Q1

The lack of affordable housing remains a top concern of Denver residents, and while we commend the city on increasing resources, more needs to be done. If you agree that more resources are needed to support affordable housing, what type of funds and how much are necessary to address this crisis, and how could you achieve this within the next two to three years? 

We need to stop thinking about "affordable housing" as a place we put people, like a reservation; people want to be in the neighborhoods they choose, and want it to be affordable too. We also need to rethink the idea that affordability comes down to some equation based on someone's median income and all that---if you're paying more than 30% of your income on rent or housing costs, you need affordable housing, full stop. We can start getting creative, right now, and thinking about how we can go into each and every council district in the city and start community land-trusts, co-ops, and other new living models, as well as rezoning to allow for more people living in spaces available to them now.

Q2

Transit and mobility remain a top city priority without a dedicated local source of funding. Would you support creating a dedicated source of annual funding for citywide investments in transit, mobility and Vision Zero safety improvements, and if yes, how much money do you think is needed to properly address this need, how would you allocate these funds and how would you propose to fund this?

I propose something along the lines of the "Billionaire's Tax" that the Seattle City Council passed, but instead of fund dedicated solely to housing, we can begin bolstering our public transportation system (Uber, Lyft, and other companies would be the ideal first choice---they have put many hundreds more cars onto the roads, and are essentially banking Denverites' data. They can begin paying their fair share).

Q3

In the November 2018 election, Denver voters approved a sales tax to increase the yearly investment in parks by more than $40 million. How would you ensure that acquiring land for new parks is done in an equitable way and does not compete with other pressing city priorities, such as acquiring land for affordable housing? 

I believe we are thinking about how to go about making housing more affordable wrong. People want to *stay* where they're living, now. How can the city best intervene to keep them where they are? Why does "affordable housing" have to be something that Denverites are shipped off to, away from their neighborhoods? Surprisingly enough, the parks proposal floated by the Downtown Business Partnership shows that green space can be thought of creatively---we should adapt and adopt the ideas they're coveting for their neck of the woods, and in communication with community groups and everyday people around the city, see how we can be creative in making parks for other places around the city.

Q4 

All In Denver was formed to respond to concerns that racial and social inequity is growing in the city. What do you think are the reasons that we have become a less equitable city and what are your priorities for ensuring Denver becomes more equitable in the future?

The first step would be to stop framing issues of class and race as ones of "equity"---there is no "market" for race or class, nor are they businesses, so they can't be essentialized as something people can buy into or that can be valued like a stock option; conceiving of and trying to advance a justice agenda this way is starting off wrong. So, quitting that term first off. Issues of grammar and framing aside, it's not rocket science: Denver has become a hard place to live because of gentrification. It is a top-down process. It starts with the political leadership in the city that allows corporations, developers and real estate interests to the capture cultural commons and redivert city resources to a wealthier cohort, and to open up neighborhoods to speculation. The solution would be to starting shift the burden of higher-cost housing and real-estate interests onto developers; establish a renter oversight commission at the city level; reign in the police department, and make it answerable to the people; move from a "public safety" budget to a safety net budget.

Q5

Running a city the size of Denver is a massive undertaking with a complex web of services, departments, budgets and trade-offs. From your understanding of the city and how it allocates its resources, are there areas of the city that you’d increase funding and if so, what are they? And likewise, are there areas of the city where you’d decrease funding?

As I note above, the majority of our budget is eaten up by policing and penal services, ie "public safety." Not one piece of the remaining pie gets more than 9% of funding. The city can be using monies allocated for "public safety" to intervene more readily and ably into the lives of Denverites: more social services, more health services, and not only fund diverted for "affordable housing," but to adapt and adopt the "Housing First" model used in Utah for homelessness issues, and to pay for renter protections (like arbitration and lawyers).

Q6

Let’s assume that the City of Denver ends the 2019 fiscal year with a budget surplus of $20 million. As a Councilmember or Mayor, please list up to three program priorities on how you would spend this money. Please provide specific line items and budget amounts.

Line item 1: The whole thing, $20 million into new and more robust public transit. This can be new (more energy efficient) and longer buses we use for rush hours, or more neighborhood-specific options with an eye towards bolster communities like Globeville-Elyria-Swansea, Green Valley Ranch, Westwood, and Montbello. Additionally, we can use a great big chunk of that to subsidize monthly or even yearly passes. We also need to divvy up that amount to improve driver salaries and benefits.

Q1

The lack of affordable housing remains a top concern of Denver residents, and while we commend the city on increasing resources, more needs to be done. If you agree that more resources are needed to support affordable housing, what type of funds and how much are necessary to address this crisis, and how could you achieve this within the next two to three years? 

We need to stop thinking about "affordable housing" as a place we put people, like a reservation; people want to be in the neighborhoods they choose, and want it to be affordable too. We also need to rethink the idea that affordability comes down to some equation based on someone's median income and all that---if you're paying more than 30% of your income on rent or housing costs, you need affordable housing, full stop. We can start getting creative, right now, and thinking about how we can go into each and every council district in the city and start community land-trusts, co-ops, and other new living models, as well as rezoning to allow for more people living in spaces available to them now.

Q2

Transit and mobility remain a top city priority without a dedicated local source of funding. Would you support creating a dedicated source of annual funding for citywide investments in transit, mobility and Vision Zero safety improvements, and if yes, how much money do you think is needed to properly address this need, how would you allocate these funds and how would you propose to fund this?

I propose something along the lines of the "Billionaire's Tax" that the Seattle City Council passed, but instead of fund dedicated solely to housing, we can begin bolstering our public transportation system (Uber, Lyft, and other companies would be the ideal first choice---they have put many hundreds more cars onto the roads, and are essentially banking Denverites' data. They can begin paying their fair share).

Q3

In the November 2018 election, Denver voters approved a sales tax to increase the yearly investment in parks by more than $40 million. How would you ensure that acquiring land for new parks is done in an equitable way and does not compete with other pressing city priorities, such as acquiring land for affordable housing? 

I believe we are thinking about how to go about making housing more affordable wrong. People want to *stay* where they're living, now. How can the city best intervene to keep them where they are? Why does "affordable housing" have to be something that Denverites are shipped off to, away from their neighborhoods? Surprisingly enough, the parks proposal floated by the Downtown Business Partnership shows that green space can be thought of creatively---we should adapt and adopt the ideas they're coveting for their neck of the woods, and in communication with community groups and everyday people around the city, see how we can be creative in making parks for other places around the city.

Q4 

All In Denver was formed to respond to concerns that racial and social inequity is growing in the city. What do you think are the reasons that we have become a less equitable city and what are your priorities for ensuring Denver becomes more equitable in the future?

The first step would be to stop framing issues of class and race as ones of "equity"---there is no "market" for race or class, nor are they businesses, so they can't be essentialized as something people can buy into or that can be valued like a stock option; conceiving of and trying to advance a justice agenda this way is starting off wrong. So, quitting that term first off. Issues of grammar and framing aside, it's not rocket science: Denver has become a hard place to live because of gentrification. It is a top-down process. It starts with the political leadership in the city that allows corporations, developers and real estate interests to the capture cultural commons and redivert city resources to a wealthier cohort, and to open up neighborhoods to speculation. The solution would be to starting shift the burden of higher-cost housing and real-estate interests onto developers; establish a renter oversight commission at the city level; reign in the police department, and make it answerable to the people; move from a "public safety" budget to a safety net budget.

Q5

Running a city the size of Denver is a massive undertaking with a complex web of services, departments, budgets and trade-offs. From your understanding of the city and how it allocates its resources, are there areas of the city that you’d increase funding and if so, what are they? And likewise, are there areas of the city where you’d decrease funding?

As I note above, the majority of our budget is eaten up by policing and penal services, ie "public safety." Not one piece of the remaining pie gets more than 9% of funding. The city can be using monies allocated for "public safety" to intervene more readily and ably into the lives of Denverites: more social services, more health services, and not only fund diverted for "affordable housing," but to adapt and adopt the "Housing First" model used in Utah for homelessness issues, and to pay for renter protections (like arbitration and lawyers).

Q6

Let’s assume that the City of Denver ends the 2019 fiscal year with a budget surplus of $20 million. As a Councilmember or Mayor, please list up to three program priorities on how you would spend this money. Please provide specific line items and budget amounts.

Line item 1: The whole thing, $20 million into new and more robust public transit. This can be new (more energy efficient) and longer buses we use for rush hours, or more neighborhood-specific options with an eye towards bolster communities like Globeville-Elyria-Swansea, Green Valley Ranch, Westwood, and Montbello. Additionally, we can use a great big chunk of that to subsidize monthly or even yearly passes. We also need to divvy up that amount to improve driver salaries and benefits.