Alamosa City Council candidate positions

Downtown Alamosa

Downtown Main Street was recently reconfigured to allow for a more pedestrian-friendly downtown. Two questions:

Do you support the Alamosa Downtown Master Plan? Please explain:
Yes, I 100% support the Downtown Plan. This plan, over the course of 18 months, was put together with major input from our community. The firm we hired, as well as the City, focused extensively on getting input from our constituents. Through countless out reach meetings, planning discussions where people could have used child-care as well as interpreters for Spanish Speakers we had great turnout for these meetings. On top of all that, we had the opportunity for people to fill out a survey on our website to garner ideas and thoughts from the community. 

The thought process behind downtown stems from the fact in rural-Colorado, if you have a strong downtown/main street with vibrant business, pieces of art, places to socialize, etc. you create an economic anchor for your community, and that success spreads throughout the rest of your city. People told us, according to the outreach meetings and survey, that safety was the number one issue with downtown, and with that, turning the lanes from 3 to 2, was the best way to do this. We went ahead with the plans that were provided and they looked fantastic, and the idea is fantastic. The more people we can get to stop and spend their money in downtown the better for the whole city, especially if this is money is “new” from tourists who visit out area. Moving the new curbs like we did, created a bottleneck affect and that is the why did this, to SLOW TRAFFIC DOWN and make it safer, and hopefully people will stop and get a bite to eat, or get a drink, among the many other things to do in downtown. 

On paper, the plans looked fantastic. After we implemented these plans, it was absolutely a shock to the system. I understand that it was hard for many people to deal with these new changes and we heard this very loud and clear. The two biggest things that I gathered from the last two months from the public was: 1. People don’t feel safe getting in and out of their cars, and 2. There isn’t enough safe, parking spots for those who are disabled. 

I am proud to say that we made changes and I voiced the need for said changes during the SECOND MEETING OF AUGUST. This is a prime example of me listening to the community and making necessary changes. I feel the changes that are being done this week will address the two biggest concerns. We are moving the new curbs back toward the sidewalk, 18 inches on both sides, that is a total of 3 total feet. We are also adding disabled parking at the corners in certain parts of downtown. So we have addressed the safety issues, we still keep people from going too fast downtown, businesses are still able to utilize the outdoor space immediately outside their establishments, and as we said at our last council meeting, we will study and assess these new changes to see if things need to fixed at a later time.

What changes, if any, to the Downtown plan would you want to make as a member of the City Council?
I really want to see us get the alleyways done within the downtown. Even though this is not really a change, it is in our downtown plan and I would like to see us get to this in the very near future. Cleaning up our alleys, making them safer, and allowing shoppers to access a backdoor patio, shop, etc sounds like a great idea and this is being done across the country. We need to stick to our downtown plan and make changes where we see fit that will address the specific needs of Alamosa and our downtown merchants. Because our downtown is vibrant again, it is imperative through way-finding that we communicate to people where the parking lots are. With that, I believe that we will improve some of the city parking lots in the area by cleaning them up with new lines and moving some things around, we can add more parking spots to meet the vehicular demand. 

Again, if we have a strong downtown we will have an economic anchor for the rest of the city where people have jobs and are making money. To  my knowledge, almost every single storefront is full or in the process of being full and operational. A lot of credit needs to be given to our business owners in downtown, but I have heard from many merchants that because of our downtown plan and the attention and efforts given to this area, they  have opened a new business, hired more people, or expanded their services. I am proud of the work our City Council has done and will continue to do in the downtown area.

Housing

The city of Alamosa recently conducted a Housing Needs Assessment that showed between 444 to 514 housing units for residents and employees are needed by 2026, or an average of about 80 to 100 units. Two questions:

Do you support more “affordable housing” projects like the current Iron Horse housing development near Alamosa High School? Why or why not?
I absolutely agree with the Iron Horse project. I take pride that our City Council team and staff use a lot of thinking and planning before we make decisions. Because our Housing Needs Assessment indicates that we are not ready for potential population boom that the rest of Colorado and mountain towns have experienced, it is imperative that the city be ready for the increase of population that will be coming in. It will take a lot of messaging and showing people that mixed housing areas around town are ok and will not lessen their property values. We can also work the Planning and Zoning Commission to help show the public that we are not prepared the boom and frankly, we do not have enough housing stock for our current population. Our current Housing Study shows that Alamosa has gaps in all types of housing from the low end all the way up to the $300,000 type homes. I think we need to change the perception of “affordable housing,” and that young professionals coming into the work force or wanting to start a life and family, are becoming the type of people who cannot find housing in Alamosa and this is not OK. We want people to start a family and career here, not go to the Front Range. A development like the Iron Horse should not be painted with a broad brush that it is “low-income;” rather an opportunity for housing for young professionals, new families, or people who have moved here who cannot find a house quite yet. One thing I do appreciate about the Iron Horse project is that it will have management on-site if any issues do occur. 

What ideas would you bring forward as a member of the City Council to address the housing needs?
So we all know that the housing crunch is hitting Alamosa and that the private sector needs to quickly move to provide more housing opportunities to meet this demand.  One of the best ways we can help to address our housing needs is to work with our state representatives and partners and tell them our story and the growing housing problem we have. I think we can look toward changing the narrative, that instead of “low-income housing” we are looking to create “work-force” housing, and these include new teachers, new law enforcement officers, etc. We can also work with our Planning and Zoning Commission to identify areas in town where more development can occur for the private sector to take advantage of to build more housing.

Homelessness

Do you see homelessness as a critical issue for Alamosa? If so, what additional steps would you advocate the city take to address homelessness in Alamosa?
I do see homelessness as an issue for Alamosa, and I am glad that we are doing something about it. The amount of people experiencing homelessness is an issue that every city in America is facing. There are many things that government can help with to help curb homelessness in our community and many of them involve working with our community partners like La Puente and local Churches. I would like to see a program where we offer homeless folks connections to work programs that many private entities offer within the city. Many people who are homeless are often there because they have addiction issues, mental health concerns, or have just hit a hard time. These things we can address with our community partners. If we were to help homeless folks connect with the different services offered through La Puente, Behavioral Health, and other groups we can help homelessness at the root/beginning, again these being mental health or addiction. 

Do you support the city’s establishment of the St. Benedict campsite for the homeless near the Alamosa Recreation center?
I do support the creation of St. Benedict’s campsite. If we did nothing and ignored the loitering and camping problem, we would have a situation like downtown Denver or San Fransisco where people could be camping along our private properties (if permission is granted) or along public areas like parks or sidewalks. I first want to say that people experiencing homelessness are human beings, and they deserve our respect and, in my opinion, are not to be looked down upon. I am also proud that our city council changed the location of St Benedict’s from the area next to the cemetery to the current location. At the same time, we had to balance the needs and safety concerns that people were experiencing. It is not OK if a person feels unsafe walking around Cole Park or along the river. The amount of loitering around the city has gone down dramatically and we no longer have the big homeless camps. I know not all homeless folks are utilizing St Benedicts but it is a place where they can go because of our no-camping ordinances. This is a situation where we need all partners involved, it cannot just be the city. We need La Puente, our local churches, and the County all to keep working together to mitigate this issue.

Your plans

As a member of the city council what would be your top 3 goals to accomplish?
Here are my top 3 goals for the next four years, if I am blessed to be reelected:
1. Activate our river corridor. How cool would it be to create the Alamosa version of a River Walk. Pueblo and San Antonio have one, why can’t Alamosa? This will take a long time to plan and to create, but we should start to get the ball rolling on a project like this. This will take a lot of community input and we need to make sure our levee system is up to par to handle something like this.
2. Keep taking advantage and enhancing our awesome quality of life opportunities. Many of these things involve our Rec Department. We have an extensive trail system and I would like to get done a trail where you can start at the Malm trail and walk north along the river all the way to the Riparian Park on the far North Side of Alamosa. We know that people hold sacred our City Ranch, the trail systems, our multipurpose building, the rec center, our Blanca Vista fishing pond, and our dog parks. It is my plan to enhance these amenities as well as add others. 
3. Continue to fight off the Opioid pandemic that has affected our Valley for so long. We have done this so far and I want to make sure that we keep doing this work. We need to look at this problem, holistically and we are doing 3 things to address this issue:
1. We are going after the Drug Manufacturers through litigation and a settlement. Alamosa, along with the County partnered up to take advantage of this settlement and we will be getting monies to help with the addiction piece. This is new money and services that will be coming into town to help fight off opioid addiction. 
2. Keep supporting and promoting the LEAD program. I am proud to be one of four councilors who approached the city manager and other partners with the LEAD program after we heard about this at a CML Summer Conference. The LEAD program offers a different avenue to repeat offenders who are breaking the law to feed their addiction. It does no good to put them in jail, when as soon as they get out they will go back to a store and commit a petty theft. The store owner loses out, the offender is in trouble again and the system keeps going. The LEAD program offers the chance for offenders to get into counseling where people address their addiction, are offered better choices, a chance to get a job and try to fix this issue. This program is very successful, is a service offered in many parts of the Valley, and has become a model program for different parts of the United States. This is a prime example of how our police department, CRP,  and the judicial system have stepped up and work together to offer a a different route for some people. We have a 56% recidivism rate and over the years there have been 121 people who have chosen this route.
3. We continue to support our Police Department and have instructed our Chief and his crew to go after the dealers. We all have seen how many drug stops and busts our Police have done over the last 8 months. I am proud that we have a full force as of today, that we have increased their salaries and that we continue to go after the dealers in town.

Do you think Alamosa is headed in the right direction or wrong direction? Please elaborate.
I absolutely believe that Alamosa is headed in the right direction. Over the last 8 years the amount of positive changes that have occurred in Alamosa is undeniable. I ran 8 years ago to GET THINGS DONE, and there is no doubt that over the course of these last eight years our city has done just that. The key to being a representative of people at the local level is being able to listen to people and the thoughts and concerns they may have and going to work for them. I am humbled by the support I have received over the years, and I am excited to keep serving, if given the chance. Experience matters and the choice is very clear in this election, do we keep going with the positive changes and growth of Alamosa or do we go back to being stagnant and not getting anything done.