Living Wage Jobs for Our Community

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I believe that Tacoma needs a variety of living wage jobs capable of supporting families. If elected I will work to ensure Tacoma encourages jobs in a variety of fields, and make the process of starting or growing a business more accessible. Working for a locally owned business for 12 years, I understand how difficult it can be to navigate that process, but believe with improvement we can increase the number of job opportunities for our citizens. I am passionate about building partnerships connecting our youth with skilled trades, bringing more mid-size businesses to Tacoma, encouraging our existing business to grow, and improving our permitting and planning process to incentivize sustainable local growth.  

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Housing Options for Everyone

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Tacoma should be able to offer affordable housing to all its residents. I want to increase affordable housing options across the city to accommodate everyone; no matter their age or field of employment.  I will work to restructure building incentives so perks such as tax breaks and increased building height limits go to contractors with a commitment to affordable housing. My goal is to define what affordable housing truly means for our residents so we can accommodate our current and incoming population.  Having a background in urban planning it’s important to me that we structure our growth intelligently and sustainably across the city.  I will work to ensure that our vulnerable populations, such as lower income families and seniors, all have a place to call home.

 

Improving Infrastructure

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Tacoma is a wonderful city, but as we continue to grow, much of our infrastructure needs to be updated and improved. I will work to upgrade and maintain our streets by repairing potholes, push for consistent sidewalks and crosswalks across our community, and will look at options to ease traffic.  Another issue I want to address is our aging stormwater system which is undersized and overflows into Puget Sound during heavy rainfall, washing trash and harmful substances into the sound.  I support upgrading our storm water infrastructure and looking at creative new ways to address this citywide and preserve the healthy ecosystems in Puget Sound. I also support our valuable municipal projects and investments, and will work to keep them financially sustainable.

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Public Transportation and Walkable Neighborhoods

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As a former public transportation planner I want to work to decrease congestion on our streets and keep our traffic moving, along with guiding growth around transit hubs and supporting alternative transportation options. I will work to connect and improve our urban trails network, along with bike paths and sidewalks, so citizens have safe, efficient alternatives to driving.  As our city grows, I also want to structure our increasing density around transit hubs to create spaces where people can live and work in their communities.

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Bright Futures for our Families

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As the mother of two young boys, I want Tacoma to be a place where all of our children thrive. With our city population growing, I believe it’s important to keep our neighborhoods safe and invest in our fire and safety staffing to keep people out of harm's way. I also support building community partnerships and working to keep information on city projects transparent and accessible. It is important to me that we create a culture where citizen input on projects can be heard, so community concerns can be addressed in a timely and respectful manner.

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Homelessness

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Currently the city of Tacoma is facing a crisis with an increasing number of residents living on the streets. Last January, I participated in the ‘Point in Time’ homeless count where I learned that many of the homeless self identified as having mental health and substance abuse issues, and a good portion of those had been homeless for many years.  Among them were families, veterans, teenagers and senior citizens; people just like you and me.  I will work towards creating a stable safe space for these displaced individuals with basic amenities such as water, bathrooms, trash pickup, safety patrols, and access to services and support when they are ready to access them.  Then the real work begins to address the root causes of their situations.  Our homeless need support and stability to get off the streets.

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Preserving Green Spaces and Ensuring Tacoma has a Sustainable Future

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As an environmentalist I have always cared deeply about preserving green spaces and minimizing my footprint. Tacoma is a beautiful city and I want to work towards its long-term sustainability.  We need to support industries that will continue the commitment we have to cleaning up our industrial areas and seeking sustainable options that will improve our local ecosystems. By investing in a sustainable future, we can create more jobs for our community while decreasing pollution across the city.  Finally, I support increasing our city’s tree canopy through the creation of a tree committee to help the city reach its goals of increased canopy coverage. Planting more trees helps increase air quality and supports a healthier urban ecosystem, and will help up achieve our goal of a 30% tree canopy by 2030.