VOTE411 Voter Guide

I want stop the out of control increases in our property taxes caused by the city subsidizing real estate development. I want to direct the city's attention to the poor condition of our roads and get them fixed. I want to be a voice that is willing to ask questions and not just go along to get along. I want to make sure there are people on the Council who are reading the documents in the agenda packet. I want to make sure our district has an alderperson who will respond promptly and effectively to requests. I want to bring to Council the issues important to our minority populations, including Asians, Hispanics and African Americans.

My business background taught me the importance of being a team player, providing excellent customer service and following processes to maintain long-lasting quality.

As a team we can achieve more in a quicker way and with better results. The teams an alderperson is a member of include the people of the district they represent, their fellow council members, the committees they participate in and the other departments within the city. The qualities of a good team member include being willing to reach out and know the needs of others, to study a task and be prepared, to actively participate, to step up and lead and to encourage and assist other members.

I have worked closely with customers in sales and service roles and this has taught me the importance of treating clients with respect. A common complaint about city council members is they do not respond to correspondence. I do not think it is difficult nor too time consuming to respond right away. If more information is required, expectations should be set and a response provided when you said it would.

The city is using new home construction as a way to raise our property taxes. A rewrite of our zoning ordinance has been proposed that facilitates this irresponsible behavior. The city is cutting corners and is not planning for a solvent future. As someone who has worked in manufacturing, I know the importance of following processes that maintain product quality that results in a consistent, positive return on investment for the long term. We must demand the city make the effort to seek solutions other than raising our taxes.

I want to stop construction of more apartment buildings which is raising our property taxes and depressing the value of the existing housing stock. I will do this by stopping approval of new Tax Increment District subsidies. Excessive addition of apartments raises the overall tax levy which raises our assessments and property taxes. TIDs shelter property revenue for decades forcing homeowners to pay for the rising costs of schools and city services. A deluge of new housing causes major disruption by forcing existing rental and for-sale homes to compete with new developments.

I want to fix the poor condition of our roads, and I will do that by moving the attention of city officials from real estate development to the roads and make sure every dime designated for roads from the city and from the county sales tax is put to work. Such an undertaking will be done in phases, but it will be a priority.

I want to write tougher regulations for data centers considering locating in our city. The regulations included in a proposed rewrite of our zoning ordinance do not protect homeowners from increased utility rates, do not limit water consumption, do not require a reliance on renewable energy and do not regulate pollution from fossil fuel, noise and light. In establishing our regulations, we should look to other municipalities where this has been done.

Local government should establish strong regulations for data centers. Water consumption and pollution from fossil fuel, noise and light must be regulated. In our city, we should not encourage data centers because the power requirements may further delay shutting our coal-fired power plant.

We should encourage implementation of solar power especially since it is cheaper than alternatives. We should facilitate adoption of solar by homeowners and encourage projects where farms dedicate acreage to solar fields that allow planting below panels.

We should regulate water and fertilizer usage on areas used on golf courses.

We need to re-establish our participation in Wisconsin DNR's Green Tier Legacy Communities program. We should also support the city's Sustainability Task Force whose staff was severely reduced.

I will pause starts of new developments. I will not allow new housing developments to be subsidized with Tax Increment Districts which shelter property revenue from the city coffers for decades. Census studies that show our population has decreased since 2020 do not substantiate claims for thousands of new dwellings that will raise our tax levy and upset the market of existing stock. I will encourage development of programs that make existing stock attractive. I will encourage establishment of regulations that limit the amount construction by out-of-town developers.

I am running for office to increase traffic safety and to make our community stronger. We need to reduce the number of crashes on our streets that result in death or injury. Housing costs have been rising in Sheboygan as well, whether that’s through rising rents, or higher taxes. There are several recommendations made in our recent housing studies we should implement to help reduce these costs. I’m also a strong advocate for public input in local government, which is why I’ve joined the Farnsworth Neighborhood Association and have volunteered to serve as a citizen member of several committees within the city. Our local government needs to be responsive to the public, no one knows a neighborhood better than the people that live or work there, we need to listen to the insights they can provide.

Through my experience as a citizen member of several committees within Sheboygan I’ve learned to work with city staff and current elected officials. Being a part of the Farnsworth Neighborhood Association has helped me communicate the needs and desires of my neighbors to city staff. I’ve also been co-leading a book club at the Mead library where we read about how to make our town stronger both financially as well as building a sense of community and belonging. I believe this background will enable me to be an effective alderperson immediately if elected.

To increase traffic safety, I'd like to establish a program in Sheboygan where if a bad crash occurs and someone is injured, we come together as neighbors and city officials to see if there are low-cost improvements that we can implement immediately. Perhaps the lighting is bad at an intersection, the lane design may be confusing, or even just seeing past parked cars could be a challenge.

I believe that in order to address the housing shortage, we need to look to our traditional neighborhoods in Sheboygan. Many of these do not conform to our current zoning code, yet are some of the most valuable neighborhoods in the city. There are several recommendations in our housing studies on how to enable housing to be built at more reasonable price points that I would pursue implementing. Such as allowing backyard cottages, in-law suites and cottage courts.

Finally, to ensure responsible spending, my general philosophy is that we need to be careful of taking on debt for large risks. We should focus on supporting what we've already built here in Sheboygan.

A local government should be a good steward of the environment, this means maintaining our urban forest, our parks and keeping our water clean. It should also ensure we have streets that are safe and comfortable for people to walk, bike or take transit if they either can’t or don’t want to drive. Having the freedom to choose how you move throughout the city helps reduce the need for parking, reduces traffic, can provide exercise, saves money, all with the additional benefit of reducing our climate impact. Having these options mean people who do prefer driving would have less traffic to deal with which would help ease frustration and road rage. Ensuring we have safe streets and options in how we choose to move results in so many benefits on top of addressing climate change.

There are a few aspects to making sure property development reflects the needs and interests of the city. Broadly we should be supporting local businesses and incremental and infill development where possible over large and expensive plans that require large infrastructure buildouts in order to complete. This is to reduce the risk we take when we’re not certain how markets could change over a longer timeframe.

In the short term I plan to use insights gained from our housing studies and other group events I attend such as meeting with neighborhood associations in my district. In the long term we need to improve our public input process as a city. Right now we mostly hear from people who have the time and energy to attend city meetings and contact their alderperson. We should attempt to meet people where they are when gathering input, this means reaching out to groups that are already established. This could be in the form of volunteer organizations, neighborhood associations and groups that are mainly social that may be able to share valuable input into what they’d like to see in the city. The groups will already be discussing issues that are most important to them and will be able to share insights from members that might not be interested in public speaking, but are willing to share in a smaller group.