PRIORITIES:
Strengthening Our Community. Stewarding Our Future.
Homes within Reach
The people who teach our kids, care for our neighbors, protect our safety, and keep our local businesses running are being shut out of the community they work so hard for.
We need more affordable housing, more creativity in the solutions we offer, and a commitment to ensuring growth pays its fair share. When people can live where they work, it not only means a roof over their head, it means giving them back time with their families and the ability to enjoy the quality of life they work to uphold for us all.
I will prioritize adding more tools to our affordable housing toolbox in addition to what our government and non-profit partners have built - so that more of the people who make this community a community, our teachers, artists, nurses, firefighters – will always have a home here.
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Stop making it worse: Every new hotel and mega-mansion creates many new jobs which require more people who require more homes. We need to both limit new job creation within existing rules and change the rules so future development benefits our community.
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Protect what we have: Prioritize affordable housing preservation acquisition and deed-restrictions to keep existing affordable homes in our community from being redeveloped into luxury real estate. The best affordable housing is that which is already built.
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Get creative: Enable creative solutions for affordable housing like allowing willing landowners to build deed restricted ADUs or tiny homes. Unleash mutually beneficial solutions to our affordable housing shortage at a scale that fits in neighborhoods.
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Make it last: Recognizing the long term nature of our housing needs, we need ongoing capacity for our community to build, maintain, and preserve homes for our workforce and seniors. I will prioritize non-profit and public-public partnerships that keep our housing dollars in this community, rather than sending taxpayer dollars to private equity investors.
Services that Work
We must be committed to taking care of our people. That means affordable childcare options, strong emergency services, access to behavioral and public health, and transportation that works. These are investments in our collective health, safety, and resilience.
Services and programs that support working class families are critical to making sure people can function, not only in emergencies, but every day. We not only need strong emergency services like Fire/EMS, we also need services like the library, where our daughter goes after school, and the Rec Center, where we can sign her up for affordable summer and after school programs.
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Strengthen public safety: Maintain strong revenue for our critical services. Please Vote No on Prop 1 in November. Provide housing for law enforcement and Fire/EMS in our community so they can both provide critical services we need (especially when roads close) and participate in our community.
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Support working parents: Include childcare space in large affordable housing or other public developments.
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Expand senior care: Integrate space for seniors in new development and existing neighborhoods, to increase community connection and multigenerational interactions.
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Keep us moving: Expand and support transit options like the START airport shuttle, more commuter routes and times over the pass and down the canyon, and adding service to Melody Ranch and Rafter J. Reducing traffic isn’t just about fewer cars on the road, it’s about giving people time back in their lives.
Stewardship of Our Resources
Protecting clean water and wildlife is the foundation of what makes Teton County an exceptional place to live and visit – and is the backbone of our strong economy. As a former National Park ranger and wildlife guide, I have a strong connection to our wild places and animals.
We need to follow through on natural resource solutions our community has already identified, be fierce protectors of our public lands, and be honest about the effects of growth on the long-term health of our natural resources.
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Protect public lands: Our public lands and conservation heritage are a global treasure, and it is our responsibility to make sure we preserve and protect them for future generations. I will advocate for always providing clear input to our federal partners.
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Focus on water quality: Clean water is paramount for both the health of our residents and visitors - especially more vulnerable populations like our children and seniors - and our wildlife and the ecosystem itself. Right now, too many of our creeks are impaired with pollution, and even the Town’s water system was contaminated this year. We need to increase our protection, monitoring, and treatment so that our water becomes as pristine and healthy as it looks.
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Preserve our wildlife: I support continued investment in wildlife crossings, and also protecting wildlife migration and movement corridors from development or obstruction. I support wildlife friendly fencing and permeability rules in our county.