Message to the Community: Boulder is grieving. On Saturday night, two 19-year-old CU Boulder students were shot at a Halloween house party on University Hill. One of them died, and the other is in critical condition. My heart goes out to their families, friends, and classmates, and to everyone on the Hill and across the community who is shaken by this loss.

Police are still seeking information, so if you know anything, please call Boulder detectives at 303-441-3333. And if you're struggling, please reach out to someone you trust. Support is available 24/7 by calling or texting 988, and CU students can call CU Boulder Counseling and Psychiatric Services at 303-492-2277.

Deadline Alert: Polls close tomorrow, Tuesday, November 3, at 7 p.m. As of this morning, around 50% of ballots have been turned in. Return your ballot at a 24-hour drop box or vote in person at a voting center. Don't mail it now, because it may not arrive in time to be counted. Here's my voter guide on Instagram. You can also find me on the CU campus at the UMC this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon.

How to Make Boulder Work for Everyone, Now and in the Future

My work on Boulder City Council—the first term wrapping up, and my vision for a second term—is about making our community work for everyone, now and in the future.

For Everyone

By everyone, I mean people of all ages and stages of life. Seniors and families with kids. Workers, young professionals, and students thinking about building a futute here. People with disabilities. Immigrants, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Renters and people with below-average incomes. People and their families experiencing homelessness, and people at risk of losing their homes. Local business owners.

Does that mean everybody in the world will live in Boulder? That I want Boulder to become Manhattan?

No. It means when families with kids can thrive in Boulder, all of us benefit. Families anchor our neighborhoods. Strong enrollment keeps neighborhood schools full and well funded, and youth sports, school events, and parent volunteers knit our community together. Families make our parks and public spaces vibrant and human, and they help drive our local economy. And kids who grow up here become the next generation who care about this place. When families can't make it work, we lose all of that, and Boulder becomes less of a place where people can live through every stage of life.

It means when seniors can downsize and reach nearby amenities affordably without relying on a car, the whole community gains. Homes open up for the families who want them. Older residents stay connected to friends, services, and the community they helped build, even after they stop driving. And Boulder keeps the time, experience, and civic energy they give back. When seniors are stuck in homes bigger than they need, or cut off once they can’t drive, we all lose.

It means when working-age adults can afford to live here, our schools, health care, emergency response, and the many kinds of shops and services we rely on are stronger and easier to reach. Fewer people commute in from farther away, which means less traffic and less pollution.

It means when people with marginalized identities and lived experiences are safe here and find belonging and hope In Boulder, our community is stronger. Boulder gains their talents, perspectives, and leadership. And we become a place where everyone can be fully themselves, which is what makes a community worth calling home.

It means when neighbors can avoid losing their homes, or get back into housing quickly, there is less suffering, our public realm works better, and our budget goes further.

In sum, Boulder works better when it works for the balance of all of us. That’s what I mean when I say I’m working to make Boulder work for everyone.

Now and in the Future

My work is also about Boulder now and in the future. I aim to cut the costs of living, adapt our community to a world it wasn’t built for, and make our local government more predictable and effective. To really do that, we have to manage two things at once.

First, concrete results. We need good policies combined with accountability for outcomes on the ground. That starts with good ideas, but it doesn’t end until rent and other costs become more manageable, potholes gets fixed, permits come through in reasonable time, and the power stays on. Every council, mine included, should be judged on the experience it makes and protects.

This work isn’t glamorous. It’s about steadily increasing the good the city can do in people’s lives, with systems and governance that use evidence to get the most benefit from the fewest resources. It also means helping residents manage positive changes that still take getting used to, like street designs that can feel different but make it safer for 8-year-olds and 80-year-olds alike to walk and bike in their neighborhoods.

My council has moved Boulder forward. Since 2023, our council led a new homelessness strategy and opened a day services center, and unsheltered homelessness is down 48 percent. We implemented the Reimagine Policing Plan, and property crime fell 18 percent in 2025. We created Boulder’s first durably funded pavement program, which will raise $73 million over ten years so potholes get fixed before they start.

Second, we need to build Boulder for the future. We need to carry on Boulder’s tradition of planting trees whose shade we can’t expect to sit under. That’s what the leaders before us did when they gave us open space, the Pearl Street Mall, and a network of multi-use paths that took decades to complete. They weren’t just maintaining what worked at the time, or making promises about next year. They were building with vision, weighing what their decisions would deliver and cost over the next 5, 10, and 20 years, and leaving an endowment for people who would live here long after them. That approach is fundamental to Boulder, and we owe the same to younger people today, many of whom will spend decades here and can’t yet vote.

The future doesn’t come with a map—we have to create our future with vision, thinking through the principles of what we’re building decades out. Towards that, my council has set in motion a more inclusive approach to housing through the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan that will take time to roll out. It will also take updating city code to allow more neighborhood shops and gentle infill, while reducing the friction that local shops and housing builders run into every day.

It means investing in a customer experience hub, so getting help from the city is simple and values your time, and so we can deliver greater quality-of-life gains for less money.

It means continuing to strengthen the integration of climate resilience and broader resilience into everything we do.

And it means new controls at the council level to address our financial challenges, including a backlog of unfunded maintenance. Our council has begun this work and there’s a lot for the next one to pick up on, as I discussed in a previous newsletter.

I hope you’ll vote to bring me back so I can keep working to make Boulder work for everyone, now and in the future. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. Tuesday, November 3.

I Need Your Help

Vote now! Return your ballot by 7 pm on November 3, the sooner the better. In the “City of Boulder Council Candidates” box, look for me in row 3.

Tell your friends. Write an email to your contacts who live in the City of Boulder and to encourage them to vote—and to add Ryan Schuchard to their selection.

What’s New

Paul Culnan wrote in the Daily Camera about dropping in on my weekly office hours at the library. He’s found them an accessible way to engage with city decisions and see his input make a real impact. Read Paul’s letter here.

Lisa Snow wrote in the Daily Camera about how Councilmember Tina Marquis and I have taken on Boulder’s hardest problems, including by bringing the maintenance backlog to voters rather than deferring it again. Read Lisa’s letter here.

See more of what people are saying at www.ryanwithboulder.com/whatpeoplearesaying

KUNC looked at how housing and climate goals connect for Boulder’s council candidates. I talked about why land use is a top climate tool. When we plan neighborhoods with a mix of homes near shops and transit, people don’t need a car to live here, and we cut energy use at its roots. Read more here.

I’ve continued to earn so many endorsements and to be featured in so many voter guides, and I’m grateful for every one. They include Congressman Joe Neguse, Senator Michael Bennet, Mayor Aaron Brockett, the Daily Camera, Yellow Scene, Sierra Club, Boulder Area Labor Council, Boulder Progressives, Better Boulder, and many more. See them all at www.ryanwithboulder.com/endorsements.

Still deciding, or want to share my work with a friend? My priorities for the next term, from housing and transit to wildfire protection and a stronger city budget, are at www.ryanwithboulder.com/priorities. And for things you might not know, like how I co-led council’s 2026 work plan priorities on wildfire protection and bicycle security, see www.ryanwithboulder.com/didyouknow.

This campaign season has been rich with discussion and ideas, and there’s a lot I’m excited to share. Stay tuned after the election for essays on climate leadership in the next term, part two of how to build a wildfire home hardening services marketplace, ending power outages, and intergenerational thriving.

Upcoming Events

Let’s connect, talk, and learn together in the remaining hours before the Election. You can find me here:

• 11/2 Monday @ 11:00 am - 3:00 pm: CU campus at the UMC

• 11/3 Tuesday @ 11:00 am - 5:00 pm: CU campus at the UMC

• 11/3 Tuesday @ 7:00 pm: Ballots due

A Dream Team

In this final full newsletter before the election, please let me recognize my incredible core campaign team, the power behind this work.

The campaign’s co-managers, Scott Miller and Hannah Davis, have led our strategy, field operations, and get-out-the-vote push. Cat Manzo and Lucia von Reusner and have led our community outreach. Ryan Snow has created our graphic design, Worth Baker has produced our video, and Andy Sayler has kept our finances in order as treasurer.

They are the best campaign leaders out there. And they have given their evenings and weekends because they care about a Boulder that works for everyone, now and in the future. I am deeply grateful. Meet them at www.ryanwithboulder.com/team.

Onwards!

Ryan and team