The Role of an Elected Official

The primary job is to listen to your constituents and represent their concerns to the other policy makers. This means reaching out, meeting people, hearing their concerns and then bringing them back to the council and collaborating to find creative solutions that benefit the most individuals. It also means reducing barriers to civic engagement, bringing important conversations to the people and being open to challenging conversations and new ideas. It requires humility to learn from others and bravery to stand up for those whom have chosen you to represent them. Above all it takes working with others towards a shared vision for a thriving city. 

 

Hate-Based Activity

The city of Concord needs to share the message loudly and clearly, both for the citizens who need reassurance and as a message to outsiders, that hate has no home here. I was grateful for the presence of several city councilors and school board members at Teetotaler last year. I appreciated the mayor’s statement on hate and thought it was a good start, but I’d like us to go further in leading with affirming messaging. The Hate Has No Home Here movement is a national movement embraced by many municipalities across the country and locally in Dover, NH. We must have clear statements on our website denouncing such activities, alongwith guidance on how to report hate crimes. We can establish a citywide initiative encouraging businesses and individuals to place Concord-Specific Hate Has No Home Here signs and placards throughout Concord. When I attended the NH Hate Crimes Forum last Spring it was clear that the number of these incidents is on the rise and has the attention of federal and state AGs, local Police Departments and the FBI. There is support for city leaders who are ready to take a visible stance. The Hate has no Home Here initiative is a direct, visible (and easy!) step to show our values and address the increasing presence of bad actors in our state.

 

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice & Belonging (DEIJB)

First I want to acknowledge the work that the city has been doing, work that Councilor Champlin acknowledged at the beginning of each of the city’s DEIJB listening sessions. 

 

This committee was established specifically to get to the heart of the barriers to engagement and entrenched practices that prevent city government from reaching and serving ALL citizens. One way that we can make forward progress is by minimizing the barriers to engagement. We know that the exact folks we are trying to reach struggle to participate for a variety of reasons: transportation access, childcare, financial instability, employment demands, accessibility of meeting spaces, language, and others. We need to structure the committee in such a way as to minimize or offset as many of those barriers as possible. We need to actively pursue outreach to the populations we want to hear from and set goals based on the lived experiences and reported needs of those individuals. Otherwise the committee has no efficacy and is another model of folks on the outside trying to imagine the needs of others rather than truly listening.

 

If we truly want to do this work, then we need to look to successful models in relevant settings and be willing to take a chance on an approach that may be new to us but is well established elsewhere. The proof of success will be in the outcomes of the committee and like all progress, this will require time, experimentation and discomfort. But sitting in the familiar failing model is not in the best interest of anyone in Concord.

 

Renewable Energy

I fully support the city’s goal to become 100% renewable energy, with the first goal to become 100% electricity by renewable energy by 2030.  The residents I have been talking to support and are proud of these goals. They also feel urgency to implement them. I would start by urging the city to enroll in Community Power now. It’s a vetted program with benefits for both the city and the individual consumers, and there’s no reason to further delay. 

 

I support the new zoning, that by nature of maximizing efficiency, protects our open spaces, eliminates parking minimums, and improves bike and pedestrian infrastructure to reduce car dependency.

 

I currently sit on the solid waste advisory committee where we are looking at food waste diversion, which saves taxpayer dollars, benefits the city and has a substantial environmental impact. I hope we are soon able to initiate a composting pilot program.

 

Public Transportation

I’d like to see a cultural return towards many more folks using public transportation as you see in larger cities and was once seen in Concord with its historic trolley system.

 

It is better for the environment and as it expands service it reduces car dependency. Public transportation saves $, reduces traffic and diminishes the need for large parking lots. 

 

I’d like to see the city invest in supporting public transportation infrastructure and messaging and marketing around using it. This is a case of if you build it, the people will come. 

• The data from when the buses became free during COVID bears out a significant increase in ridership. 

• I also know that the department recently did a review of stops. It is a challenge to add routes and stops, but not impossible by any stretch, and the TPAC Public Transportation subcommittee head is open to hearing community thoughts about where new stops would be beneficial.

 

As we increase housing, we must consider public transportation as essential infrastructure to insure and increase access to city resources, including government, recreation and libraries.

 

ConcordNEXT Zoning

As a member of Concord Greenspace, the first chapter of StrongTowns in NH, I know that new zoning emphasizes efficiency using existing infrastructure, which avoids ever-escalating infrastructure costs of suburban sprawl and makes us more economically resilient and keeps us from cutting into open spaces to meet needs for housing. This is a win-win.

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The change in zoning will bring more properties that currently exist into compliance, reducing the burden on both homeowners and the city to hear and issue variances as homeowners want to make updates to their homes.

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Our Master Plan Needs updating. It was written in 2003 and needs to be based on the changing demographics of Concord and the climate goals to which the city has committed.