I had lunch yesterday with Seth Brigham. Seth is one of the people that makes Boulder interesting. He's not a rich knee-jerk liberal but instead someone who truly marches to his own drum.
Seth started out talking about how he would bring an unrepresented viewpoint to the council as someone who is both poor and disabled. He sees the concerns of those groups being mostly forgotten by the Council.
He also spoke of the need to do more for the homeless. He sees their numbers growing but the support structures are not growing to match. I asked why that is growing and he thinks it is partially the economy, but more so the fact that word has gotten around that Boulder is a great place to hang if you're homeless.
Seth then discussed development in Boulder. This is the issue that he spent most of his time on and clearly is the main issue driving him in this election. Seth wants to freeze development as much as possible. He doesn't dance around the issue either – he's made the most direct statement of anyone I have interviewed. He doesn't want to see Boulder change.
I asked about affordability if we freeze everything. Seth is not a proponent of increasing density, but he also wants to keep housing affordable. But he does admit that he is not sure how to bring that about. Seth remembers the Boulder of the early '60s and would like to get us back to that point in terms of development, affordability, etc. (hey, I think most of us would be thrilled if that could be done).
He also talked quite a bit about reducing our carbon footprint. He would like to see light rail in town on the main arteries like Broadway. When I discussed the required density to make that work his response was not that we should increase density, but that we should get our existing populace out of their cars and onto the rail. He also wants to see FastTraks built out ASAP for the same reason.
Seth then brought up the revenue problem. He sees the limitations of sales tax. And has been the sole candidate so far to bring up the fact that it is more regressive than almost any other tax source (that comes back to the fact that Seth sees these issues from the perspective of someone who is poor). What he would like to see is the city assess an income tax on business that is handled through their state income taxes.
I'm pretty sure the law would have to change to do this, but it's an interesting idea. We have a lot of businesses in Boulder (like mine) that pay no sales tax because we sell everything elsewhere. What I like about Seth's suggestion here is he brings up a sensible alternative. It is politically difficult, but it does make a lot of sense.
I asked him if he could get one bill passed when first elected, what it would be. He first brought up living wage, then discussed a couple of other items limiting development. He finally circled back to a living wage both because he thinks it is very important and he can be specific about it with an immediate answer. He would like to see the minimum wage here set at $12.00/hr. So for those of you earning under $12.00/hr – Seth is your guy!
I finally asked him about his chances this year after the last election. Seth replied that last time he basically dropped out of running part way through. And that he had not realized many of the things required to run, like filling out the questionnaires for all the interest groups. But this time he does know the drill and is in to the end.
So what do we get with Seth? He's clearly self-taught on most of the issues the city faces. For a lot of that he has a high level picture of things, but is light on the details – which is not necessarily an issue for a council member as their job is the big picture. However, I think he would have a ton of learning to do about the trade-offs that exist is reaching those big picture goals.
He is one of the few I have talked to who did bring up all the major issues the city faces. He definitely looks for what he thinks we should do rather than what small step we can do (this is a good thing!). And he unquestionably is clued in to what can be done to help the poor.
Interview podcast: Download SethBrigham
