Economy

A strong Boulder economy is one where local businesses thrive, workers can afford to stay, storefronts are full of life, and the resulting tax base funds services residents count on. Getting there takes policies that lift everyone at once backed by real, long-term consensus about what will actually work that electeds are accountable to.

What I'm Working On

I've focused on cutting the costs of doing business here, putting what makes Boulder distinctive to work for its economy, and building a balanced economy where wealth, wages, and affordability rise together, not at each other's expense.

✓ Reducing the cost of doing business. Supported the creation of a streamlined review category that cuts red tape and speeds up permits, 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, and pushed to weigh a proposed phase-down of gas-powered landscaping equipment against its real risk to roughly 2,000 to 2,500 small businesses with a largely Hispanic workforce, rather than treating it as an easy call.

✓ Putting Boulder's unique assets to work. Pushed to deepen Boulder's economic partnerships with CU Boulder in fields like quantum computing and climate science, backed new business licenses that make it easier for local entrepreneurs to take advantage of Sundance, and supported the University Hill Ambassador program keeping that district clean and safe.

✓ Building a balanced economy where wealth, wages, and affordability rise together. Pressed for housing and transportation options enabling employees and customers to live near business and job centers, supported raising the minimum wage to $15.57 and keeping worker gains, led the city's effort to foster worker cooperatives as a real path for aging business owners to keep their business going under local ownership, and supported a new metropolitan district financing framework to strengthen the city's commercial tax base, where growth pays for itself instead of shifting costs onto existing residential taxpayers.

What's Next

I'm working to:

☐ Continue to reduce unnecessary red tape and uncertainty that drives up business costs

☐ Drive for evidence-based understanding of the challenges and solutions to turn languishing commercial vacancies into real sources of value for the community

☐ Make sure 15-minute neighborhoods are underpinned by a local economy that can actually support the everyday services and exchanges they depend on

☐ Build local resilience in food and water, including a year-round farmers market and public food hub, and stay thoughtful about the water and agricultural systems Boulder's economy depends on

☐ Push for a clear, public framework defining what equitable distribution of Sundance's benefits means, and put mitigation plans for housing, traffic, and small business stress in place before problems hit ☐ Get ahead of an uncertain, AI-reshaped job market rather than waiting to react

What We Stand to Gain

Cut the costs of living. Less red tape and full storefronts instead of vacant ones put real money back in residents' pockets, business owners included.

Adapting to a changing world. A local economy grounded in real consensus, not scattered investment, is more resilient to whatever comes next, an AI-reshaped job market, a disrupted supply chain, or a single struggling sector.

Creating a trustworthy, effective government. Real accountability from elected officials on big financial commitments, and real public consensus before Boulder commits to them, is what makes economic policy trustworthy instead of just well-intentioned.

Climate-aligned decisions. Being thoughtful about water and agriculture, and building an economy that supports 15-minute neighborhoods, ties Boulder's economic future directly to its climate resilience, not as separate goals.