Better Living and Climate Progress

I ran in 2023 with a focus on making life better in Boulder while advancing climate progress. Here are some things I’ve been working on:

Climate Governance and Accountability

Pushed for a redesigned council memo template requiring a Sustainability, Equity, and Resilience section on every substantive council item. Adopted.

Continue backing Boulder's climate liability lawsuit against ExxonMobil and Suncor, now before the US Supreme Court. Pending litigation.

Co-led council's decision to commission Boulder's updated climate action plan, reaffirming targets to cut emissions 70 percent by 2030, reach net-zero by 2035, and become carbon-positive by 2040. Adopted.

Wrote a piece for the Federation of American Scientists on cities becoming compact, efficient, electrified, and nature-rich.

Housing and Transportation Options

Championed middle housing reform legalizing more than 15,000 additional homes, and supported a form-based code enabling roughly 5,000 more in East Boulder, keeping growth inside our transit-served core. Adopted.

Championed eliminating parking minimums for developers, removing a built-in subsidy for driving. Adopted.

Authored the ordinance making people-centered, multimodal access, not vehicle throughput, the legal goal of transportation planning, tying housing and transportation costs together. Adopted.

Championed an equity-based e-bike incentive program that has put more than 300 e-bikes into residents' hands. Adopted, ongoing.

Supported restored bus service between Boulder Junction, Denver, and the airport, and completed three Core Arterial Network redesigns on Iris, Folsom, and North 30th. ‍Adopted.

Wrote guest columns in the Daily Camera and Yellow Scene on Colorado's climate roadmap and how the city funds transportation, plus a Vision Zero piece on street safety.

Clean, Strong Energy Grid

Led Boulder's first formal accountability framework for Xcel, covering wildfire mitigation transparency, grid reliability investment, and shutoff accountability, after the April 2024 outage affecting 55,000 residents. Adopted.

Championed an all-electric energy code for new construction, and the state advocacy that exempted plug-in solar devices from permits and fees. Adopted.

Supported the city's acquisition of more than 4,400 streetlights from Xcel and a 20-year municipal broadband partnership. Adopted.

Led independent, real-time monitoring for particulate matter, heavy metals, and radioactive elements at Xcel's Valmont coal ash site, and helped strengthen the city's official coal ash position. Adopted, ongoing.

Wildfire, Flood, and Water Protection

Helped expand wildland-urban interface fire hardening standards from about 4,600 to more than 16,000 properties. Adopted.

Championed new water conservation landscaping standards. Adopted.

Directed staff to build integrated water supply planning covering future data center demand, compact housing, and emerging climate science. Under consideration.

Directed staff to build equity mapping for power resilience planning, targeting investment at the households facing the most risk during an outage. Under consideration.

Working through my own free wildfire hardening assessment, redesigning our landscaping and fencing to be firewise and drought-tolerant.

Helped launch a partnership with Boulder Valley School District removing pesticides and herbicides from school grounds, converting them to climate-resilient landscapes. Adopted, being completed in phases.

Traffic Safety

Led the resolution streamlining safe streets project approvals, cutting timelines like Iris Avenue's from years to weeks. Adopted.

Backed traffic safety cameras at 24 intersections and Magnus's Law, requiring police to offer a breathalyzer after a serious crash. Adopted.

What's Next

Push power resilience toward a concrete roadmap for grid hardening, undergrounding, sectionalization, microgrids, and resilience centers.

Hold Xcel to its path toward 100 percent renewable power by 2030.

Expand neighborhood-scale carbon-free energy, including geoexchange.

Build a public, cost-ranked list of fire-adapted investments with need-based financial help.

Prioritize flood and stormwater investments by social vulnerability, not property values.

Update city code (Title 9) to turn BVCP reforms into actual homes, including lot-splitting by-right.

Expand rights for graywater use.

Build a year-round farmer's market and public food hub to strengthen local food security.

Establish new regional and statewide collaboration on water demand

Mature outcome-based budgeting so climate outcomes are built into city decisions and accounting with council oversight.