Candidate Profiles

Protecting Human Rights and Building Belonging: I am committed to ensuring that Iowa City is a place where we all belong. Too many community members currently feel targeted or threatened. I will continue to stand alongside and advocate for the rights of our neighbors, while also working to bring people together, foster understanding, and ensure that every voice is heard and respected.
Affordable Housing: Everyone deserves a safe and affordable place to live, including our unhoused neighbors. We must continue to work with our housing coalition partners, developers, landlords, builders, labor, banking, and our vocational training programs to find more ways to increase the supply of affordable housing and develop more innovative ways to provide shelter for all. During my time on council, we have worked to attract and deploy capital to affordable housing projects, but so much more work needs to be done.
Public Safety: I am proud of the progress Iowa City has made toward creating a more progressive and supportive model of policing. While more work remains, I believe the future of public safety lies in continuing to expand investments in supportive services such as mental health care, housing stability, and community based initiatives. At the same time, we must remain committed to addressing violent crime and keeping our neighborhoods safe.

As we have seen, changes at the state and federal level often target cities like ours because of our beliefs and values. Iowa City is a community that cares deeply about human rights, values our neighbors, and seeks knowledge and justice. In these difficult times, we must come together, support one another, and work for the common good. My faith teaches me that love is the answer, not hate, not fear.

We are and have been faced with budget cuts, and addressing them requires experience and a willingness to work closely with my colleagues, city staff, and our regional partners. We can expect further reductions as the legislature considers property tax reform and other extreme funding cuts. These changes will require many difficult decisions. It is challenging to determine where to begin in order to continue providing the services and safety our residents expect. I would carefully review the areas supported by our general fund and look for opportunities to delay projects, such as infrastructure, that could be postponed for a year or so.

We must work with all of our partners to identify and reduce the barriers to affordable construction, find creative ways to finance projects and bring costs down. We must use all strategies for obtaining affordable housing such as land banking, CDBG Funds, Tax Increment Financing, and the $3,752,000 Pro Housing grant the city received to ultimately become an affordable housing developer.

As an elected official, I am only allowed to educate residents on the specifics of this measure and encourage everyone to make their voice heard at the ballot box. I hope people understand that if approved, this program would provide property tax relief and generate additional funding for affordable housing, infrastructure, and our community partners.

Collaboration is more important now than ever. As the Gazette recently reported, funding cuts are hurting area nonprofits just as community needs are growing. I have always supported strong partnerships between local governments, nonprofits, and the county. While the recent effort to create a shared public safety facility may have ended, our commitment to working together remains. I will continue to pursue regional solutions that improve efficiency, reduce costs, and protect vital services while staying true to our values.

I hope the public has seen that I will always listen, hear all voices, and approach leadership with openness and respect. We cannot always grant every request or solve every problem, but I will work to explain what we are able to do and where limitations exist. Residents can expect clear, honest, and timely communication from me through multiple channels, and I will always make myself available to hear their concerns and ideas.

I have and will continue to always listen and learn from my colleagues. This is the beauty of democracy, we can disagree without being disagreeable. Even when we might not see the same way on a certain issue, we generally agree on 90% of the rest. These are people I respect and care for deeply, people I learn from and who challenge me. As a representative of the people, my job is to challenge them and our staff to always work for the best possible outcome. I am proud of my growth in this area and hope to continue leading as best as I can.

While the opportunity for a joint law enforcement center may no longer exist, I know that Iowa City has facility needs that must be addressed. This affects the Iowa City Police Department along with our entire City Hall. We have already completed a facility needs assessment, and now we can continue discussions at the city for determining the next steps.

Iowa City must maintain free public transit because it is essential for equity, access, and sustainability. I support looking at the feasibility of adding Sunday and late night service so residents who work outside standard hours can rely on transit. I would advocate for partnerships and new funding sources as state and federal support declines. I support more buffered bike lanes and closing trail gaps to make biking and walking safer. Our staff does excellent work with limited resources, and I will ensure they have the support they need.

Growing our tax base, increasing job supply in our community and being a good partner to the business community have been priorities of mine on council. I am an entrepreneur. We must continue to work with our existing businesses and potential businesses both large and small to spur more job growth, promote innovation and ensure that our community is positioned well for the coming changes in our economy. This expansion of Oral B was a project that took over a decade to come to fruition. Working with business, removing obstacles and finding ways to reduce costs and fees where possible are all things I’ve tried to do alongside businesses here in our community.