Progress

How we’re doing on what I set out to accomplish

Updated April 26, 2026

1. Better transportation options combined with more resource-efficient land use

  • ✓ Approved two-way protected bikeways plus a road diet (four-to-three lane conversion) on Iris Avenue 

    ✓ Approved two-way protected bikeways plus a road diet on North 30th Avenue (from Arapaho to Diagonal Plaza)

    ✓ Approved two-way protected bikeways plus a road diet and other enhancements on Folsom Street

    ✓ Approved installation of traffic enforcement cameras on twenty four intersections, including many state-owned roads (resolution 1342)

    ✓ Streamlined community engagement processes for safety-enhancing transportation projects (resolution 1358)

    ✓ Established a goal of “access to opportunity” to guide transportation and land use planning in city code (ordinance 8702)

    ✓ Eliminated minimum parking requirements for developers to enable more housing to be built and reduce the cost of housing that is built (ordinance 8696) 

    ✓ Updated the transportation demand management (TDM) policy for developers by creating a meaningful new investment requirement and a new program of quality assurance that includes program design standards, user needs assessments, accountability mechanisms (ordinance 8713)

    ✓ Established public reporting dashboard for serious injury and fatality traffic crashes (established 2024, available here)

    ✓ Reestablished bus service from Boulder Junction to Denver and the airport that was lost during the COVID pandemic

    ✓ Established a transportation maintenance fee projected to raise $73,000,000 over ten years to improve the city’s pavement condition reduce the total cost of pavement maintenance, and assess the costs of operating motor vehicles more directly to users (ordinance 8719)

    ✓ Incorporated space-efficient land use and transportation choices into the climate action plan for the first time

    ✓ Updated on-street parking pricing and programs to better internalize the cost of driving to drivers and better maintain the use and usability of public right-of-ways

  • ☐ Continue to improve the safety, comfort, possibilities, and overall experience of bicyclists, pedestrians, others who seek to travel outside of cars*

    ☐ Meaningfully improve the usefulness and user experience of public transit, most importantly by increasing access to frequent transit**

    ☐ Create a whole-of-government approach to bike parking to effect meaningfully sustained fewer bike thefts and higher bike use***

    ☐ Achieve full implementation of the 24 traffic enforcement cameras approved by resolution 1342 while ensuring maximum safeguards to protect civil liberties

    ☐ Secure a firm, funded commitment to start commuter rail service from Boulder Junction to downtown Denver by 2029 backed by Colorado’s governor and legislature, RTD, BNSF, and other key parties

    ☐ Open new mountain rail service from within 20 miles of Boulder (such as Arvada) to Winter Park that is connected to coordinated frequent bus service from the central Boulder by 2026

  • *Examples of ways to improve the safety, comfort, and overall experience of bicyclists, pedestrians, others who seek to travel outside of cars:

    A. Safety-focused enhancements

    (1) Complete design and near-term construction of CAN corridors that are already funded, (2) Secure full funding for the remaining unfunded CAN segments, (3) Improve public communication so residents understand what each corridor will deliver and how it will reduce crashes and improve mobility for all modes, (4) Update the transportation chapter of the Design and Construction Standards (DCS) so new developments and capital projects match the multimodal vision of CAN, and (5) Reform signals policy so intersection design aligns with safety goals.

    Additionally: (6) Improve safeguards to minimize disruptions to access during periods of construction, especially for bicyclists and pedestrians, (7) Make specific major design upgrades for the experience of pedestrians and others outside cars in and around downtown and the civic area and (8) Develop a program of education, wayfinding, and support to help visitors and newcomers to Boulder access and have a great experience with non-car travel options, and if driving, to anticipate Boulder’s culture of pedestrians and bicyclists sharing the streets, and keep them safe, and (9) Update design and construction standards (“DCS”) to require wider sidewalks while improving safeguards to ensure full compliance with city code on sidewalks for new private construction and reconstruction of city streets.

    B. New physical connections and access rights

    (1) Establish meaningful new good pedestrian, bicycle, and transit-oriented access points and connections with Boulder’s offroad trail system

    C. Enhancement of TDM programs and strategies

    (1) Partner with CU to strengthen efforts to meaningfully increase the number of students who move to Boulder without a car and then thrive once here and (2) Update TDM requirements to allow for a cash-in-lieu program for city-led projects beyond site boundaries which would support the highest return on investment

    D. Development of an environment for e-bikes and other small battery-electric vehicles thrive while supporting the city’s safety, financial, and other key goals

    (1) Facilitate the increased beneficial use of e-bikes and other battery-electric micromobility devices by planning for travel networks that are appropriate for higher continuous speeds and greater variability within the range of travel speeds while keeping riders of all ages safe and minimizing conflicts with pedestrians on multiuse paths and sidewalks and (2) Develop a visionary commitment to making golf-cart-sized battery electric vehicles work safely and effectively throughout Boulder, and take meaningful steps to make it happen

    **Examples of transit improvements: (1) Increase access to frequent transit service near where people live (i.e., 15-minute frequency from early morning until night within a 15-minute walk), (2) Increase the number of shelters and other amenities at transit stops, (3) Introduce convenient service to the statewide intercity bus network, Rocky Mountain National Park, and trailheads throughout Boulder’s nearby mountains, and (5) Undertake a meaningful evaluation of options to establish new transit service delivery models in the Boulder Valley that includes scenarios for creating a new local transit agency

    ***Examples of bike parking enhancements: (1) Facilitate the installation of high-quality bike parking within the landscape of existing buildings, with consideration of education, services facilitation, incentives, and targeted retroactive requirements, (2) Conduct a citywide assessment of needs to make bike parking accessible for all users and their uses, and (3) Initiate an infrastructure development program to fully and equitably meet those needs identified. Notes: Bicycles can be a real workhorse of the city’s transportation, accounting for 50%+ of year-round trips in towns that plan for it, while saving money and creating stronger communities. Also, e-bikes are enabling that even more, but they are expensive and people are afraid for them to be stolen. And finally, the presence of ubiquitously convenient and secure parking is necessary to induce the use of bicycles in a similar way that do safe networks to travel on. Note: Bicycle parking is part of the City Council workplan priority in 2026, bicycle security and theft reduction.

2. Better housing options

  • ✓ End discriminatory limits on the number of people who can live together outside of traditional family relationships (ordinance 8651)

    ✓ Change zoning to legalize the conversion of many single-family homes near downtown and transit into duplexes, triplexes, and other infill middle housing, enabling the eventual creation of more than 15,000 additional units (ordinance 8666)

    ✓ Adopt a form-based code to enable the eventual construction of around 5,000 new additional in East Boulder (ordinance 8669)

    ✓ Eliminate parking and owner-occupancy requirements for accessory dwelling units (ordinance 8651)

    ✓ End Boulder’s cap on population growth (ordinance 8600)

    ✓ Meaningfully cut red tape in the way of making housing and other development more accessible and affordable (ordinance 8622)

    ✓ Establish a package of measure to improve affordability, rights, and quality standards for residents living in mobile homes and manufactured housing (developed throughout 2024 and 2025, presented to council July 24, 2025)

    ✓ Update the building demolition ordinance to encourage and streamline projects that are relatively low-impact and/or lead to relatively resource-efficient new buildings

  • ☐ Identify and pursue a next generation of measures to significantly increase the diversify of type and holistic resource-efficiency of Boulder’s housing stock*

    ☐ Improve utilization of Boulder’s existing building stock for housing, including the use of the more than 500 homes that are empty most of the year, while providing safeguards against current levels growing and causing displacement

    ☐ Improve incentives to enable and encourage housing through adaptive reuse of office space and other commercial buildings

    ☐ Develop a program to encourage homeowner associations (HOA) to adopt practices that improve neighborhood climate resilience**

    ☐ Make the process of landmarking for historic preservation more explicitly supportive of city goals and considerate of opportunity costsion text goes here

  • *Examples of next-generation housing policy:

    Big picture

    (1) Document and prioritize affordable housing funding options including grants, public land, vacancy taxes, land trusts, and ballot initiatives, (2) Streamline site review by identifying the processes, reviews, and the ambiguities that delay compliant and beneficial projects, (3) Allow 55-foot buildings by right in higher-intensity zones while still requiring community benefit, to reduce uncertainty and approval time, (4) Modernize setbacks and open-space requirements so they support climate-resilient forms like townhomes, rowhouses, and shared courtyards, (5) Require that at least some of the open space requirement contribute to truly public spaces like plazas or micro-parks, either on the project site or perhaps elsewhere (note: Most zone districts in Boulder require that new development include open space, either shared or private to individual residential units, but such open space is not truly public and does not build community and connection beyond the tenants or users of the project).

    Specific improvements

    (1) Require by-right approval of 2–4 unit “middle housing” on all residential lots in urbanized, (2) Eliminate lot size minimums so people can build small houses on small lots if they wish, (3) Eliminate side setbacks by mutual agreement of adjoining property owners to allow rowhouse development on fee-simple lots, (4) Eliminate or reduce front setbacks to reduce landscaping water usage and create more usable space

    **Examples of HOA program aims: (1) Ensure HOA boards and members understand the state’s recent preemptions of many common prohibitions which give homeowners the by-right authority to develop multifamily units and grow vegetables in the front of their homes despite previous HOA rules, (2) Work together to harden buildings and landscapes against wildfires, and (3) Develop cooperative systems for emergency preparedness and response.

3. Energy modernization and stewardship

  • ✓ Adopted a new energy code requiring all-electric equipment in new buildings (ordinance 8629)

  • ☐ Secure investments and service levels needed to minimize wildfire threats associated with Boulder’s energy system under the care of Xcel while reinstating high levels of grid reliability and minimizing outages during high winds, with consideration of all drivers including Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events, Enhanced Power Safety Settings (EPSS), and weather-related damages and other impacts

    ☐ Establish a new framework to make Boulder more resilient in the face of increasing power outages during dry/windy days, with an assessment of gaps with the current situation under Xcel and consideration of new strategies, programs, and intergovernmental/policy initiatives

    ☐ Establish policies and legal agreements to protect residents from the toxic pollution associated with the coal ash project being developed at the eastern edge of town

    ☐ Secure meaningful new commitments and actions from Xcel to accelerate the transition to electrification in a way that improves Boulder residents’ lives while also hardening the electric grid, maintaining reliability, and minimizing costs and problems associated with power safety shutoffs in the face of wildfire risk

    ☐ Secure legislative and regulatory reforms to improve alignment between profits and affordability, reliability, and other ratepayer/resident benefits

    ☐ Continue to push to accelerate the electrification of all energy systems while advancing structural efficiency through legislation, utility regulation, and local standards and investments.

    ☐ Develop standards to ensure potential new data centers meet the highest standards for sustainability and community benefit

  • N/a

4. Protection from fires and floods 

  • ✓ Enacted rigorous standards to harden new structures and landscapes against wildfire while maintaining the use of soils for edible food and other vegetation that provides important ecosystem services

    ✓ Approved flood mitigation to put 2,300 Boulderites and 1,100 homes out of harm’s way in a 100-year flood, the final step of approval by City Council after a ten-plus year process that began in the aftermath of the 2013 flood

  • ☐  Develop a public-facing cost/benefit-oriented list of options for residents and the city overall to prioritize investments towards making Boulder a fire-adapted community — as one step towards systematically reducing Boulder’s exposure to wildfire risk through evidence-based strategies targeting the highest expected impact

    ☐  Create a comprehensive, user-friendly web portal to consolidate homeowner resources to implement recommendations of Boulder’s detailed home assessments and wildfire hardening measures.

    ☐  Update and clarify approaches to community-wide disaster planning with consideration for groups who cannot depend on a personal car

  • N/a

5. Water security, food security, and sustainable natural lands  

  • ✓ Enacted new standards for water conservation in landscaping

    ✓ Launched a program to widely convert school grounds in the City of Boulder to climate-resilient landscapes in partnership with Boulder Valley School District

  • ☐  Improve food security and access to plant-rich nutritious food in part by seeding the development of a year-round farmer’s market and public food hub

    ☐ Eliminate the use of pesticides and herbicides on school grounds in partnership with Boulder Valley School District

    ☐ Establish new collaborative approaches to reduce water demand regionally and statewide

  • N/a

6. Good governance centered in climate-compatibility and inclusive wellbeing 

  • ✓ Aligned the contributions of boards and commissions with city council’s strategic workplan-setting process

    ✓ Tripled council pay to 40% of the area’s median income for future election winners (city ballot initiative in 2024)

    ✓ Meaningfully increased Boulder’s minimum wage

    ✓ Integrated a standard assessment of climate, resilience, and sustainability into a note accompanying all staff proposals and other memo materials going to city council (established July 24, 2025)

    ✓ Comprehensively updated Boulder’s approach to homelessness, with new data-driven commitments that meaningfully contribute to resolving homelessness and the surrounding dysfunctions 

  • ☐ Defend Boulder against harms from federal cuts to science, jobs, investments, protections, and other assets for our community’s wellbeing*

    ☐ Continue to implement the visionary plans Boulder has built and is in the process of building, including commitments to safer streets and more resource-efficient, inclusive housing, in light of economic storm clouds moving in

    ☐ Integrate strong climate reasoning into city finance

    ☐ Make the city’s financial strategy more robust and resilient

    ☐ Update the city’s financial investments policy, last revised in 2016

    ☐ Develop a protocol to guide redevelopment purposefully in the unfortunate event that significant parts of Boulder are effected by a natural disaster

    ☐ Develop a policy to protect Boulder residents from invasions of privacy and other potential downsizes of emerging information technologies, including mass surveillance

    ☐ Pursue additional initiatives to improve trust and accountability, including through measures to help implementation of Boulder’s Reimagine Policing be successful with transparency, collaboration, and respect

    ☐ Create a new program of support for the development of worker cooperatives

  • *Examples of defending Boulder: (1) Document and speak out about harms threatening Boulder (such as these), (2) Resist through the courts illegal and inappropriate attempts to roll back protections and civil liberties, (3) Reform state law to allow Colorado to fill the hundreds of millions of dollars being eliminated from the state budget which is currently prevented by TABOR, and (4) Build a more cohesive, self-reliant community at home