Community First

I’m running for town council because I believe our town needs a new vision. Jackson needs to grow responsibly, while maintaining its unique town character. We need to keep the proliferation of hotels and luxury condos in check. We need to focus on the people who sustain Jackson and build their lives here. 

We need a new vision, a course correction, a new plan moving forward. I believe our Town Council needs to drive a thoughtful approach that permits reasonable development but PRIORITIZES the natural resources, wildlife habitats and historic characteristics that have made Jackson so unique but now seem to be slipping away.

Our town needs to grow, but I believe that we are now seeing, despite all the “planning” that we do, the results of a lack of vision of what we want our town to look like over the next 30 years. We need a serious re-set and course correction. We need to set limits and make hard decisions that may not be politically convenient. We need to set higher standards and have higher expectations as our community looks to the future. Join me.

COLLABORATION–SUSTAINABILITY–DIRECTION

What are my Priorities:

1.     Responsible Development:

Any new development needs to have minimal impact on our environment and ensure that wildlife habitat and water quality are protected for future generations. We also need to anticipate and mitigate traffic impacts of any new development and ensure that we have the essential infrastructure to support any new and existing projects.

2.     Community Centered, Community First

We must do a much better job of working with our neighborhoods and their residents. We must prioritize the preservation, restoration and repurposing of historic structures and retain their landscapes. We must enhance our social and human services capacities to meet the needs of all residents.

3.     Fiscal Responsibility

Funding our town’s essential services is a big challenge. We need a better way to ensure that we are able to fund the quality and quantity of services that our community needs and expects. I’d like to see Town conduct a thorough assessment of all expenditures and determine where we can be more efficient. I’d like to move away from the divisive rhetoric and grandstanding that seem to dominate negotiations with our colleagues at the County

4.     Affordable Housing Solutions

I am a true champion of affordable housing, but the reality is that housing is a long-term problem. We need to move away from our reactionary “crisis” approach that has resulted in too many 400 square foot UNITS and not enough real HOMES where families can live and grow and stay for the long term.

We need to move away from the “heads in beds” philosophy of the past several years and we need to focus on using creative strategies to address the long-term affordable housing issues in our town. We need to emphasize the restoration, reuse, repurposing of existing structures rather than having our first response be “build more”.

There are other housing issues that need to be addressed: For example: rework or eliminate the highly problematic “workforce” designation, create ways to help people who are “stuck” in the middle – making too much money to qualify for an affordable home but not enough to afford the price tag of a market rate starter home.