As a member of City Council, I will foster communications within the council and with my constituents by being active, being available and being articulate.

My political campaign originates in my long-standing participation in municipal government. As an alderman, I will continue to attend the broadest array of public events so that I may hear and understand what matters most to the residents of Ward One and all Missoulians. I will invite and respond promptly to e-mails, phone calls, and personal visits. Using the skills honed in prior work as a financial analyst and journalist, I will identify and articulate the issues most important to municipal government.

To have a stake in their government’s success, Missoulians need to know what their government does and why. As an alderman, my highest responsibility will be to help the people I serve understand the connections between City Council policy decisions and the deeply-held values of our community.

Transportation systems cannot be isolated from the land-use patterns they inhabit. Bettering Missoula’s transportation system requires prudently planning growth. When we do build roads, the roads should accommodate all modes of traffic and make possible the broadest array of transportation options while preserving the utility of roads for automobile drivers, who have an essential interest in a robust transportation network.

Roads are not the only answer either. Addressing Missoula's transportation future will require an integrated network of bike lanes and trails, expanded bus service and, eventually, interlocal rail service. Also important are comprehensive neighborhood plans: residents should be able to live, work, shop and recreate near their home. As Reserve Street demonstrates, building bigger roads to bigger shopping centers simply creates bigger traffic jams.

Missoula is growing for good reason: the city is a great place to live. Keeping it so means connecting the daily process of policy making with our long-term goals and values. Missoula’s open spaces, environmental quality, community-oriented development, and commercial prosperity all depend on a commitment to choosing better than lowest common denominator policies. The tools are there. City Council must embrace the work of shaping growth with zoning regulations, design standards and long-term land-use planning. I am running to represent Ward One on the next Missoula City Council because I want to keep Missoula the sort of place we love right on into the future.

The primary focus of economic development should be helping local businesses to secure their place in the local and regional economy. Economic incentives should be aimed at existing Missoula businesses and aspiring local entrepreneurs. Targeted tax incentives, loan guarantees and subsidized infrastructure improvements may all be suitable means, given the end is appropriate.

Some of the most promising areas of Missoula's economic life are technology and medical services. Working with technology demands a special combination of creative and engineering skills. Missoula does a great job fostering such traits in its residents because the community supports ingenuity and nourishes expression. St. Patrick Hospital, Community Medical Center and other health care providers are also tremendous assets to both Missoula and the much wider region because of the medical services they offer. Keeping their quality services accessible will be a major driver of Missoula’s economy for the foreseeable future.

In many towns throughout the West, the amenities economy has priced long-time residents out of housing and services. Costs have risen above the wage a resident of these towns could ever expect to earn. Missoula must be careful to attend to the needs of those who live and work in Missoula year-round. While tourists and retirees should feel welcome to enjoy what we all love, municipal government bears a responsibility for maintaining the distinct flavor that appeals to locals and visitors alike.

Missoula is place where many people want to be. As we develop, the community should be foremost in our minds if we aim to keep it that way.

As Missoula grows, so should its commitment to housing residents of every economic status. Affordable housing means, at a minimum, that a family ought to be able to afford suitable living quarters on no more than 30 percent of their household income. More importantly, and less technically, affordable housing means the people who power Missoula’s economy and community ought to be able to live here with the reasonable hope of purchasing a stake in the future of our city by buying a home.

There's more than one way to make this commitment. A highlight of the 2005-07 council session was unanimous approval for the new Mill Site Special Zoning District. As yet, though, none of 900-some residential units to be built are designated for affordable housing. An ordinance requiring affordable housing to be built as part of market-rate development would implement Missoula’s commitment to housing that works for everyone.

Answering Missoula's housing needs will require more than just ordinances. Land-trust housing facilitates initial investments by lower-income residents in rising real estate markets, enabling equity accumulation that keeps those residents in the market for a lifetime. The city should encourage such projects, which the North Missoula Community Development Corporation has already successfully pioneered in Missoula. Urban renewal plans—starting with the downtown riverfront—present our next best chance to open the Missoula housing market to all residents.

I support sustainable local agriculture as a volunteer farm hand, home gardener, community organizer and enthusiastic eater. I have long volunteered with Garden City Harvest, I subscribe to a community supported agriculture “wintershare,” I shop at the farmers’ markets, and have helped to design a website for the new Missoula Community Market. Even in winter much of the food I eat is preserved from the fall harvest.

As a member of the Missoula City Council, I will support local agriculture by protecting vital working lands from development pressures. This means growing smarter and more sustainably—measures we need to maintain our quality of life and connection to our community. On this subject, I support an ordinance to allow city residents to raise hens for meat and eggs.