Business

For Boulder to succeed, local Boulder businesses need to succeed. They provide services and amenities that help make our community great, they make places where people come together, and they create valuable jobs. Right now, many of them are struggling, hit by rising costs, empty storefronts nearby, and problems well beyond their control. Helping them is going to take creative solutions, and Boulder needs a city government willing to find them.

What I'm Working On

I've focused on cutting what it costs to do business here, making sure the basics work, and tackling the bigger structural headwinds no single business can solve alone.

✓ Making it cheaper and easier to do business. Supported the creation of a streamlined review category that cuts red tape and speeds up permits, so getting a straight answer doesn't cost you time and money you don't have. Pushed to weigh a proposed phase-down of gas-powered landscaping equipment against its risk to roughly 2,000 to 2,500 small businesses with a largely Hispanic workforce, taking their livelihoods seriously before making the call.

✓ Making sure the basics work. Led the effort to set clear expectations with Xcel after the 2024 mass shutoff that cost local businesses more than $1.6 million in a single event, work that's now put power outages on track to be solved within a few years. Pushed wildfire hardening standards forward before Boulder faces a catastrophe that could shut businesses down and drive up insurance costs for everyone.

✓ Taking on the bigger headwinds. Pushed to deepen Boulder's economic partnerships with CU Boulder in fields like quantum computing and climate science, and backed new business licenses that make it easier for local entrepreneurs to take advantage of Sundance. Started building the evidence base on why storefronts sit vacant, since guessing at the cause wastes everyone's time fixing the wrong problem.

What's Next

I'm working to:

☐ Run a reasonableness assessment of city fees, so businesses aren't paying for costs that don't add up

☐ Build a cross-departmental customer service line that gets business owners a quick answer instead of getting bounced around

☐ Keep building an evidence-based understanding of why storefronts sit vacant, and target the policy measures that would have the greatest impact on filling them

☐ Take on the bigger structural headwinds facing Boulder business, aging infrastructure, water, and a changing local workforce, as a shared problem the city helps solve

☐ Keep pressing Xcel and state regulators to end power outages that cost businesses real money

What We Stand to Gain

Cut the costs of living. Less red tape and fairer fees put money back in business owners' pockets, money that goes straight into payroll, prices, and staying open.

Adapting to a changing world. A business environment built to handle wildfire, power reliability, and structural headwinds head-on is one that can weather disruption and keep going.

Creating a trustworthy, effective government. A city that gives business owners fast, straight answers is a city businesses can plan around.

Climate-aligned decisions. Wildfire hardening, grid reliability, and efficient buildings are climate wins that also keep a business open and insurable.