Local government should always try to serve the needs of the entire community while balancing competing interests in a timely, appropriate and responsive manner.
- CONTINUE THE CURRENT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY: Mayor Brown has done an admirable job of engaging and recruiting businesses to begin and expand operations in Cedar Falls. I have a lot to learn from him in this regard. Growth is a positive outcome of many inter-related decisions, and our challenge as a community will be to retain our core DNA -- what makes Cedar Falls unique -- while still moving progressively forward as a community.
- APPOINT A DIVERSE POOL TO THE PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION: The current makeup of the Planning and Zoning Commission skews in favor of the development and building community. The city code states that P&Z members should be selected for special expertise and experience in the field, but this does not mean that developers and builders should dominate. I would seek to appoint future commissioners from diverse backgrounds, and a variety of city engagement and progressive thinking which is more representative of the public at large. These candidates would including non-governmental leaders like neighborhood association presidents, business owners, and other community boosters. Failure to diversify may result in the perception that our city is "development at any cost".
- INCREASED ATTENTION ON OUR ORIGINAL NEIGHBORHOODS: As Mayor, I'll advocate for continued investment and improvement of our original Cedar Falls neighborhoods -- particularly the Overman Park, Sartori Park, Cedar Heights, and Fairview neighborhoods. I live in Sartori Park, having bought a house at 314 Olive Street in 2004, in order to live within walking distance of Downtown and other area amenities. Since that time, we've lost our urgent care clinic and police station to southern Cedar Falls. Soon we'll lose the high school, and likely the hospital -- all to the south. While I appreciate that growth is a healthy by-product of a vibrant community, I will work to ensure that this growth doesn't occur at the expense of the 'original neighborhoods' homeowners and property-tax-payers who have built this city into what it is. We must strive to make the original neighborhoods highly desirable to potential and existing homeowners, rather than to investment property speculators. Renting has its place in any community (diversity is a good thing), but we must not allow the scales to tip toward "mostly rentals" in our original neighborhoods.
- NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE: As Mayor, I will establish a new committee with representation from each of the existing Neighborhood Associations, and hopefully new ones as well. This committee will be charged with providing ideas and recommendations for improving affinity, inclusion and connectedness in our neighborhoods. This committee would also allow the neighborhood association officers to interact, share best practices, and combine ideas and resources for the betterment of our entire city. This was already identified as an action in the Community-Wide Strategic Plan but hasn't been carried out yet.