid growing demands and shrinking resources. As state and federal governments retreat from traditional responsibilities, cities are being asked to do more with less. Property tax limits, rising costs, and cuts to critical services are straining local budgets just as the need for housing, public safety, and infrastructure investment grows. At the same time, cities are contending with the pressures of gun violence, mental health crises, and the effects of climate change, all while navigating political division and misinformation that make it harder to govern effectively. The challenge for us as city leaders today is to keep Cedar Rapids safe, solvent, and resilient—to protect core services, strengthen public trust, and chart a sustainable path forward even as the ground continues to shift beneath us.

I have worked in previous councils where we have had to make tough choices, we continue to do it under this form of government. While budgets are always tight, cities need to operate effectively and efficiently. We do that well here in Cedar Rapids. We also need to be able to raise additional revenue, this helps supplements cuts that are made by the state and federal government to us. There are no particular area's of focus at this time, it would probably be a reduction to all departments equally, if and when a reduction would need to be made. You do it with a level head, a plan and not a gut reaction to the changing times.

In this area the city has had a successful partnership with the State of Iowa. As someone who develops, builds, and manages affordable housing projects throughout Iowa, Cedar Rapids should be proud of the progress that we have made replacing housing stock that was lost in the Flood of 2008. We have also been able to add additional housing to supplement the stock we have in place. This is because people continue to leave rural Iowa and move to cities where they hope to find quality jobs and education. This is why it helps to have strong non-profits in place like Habitat, Hope CDA, HACAP, Affordable Housing Network and Matthew 25 who rehab much of our existing and older housing stock. Do we have enough housing? Of course not, there are certain categories that need more and through good sound planning and continued partnerships and leadership on the issue, we can continue to make this key area for growth a priority.

Working every day to make sure that people feel safe in their community is the first step we can take when improving the quality of life and attracting residents. We do this every day. The ability to make a phone call and have police, fire and ambulance within minutes is huge. Not all cities can guarantee that efficiently. Building trails that can be used for transportation and recreation, improving traffic flow (Collins Road by Lindale). When it comes to neighborhood parks, we are replacing playgrounds and the surfacing on our splashpads. We are planting trees in neighborhoods and creating public spaces where people can interact and build a sense of community. ConnectCR is a national model of a successful public-private partnership, this is a game changer for enhancing the entire community’s quality of life. A city’s role in driving population growth is to create the conditions that make people want to live, work, and raise their families here. That means ensuring strong public services, safe neighborhoods, affordable housing options, good schools, and a vibrant local economy. People choose a community because it feels welcoming, offers opportunity, and provides a high quality of life. I have been helping to create those conditions here in Cedar Rapids for most of my life.

A continued focus on housing the hardest of the homeless. This involves an honest discussion of the resources that our community lacks for those individuals that have complex co-occurring substance and mental healthcare disorders. Most service providers do not serve them or they have flunked out of certain programs and then have nowhere to go. They are the focus of many of our police and fire calls for service. This will involve more interaction with our state and federal healthcare partners and a continued open and honest conversation with existing service providers or new ones about their capacity and resources. We have several positive programs in place and have made good hard progress but the problem is still visible and evident in our community. Meth and continued drug use has decimated certain sectors of our community. This is a problem that we struggle with on a daily basis. There are no easy solutions.

I have served on city councils that were not business friendly. That is no longer the case and has not been the case since our current city manager has been here in Cedar Rapids. And while we are business friendly, we still weigh the cost benefit to the neighbors and city in general. What we have tried to eliminate is the blame game between departments, if there is an issue or holdup on a project, we have clear lines of communication and accountability that help streamline and solve challenges that might be project specific. We have strong labor unions that help provide labor and additional support to local industry and we somehow always manage “to find a way,” to work through problems and issues, this is not the case in all cities.

What is the public benefit? There has to be a benefit to the general public that outweighs the amount of taxes that would be generated by the project. Does the project create jobs, remove blight, spur additional investment? These and many other reasons can be found to justify the use of TIF, which is basically the only tool that cities have to incentivize new development. Then the question is asked "how does the project align with current city goals? The hope is that they are in synch with the goals of the city. And what are the time limitations on the project, we want projects to meet the job thresholds that they agree to and abide by wage schedules that are sustainable and positive. We do not engage in tax incentive contests; our process and procedures are well documented, transparent and have been successful.

I believe that this is one of the most productive phases of growth and revitalization that our city has experienced in decades. This is not sensationalism or hype. The numbers speak for themselves. Our flood control system is the largest public infrastructure project that a city in Iowa has tackled. We are rebuilding our downtown and much of our infrastructure. Tourists are returning and our hotels are once again busy. New restaurants and businesses are opening, and most importantly our residents feel safer from flood waters. We are also embarking on shifting of our economic efforts from just grain to innovation. With the addition of data centers in the mix of our economy, our community will quickly become more known and engaged in the byproduct and relationships formed from these large suppliers of data; we need to build on this new enterprise.
The Cedar Rapids-Iowa City/Coralville Corridor is the economic engine that drives much of this state’s growth. Regretfully, many of the reasons for this growth and success are under attack from others. The Iowa City/Coralville and Cedar Rapids economic destinies are linked in more ways than one. With improved transportation between communities via I-380, residents will begin to think more regionally in terms of service delivery. Communities will need to embrace planning efforts together for their continued success.
What needs to be improved is how we communicate this message to the public. People are not aware of much of this progress or many of the true threats and if someone constantly tells you on social media that there is no progress, then that is the message that you come away with. It is not accurate nor indicative of the challenges we have faced and the progress that has been made together.