Candidate Comparison

Homelessness, Neighborhood stabilization, Affordable housing options for all citizens.
Flood Control System
Economic growth for existing and new companies to the community.
Continued

My campaign is guided by three pillars: increasing health and housing stability, aligning with best-practices of animal welfare, and cultivating a safe and sustainable community.


Improve Health and Housing Stability
- Increase resilience by identifying non-federal funding sources and partnerships
- Initiatives to increase resources for those experiencing homelessness
- Incentivize affordable housing
- Inclusionary Zoning
- Incentivize sustainable urban farm/food security programs

Best Practice Animal Welfare Policies
- Support the evolution of Chapter 23 ordinances to:
- Outline clearer care standards​
- Community-based programs
- Solution-focused policies
- Be in line with Best-Practices
- Increase Pet Retention Programs
- Launch a community spay/neuter fund

Safe and Sustainable Community
- Advance CR's 1000 Acre Pollinator Initiative (increasing pollinator habitat)
- Advance CR's efforts increase renewable energy via solar and wind resources​
- Incentivize water use reduction
​- Incentivize the sale/purchase of compostable products and packaging
- Engage local non-profits to amplify their work and impact

Affordable housing in our community.

The biggest issues facing our city come down to basic needs; people want to know they are safe, supported, and will have the opportunity to pursue their goals. Affordable housing, cost of living, access to good paying jobs, high quality healthcare, and affordable childcare are all huge concerns for many of our neighbors. I will aim to forge partnerships, start new programs, and drive ordinances which will create more affordable opportunities and improve the health of our entire community.

We would need to look at areas that would not jeopardize the health and safety of our community and make sacrifices in areas such as capital improvement projects that are not in dire need of repair.

Coming from a non-profit background, my professional life has centered around resource-efficient practices. The first initiatives which come to mind include diversifying funding to include a heavier emphasis on corporate and private foundations, while also establishing partnerships with businesses and non-profits to increase community support in line with best practices. Getting creative to identify funding is nearly a daily activity in my full-time job as a Partnership Coordinator for a non-profit.

I would like to evaluate salaries within the city ranks, such as the City Manager Position: According to GovSalaries.com, the city manager is paid over $375,000, which is about 5 times as much as the median household income in our city. Additionally, one department accounts for 52 million dollars of expenditures (31% of our city’s budget.) A deep dive into that budget could reveal manageable reallocations – even a minimal adjustment, percent wise, of that budget moved to efforts like affordable housing, food security, and programs to make childcare more affordable would be transformative for our community.

We have a role to work with our leaders at the state level and national level at HUD to identify our housing needs and create programs that assist in making housing affordable. There are many current programs in place that we can and do tap into. We need to identify the gaps in those programs to better serve those who need more affordable housing.

With the housing vacancy rate being between 1.2 - 1.5%, there is an obvious shortage of housing options. City leadership can increase the housing density through zoning efforts and partner with diverse entities to build sustainable housing with increased weather and wind resistance. Creativity and innovation is our ally; looking at redeveloping and remodeling abandoned buildings into housing could yield appealing housing options. Additionally, we should be seeking partnerships to revive properties, increase Accessory Dwelling Units, and support new construction that maximizes green space availability.

We have experienced great success with economic growth the last four years of our community which brings in workers from outside our community. Once the workers are here the hope is they experience a safe, vibrant community to raise their family. The hope is they will want to stay and plants roots in our community for years to come.

Population growth doesn’t necessarily mean we are thriving. Metrics like unemployment rates (4.3%, higher than the state average), number of people living outdoors (58, down from 111 in July of 2024), infant and mother mortality rates (Between 2013 and 2023, the infant mortality rate in Iowa increased more than 21%. 95% of maternal deaths between 2019-2021 were preventable), and degree of health disparities (Linn county cancer rates exceed state and national averages) are stronger indicators of our community’s health. “Brain drain” has been talked about statewide, and it affects us here in Cedar Rapids too. We need to make sure Cedar Rapids is a place our youth feel they have a future in – which means prioritizing public education, public health and safety, good jobs, and making it easy to support a family here.

We have wonderful non-profit partners in our community that works on the issues in homelessness. The City Council role is to work with the non-profits to provide them with tools and resources to help them in their mission.

Our community is on the right track. The most recent Point-in-Time Count was a fraction of the numbers just last year (down to 58 people sleeping outdoors on the night of the count — down from the 111 in July of 2024.) I would aim to explore zoning updates to encourage affordable housing and also offer incentives to partner with Waypoint and Willis Dady in their Homelessness Prevention Program. Recent developments in national policy around homelessness and how to address it are incredibly concerning and contradictory to best practices. Locally, I will continue support and amplification of programs prioritizing housing first, tenant rights, and a collaborative approach. Initiatives such as the Landlord pilot program lead by Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust (CRBT) and administered by the Alliance for Equitable Housing and Waypoint Housing, CR's support of the Margaret Bock housing to become Supportive Housing for those exiting homelessness, and the 127 affordable housing units coming to CR and Hiawatha are great steps, but so much more can be done and needs to be done urgently. This is about the health and safety of all residents.

To be business friendly is to provide consistent guidelines on what it takes to do business in the City of Cedar Rapids and not put un-needed barriers on businesses to be successful.

A healthy business sector can provide career opportunities and income stability, but so can a flourishing non-profit sector. I would love to see higher degrees of corporate/philanthropic partnerships, and generally higher re-investments back into our community to support the citizens who live here and prioritize work which delivers on great working conditions and gainful wages.

How does this project benefit the community around it?
What public purpose will this project benefit our community?
What gap exist to make the project successful?

Each of these criteria's should have weighted guidelines and should be measured consistently from project to project not to have an emotional connection with one from the other.

Tax incentives are a wise tool to leverage when the recipient is providing a tangible service, structure, or program which directly benefits the general public. We need to prioritize the initiatives which will positively move the needle on key challenges for our community and lean into evidence-based practices. I would want to see tax incentives offered primarily to Cedar Rapids-based businesses, with a track record of treating their employees fairly, and who are invested in Cedar Rapids for the long term – not just long enough to get the tax incentive. In the NW Neighborhood we’ve seen some great housing options pop up, partially thanks to tax incentives. We need more of that to deal with our housing shortage.

I was city employee at the time of the floods of 2008 and saw the devastation to the neighborhoods and businesses firsthand. The city at that time made a commitment to rebuild our city and see to it that the future generations would be protected from future floods. It is very essential that we continue this mission all the way to the end to ensure our community is safe and all citizens are out of harms way.

With collaborative efforts and initiatives, we could advance this progress further and faster by investing in literal upstream solutions like increasing riparian zones, marshes, and prairie/pollinator areas along roadways and waterways up the Cedar River.

Fortunately it’s easy to measure the importance of these efforts – we’ve seen a few major floods since 2008, but the city has learned how to efficiently prepare in advance and alert neighborhoods so that residents stay safe and business is minimally impacted.

While progress on the actual flood walls may seem slow - it’s been over 17 years since the flood of ‘08 - this has been a huge undertaking that required the city to work together with county, state, and federal government agencies, in addition to working with residents and businesses to make sure we’re protecting everything we can while respecting property rights and the emotional toll these decisions have taken on people. The scale of the flood control system projects is something we’ve never seen in our city’s history. Mistakes have been made, I can’t promise that there won't be more, but I am a person who can admit when something didn’t go as planned or we didn’t think of potential impacts and work to make things right.