AURORA VOTE 2023 — The race for At-large City Council

Alison Coombs, D-Challenger

Coombs hopes to trade her Ward V seat for an at-large position this fall. She was elected in 2019, defeating Republican incumbent Bob Roth, and she works as a program manager for a residential program serving adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She is the first openly LGBTQ+ person to serve on Aurora’s City Council.

Curtis Gardner, R-Incumbent

Gardner is running for re-election to the at-large seat that he was first elected to in 2019. He has lived in Aurora most of his life. Gardner holds a master’s degree in finance and worked at a local credit union for 14 years before accepting his current job as a local government liaison in the solid waste industry.

Thomas Mayes, D-Challenger

Mayes, pastor of Living Waters Christian Center Church in Aurora, is running again for a seat on Aurora’s City Council. He has been an active part of the Aurora community for years, including serving as a community liaison for the Aurora Police Department following the 2012 theater shooting and as part of the Community Advisory Council currently involved in the implementation of APD’s consent decree.

Jono Scott, R-Challenger

Scott also plans on returning to the Aurora political stage this fall to run for a seat on Aurora’s city council. The pastor and director of a local food bank has lived in Aurora for more than 30 years and holds a master’s degree in religious education as well as an undergraduate degree in biblical studies.

Why should Aurora voters pick you as their next at-large representative?

• I am committed to being present in our community and listening to a wide variety of perspectives on issues. I have worked to increase civic engagement and the quality of information available to our residents. I am also committed to investing in every person in our city. We have incredible potential in our city that is often wasted because we are not making the investments we need to in our people. By investing in every person and every neighborhood in our city, I know we can ensure that every person has dignified housing, dignified work, and the ability to be safe in our city.

What will be your top three legislative priorities if elected?

•  Housing is my top priority. We can increase the amount of housing available at all price points and increase the quality of housing available to our residents. We do this by building new units, but we also have to invest in making sure enough of those units are affordable, both for people who qualify for subsidies and for people who do not. We also need to ensure that all rental housing in our city is up to code, and that the landlords are held responsible for providing livable, safe homes.
• Economy is also a major priority for me. We need to ensure that our minimum wage catches up and keeps up with Denver so workers aren’t fleeing to Denver and leaving our businesses understaffed. This will also ensure that people can afford the entire cost of living in our city. Finally, we need to work on developing affordable commercial space so small businesses and local start-ups can afford to thrive and give back to our city.
• Public Safety is top of mind for our residents. I’m committed to making thoughtful, data-driven investments in our public safety infrastructure, so we can keep all of people in all of our neighborhoods safe.

Aurora’s City Council has become increasingly polarized in recent years, with members publicly coming into conflict over topics such as police reform and social justice. How will you get work done in spite of this, and what sort of working relationship do you want to develop with council members who don’t share your political views?

•  I strive to maintain decorum despite the increasingly polarized council. I do find that approaching my colleagues to resolve issues when we’re having conflict helps defuse some of the tensions that happen more prominently in the public eye. However, disagreement is not entirely a bad thing. I don’t always vote in lockstep with the other democrats on city council, and when we disagree, we are able to push each other productively. I think recent months have seen democrats and republican on council find opportunities for productive disagreement, and I will work to continue in that direction

Since 2020, Aurora has taken several steps to promote diversity in its city government — for example, by creating an Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and by introducing Native American land acknowledgements at the start of council meetings. Has the city been moving in the right direction with these efforts? What additional steps or corrections would you like to see the city make?

•  Diversity is our greatest strength in Aurora. We are blessed to have people bringing a wide variety of perspectives and experiences to our city. I am happy to see the DEI office doing a lot with limited resources to create spaces for people from all cultures to be represented, and to come together and share our unique traditions. I do think we need to do more. We cut the staffing for the DEI office in the 2023 budget cycle, and did not restore those cuts in the 2024 budget cycle. However, I would like to see those positions restored, so we can expand the reach of the DEI office to supporting small business owners in our city. The DEI office can help our procurement department and economic development staff to provide economic impact for our diverse residents in addition to providing opportunities for cultural exchange.

Last year, Aurora’s City Council responded to the phenomenon of homeless camping by banning camping on public property and stepping up sweeps of encampments. Do you think the city did the right thing by introducing its camping ban? Why or why not?

•  I opposed the camping ban and continue to oppose it. I believe we should be investing the millions of dollars we spend on sweeps in solutions that work for more than the time it takes for folks to pitch their tents somewhere new. We can sweep people as many times as we want, but if we’re not getting them into dignified, stable, and safe places, then we’re doing nothing more than telling them to pitch their tents across the street.
•  Our non-congregate  sheltering options have been more successful than offering congregate shelter, but as the Mayor’s Special Counsel on Homelessness in Houston said “I love tiny homes–but what you call tiny homes stacked on top of each other is ‘apartments.’” Houston has reduced their unsheltered homelessness by 60%, and 90% of the people they serve are still housed 2 years later. They accomplish this by getting people into housing and providing them supportive services like case management, addiction recovery, job training, and mental health services. 
• Aurora can be a leader in our region, and collaborate with surrounding counties and municipalities to use our collective resources more effectively and actually reduce street homelessness instead of naively trying to sweep people out of sight without providing real solutions.

 Aurora and other cities in the Denver metro area have recently struggled to respond to increases in certain crimes, including vehicle and retail thefts. To discourage criminal behavior, should the city invest more in social programs (education, job training, etc.), or should it invest more in policing and tougher criminal penalties? What should that investment look like?

• Public safety investment is crucial to our city at this time. I believe we must invest in more effective public safety responses AND provide investments in our community and our people. Improvements in our response should include a fully staffed Aurora Mobile Response Team to continue diverting people struggling with mental health issues away from our jails and hospitals, and freeing up our police to respond to crime. We should also expand our unarmed civilian staffing to provide quicker investigations, address homelessness issues, and provide administrative support so officers are on the streets, where people expect them to be.
•  I also believe strongly in investing in the things that people need to help them have safe and fulfilled lives. Housing investments are public safety investments. Economic development investments are public safety investments. Planning our communities well is a public safety investment. Taking care of our youth and giving them places to go is a public safety investment. And, finally, preventing people from committing future crimes by helping them recover and become productive community members of our community is a public safety investment.

After the death of Elijah McClain, Aurora’s Police Department agreed to implement a list of reforms to address what the Colorado Attorney General’s Office described as a pattern of racially-biased policing and excessive force. How much progress have Aurora police made toward reform? Have calls for reform gone too far, or are they not ambitious enough?

•  I think we have made some progress, and we should stay the course on the consent decree and do what we need to get in compliance. With that said, I do think we need to listen to the community on whether or not the consent decree is doing enough to ensure necessary public safety reforms. Every person in our city should be able to be safe, no matter what they look or what zip code they live in. At this time, many people in our community still do not feel safe when confronted by our police officers. A lot of harm has been done by the patterns and practices of excessive use of force, racially biased policing, and other issues identified in our police department. We need to be aggressive in pursuing every option at our disposal to undo that damage, heal our community, and improve the relationship between community and police.

Aurora is grappling with a shortage of affordable housing, with one city representative estimating in July that the city needed about 7,500 additional affordable units to meet demand. What specific steps would you like to see the city take to expand its inventory of affordable housing?

•  The city is already taking positive steps, and adopted a housing strategy in 2020. This plan includes land banking, construction of affordable units, and purchase of existing housing stock through community land trusts. The strategy also calls for updating our unified development ordinance to improve our ability to build affordable homes in mixed-income communities. We should continue making updates to the UDO and fully fund the housing strategy.
• Currently, we are mostly investing federal pass-through dollars in housing, and we need to take advantage of additional funding opportunities and redirect some city funds to housing. The housing strategy calls for creating an affordable housing trust fund, which we should be working to implement as soon as possible. We are fortunate that the state has also prioritized this issue, so we will be able to use funds from Proposition 123 and other state programs to help fund investments in housing. We should continue partnering with counties and the housing authority, and look at how we can combine our funds to be more effective.
• In terms of redirecting funds, I believe we need to revisit the homeless navigation campus proposal to make sure we are not wasting funds on ineffective programs, and that whatever we build in collaboration with the state will result in the most money being directed toward getting people into stable housing. I also believe we need to ensure that people in encampments are getting into housing, which will save the millions of dollars spent sweeping people from one side of the street to the other. That money can then be reinvested in ensuring every person in our city is stably housed.
• We can seek more funds, and reinvest the funds we’re currently spending, to ensure we have high quality housing and safe neighborhoods for everyone in our city.

Some lawmakers have criticized the low-density development patterns typical in the eastern and southern parts of the city for inefficiently using land and water. How much of a problem is development “sprawl”? Do you think the city should be encouraging more compact, high-density development? If so, how?

•  Sprawl is a serious issue in our city. Leapfrog development has caused pockets of severely deteriorating infrastructure and infrastructure inadequate to the development it is expected to support. It also has resulted in entire areas that have no commercial development, to the point that some of our residents drive to Bennett to grocery shop instead of shopping in Aurora. We can’t undo the development that has already happened, but we can plan in the future to make our development more sustainable.
• In existing parts of the city, we can redevelop large vacant retail buildings and dead or dying strip centers into mixed-use, mixed income neighborhood centers that add density without changing the housing types in existing neighborhoods, and that provide closer and more convenient access to services for nearby neighborhoods. In areas that lack commercial development, we can create similar mixed-use mixed-income neighborhood centers in areas zoned for commercial development, to bring in more housing at different price points and ensure that there is enough population to support retail and commercial development that those areas of the city desperately need.
• We can then support higher frequency bus rapid transit service for commuters in all areas to ensure our neighborhoods are connected to each other despite the sprawl that has already defined our city.

As the demand for water grows, Colorado cities are being forced to reconsider how they allocate and share their limited water rights. If another city wanted to lease water from Aurora, how would you decide whether to support or reject that proposal?

•  The city already has many agreements with other cities, as well as some developments outside of the city to provide water. All water that is provided at a premium, so they pay 1.5 times the amount that Aurora residents and businesses pay. I believe this premium is an important part of any such agreement. The other key feature of any water agreement is that the city must be able to reduce deliveries made under these agreements if we are at risk of being unable to provide water for our residents and businesses due to drought or other emergency conditions. We reduced deliveries through the WISE partnership by 90% in 2023 when we implemented a drought declaration. Finally, I think we should only enter into extraterritorial water agreements if the locality or development that we are providing water to agrees to abide by the same water conservation measures that the city has in place. If all of those conditions are met, then I would generally support a water lease, unless there were other significant mitigating factors.

Why should Aurora voters pick you as their next Ward IV representative?

• I have lived most of my life in Aurora, have lived or worked in all six wards and attended both Aurora and Cherry Creek schools, so I understand both the opportunities we have and the challenges we face. And as dad to three daughters all born in Aurora, I want to ensure Aurora is a city where everyone can thrive. I have always looked for ways to serve my community, both in my career and in volunteer opportunities. I want Aurora to be the best place in Colorado to raise a family or run a business, a city where all residents can thrive. When I was elected 4 years ago, I told voters I would be their advocate at City Hall and I’ve done that.

What will be your top three legislative priorities if elected?

In my second term, I’d like to address the following:

• Affordability: We need to ensure Aurora has adequate housing supply to meet the demands of our growing city. We need housing at all levels and the city needs to do more to remove barriers to building. Additionally, the state legislature needs to address construction defects to ensure Aurora and other communities can build denser, for-sale products.
• Public Safety: We need to address our under-budgeted fire department. At a minimum, our fire department is under budget by around $15-$20 annually when compared to other agencies in the state. Additionally, I’d like to explore the possibility of AFR taking on some ambulance responsibilities for higher acuity calls. For the Aurora Police Department, we need to continue to find ways to address our staffing challenges. We’ve had some good first steps, but we need to do more. In my second term, I look forward to finding ways we can ensure we have a enough officers to meet the needs of our city.
• Homelessness: In my second term, I want to lead in looking for ways to address the homelessness crisis. We need additional mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment, housing and more. Additionally, Aurora won’t be able to solve the problem alone. I look forward to finding ways we can collaborate with other metro area jurisdictions in finding solutions.

Aurora’s City Council has become increasingly polarized in recent years, with members publicly coming into conflict over topics such as police reform and social justice. How will you get work done in spite of this, and what sort of working relationship do you want to develop with council members who don’t share your political views?

• I have a sign in my office that reads “I am less concerned with how you vote than I am with how you treat others that vote differently than you do.” This is a mantra I try to live out in my work on Aurora City Council. I have made no secret of my concerns over the polarization and breakdown of decorum, calling out members of both sides and even writing an op-ed in the Sentinel. As Mayor Pro Tem, I arranged a team building exercise at our spring workshop earlier this year for this very reason. In my second term, I remain committed to being collaborative and respectful of all my colleagues.

Since 2020, Aurora has taken several steps to promote diversity in its city government — for example, by creating an Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and by introducing Native American land acknowledgements at the start of council meetings. Has the city been moving in the right direction with these efforts? What additional steps or corrections would you like to see the city make?

• Yes, Aurora is one of the most diverse cities in the US and we should celebrate that diversity. As we celebrate our diversity, it’s important to ensure we don’t denigrate others or blame whole classes of people as being part of the problem.

Last year, Aurora’s City Council responded to the phenomenon of homeless camping by banning camping on public property and stepping up sweeps of encampments. Do you think the city did the right thing by introducing its camping ban? Why or why not?

• Yes, the camping ban was the correct move at the time. It isn’t humane to allow the conditions we saw at many of the encampments – it is a health, safety and welfare issue. However, as I said at the time, the camping ban should have been a first step and anyone saying it would “solve homelessness” was being disingenuous. We need additional substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment and more.

 Aurora and other cities in the Denver metro area have recently struggled to respond to increases in certain crimes, including vehicle and retail thefts.  To discourage criminal behavior, should the city invest more in social programs (education, job training, etc.), or should it invest more in policing and tougher criminal penalties? What should that investment look like?

• We should invest in all of the above. In my first term, I passed ordinances to address auto theft and catalytic convertor theft. We need to ensure criminals are deterred from committing crimes in Aurora and we reduce crimes of opportunity. Additionally, we should invest in job training, education and more. These pathways allow young people to avoid the prison pipeline to get into good jobs, whether via more traditional schooling or skilled labor.

After the death of Elijah McClain, Aurora’s Police Department agreed to implement

a list of reforms to address what the Colorado Attorney General’s Office

described as a pattern of racially-biased policing and excessive force. How much

progress have Aurora police made toward reform? Have calls for reform gone too

far, or are they not ambitious enough?

• Aurora Police Department has made significant progress towards reform. The department, along with city management and city council has implemented a series of training and policy changes in recent years. While calls for reform have mostly come from a good place, victims of crime have largely been forgotten in the conversation.

Aurora is grappling with a shortage of affordable housing, with one city representative estimating in July that the city needed about 7,500 additional affordable units to meet demand. What specific steps would you like to see the city take to expand its inventory of affordable housing?

• The city has a shortage of housing at all levels. The bottom line is we need to increase supply of single family and multi family, both rental and for sale units. In Aurora, we need to remove additional barriers for development review. We have slowly gained a reputation for taking too long to review development site plans. Additionally, a slow drip of regulations has made it more costly to build housing over time. At the state level, the state legislature must fix the construction defect issue so builders will resume building for-sale condos in Aurora and elsewhere. Density is appropriate in some places but that largely won’t happen without addressing this issue.

Some lawmakers have criticized the low-density development patterns typical in

the eastern and southern parts of the city for inefficiently using land and water.

How much of a problem is development “sprawl”? Do you think the city should be

encouraging more compact, high-density development? If so, how?

• Again, Aurora needs all types of development. Certainly, we should be looking for ways to increase more dense development when it is appropriate, and the market calls for it. Dense development is great as infill or along the light rail line, amongst other places, for example. However, as mentioned before, builders are not in a position to build for-sale density with the current construction defect issues in Colorado.

As the demand for water grows, Colorado cities are being forced to reconsider

how they allocate and share their limited water rights. If another city wanted to

lease water from Aurora, how would you decide whether to support or reject that

proposal?

• Aurora has been a state leader in water conservation; however, we are a drop in the bucket of total water usage along the Colorado River basin. Other water utilities, both here in Colorado and further along the basin, must step up. When considering water leases, a major consideration would be what rate that jurisdiction would be willing to pay and if Aurora could replace that water by purchasing additional water rights at a later date.

Dr. Thomas Mayes, Candidate for Aurora City Council at-Large

Why should Aurora voters pick you as their next Ward IV representative?

• Aurora voters should pick me as their next at-large representative because I have called Aurora my home for over 40 years, and I am running for Aurora City Council At Large because our city needs a leader with a heart for the people. I know the future is only as bright for Aurora as the leadership governs it to be. The people of Aurora deserve to live in safe and secure neighborhoods, to drive on roads without potholes, and to have access to affordable housing with a pathway to home ownership. I have been fortunate in my life, and I want to hold the door open for future generations to achieve the same or better.

What will be your top three legislative priorities if elected?

• My top three legislative priorities if elected affordable/accessible housing, safer communities and employment using small businesses.

Aurora’s City Council has become increasingly polarized in recent years, with members publicly coming into conflict over topics such as police reform and social justice. How will you get work done in spite of this, and what sort of working relationship do you want to develop with council members who don’t share your political views?

● Aurora’s City Council must make up their minds whether they’re going to be truly bipartisan or not. Decisions need to be made in the best interest of our communities and not determined by a D or R by our name. I have demonstrated in the 33 years I’ve worked in the city that I can disagree without being disagreeable. I worked with Councilman Gardner on our gun Buy Back program. We don’t have to share the same point of view as long as our goals are aligned with the needs of our city.

Since 2020, Aurora has taken several steps to promote diversity in its city government — for example, by creating an Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and by introducing Native American land acknowledgements at the start of council meetings. Has the city been moving in the right direction with these efforts? What additional steps or corrections would you like to see the city make?

● I agree that since 2020, Aurora has taken steps to promote diversity in its city government in spite of COVID. Now we need to analyze our efforts and ensure the steps taken are not merely event driven. True diversity and inclusion must be intentional and measurable. Acknowledgement is great but it’s just a start. Now we need to explore ways to include cultures in the make-up of our city leadership and not expect assimilation to the status quo, especially in recruitment.

Last year, Aurora’s City Council responded to the phenomenon of homeless camping by banning camping on public property and stepping up sweeps of encampments. Do you think the city did the right thing by introducing its camping ban? Why or why not?

● The city camping ban wasn’t well thought out. It didn’t provide a place for the homeless to go thereby just moving them around the city and using man hours and money that could be used to provide programs to address the real problem of Mental health, drug abuse and joblessness. The city’s efforts only enable the homeless to remain homeless.  

 Aurora and other cities in the Denver metro area have recently struggled to respond to increases in certain crimes, including vehicle and retail thefts.  To discourage criminal behavior, should the city invest more in social programs (education, job training, etc.), or should it invest more in policing and tougher criminal penalties? What should that investment look like?

● Aurora must respond to increases in crime including vehicle and retail thefts holistically. Yes, criminal behavior can be discouraged, and we should invest more in social programs partnering with the nonprofits as resource (education, job training, etc.).  But we also must address a livable wage and affordable housing which fuels the desire to commit many of these crimes. We can’t police or arrest our way out of this phenomenon. Aurora should focus on and invest in crime prevention in conjunction with law enforcement.

After the death of Elijah McClain, Aurora’s Police Department agreed to implement

a list of reforms to address what the Colorado Attorney General’s Office

described as a pattern of racially-biased policing and excessive force. How much

progress have Aurora police made toward reform? Have calls for reform gone too

far, or are they not ambitious enough?

● Calls for reform is not an Aurora thing, it’s a nationwide call. We cannot think just “reform” but “restructure”. I am not for de-funding the police. I am for reallocating funds to take some responsibilities away from the armed law enforcement and providing civilian responders where appropriate. None of this can happen as long as city officials are in denial that racially biased policing and excessive force exists. Aurora police have made some progress but, continues to take steps backwards with continued questionable police incidents and wasteful arguments on city council. We need to have a council that truly wants a great city to live in and not just a city that “looks” great on the surface.

Aurora is grappling with a shortage of affordable housing, with one city representative estimating in July that the city needed about 7,500 additional affordable units to meet demand. What specific steps would you like to see the city take to expand its inventory of affordable housing?

● I believe housing is a right and that it must be affordable and accessible to all Aurorans. Everyone deserves an affordable and safe place to call home. I will also support programs to get unhoused people into housing first and work to create a more inclusive and equitable city through partnerships with local organizations that offer families in need of rental assistance, advocacy groups that provide educational resources for a pathway to homeownership, and lending institutions that can meet the needs of our diverse population.

Some lawmakers have criticized the low-density development patterns typical in

the eastern and southern parts of the city for inefficiently using land and water.

How much of a problem is development “sprawl”? Do you think the city should be

encouraging more compact, high-density development? If so, how?

● The city should be encouraging more compact, high-density development. In a compact neighborhood, stores have enough local customers to stay in business, transit systems have enough riders to justify the public investment, and parks have people strolling through keeping the neighborhood safe.  Ample evidence suggests that well-designed higher-density development, properly integrated into an existing community, can improve a community’s quality of life while still addressing the needs of a growing and changing population.

As the demand for water grows, Colorado cities are being forced to reconsider

how they allocate and share their limited water rights. If another city wanted to

lease water from Aurora, how would you decide whether to support or reject that

proposal?

● As the demand for water grows, Aurora must take the stance “Aurora first”

● Why should Aurora voters pick you as their next at-large representative?

I’m running for Aurora City Council’s At Large Position because I truly love Aurora and care that our residents thrive. My mission is to help Aurora become the safest, most affordable place to live, work, and raise a family. I grew up here and am raising my family here. My wife and I want to raise our four children in the same thriving environment in which I was raised. I want my family to be proud to call Aurora home for at least another 35 years. I firmly believe that there is great hope for this city. The future is bright for Aurora! I encourage you to visit Jonoscott.com, check out my platform, and I hope to earn your vote on November 7th.

● What will be your top three legislative priorities if elected? 

I want to help Aurora become a thriving community again by focusing on the three main issues that Aurora is facing right now: (1) Reducing Crime; (2) Tackling Homelessness; and (3) Addressing Affordability. Specifically, those three issues can be addressed by focusing on:

1. Crime / Safety –This is the most pressing issue in Aurora right now. We should all feel safe in our neighborhoods and communities. I will be a champion for: (1) Enforcing our laws, (2) Empowering the victim, and (3) Expanding punishments for crime.

2. Economic Health – Aurora is poised to be the major economic driver in the state. We must expand wisely and purposefully by: (1) Supporting small businesses and (2) Attracting innovative industry leaders.

3. Affordability – We can help working families by: (1) Improving housing options (both volume and value) and (2) Reducing the tax burden.

● Aurora’s City Council has become increasingly polarized in recent years, with members publicly coming into conflict over topics such as police reform and social justice. How will you get work done in spite of this, and what sort of working relationship do you want to develop with council members who don’t share your political views? 

In the end, I believe our elected officials all share the goal to make Aurora a better place. It’s how we get there that gets challenging. We have to have a civil debate of ideas and not personalities. When we devolve into name calling and personal attacks, that’s when politicians prioritize undermining their opponents over benefitting their constituents. I have had the privilege of serving on the Citizen’s Advisory Budget Committee for the last six years. The committee is composed of two citizens appointed by each council member and mayor. There is a wide range of ideas and perspectives on both sides of the spectrum. Although there is the potential to have twice the divisiveness and twice the drama, we work very well together! In fact, my peers on the committee have voted me as one of the three executive officers on the committee for the last five years in a row (including chair of the committee). I am thankful that – despite differences – we all enjoy working together in a welcoming, beneficial environment. This has resulted in high quality reports that were produced in a kind environment. I look forward to bringing this same approach as I serve on the city council.

● Since 2020, Aurora has taken several steps to promote diversity in its city government — for example, by creating an Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and by introducing Native American land acknowledgements at the start of council meetings. Has the city been moving in the right direction with these efforts? What additional steps or corrections would you like to see the city make? 

           I appreciate that Aurora is such a diverse city. I’m fortunate to interact with our diverse community through my work as a food bank director, volunteer soccer coach (with five of the seven continents represented on my roster), and leading youth programs as a pastor for my church. I love that my children get to be a part of experiencing this with me! I also firmly believe that all are created equal and have the foundational rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Regarding city programs to promote this, I think that events like Global Fest and other city departments do a natural job of promoting these. I think the natural outworking of these are taking place in our community.

● Last year, Aurora’s City Council responded to the phenomenon of homeless camping by banning camping on public property and stepping up sweeps of encampments. Do you think the city did the right thing by introducing its camping ban? Why or why not? 

We must lead on this issue with compassion. I support a treatment-first approach (modeled after such programs as Step Denver, the Bridge House, and/or the Colorado Springs Rescue Mission). I also support the direction that the current council is taking (such as the camping ban) and would like to expand upon their work. One specific policy that I would like to see is enforcement cut down from 72-hours to 24-hours. Finally, we need to work together as a region to share resources and best practices and with our nonprofits and faith-based organizations to ensure we’re providing the support needed to help people get back on their feet. 

● Aurora and other cities in the Denver metro area have recently struggled to respond to increases in certain crimes, including vehicle and retail thefts. To discourage criminal behavior, should the city invest more in social programs (education, job training, etc.), or should it invest more in policing and tougher criminal penalties? What should that investment look like? 

The fact is that families do not feel safe in our neighborhoods right now. We need to have an “all-of-the-above” preventative, proactive, and punitive approach to addressing crime in Aurora. This is the number one issue facing Aurora residents right now, and we must address it. This includes enforcing our laws and expanding penalties for crime. I would advocate for a fully funded, fully staffed police department that is enabled to enforce our laws with support, respect, and transparency while recognizing the need to build community trust. I support steps such as increasing penalties for crime as a necessary approach to stop crime from happening. I support our law enforcement and I’m proud to be endorsed by both the Aurora Fraternal Order of Police and the Aurora Police Association.

● After the death of Elijah McClain, Aurora’s Police Department agreed to implement a list of reforms to address what the Colorado Attorney General’s Office described as a pattern of racially-biased policing and excessive force. How much progress have Aurora police made toward reform? Have calls for reform gone too far, or are they not ambitious enough?

                 Aurora is currently operating under the State Attorney General’s Consent Decree. There have been benefits from this and things are moving in the right direction. Eventually, it would be ideal for us to become independent from the consent decree because we have a police department that is well respected by our community. Our law enforcement officers are put in very tough situations on a daily basis and deserve our respect and support. However, in talking with them, they also realize the value of accountability, transparency, and trust in our community. It is possible to have both respect from the community and accountability within the department. We have work to do as a city to be a welcoming community for the very best public safety professionals and that starts with building bridges with our communities and ratcheting down the rhetoric and attacks on all cops. The vast majority of our police officers care and respect our communities but they’re the ones being attacked as a result of a few bad actors. We all value public safety and have work to do to find the best approach that puts victims’ rights above those of criminals. 

● Aurora is grappling with a shortage of affordable housing, with one city representative estimating in July that the city needed about 7,500 additional affordable units to meet demand. What specific steps would you like to see the city take to expand its inventory of affordable housing? 

           The commonsense answer to this problem is that we must increase supply to meet demand. However, we must do so wisely and appropriately. Specifically, we must expand with both volume and value. We need to build more units for all price points, while being wise about things like water availability, infrastructure, and development efficiencies. Part of this is also about being efficient with the development processes. I support the progress made from the red-tape roundup committee and would like to see that implemented and expanded. Another key factor that must be addressed is the current (state) construction defect law. This has essentially cut out the building of condos and starter homes for 20 years in our city. I would work with state leaders to amend this policy that is having a negative impact on our local affordable housing availability.

● Some lawmakers have criticized the low-density development patterns typical in the eastern and southern parts of the city for inefficiently using land and water. How much of a problem is development “sprawl”? Do you think the city should be encouraging more compact, high-density development? If so, how? 

           Local control and communication are important. I also value private property rights. When balancing these two concepts, planning and zoning must consider the area for which development is taking place. For instance, although I am for density in certain areas, it would not be appropriate to scrape an existing single-family house and place a multi-unit apartment building in its place (especially in an HOA). Aurora has the unique benefit of having different areas that people are drawn to. For instance, some people are drawn to the density around a place like Stanley Marketplace, while others are drawn to the suburban feel of the communities like Heritage Eagle Bend, Blackstone, etc. City planning should have some flexibility within these plans to be able to allow people the freedom to choose which environment they want to live, work, and play.

● As the demand for water grows, Colorado cities are being forced to reconsider how they allocate and share their limited water rights. If another city wanted to lease water from Aurora, how would you decide whether to support or reject that proposal? 

           This would need to be considered on a case-by-case basis. For instance, in a year like this (where we have had more rain than expected), it may make sense. However, in a drought, it would not. Aurora City Leaders must make it a priority to treat our water rights with care and responsibility. We must also balance the costs to us, as residents. In a time when costs have risen dramatically in all sectors of the economy, I am not a fan of adding more costs to us as residents and consumers. I support any reasonable and responsible way that we can keep costs down to the residents of Aurora.

If you had a superpower, what would it be? 

• Teleportation

Did you have any New Year’s resolutions? What were they?  

• Yes. To prioritize time for physical and mental wellness

What was the last movie you watched? 

• DIsney/Pixar Elemental

What is your least favorite household chore?  

• Dishes

What fun fact about you would most surprise people who know you? 

• I have studied five languages other than English–including Japanese and Ancient Greek–and became fluent in Spanish

If you had a superpower, what would it be? 

• For sure, teleportation. It would make me much more efficient not having to travel between meetings and events. Also, it would be great to instantly go to a location of my choosing for a mini-vacation.

Did you have any New Year’s resolutions? What were they?

• I actually don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions. I am big believer in constant improvement and not waiting to make a change – if something needs improved or changed, start today!

What was the last movie you watched? 

• Barbie, obviously.

What is your least favorite household chore? 

• Shoveling snow. I literally hate shoveling snow.

What fun fact about you would most surprise people who know you?

• I low-key like watching Hallmark movies, especially Christmas Hallmark movies.

If you had a superpower, what would it be? 

• To be invisible

Did you have any New Year’s resolutions? What were they? 

• No New year resolutions

 What was the last movie you watched? 

• Oppenheimer

What is your least favorite household chore? 

• Cleaning the bathrooms

What fun fact about you would most surprise people who know you? 

• I enjoy my alone time in meditation!

And here are a few questions on the lighter side of things: 

● If you had a superpower, what would it be? 

     Teleportation – That way I could skip driving everywhere😊

● Did you have any New Year’s resolutions? What were they? 

     Yes. Each year I make goals in five areas: physical, relationships, financial, spiritual, and intellectual. There are too many to list here, but I am a big fan of setting attainable goals and working diligently to reach them.  

● What was the last movie you watched? 

     It has been a few weeks, but it was either the live action Cinderella (with my 8-year-old daughter, of course:-) or the Truman Show (with the family).

● What is your least favorite household chore? 

     Cleaning my garage. Or… cleaning up after the dog… gross!

● What fun fact about you would most surprise people who know you?

I love my work in directing our foodbank – our church is a partner agency with Foodbank of the Rockies. We have had the privilege of distributing, literally, millions of pounds of food to those in our community.