Priorities
Community Safety
Whether someone is driving their car, running a small business, or simply taking a walk at one of our parks, safety is a right that every one of us deserves.
Community safety is the overarching concern affecting all aspects of community living. Without residents, visitors, workers, and business owners having confidence in the well-being of their lives and livelihoods, we can’t effectively solve the problems that we face on a daily basis.
I will support the positive trends in keeping Kent safe by encouraging the continued funding and recruitment of quality police officers to serve our city, and ensuring they have support from the council for the resources they need. In recent years, we’ve struggled with funding to fully support the Kent Police Department, and the city continues to need additional funding to hire more police officers.
While I am committed to advocating for additional resources moving forward, having capable police officers is not the entire solution. Engaging and building relationships with the community is key. Furthering the familiarity between citizens and public servants creates cohesiveness. A united community is a safe one.
Expanding Human Services
As your councilmember, I will fully support additional resources and services for marginalized community members and homeless individuals who often suffer from mental health and substance abuse.
At the end of the day, homelessness impacts us all. It’s an issue affecting many people around the region, with visible aspects affecting families and residents who may feel unsafe when they visit Kent’s parks, open spaces, businesses, and neighborhoods.
Less visible are the families and individuals doubled up, staying on couches and with friends, with no permanent address of their own. It affects everyone from our youth to seniors.
As councilmember, I will continue to build partnerships with non-profit organizations and other government jurisdictions to improve provide access to a variety of services and treatment options.
I’ll also support local legislation and budget allocations to invest more heavily in preventative services, initiatives to make housing more affordable, and better outreach and access directly to those sleeping on the streets.
I’m running for Kent City Council so that our residents, visitors, workers, business owners, and marginalized community members may have an opportunity to truly utilize everything that our city has to offer, from hill to hill and throughout the valley.
Youth Career Education
My journey toward an engineering career would not have blossomed into what it is without my experience as a gas utility laborer with my union, IBEW Local 94. While I obtained my degree in mechanical engineering, I worked in underground gas repair full time, having to attend classes in the evening.
The skills I learned on the job with IBEW Local 94 made me stand out from the typical 4-year college graduate. This led me to working in aircraft pneumatic testing and eventually spacecraft cryogenic testing, which I specialize in today.
No internship could better prepare a candidate for an engineering role like the hands-on experience of trade work. Not only did I garner the respect of management in the office, but also my union brothers and sisters in the field.
Trades, skills, and apprenticeships are solid foundations for our youth to pursue careers without the risk of financial burden immediately after high school. Kent is the perfect landscape to explore these opportunities. My experience serves as a blueprint that anyone can follow.
When it comes to youth education, I also believe that bringing the wonders of the STEM and trade fields to the classroom are critical. With Kent being a technological hot bed, what better place to plant the seeds of a STEM career than right here?
I’ve volunteered time with the Club For The Future organization through Blue Origin to support their efforts in bringing STEM resources and professionals to classrooms across King County.
Giving children and young adults the opportunity to ask real questions and see careers that are well within their reach with academic discipline is critical. These programs encourage and catalyze careers benefitting the economic health of our city.
Our youth and marginalized communities need the opportunity to be equipped with skill sets that allow them to be prolific contributors to society.