Biographical Information
Campaign Phone
9205859530
Preferred Pronouns
he/him
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/haydenforcommoncouncil/
Please introduce yourself and explain why you are running for City of Appleton Alderperson.
I’m running because I love what we have in the city of Appleton and want to make sure that our city is able to continue to grow and prosper in a sustainable manner. With the rate our city is growing at we have to be careful to develop with the future in mind and not be shortsighted like some of our neighbors.
What do you think are the top two challenges for the City of Appleton and how do you propose to address these as an alderperson?
The top challenges I see are housing prices and finding alternative policing solutions. For housing prices we need to partner with developers to encourage low income housing, mixed use, and multi generational housing. For policing we need to work with the state and county to increase the number of mental health professionals embedded in our police force. Currently the only one we have is shared between the city and county and currently does not serve all of Appleton.
What role do you believe the city should have in promoting a wide variety of housing options to meet the needs of all citizens? Why do you believe that?
With the current housing market the city the council needs to work to find creative solutions in working with developers to create more low income housing options. Beyond that the lack of inventory at all levels is leading to pricing issues. One creative solution is to use TIF districts to encourage development of housing. Looking downtown with all the new apartments and condos you can see how this has been successful so far.
In your opinion, what is the status of Appleton as an open and welcoming community that is attractive to a diverse population (color, creed, sexual orientation, immigration status)? What does Appleton do well and where can we improve?
In my experience at work and through my children’s school I’ve seen the city as a very welcoming and diverse community. At the same time I do remember challenges our Asian neighbors faced about 5 years ago. I don’t think there is much we can do as a council to address this, but as a larger community we need to call out actions like this when we see them.
Tax rates and tax levies are always important issues for voters. What ideas do you have for balancing quality services and funding them?
The biggest idea is to make sure that the taxes residents are paying to the state that should be coming back to the community are. Municipal expenses continue to rise and the revenue being shared from the state isn’t close to what it was 10 years ago. This hurts the city’s ability to provide safe roads, effective police, and fast firefighters. I’ll continue to work with state officials to try to get what our community deserves.
Recorded Candidate Interview