Strengthen Our Neighborhoods

Help Small Businesses Thrive

Ensure Sensible Urban Development

Strengthen Our Neighborhoods
Community policing.
Meetings with block watch commanders.
More council members and staff at neighborhood meetings.

Our neighborhoods are the heart of a successful city. To keep them strong and safe, we must foster an environment of ownership. People need to see that they have a say in what’s going on in their area and their city. We need to know that our police drive down our streets regularly, and that criminals are aggressively prosecuted. We need to know the city is listening when we have a community meeting, and that we can make a difference in how our city is run. When you vote for me, I’ll help with this by sending more staff to neighborhood meetings, putting Block Watch commanders and community activists face-to-face with council members, and expanding our community policing programs.

Council members should be meeting with Block Watch commanders on a regular basis. Our police department does a great job of attending the Block Watch advisory board meetings, but Block Watch is not just about our police. Our policy makers need to be directly involved as well. We need to hear firsthand the concerns from our neighborhoods.

I attend neighborhood meetings whenever I can. This is the best way to get a feel for the desires and concerns of the people living in those neighborhoods. I believe that we need to send more staff and council members to these meetings. City staff does a great job of attending for specific discussions about crime, or historic preservation, but we need to do a better job of having city staff and council members attend just to hear from the public. Most people don’t attend council meetings. But a lot of people attend individual neighborhood meetings. These meetings are one of our best opportunities to reach out to those who may not otherwise be involved.

Certain parts of Phoenix have a great neighborhood policing strategy. We have police actually walking the beat, directly interacting with the people they protect and serve.
Now I understand why we can’t do that everywhere. Our police are already spread thin. We have limited resources and it is a resource intensive program. But I think if we expand the pilot, we will see some great results. It’s not as if we are in the dark here. We know where our high crime areas are and this is where we can focus. If we let people know we are serious about keeping our city clean by aggressively enforcing city codes and that we have a visible 24-hour police presence, I believe we can reduce crime.

Neighborhoods are the foundation of our city. With your vote, I will work to strengthen your neighborhoods through increased public safety and by providing more information and education from the city to help you make it a better place to live.
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Help Small Businesses Thrive
Reduce bureaucratic burdens on opening small businesses.
Reduce business and residential property taxes.
City should encourage healthcare consortiums.
Increase ‘export’ business activities

When I speak to small business owners, they consistently mention governmental burdens, health care, and taxes as the three main issues that cause problems for them. We need to expedite zoning and rezoning, look at ways of reducing the tax burden on our small businesses, and connect more businesses with health care consortiums. In order to grow our local economy, we need to increase business activities that bring outside money into the city.

It is the city’s job to encourage small business development. Phoenix’s entrepreneurs have a hard enough time opening and keeping their businesses afloat. I want to cut the red tape. I recently heard a story about someone who wanted to open a business in historic downtown. The months and months of bureaucratic burdens he faced and the thousands and thousands of dollars he spent would have discouraged even the most entrepreneurial of entrepreneurs! The city is not here to create barriers. We need to be encouraging and streamlining this process, and with your vote, I will work to accomplish this.

According to the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, during the years 2004 and 2005, Phoenix’s population grew an average of 3.7% and 3.5%. During those same two years, average per capita income rose 3.2% and 4.3%, respectively. Phoenix now has a proposed budget that would increase general fund maintenance and operation spending by 11.9%. I just don’t see how the city can responsibly propose a budget that far outstrips both population growth and salary growth. The city sets the tax rate each year, and I propose that the city reduce that rate and lower your taxes. Due to Phoenix’s growth and property values, the city can reduce the rate at which we are taxed and still increase the budget to cover inflationary costs and expand needed programs. We need to make sure that every taxpayer dollar is used wisely, and we need to actively look to find places in government where we can establish cost savings.

One of the biggest difficulties that business owners face is health care. Many local business owners say they cannot provide health care for their employees due to the high cost. The prohibitive costs and complex plans create confusion and discouragement. The city should provide more education and outreach to our small business owners to inform them of the benefits of healthcare consortiums. By joining together for healthcare, small businesses can achieve an efficiency of scale that they could not otherwise attain.

Local businesses that provide services to local residents are the core of our city. However, economic growth is also strongly linked to businesses that bring in revenue from outside of our city. Manufacturing and tourism are great examples of this type of economic stimulus. We need to encourage businesses that bring economic resources into Phoenix from outside the city boundaries.

Running a business is a difficult task. The city shouldn’t make it any more difficult. With your vote, I will help to ensure that small businesses get the help they need to thrive.
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Ensure Sensible Urban Development
Address the issues of sustainable development.
Historic preservation is supposed to be a benefit for both the city and its citizens.
Establish a balance of public spaces and healthy retail market.
Do a better job of explaining what benefits we will get if we enact a certain development proposals.

Sensible urban development is potentially one of the most important issues facing our city and the council. We must address the difficult issues of urban sprawl and its effects on environment, water sustainability, commercial redevelopment, and historic preservation. Phoenix is growing. We need to assure it grows responsibly.

As we grow, Phoenix must address the impact that growth has on our environment. Pollution has caused a record breaking number of high pollution advisories in Phoenix over the last year. We need a comprehensive and aggressive program that addresses dust control on construction sites, stabilization of our unpaved roads and lots, and outreach to the public.

Phoenix is in the midst of a decade of drought. Ninety five per cent of our drinking water comes from the Salt and Verde Rivers via the Salt River Project and from the Colorado River via the Central Arizona Project. We must ensure that all new commercial developments utilize low water use systems and landscaping and that they do not increase the Valley’s vulnerability to drought. The city can also take steps to improve water consumption. For instance, we should look at less frequent irrigation of our parks and golf courses.

As development in Phoenix pushes not only out to our boundaries, but in toward the heart of the city, we face issues of historic preservation and redevelopment. Historic preservation must benefit both the city and its citizens. There will be times when it is in the best interest of the city and the people to allow development in historically designated areas, but we must carefully weigh each case. There must also be more public input on redevelopment. The current concept of the shopping mall has changed. As we have seen with Metro Center, Spectrum Mall and others, the boutique establishments anchored by the department store sconcept does not always flourish. There will be tough decisions on whether to allow a Wal-Mart or a Home Depot to take over an empty building. This is when we need to get input from the neighbors and foster a working relationship with the companies. We can ensure that residents have a say in what the redevelopment looks like, and I will work to make sure that businesses listen.

Recently, there have been some very large development proposals in Phoenix. Developers have seen the potential in Phoenix and are moving to build large mixed-use enterprises. All of this is growth good for Phoenix, and the city should do everything it can to encourage responsible growth. I think that a city needs to work with these developers to ensure that public spaces are included in the projects. One of the most important aspects of public spaces is shade. Every new development that expects outdoor foot traffic needs to take that into account and plan comfortable shaded areas accordingly.

Finally, the city of Phoenix needs to work with developers to do a better job of informing residents about the benefits that come with development. Too often, I hear from residents who have doubts about the benefits of some new condo development or they are wondering why their usual route to work has been blocked off to make way for a big building project. I often share these doubts because no information has been provided as to how these projects will benefit the city.

The city of Phoenix is growing very fast, and District 7 contains some of the fastest growing areas. This progress is good for the city. With your vote, I can help make sure that progress is handled responsibly.
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