Priorities

As a Lafayette City Council member seeking re-election, I am committed to building on my current work and priorities on City Council. My priorities focus on maintaining fiscal responsibility, enhancing community safety, fostering a thriving downtown, creating more housing opportunities, and promoting environmental sustainability. These interconnected goals aim to preserve Lafayette's high quality of life, address current challenges, and secure a vibrant future for our community.

​

Financial Sustainability

I will continue to work on maintaining financial stability, transparency, and public input into budget decisions. Fiscal responsibility is the basis for maintaining our high-quality municipal services that our community values.

Lafayette has historically enjoyed robust financial health, earning high bond ratings and financial audit awards. Slow post-Covid recovery and inflation over the past few years has increased costs across the board leading to a projected structural deficit that, if not addressed, will leave our reserve fund, for emergencies and other unforeseen situations, severely depleted.

To address the deficit we must cut costs or increase revenues. Cutting costs means cutting staff and reducing services - impactful to the high quality of life we enjoy. I am supportive of Council's unanimous decision to put a small sales tax increase, one that will simply maintain the current level of services, on the November ballot (Measure H) so residents can make a choice. I will be voting YES, to maintain current standards. Visitors who shop and dine in Lafayette will also contribute to city revenues and our overall sales tax will still remain low and match neighboring cities. The measure also includes a 7 year sunset and a citizen oversight committee. Again, this measure is not for new initiatives - as much as I want more parks and other amenities, it would be fiscally irresponsible to pursue them without securing a healthy reserve fund and a level of municipal services that impact Lafayette quality of life. Find more information on the City of Lafayette website (Measure H).

​

Community Safety ​​​

I have worked, and will continue to work on improving community safety, the most important responsibility of city leadership. I will support our strong police force that keeps crime rate low and our community feeling safe. I will continue to work with first responder and state agencies for improved wildfire preparedness, evacuation planning, and emergency recovery. I will continue to support safe multi-modal travel through town via pedestrian and bike safety improvements, traffic calming programs, traffic management, and speed reductions to reduce injury and fatality risks, incorporating Vision Zero considerations.

As downtown grows, I will continue to work on safety measures that are proactive, responsive, and adaptive to changing conditions. I will work to ensure implementation of the updated Safety Element of the General Plan, newly emphasizing the importance of the collaboration of PG&E and other utility partners to reduce risk to the community and enhance emergency response - including more resilient infrastructure and regular risks assessments to proactively address emerging threats.​

​

A Thriving Downtown

The success of downtown businesses is crucial for the economic vitality and cultural richness of our community. Lafayette is fortunate to have so many varied and unique shopping and dining experiences. I will continue work to create a supportive business environment such as assuring a strong police force, supporting legislation that addresses retail crime, and assessing parking needs for solutions. I will maintain a strong relationship with the Lafayette Chamber - our long time economic development partner who support our businesses and community engagement.

With implementation of the Housing Element adopted by Council, I will work to ensure downtown multi-family Objective Design Standards have consideration for the unique character of the downtown corridor. I will forward work on safe multi-modal transportation, mindful of the convergence of downtown traffic on Mt. Diablo Blvd, so that travelers across the city are as safe as can be. I value community gathering and recreation places and will continue to look for opportunities for more park and green spaces within our means. I will continue to support outdoor dining as it draws more people to take advantage of our rich downtown dining scene. I will continue to support our public art programs - bringing more visual, cultural elements to our downtown and community.

​​

More Housing Opportunities​

I will continue to work on creating more housing opportunities in Lafayette, with a focus on affordable housing. Lafayette has a high quality of life. It is no wonder many families, professionals, seniors, and retirees choose to live here – and why housing prices are so high. More inclusive, affordable housing opportunities can also boost our local economy. The Housing Element adopted by Council after years of work and input from the community provides for more housing opportunities across the affordability spectrum making living in Lafayette more accessible to people of all economic backgrounds. Implementing the Housing Element is key to making these opportunities a reality and will also keep us in compliance with state policy – ensuring we keep local control of our vision for development in Lafayette.

​

As most of the housing opportunities are sustainably planned for downtown – easily accessible to shopping, dining, services and public transportation -- I want to continue working with staff, planning, and design commissions to complete work on objective design standards that both maintain the charm and unique character of downtown as well as allow the ability of developers to provide the housing opportunities we envision in a way that benefits all.

​

Environmental Sustainability

I have worked prior to Council, and will continue to work, to protect our beautiful, bountiful local environment, adhering to the think globally & act locally adage, mindful of global climate change. Protecting our environment has been a passion for me - you might remember my successful efforts via the non-profit I co-founded, Save Lafayette Trees, to save heritage trees in our neighborhoods while advocating for improved gas pipeline safety. And for the the past four years I have represented the community, serving on the Marin Clean Energy Board as well as the RecycleSmart (CCC Solid Waste Authority) Board, working to reduce our impact on climate change. I currently serve as Board Chair for RecycleSmart. I am proud to work for our community’s best interest at each of these agencies: MCE works to produce clean, renewable energy at stable, competitive rates; RecycleSmart works to provide high quality, cost effective waste and recycling programs that add to our community’s sustainability efforts.

​

The City has an adopted Environmental Action Plan for sustainability and I support the Environmental Task Force in their work to bring policies and programs to that end. Recently, the Council approved a gas powered leaf blower ban to reduce noise and air pollution in our neighborhoods. I will also continue to promote electrification and EV infrastructure build-out as well as support legislation that supports fast, practical transition to renewable energy.