A Teacher for Our Community, A Voice for Our Future.
Public Safety
The safety of the community is my number one priority, and it extends beyond law enforcement, EMS, and the fire department. Our local government should also work to ensure water safety, housing security, and bringing in primary and specialty medical care to Fountain. As such, I would make the following policy priorities during my term.
Law enforcement
Instate ‘legitimacy policing practices’ including, but not limited to:
Expand foot and bike patrols to strengthen visible policing, enhance neighborhood safety, and build trust through a consistent, community-based presence.
Ensure law enforcement provides clear, written information about individual rights during and after a stop or arrest—promoting transparency, accountability, and trust between officers and the public.
Refocus law enforcement traffic stops on safety-related violations to ensure police resources are used efficiently and officers remain focused on public safety priorities.
Create an Alternative Crisis Response team to deploy trained mental health professionals, EMTs, and crisis counselors to handle non-violent emergency calls such as mental health crises, substance abuse episodes, and wellness checks.
Water safety
Maintain Fountain’s state-of-the-art water systems in order to prevent future water quality disasters.
Move to require yearly testing for PFAs (a.k.a. “forever chemicals”) in the city’s water supply and production of a water safety report card that is easily accessible to the general public.
Housing security
Work with the Fountain Urban Renewal Authority to investigate building a public-private partnership to bring 3-D printed homes to Fountain. 3-D printed homes are more energy efficient and durable, while being more efficient to construct and lower cost than typical homes.
Conduct a full review of zoning laws with the Planning Committee to identify and eliminate any redundant or over-burdensome laws that restrict production of new single-family homes, condominiums, and townhomes.
Medical care
Establish a committee to develop and oversee a plan to bring a small community hospital to serve the Fountain community.
Create incentives to bring primary and specialty physicians/practices to Fountain.
Infrastructure & Public Transportation
Transportation is something we all deal with practically every day — and is one of the biggest issues I’ve heard from Fountain residents. It is important for a local government to ensure that roads and infrastructure are both well designed and well maintained.
Fixing Local Infrastructure
Quickly fix the roads that are most in need, while developing long-term plans to adequately maintain Fountain’s roadways.
Have the city engineer conduct a study of moderate- to high-traffic intersections and identify a small number of intersections that would benefit from traffic circles (over stop signs or traffic lights).
Expand Walking and Bicycling Infrastructure
Scientific studies have shown that making cities more walkable and bike friendly has positive effects on health and well-being of residents, the local economy, improving social interactions, and the environmental health of the community.
Prioritizing safe infrastructure for these types of transportation makes our children safer since they are more likely to use them.
Improve the city’s bicycling infrastructure in an effort to save families money and reduce wear and tear on city roads.
It is a little over 6 times more expensive across a community and individually to travel by car over cycling (About $0.94 per mile by car compared to $0.14 per mile by bike, when adding individual and societal costs together.) Link
Improve walking infrastructure in key commercial and civic areas (i.e. The Markets at Mesa Ridge or Downtown).
Putting walking first helps slow down traffic speeds without necessarily lowering its flow, dramatically reducing the risk of road accidents.
A street network that connects walkable neighborhoods reduces fatal automobile accidents by a factor of three by slowing traffic and giving people transportation options like walking and biking. Link
Require new development to have accessible walking infrastructure.
Walking and biking improve individual health and well-being, with one study showing that inactive adults incur nearly $1400 per year in additional healthcare costs. Link
Modestly expand public transportation services
Expand Fountain’s public transport with more stops and 1-2 more regular buses.
Add an express route to high-need areas, especially for times of high traffic volume.
Inclusive Community for Young Families
Fountain should be the best place in El Paso County to raise a family! Approximately 80% of Fountain’s population is under the age of 50, this includes about 60% of the voting age public. Yet Fountain is represented in City Council only by people in their 50s, 60s, and 70s. As a result Fountain can feel stuck in the past, and having younger Council-members will bring in fresh ideas to solve the city’s problems. The solutions that worked in the 1980s don’t necessarily work now, and we could use an update.
Increase the number of “third places” in the community, so residents can have safe spaces to interact with one another.
Turn parks, libraries, and community centers into welcoming places for parents and kids to gather, relax, and build relationships.
Encourage small clusters of family-focused businesses — think ice cream shops, barber shops, and bookstores — to group together and host joint events.
Empower residents through volunteer programs and community cleanups to create and maintain third spaces.
Partner with the school district and local businesses to create more evening and weekend events for the school-aged population, especially during the summer months. Having safe spaces for youth can help reduce childcare costs and stresses for families.
Create safer areas around schools and parks by increasing visible law enforcement patrols, functional flashing school zone signs, and more safety infrastructure in walking and biking zones highly trafficked by school-age children.
Ally with our schools, churches, and civic groups to create youth programs, parenting workshops, and early learning initiatives.
Strengthen support for affordable childcare, after-school care, and parenting resources.
