Here are three of the first policies I’ll pursue as a council member in District Four.
Parking passes for downtown workers
Many downtown workers who drive to work have to pay for parking in city garages. Someone making $15 an hour loses almost 10% of their wages by paying $1.25 per hour to park their car while they work. I’ll move to create parking passes for downtown workers so wages can instead go towards cost of living and stimulate the local economy.
Make Pacific Ave a pedestrian street
Let’s take it back to 1989! By closing Pacific Ave to cars, we can increase foot traffic for downtown businesses and create more shared public space. On top of that it shows our desire to make Santa Cruz an environmentally sustainable city for people, not cars.
Raise transfer taxes, favor small businesses
Our city budget is currently in a deficit. Among many interesting strategies is that of raising transfer taxes. I’ll work with council member Brown to raise transfer taxes on residential properties sold for over $2.5 million, which would raise $10 million in revenue for the City, as opposed to the $800k raised currently. In addition, I’ll raise the transfer tax on commercial properties sold or leased to non-local businesses. This will not only raise revenue for the City, but give small business a competitive advantage in town.