What is the single biggest issue facing Boulder over the next 10 years? Why is this the most critical issue? And how will you try to address this issue?
Seth Brigham
Did not participate.
Shawn Coleman
The biggest issue facing the City of Boulder's government is revenue shortfalls. This might not be the most important issue to particular individuals but the role of government is to provide services for the community, primarily public safety, and not being able to afford even current levels of service is the most important challenge to address. The solutions include, creating efficiency in the delivery of service, and yes some cutting in programs. But also finding ways to generate more revenues like investment in the arts, tourism, and economic vitality, that provide a net return on investment. To maintain the high level of services Boulder residents have come to expect, we will need to work both locally and regionally to ensure we can continue to pay for them.
Macon Cowles
Did not participate.
Angelique Espinoza
The biggest issue facing Boulder right now is the increasing fragmentation of our community into the wealthy and the poor, with all the social and environmental problems that entails. One of my goals on Council would be to strengthen our diverse community. For people with lower and middle incomes, it becomes increasingly difficult to afford rent, much less a mortgage in Boulder. And there are few places within city limits to buy inexpensive jeans for kids who will grow out of them in a year.
As the wealthier population grows and the middle class declines we have an increasing barbell distribution of income groups which is neither environmentally nor socially sustainable. With the loss of cohesiveness that a balanced diversity of income groups brings, we will see continued socio-economic and cultural fragmentation, intolerance, and polarity. As a councilmember, I would look to reverse this trend by addressing the lack of retail and housing options for these groups which is a primary obstacle to social sustainability.
How we handle this difficult question in the next several years will speak to our fundamental values as a community. Every option we have to preserve existing or create new affordable retail and housing comes at a cost, but so does failure to act. Right now there are a lot of people thinking about and working on this in different ways, but we lack a unifying vision and strong leadership. I would prioritize hiring an innovative Planning Director who can bring the parties to the table and bring forward a renewed commitment to move forward toward our common goals as a community.
Crystal Gray
Arrived late
Andrew Harrison
Did not participate.
Philip Hernandez
The biggest issue facing Boulder over the next 10 years will be the projected revenue shortfall which will manifest itself in a relatively short time.
The city will have to make decisions between funding basic services (police, fire, sewer, streets, parks, libraries, etc.) and the demand for more open space and recreational programs.
The city has historically relied on sales tax to pay for its programs. Query, would an additional increase in sales tax place our business community at a disadvantage in competing with surrounding communities.
Nabil Karkamaz
Did not participate.
Kathryn Kramer
I think the biggest issue facing Boulder is the rampant growth and development which threatens the very essence of Boulder. Generations that came before us realized the danger of growth and how it would ruin Boulder and put in place the blue line, the Danish Plan, and height restrictions to keep at least a measure of control. Had they not done that I would not have been able to grow up in an incredible town. As I always say, I owe them a debt of gratitude. I have talked with a great many people and 90% of them are against all the development that is taking place. In fact that is one of the reasons I am running for city council. As to what I would do to addres this issue, I think there should be a difference made between those who want to add on to their homes due to a family growing and those who are only motivated by profit. Boulder will grow but we need smart growth and need to keep our perspective.
Adam Massey
Did not participate.
Lisa Morzel
Did not participate.
Alan O'Hashi
getting folks to get along. i have the ability to work with people from all ideologies. i'm not beholden to special interests and have a track record of being able to find what people have in common and unite them around those assets. this is an approach that can be applied to just about any issue - dogs on open space or not. prairie dogs or not, conference center or not or where. etc.
Susan Osborne
Did not participate.
Eugene Pearson
The biggest issue that is facing the community in the next 10 years is planning to ensure that Boulder remains affordable for the retiring population and for young professionals. I look at the permanently affordable housing program ad the first step on a ladder of home ownership. For many people, the house is their greatest single asset. Allowing people to build equity for the first time through home ownership and getting out of the entrapment that is renting is a major step along the housing continuum. After permanently affordable I would hope that an individual could purchase a market rate condo and then perhaps one day a market rate house. This progression to market housing requires that Boulder ensures that it maintains a variety of housing stock. In terms of moderate income households the city needs to be proactive in addressing the issue of scrape-offs because a family of moderate means simply cannot afford a 6000 square foot house. We must find solutions that regulate the excessive size of newer homes in Boulder so that they remain affordable and don’t wildly drive up the home prices of neighboring homes so that people can enter the market rate housing. New homes should be limited in size to some extent using a market based approach that increases city revenue. An luxury tax or fee structure could be implemented to make it progressively more expensive to build a house above 2000 square feet for instance and the money be made available to increase the amount of affordable housing stock available in the city.
Susan Peterson
I think that the biggest issue facing Boulder is ensuring that we don’t “love it to death”. I’m concerned that in our rush to embrace somebody else’s picture of prosperity, and in our fear of being different, we might inadvertently undo the hard work of previous generations who had the courage to make unique choices and to limit our growth.
Larry Quilling
The most important issue facing Boulder over the next ten years in city and regional growth. Boulder is fortunate to have a good jobs base and we need to to continue to build our economic vitality by attracting quality employers to our community. I believe firmly we need to plan for the regional growth by competing for economic resources regionally and to plan for the resulting transportation infrastructure. We cannot hide behind high density plans for everyone. We must plan for the commuting nature of those who choose to live outside our community and commute to Boulder.
Not everyone wants to live in the Transit Village, with little parking and right next to busy railroad tracks. We need to plan for better timed traffic lights, staggered employer work shifts and improvements to our major traffic corridors.
Tom Riley
Identity. Boulder’s identity has become schizophrenic. We have too many different interests and desires and a complete lack of communication and agreement. This is the most critical issue because continued disagreement will get in the way of our creating a vibrant and cohesive community. Our schisms continue to create false problems and arguments and differences of thought that allow others to take advantage of our uninformed citizens. I propose that a portion of property taxes collected from neighborhoods goes to create neighborhood associations. These groups would be made up of up to say 5,000 citizens. A very little amount of money would be required to organize these citizen groups to hold Boulder accountable to Boulder. The disenfranchised, the voices we never hear because they do not present in a way that our current city government whose inclination is to govern by busybody, could become organized and informed and could present a unified voice to city government to hold counsel accountable to Boulder’s average citizen.
Eric Rutherford
One third of Boulder’s sales tax rate will start to expire by 2001. In addition, a large part of retail business has moved out of the City. 50 percent of our revenue comes from sales tax.
The bottom line is that we need to attract the right type of businesses that fit with our valued culture and will help fund the services and programs that make Boulder so special and unique.
Just as you have a mortgage or lease for your house and you need a salary to pay for it, the City needs income to pay its bills.
Rob Smoke
Did not participate.
Ken Wilson
Did not participate.
Matt Appelbaum
Did not participate.
Philip Bradley
economic vitality(sunsetting taxes)... jobs creation(simple government)...business retention... oh yeah accessible government that is down to Earth, realistic, and driven by the desire to do good for the community
