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I intend to attend as many, if not all, of the city council meetings to maximize the amount of interactions that I can have with the citizens of Redmond. If there are specific groups that also want to have additional meetings with a city council representative, I intend to facilitate those as well. I think that as a member of the city council, it is my job to first and foremost listen to the needs of the community.

I think that with the opening of the new light rail, the citizens of Redmond should be incentivized to use it more. As it stands, the light rail is getting almost no use and this is both a waste of taxpayer money and a way for more people to use public transit regularly thereby decreasing carbon emissions and traffic.

This would be my first position in public service.

I think that Redmond should have more of a focus on helping the homeless people who are truly down on their luck and just needing a second chance and a leg up. Plymouth housing is currently being misused, and should be utilized to help that group of individuals by providing housing for up to about 3 years so that those in the program have a chance to regain their footing and be able to afford to live on their own without a government funded housing program.

I think that Redmond has the potential to truly be the embodiment of the "melting pot" that the US likes to describe itself as. There are so many different communities in Redmond, and I would love to see Redmond host events that bring multiple communities together rather than always having each group do separate events. The separate events are always great to see, but they generally only bring in members of that community. It would be incredible to see events where people outside of the hosting community attend and learn more about a different culture.

One of Melissa's core beliefs is that the City Council does its best work outside of City Hall. That's why she advocated for the Council to host its first ever meeting in Downtown Park. Government should go where the people are! Those community listening sessions are now quarterly opportunities for residents to gather with Council and will rotate to different neighborhoods throughout the city.

Melissa also holds drop-in office hours at the Redmond Library on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month from 3-5pm. No appointment needed!

Melissa represents Redmond's sustainability priorities at the Association of Washington Cities Legislative Priorities Committee and National League of Cities Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources Committee.

Prior to joining the Council, Melissa was a board member at Zero Waste Washington and a Climate Justice Steward at Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy.

Council Accomplishments Co-sponsored legislation to support the preservation of our state's Climate Commitment Act–a program that has already provided more than $2M in heatpump conversions for low and moderate income residents, climate planning, and our state's first electric fire truck.

Ensured that future residents in multi-family buildings will have homes designed to fully participate in recycling, compositing, and overall cleaner solid waste systems. Melissa continues to champion legislation at the state level that would shift the burden back to producers of packaging, plastics, and paper products.

For the last decade, Melissa's professional work centered on improving the lives of children, youth, and families. She is a seasoned fund development director and loves making connections between our region's philanthropists and opportunities to change the world. She has worked to expand access to affordable behavioral health care at Youth Eastside Services and educational success for youth in foster care at Treehouse. She currently serves on the board of Together Center, a non-profit human services hub in Redmond.

Melissa served in the U.S. Peace Corps as a Community and Organizational Development Advisor in Moldova. During her service, she worked with community leaders to strengthen youth development programs and with international NGOs to increase the reach of human trafficking prevention programs to rural areas of the country.

Melissa earned a Masters in Non-Profit Leadership from Seattle University and two Bachelors from Washington State University.

Melissa is a leading voice for housing action in our city and region. She represents our community on the Puget Sound Regional Council's Growth Management Planning Board and King County's Growth Management Planning Council.

She believes in addressing the upstream challenges of the housing crisis, while also providing compassionate care to those experiencing homelessness. In her first term, she voted to strengthen the city's investment in human services, housing stability, and permanent supportive housing--a proven solution to help house, stabilize, and strengthen our neighbors.

Like many, Melissa was motivated to run for office by changes coming to her own neighborhood. Melissa and her family live in Overlake Village and can't wait to be connected to the rest of the region through light rail!

Through the recent comprehensive planning process, our city co-created a vision for the future that is rooted in connectivity, equity, and inclusion. If we achieve the goals of the comprehensive plan, then Redmond will be more affordable and transit oriented. It will still be a place with great schools and neighbors from all over the world. It will be a place where more people feel safe to walk, bike, or roll instead of taking their car. Neighborhoods will be more complete and the tree canopy will cover 40% of the city.