PRIORITIES
Let’s move Urbana forward
I am running for mayor to build a resilient, thriving, and welcoming city for all. As your mayor, I will advocate for the people of Urbana's right to safety, dignity, and prosperity and the fair and respectful treatment of our city employees. We all belong here and deserve a voice in our government. These are my priorities as we chart our future together.
My priorities are: Sustainable Growth, Expanded Housing Opportunities, Safe and Connected Transportation, Community Safety, Racial Equity and Social Justice, Social Health and Well-being, Environmental Resilience
Sustainable Growth
Urbana, at its best, is a welcoming and forward-looking city. Over the past 50 years, however, our population has remained flat while our land area has more than doubled. We must reverse this trend. To strengthen our city's financial footing and provide high-quality services to residents and businesses, we must grow our population and tax base.
The Imagine Urbana Comprehensive Plan will lay the groundwork for some of our most important decisions over the next four years. We should substantially update our zoning ordinance to ensure that the development we need is aligned with our broader social, economic, and environmental goals.
It should be easy for new businesses to open and for successful homegrown ventures to remain in Urbana. Our small businesses need a thriving ecosystem of investors, lenders, and business support organizations and high-quality spaces at rents that can be reasonably sustained.
Expanded Housing Opportunities
As a progressive city, we will affirm the right of all people to safe, comfortable, and broadly affordable housing located in places where they can prosper. We must increase the overall supply of units and expand the range of housing types in Urbana to ensure that our residents have choices when it comes to where they live, how they live, with whom they live, and how much of their income they spend on the home they live in.
We can and should build a little more housing in every neighborhood. Incremental development ensures that change is not just the domain of large developers but of community builders responding to local needs in sensitive, creative ways. Our city’s housing stock should reflect profound demographic shifts (smaller households, aging population) and evolving lifestyle preferences (desire for less maintenance, multigenerational households). We need to encourage the development of more types of for-sale housing, like townhomes and condos, and attainable starter homes.
We must continue to partner with local organizations and neighboring cities to deliver affordable housing, administer rental assistance, and support the unhoused in our community.
Safe and Connected Transportation
Connecting people to jobs, services, neighborhoods, and each other requires implementing equitable transportation options. Allowing everyone to go where they want to and connect with their neighbors safely.
Urbana needs safe, sustainable, and productive streets. This means filling potholes, updating sidewalks, and strategically installing crosswalks and stop signs at parks, schools, and churches. Our children should be able to safely walk and bike to school using C-U Safe Routes to School.
We should continue implementing the Urbana Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plans so that people aged 8 to 80 or greater can safely bike and walk to essential activities. We should pursue a Safe System approach and eliminate deaths and serious injuries (Vision Zero) on our roadways.
Community Safety
As your mayor, I will advocate for reform and innovation that makes our community safer and law enforcement outcomes more equitable and just. By utilizing alternative response strategies for low-risk service calls, we can free up police resources and reduce the potential for unnecessary arrests and uses of force.
We can reduce our reliance on traffic enforcement and crash investigations – that disproportionately impact low-income and minority residents – by prioritizing street design and traffic calming measures that foster safer driving conditions in general.
I will strongly encourage our firefighters, emergency medical services, police officers, and school resource officers to embrace data-driven solutions, technological advancements, and ongoing training. This commitment will ensure that we can effectively respond to a wide range of emergencies.
I support installing Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs) using best practices and guardrails of accountability and management to protect our civil rights and civil liberties.
Racial Equity and Social Justice
I am determined to integrate racial equity and social justice into everything the city does, from housing and safety to transportation, social health, and the environment.
The city will continue learning, applying, practicing, and innovating, informed by our membership and strategic partnerships in GARE (Government Alliance on Racial Equity). Aiming to advance racial equity in government and allow all families in our community to live long, healthy, joyful lives, no matter their race, class, or zip code.
Social Health and Well-being
Whether it’s festivals, theater, parades, concerts, art shows, athletics, dining, or recreation, gathering together to experience and celebrate connects us as a community and attracts visitors to Urbana. The city government must catalyze Urbana’s creative arts and culture scenes and businesses.
We should make downtown a vibrant commercial district with shared streets, places to sit, walk, and dine, and encourage slow vehicle speeds (cars and bikes). Downtown Urbana should directly connect to the Kickapoo Rail Trail (KRT) with a safe, low-stress path.
The city government must continue to support local agriculture via the Farmers’ Market, find more ways to give more people access to locally grown food, and support businesses that sell and serve our farmers’ produce.
Cultivating our social-cultural capital makes Urbana an attractive place to live and visit, generates revenue for the city government through sales taxes, and rewards the businesses that choose to locate here.
Environmental Resilience
Our commitment to environmental sustainability is urgent, and the Urbana Climate Action Plan will be updated and implemented. Investment in our beloved urban forest is needed to ensure we reduce the number of vacant tree sites and have sufficient staff to care for this crucial civic asset. By applying an ecological approach to city-managed landscapes, we can support biodiversity, pollinator health, and ecological restoration. By becoming a Dark Sky City, we can reduce the harmful impacts of light pollution.
Urbana was one of the first cities in Illinois to offer citywide recycling, and that same spirit of innovation is needed in our present-day waste management policy. Consolidated garbage collection will reduce harmful emissions from refuse trucks, among the least-efficient vehicles on our roads. Community composting will divert more waste from landfills and support sustainable agriculture and a resilient food system.
The health of our environment is a shared responsibility, so we will ally ourselves with neighboring communities to protect the Mahomet Aquifer, our sole source of drinking water.