I have included below some of the most important issues I will work on as County Commissioner:

 

Economic Development 

• I will promote economic development by leveraging Washtenaw County’s strengths as an academic, commercial, and cultural center.

• I will actively work to support our small businesses and attract new ones. This means being a commissioner who listens to the community’s concerns and works with them to address them, while partnering with them to help them grow.

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BUDGET CHALLENGES

• Our county faces a deficit in the upcoming budget cycle. This hole (likely around $4 million) will need to be closed. As we work to towards this end, I will advocate for consolidation of our physical infrastructure. This means ensuring we use all our buildings at full capacity and shed any unnecessary or unsustainable lease agreements. I will also work to ensure that we use attrition rather than cuts to staff in order to get our budget in order.

 

HUMAN SERVICES

• As our economy begins to pick back up, I will make sure we preserve and improve human services in Washtenaw County. These are the services that build our human capital and provide our citizens with needed assistance.

• I will preserve the services that help those who are struggling to find work, seeking shelter, unable to afford adequate food, or in need of healthcare.

• Spending priorities ought to reflect the county’s values; the people of Washtenaw County have long supported human services through both public funding and private giving. I will be a strong voice for these services, the people who need them, and our community that benefits from them.

 

OUR ENVIRONMENT AND OUR PARKS

• I will work to make Washtenaw County’s tremendous park system even better. Our parks and our green spaces are both a quality of life and an economic tool. We keep bright people here because of the benefits these connections to nature bring to their lives. We attract new residents because of the impact they have on our quality of life.

• I value the community building, recreation, and public health benefits our parks and green spaces provide us. I will work to coordinate with local governments to ensure that county residents have access to recreation opportunities.

 

TRANSPORTATION

• I will support the effort to provide a county-wide transit system. I will work with others to see that it is put in place in a feasible and realistic manner so that our community can benefit from this investment in our future.

• I will work to implement the proposed high-speed rail service between Detroit and Chicago.

• We need to preserve Washtenaw County’s open spaces, especially our farmland. Though I don’t oppose all development, I will work to ensure we keep our farms working. They provide us with safe, stable and affordable local food, all while spurring our economy.

• It is important that Washtenaw County work with partners in the public and private sectors to redevelop brownfield sites in the area. In addition to continuing to support the Washtenaw County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, I will work to ensure we county ought to consider additional measures and incentives to encourage businesses to clean up and redevelop currently hazardous industrial sites.

 

IMMIGRATION

• Maintaining a diverse and welcoming community is critical to the county’s long-term social and economic prosperity. We benefit from the great diversity we have here in Washtenaw County. I will work to make Washtenaw County welcoming for immigrants.

 

LGBT ISSUES

• I will work to see that Washtenaw County continues as a leader in welcoming LGBT members of our community. We need to fight the Republican-controlled legislature’s ban on municipalities offering domestic partner benefits, which is not only blatantly bigoted, but bad for our business community because it puts us at a competitive disadvantage with other innovative places and states.