I offer a comprehensive array of ideas and specific solutions because I believe we must work on all aspects of the city -- infrastructure, public safety, neighborhoods, education, and development -- simultaneously with purposeful vision. I believe in building Elmira's future with the help and ideas of citizens like you, who want to see our city reach its full potential.

• Public Safety
  
• Roads and Infrastructure
  
• Job Growth and Education
  
• Neighborhood Revitalization
  
• Downtown Development
  
• Parks, Recreation and Tourism
  
• Communications and Outreach
  
• Reshaping City Council
  
• Fiscal responsibility
  

• Promote community policing that gets police and residents working together, including a creative mix of car, foot and bike patrols; neighborhood meetings; and collaboration with the District Attorney's Neighborhood Justice program
• Support efforts to shift department staff and resources to cover troublesome night shifts
• Committed to a fully staffed police force in the face of retirements
• I support Chief Drake's efforts that have saved the city hundreds of thousands in overtime costs
• If the city benefits from increased sales tax revenue, grants, or other new funding sources, I will ask the council to make police and public safety spending a priority

• Shift money from fewer reconstruction projects to more (and better) resurfacing projects
• Improve communication between the city and businesses and property owners so they know when road work is scheduled
• Consider bonding for roads as a hedge against rising oil (and asphalt) prices
• Develop a comprehensive multi-year plan to put road repair on a schedule, not just relying on annual windshield surveys
• Reconsider the sale of the Water Board assets and creation of a Water Authority
• Use proceeds of a Water Board sale to seed revitalization efforts and road improvements

• Improve the links between the city and its school district
• Cut red tape to make Elmira more business-friendly
• Support job-training that satisfies the needs of current and future employers
• Encourage mentoring programs that help students learn from local businesspeople so they can envision their own working futures
• Revisit the idea of a CCC branch campus
• Work with the county to improve transportation from Elmira to the Corning campus
• Exploit the telecommunications infrastructure that sets Elmira apart from other Upstate New York cities
• Great City, Great Schools Collaborative, which includes an "Elmira Reads" program to promote literacy citywide; tax breaks for teachers who buy homes near their schools; renewed efforts to "dedensify" neighborhoods; a zero-tolerance policy for truancy; strong support for the Elmira Police Department's Youth Services Division; a youth summer job, volunteer and mentoring opportunities program; and new "Hire an Elmiran" program to promote Elmira workers

• First-dollar investments that give property owners tax breaks for money spent on repairs. Paid for with money currently committed to demolition ($250,000 a year)
• Renovation, not demolition. Provide similar tax incentives to encourage reuse of historic homes
• Provide tax incentives for dedensification efforts that reduce the number of units. There's a glut of low-cost housing; I support efforts that encourage investment in middle- and high-income housing, which is desired but sorely lacking
• Incorporation to give neighborhood entities the ability to raise and collect grant money
• A new sidewalk program: You pay for materials, the city does the work

• Support first-dollar investment that gives business and building owners tax breaks for money spent on repairs
• Pay for first-dollar investment with money taken from demolition budget (currently $250,000 per year)
• Support greenspace initiatives that reconnect a disparate downtown with low-cost investments in trees, monuments and community focal points
• Support a long-term parking solution to increase use of the garages and free up metered spaces on the streets. Allow businesses to validate for shoppers and make sure the garages are clean, well-lit and safe
• Streamline EDD, STEG and City efforts so it's clear whom to call, and whom can manage the relationships
• Avoid hiring new staff until we've looked at what we've got first, clarify the mission, and develop measurable goals
• Develop an Art District that draws artists and musicians to upstairs residential lofts and co-op storefronts, and anchors established entertainment and art venues like the Chemung Valley History Museum, the Arnot Art museum, the Clemens Center, and First Arena.
• Recreate Elmira's skyline with low-cost investments that encourage public-private partnerships, such as the downtown bike trail and roof-top canopies for restaurants
• Review codes and ordinances so business owners can, among other things, put tables on the streets and exploit the river

• Continue investing in city parks and encourage public-private partnerships like the Eldridge Park carousel and gateway projects
• Push the downtown promenade to link the river and downtown greenspaces
• Continue efforts to develop the Grove Street landing to exploit the river
• Look to reallocate county room tax revenue, away from capital projects and toward promotion

• Make city government more transparent
• Bring meetings to the people
• Better communicate actions to better inform citizens by working more closely with local media
• Better market the city, its resources and its tourist appeal
• Hold mayor's forums to encourage local discussion of important issues
• Create a mayor's blog for direct ties between the mayor and citizens

• Create council committees, each headed by a member of the council
• Committees might include Public Safety, Parks and Recreation, Roads and Infrastructure; Downtown and Economic Development; and City Services
• This is a non-partisan approach to giving council members real authority to help solve the city's problems

• Limit tax increases, while ensuring a strong financial condition that won't impact the city's bond rating (currently investment-grade BAA). If the city doesn't cover its expenses, the cost of a lowered bond rating would actually put the city in a worse fiscal position
• Continue to look at ways to save money though consolidation with the county, towns, villages and the school district
• Avoid consolidation efforts that neither save money nor improve services