I decided to run for the City Commission because every time that I have I went to a meeting, I sat and watched as they droned on and on about chickens rather than the real issues at hand. Every day, more and more people face eviction notices. We are facing an ever-growing medical and school debt crisis – all while our City Commission has spent nearly a year arguing over whether or not people are allowed to have chickens. It’s ignorance at its highest level, and it's costing real people their lives.
We bust our asses every day, working 2 to 3 jobs a week to barely be able to afford our rent. We work 60+ hours just to be told that we aren’t pushing ourselves hard enough. We fight with landlords as they raise our rates and force us into crappy leases. All while our City Commission fails to do anything to protect us. I believe it’s time for change, it’s time to put city governance and our economy back into the hands of the people and deliver real results to them.
That’s why I’m running, we are real people who are facing real issues and are tired of being seen as nothing more than a vote. I don’t want to see our homeless population grow or the poverty rates get any worse than they already are. I want positive, sustainable growth so that our community can survive long-term. We need a diverse economy, a healthy, well-paid workforce, and strong unions backing them. We need to expand our revenue base and establish a public transportation system. Our sidewalks need to be expanded, they need to be more accessible and brightened up. We live in an era of uncertainty, but I promise to lead with concrete plans and goals to push Mount Pleasant forward into a bright future.
My first focus is building a diverse economy in Mount Pleasant to begin driving up wages, driving down the wealth gap, and increasing our tax revenue base for the city as a whole. I'm dedicated to bringing in unionized jobs across a diverse group of industries. We will start by expanding into labor, city, and the healthcare fields first, creating a healthy competition with the goal to drive wages up across the different industries within the city. This is about strengthening our long-term outcome by providing a better job pool for candidates. Working with Cmich, we could really focus on certain sectors and have a pipeline of graduates to workforce students at home. This will also allow us to expand our revenue from the city to begin investing in other public services, such as a Public Transportation system. The goal is to build a resilient and sustainable economy that can withstand the economic shocks of inflation, recession, and poor decision-making from the federal and state governments.
We live in a college town with no true public transportation system, and it's quite sad. A public transportation system is essential for any developing city to keep a healthy working environment for its residents. Not everyone can afford a car, myself included, and so we have to walk to work. Well, without a bus, my choices for jobs are now limited by what's within reasonable walking distance every single day. It's time to change that. If we establish a modern bus system with well-thought-out bus routes, we could expand our citizens' economic output as well as the economic capacity of our city as a whole. More businesses will want to come in as we give them more access to workers as well as consumers. On the other side of things, this expands access for consumers as well, allowing for more spending and generating more revenue for the city.
Our sidewalks need an overhaul. They need to be expanded, made more accessible for people with disabilities, and brightened in most areas to help reduce crime. What Mount Pleasant lacks, we must make up for in other ways. So, without a public transportation system, we should have the best sidewalks in the state so that everyone can enjoy them. But they fall short constanlty and it's time to change that. With smart targeted invesments we can overhaul our sidewalks to give the people a little bit more pleasurable time commuting home.
Mount Pleasant has unlimited potential, but we are being confined by the boundaries around us. I believe that if Mount Pleasant is truly to grow and become a self-sustainable city, we need to begin to expand our borders. That's why I promise that I will spend the next 4 years using every available measure to grow Mount Pleasant territory. Whether we work out something under a 425 agreement or fight at the State Boundary Commission, we need to expand our economic and housing capacity asap.
As a renter, I know firsthand how difficult landlords make lease agreements. They set you down and throw a book of nearly 25-30 pages and expect you to be able to read and sign all of it within 15-30 minutes. That's just ridiculous. We need somewhere to go for help. I have been fighting for a Tenants' Rights Committee for months now. I've been in front of the commission begging for them to listen to the renters and provide us with a centralized resource to refer to in times of distress. While they currently have the idea in the works, the Commission still has a long way to go till we get this committee. When I'm elected, I will fight every day to establish this new committee once and for all.
Have questions or suggestions? I would love to hear from you!
Campaign Headquarters
916 Silver Spur Rd, Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274