Three Issues for Surfside

[In the run-up to the Commission Candidates' Forum, the League of Women voters asked candidates to submit written answers to two questions. My answer to the first question is in a previous blog post.]

In the second question of their questionnaire, the League of Women Voters asks,

What are the three most important issues facing your municipality? For each concern, how do you propose to mitigate/improve/resolve the issue?

My answer:

My three issues, in different ways, all involve planning for the Town’s future while protecting our quality of life and the distinctive character of our community.

First, that means making smart investments in the physical infrastructure of the Town.

Storms, big and small, are the greatest threat to our future, and we need to move ahead with dune-restoration and beach-renourishment projects that would help mitigate the harms from the biggest storms. We also need to deal with smaller, more frequent rainstorms by finishing the Abbott drainage project that my Commission started and, at the same time, beginning work on the next focus area in the Stormwater Management Plan.

Transportation is another infrastructure-related issue of paramount importance.  While car traffic may not pose the same kind of existential threat that storms do, it greatly detracts from residents’ quality of life, day to day.  In my term as Commissioner, I helped secure funds from the federal government to improve transportation in Surfside.  We need to use those funds to make it safer, more convenient, and more dignified to get around without a car.  We also need new traffic-calming measures that discourage cut-through traffic in the residential district.

It’s important, too, that the infrastructure and the built environment of the Town reflect our shared values and shared history.  That means ensuring that the Champlain South memorial on 88th Street gets built, and that the interests of the Champlain families and survivors come first in that process.

Second, we need to make smart investments that will allow us to maintain high-quality services for Town residents. As part of that, I’d like to work with the new Commission to plan the next big project for our Parks & Recreation Department. Residents have expressed strong interest in a municipal gym, and we should start planning that project. With my Commission’s acquisition of the property at 9333 Harding, the Town will have the opportunity to create a vibrant corridor connecting the business district with the Town Hall and Community Center.

Third, and finally, we need to build the right kinds of governmental structures so that the work of the Town’s government stays aligned with the public interest.  My Commission passed several ordinances to protect our Commission-Manager form of government, by protecting free speech and ensuring that elected officials cannot profit from their work on the Commission.  Those measures need to be defended and expanded upon.  We should also consider additional Charter amendments that strengthen democracy in Surfside, perhaps by creating longer, staggered terms for Commissioners and by reducing the power of the Mayor.  This last issue may seem a bit abstract or academic, but what’s at stake here is something fundamental to every issue in our Town:  Surfside’s residents deserve a Commission that they can trust, and Surfside’s laws and policies should be designed to create the conditions that make that trust possible.

I want to give back to the Town I love by being a Commissioner who protects our quality of life while earning, and keeping, the trust of the entire community.