In these times of great uncertainty, we need to be proactive in addressing the challenges of today and tomorrow. Below is an overview of my thoughts on the following:
Economic Development on Silver Spring
Thank you all for engaging on this. I share your concerns about the state of Silver Spring and want to see more local small businesses in our downtown. There are currently too many vacant storefronts and most of the new businesses are banks, which is not what residents are looking for (I live a few blocks from Silver Spring and share this sentiment). This is one of the top issues that I hear about from residents. It must be addressed.
I'll start by saying that I don't think that there are any magic or easy solutions. The Village can't control what individual landlords do with their space and what kinds of business they bring in as tenants (within general restrictions) and it can't force certain businesses to open here either. With that said, there's a lot that the Village can do, in partnership with the Business Improvement District to attract and incentivize specific types of businesses to Silver Spring. The BID is currently finishing a strategic planning process to do just that.
I would start by cataloguing the different types of models that municipalities deploy in their economic development efforts, including the types of incentives they offer, how they operate, the pros and cons of each model, and the outcomes that resulted. I think it's important to then share this with residents for feedback so people can have a say in the chosen approach. Because no approach is perfect and there are tradeoffs, it is important for the Village and its residents to understand the tradeoffs that result from any given choice. For example, many people point to Shorewood as a model for us to consider - but the outcomes in Shorewood have been mixed, which should be considered.
The Village does already have one incentive program - the "Downtown Incentive Grant Program" which exists to attract new businesses. While I have heard anecdotally that this has been a successful program, I believe we need a menu of options that can be deployed to attract the types of businesses that residents want to see, like local restaurants and shops. Also this program is generally reactive - a business has to find out about it and apply; versus, the Village promoting it with potential businesses. This is partly because the Village doesn’t have dedicated staff for this function and probably doesn’t have the resources to fund it. Iwould work on bringing in external grant funding to pay for dedicated staff for economic development.
I think it's also important to bring in external partners who have expertise in this type of economic development to help with strategy development (for example, Main Street America is an organization that exists to support smaller municipalities with this). These types of technical assistance organizations also understand where we could look for funding and other resources to support hiring talented staff to dedicate to this effort.
Silver Spring is the downtown and heart of Whitefish Bay. It isn't just a place where people shop, but a place where people gather and meet. Its vibrancy is so important for the health of the Village. I plan on making this a top priority on the Village Board.
Environmental Sustainability
Climate change is no longer a theoretical issue. As a village located on a Great Lake, we’re seeing the impacts today and it is only going to get worse - unless we strongly and urgently intervene. Climate change is a real threat to the Village and its residents. Addressing it through an urgent risk mitigation strategy is critical.
As a member of the Village Board, I will prioritize putting together and implementing a comprehensive environmental sustainability strategy. This starts by creating a shared vision for where we want to see the Village in 10-20 years – adopted by the Village Board. The WFB Environmental Group has proposed that this vision be around becoming a zero-waste community, which is an idea that I would support. I believe a strong vision statement is critical as a unifying mechanism for WFB.
As I talk with residents, I am astounded by the amount of talent in this community with expertise directly or indirectly related to environmental issues. Some have already been organizing and working with the Village around environmental issues, for years but many have not and only have connections to environmental issues through their jobs or personal lives. Most, however, seem eager to be engaged in a comprehensive strategy for their community.
One of the first steps in this planning process is to convene the many residents in WFB with an interest and expertise in this area. The task at hand would be to create recommendations of a few priority areas that would get us closer to the shared vision, based on their expertise and a review of best practices from communities ahead of where we are today.
These priority areas should be fairly easy to accomplish in order to build momentum and expand the network of those interested in supporting the vision. They should address both the public footprint (public buildings and public lands), as well as support residents’ sustainability efforts within their own homes. I hope to be a bridge between residents and the Village, helping to implement the recommended priorities. Once these are accomplished, we can identify the next level of priorities, and so on.
The path to environmental sustainability is dependent on a strong partnership between residents (and resident-led groups like the Garden Club) and the Village. No entity alone can have the significant impact that’s needed to match the level of crisis. As a member of the Village Board, I am truly looking forward to creating these partnerships that will move our Village forward.
Racial Equity
Racial equity has to be a priority for every level of government, and WFB is no different. I plan to bring my years of experience in prioritizing racial equity within a local government to the Village Board – both what worked and what didn’t work, as well as what we learned. I’d like to share a few things that I learned that I plan to bring to WFB’s racial equity strategy:
I believe WFB must be proactive on its racial equity journey. On top of normalizing the conversation through training and other activities, the strategy should include a hiring, retention, and inclusion plan; applying a racial equity lens to all decisions, including budget decisions; and community engagement.
- Expanding economic development activity in commercial corridors like Silver Spring to attract more local business
- Strengthening environmental sustainability initiatives that will make the community more resilient in the face of climate change
- Promoting racial equity to ensure that WFB is a welcoming community to all
Economic Development on Silver Spring
Thank you all for engaging on this. I share your concerns about the state of Silver Spring and want to see more local small businesses in our downtown. There are currently too many vacant storefronts and most of the new businesses are banks, which is not what residents are looking for (I live a few blocks from Silver Spring and share this sentiment). This is one of the top issues that I hear about from residents. It must be addressed.
I'll start by saying that I don't think that there are any magic or easy solutions. The Village can't control what individual landlords do with their space and what kinds of business they bring in as tenants (within general restrictions) and it can't force certain businesses to open here either. With that said, there's a lot that the Village can do, in partnership with the Business Improvement District to attract and incentivize specific types of businesses to Silver Spring. The BID is currently finishing a strategic planning process to do just that.
I would start by cataloguing the different types of models that municipalities deploy in their economic development efforts, including the types of incentives they offer, how they operate, the pros and cons of each model, and the outcomes that resulted. I think it's important to then share this with residents for feedback so people can have a say in the chosen approach. Because no approach is perfect and there are tradeoffs, it is important for the Village and its residents to understand the tradeoffs that result from any given choice. For example, many people point to Shorewood as a model for us to consider - but the outcomes in Shorewood have been mixed, which should be considered.
The Village does already have one incentive program - the "Downtown Incentive Grant Program" which exists to attract new businesses. While I have heard anecdotally that this has been a successful program, I believe we need a menu of options that can be deployed to attract the types of businesses that residents want to see, like local restaurants and shops. Also this program is generally reactive - a business has to find out about it and apply; versus, the Village promoting it with potential businesses. This is partly because the Village doesn’t have dedicated staff for this function and probably doesn’t have the resources to fund it. Iwould work on bringing in external grant funding to pay for dedicated staff for economic development.
I think it's also important to bring in external partners who have expertise in this type of economic development to help with strategy development (for example, Main Street America is an organization that exists to support smaller municipalities with this). These types of technical assistance organizations also understand where we could look for funding and other resources to support hiring talented staff to dedicate to this effort.
Silver Spring is the downtown and heart of Whitefish Bay. It isn't just a place where people shop, but a place where people gather and meet. Its vibrancy is so important for the health of the Village. I plan on making this a top priority on the Village Board.
Environmental Sustainability
Climate change is no longer a theoretical issue. As a village located on a Great Lake, we’re seeing the impacts today and it is only going to get worse - unless we strongly and urgently intervene. Climate change is a real threat to the Village and its residents. Addressing it through an urgent risk mitigation strategy is critical.
As a member of the Village Board, I will prioritize putting together and implementing a comprehensive environmental sustainability strategy. This starts by creating a shared vision for where we want to see the Village in 10-20 years – adopted by the Village Board. The WFB Environmental Group has proposed that this vision be around becoming a zero-waste community, which is an idea that I would support. I believe a strong vision statement is critical as a unifying mechanism for WFB.
As I talk with residents, I am astounded by the amount of talent in this community with expertise directly or indirectly related to environmental issues. Some have already been organizing and working with the Village around environmental issues, for years but many have not and only have connections to environmental issues through their jobs or personal lives. Most, however, seem eager to be engaged in a comprehensive strategy for their community.
One of the first steps in this planning process is to convene the many residents in WFB with an interest and expertise in this area. The task at hand would be to create recommendations of a few priority areas that would get us closer to the shared vision, based on their expertise and a review of best practices from communities ahead of where we are today.
These priority areas should be fairly easy to accomplish in order to build momentum and expand the network of those interested in supporting the vision. They should address both the public footprint (public buildings and public lands), as well as support residents’ sustainability efforts within their own homes. I hope to be a bridge between residents and the Village, helping to implement the recommended priorities. Once these are accomplished, we can identify the next level of priorities, and so on.
The path to environmental sustainability is dependent on a strong partnership between residents (and resident-led groups like the Garden Club) and the Village. No entity alone can have the significant impact that’s needed to match the level of crisis. As a member of the Village Board, I am truly looking forward to creating these partnerships that will move our Village forward.
Racial Equity
Racial equity has to be a priority for every level of government, and WFB is no different. I plan to bring my years of experience in prioritizing racial equity within a local government to the Village Board – both what worked and what didn’t work, as well as what we learned. I’d like to share a few things that I learned that I plan to bring to WFB’s racial equity strategy:
- Start with normalizing the conversation and creating a shared vocabulary. While the instinct is to jump to action, often this action can have unintended consequences if there’s not a deep understanding of the issues and impacts.
- How we define a strategy around racial equity is a big and complex question. If it were easy, we would have solved it already. Mistakes will happen. Own them and learn from them.
- This is a long-term journey. It took us hundreds of years to get here, it’ll take a while to get to a better place – setting expectations around this is important.
- Define shared values – these should be around how we relate to each other - listening, understanding each other, not pitting people against each other, and… compassion.
- Partnership is key! We are a white board and an overwhelmingly white staff, with overwhelmingly white residents – acknowledging the limitations of that is important:
- Partner with others who are ahead so that we don’t repeat their mistakes
- Partner with experts (ex. Government Alliance for Race and Equity)
- Partner with People of Color – so don’t make unintended mistakes
- Partner within WFB (ex. School District)
- Partner with residents and involving them in the solution. This can’t be a government-only initiative – it has to be community-wide
I believe WFB must be proactive on its racial equity journey. On top of normalizing the conversation through training and other activities, the strategy should include a hiring, retention, and inclusion plan; applying a racial equity lens to all decisions, including budget decisions; and community engagement.