Positions

• Sustainable development should be encouraged through enforcement of existing zoning and design district standards, pursuit of grant opportunities for rehabbing inefficient buildings, and public education.  We should continue the efforts to discourage sprawl and encourage infill development.
• Complete streets designed for safe use by cyclists and pedestrians encourage healthy, low-impact commuting and recreation. As we improve our bicycle infrastructure, we also need to redouble our efforts to educate cyclists and drivers on how to share the road responsibly, and what is expected when encountering the new bike lane markings.
• Living wage jobs and job training should be a priority when evaluating city financial support for large commercial and industrial development projects.  Development that fills a missing niche (movie theater, copy shop, apparel retail, etc) should also be supported. Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds should focus on improving the business climate by removing blighted conditions, encouraging investment in existing buildings when viable and improving public infrastructure.
• We need to invest in families, especially in our low income neighborhoods.  Too many families are living in unstable conditions.  Community development block grant funds and consolidated social service funds should be prioritized to increase access to affordable housing and to early childhood programs and for continuing education, job training and life skills counseling for parents.
• Through the work of Urbana's Sustainability Advisory Commission and staff, the council approved a Climate Action Plan in 2012 that sets a city-wide benchmark for measuring future improvements in energy efficiency and waste reduction. More recently, a plan for sustainable water management was adopted as well. I think it's important to prioritize recommendations in these plans in order to maximize immediate benefits while also incorporating aspects of the plans into everyday operations so that they become more of an operating philosophy rather than requiring specific action.