 Welcome to Longmont Public Media's conversation with the candidates. I'm Richard Lyons and I'm here today with Aaron Rodriguez, an incumbent running again for an at-large seat on City Council. Welcome, Aaron. Thank you very much for having me. So Aaron, tell us a little bit about yourself so Longmont can get to know you better. Very well. Well, I'm happy to say that I'm a Longmont native. I was born here in Longmont, Longmont United Hospital and went through our public school system, Burlington Elementary, Sunset Middle School, and Niewatt High School. I went to Chapman University and majored in operatic performance. I was a touring musician for a number of years and then transitioned as I got a little older into real estate appraisal, which is what I do currently for an occupation. So, outside of that, you know, I have a lovely wife of only about three years now and some nice dogs and a tortoise. Very good. What is the one thing you want the Longmont voters to know about you? Well, I think that with so much division and ugliness in politics, I think folks should know that I'm a pretty even, keeled and stable hand when it comes to dealing with policy as well as with the different personalities and folks that disagree, because at the end of the day I think civility is very important. And so I would hope that voters know that they can trust me to have the respect for my colleagues as well as the general public when they voice their opinions. Good. What do you especially like and don't like about Longmont? Well, you know, I love the parks and bikeways and trail systems and how our city, while it is becoming a little bit more dense and more urban, is still maintaining some of that small town feel via the parks and some of the community activities we have such as parades, rhythm on the river, those kinds of activities that help build the community and keep a more small town feel while we are inevitably growing. I guess one of the things I dislike about Longmont is that I would hope for some more diverse retail opportunities. Having experienced, you know, big city life in one way or another throughout my travels, I'm a big fan of the small boutiques and I wish that Longmont would be able to have more of those and support those adequately. Good. So I'm going to give you a hypothetical. If the city received a $1 million grant to use for the city in any way that the council determined, what would you do with it and why? Well, you know, I might be a little biased because I work in the real estate industry, but I feel that one of the biggest drivers of change is our property values and so I would ideally stick that into the affordable housing budget and try to figure out something beyond what has traditionally been our approach to affordable housing, which is absolutely needed, but we have traditionally used our affordable housing dollars for the senior community. I think there are other communities that could also use this type of funding and also doing it in probably a non-traditional way as far as say container homes or a tiny house village. And there's many concepts of tiny house, not just standalone tiny homes, but stackable tiny homes and really explore some of the newer techniques and products that are on the market. Interesting. Thank you. Did you have a person that was your mentor or that was very influential in your life? And if so, how did that person help or influence you? Well, I think there's been numerous mentors in my life, depending on which aspect. For instance, a big driver in my decision to go to opera school was my high school choir director Raymond Harrison. And because of him, I went to music school and I think that while I loved music, before going to music school, the experience deepened my love for music and for performance and really put me on the path to become a touring musician for a number of years, which I wouldn't trade that experience for the world. I can't really say that I have a political mentor per se, but I do generally cite that my mother instilled in me that volunteerism and public service are extremely important to the community and that if available, we should all give back in some way. Good. Are you paying it forward? Are you mentoring some young person? I have not had that opportunity at this time. There has been conversations with some other folks about the possibility of starting an internship program because I do believe it's very important that younger folks get involved and learn how the sausage is made to use that phrase. Because these things will truly affect them a lot more than, say, some of our retired folks on council because they're more likely to deal with our policy decisions 20 years down the road than, say, some of us on council are. Yeah. Colorado and Longmont have great recreational facilities and activities, opportunities. Which do you enjoy and how do you spend your leisure time? I would say I mostly use the greenway trails. I really enjoy walking along them, being able to kind of have those little pockets of nature within the city, you know, kind of OACs in an urban desert, if you will. Those are my favorite. And then I enjoy utilizing the parks for walking the dogs and playing catch with the dogs and such. And those would be probably the most often used, as far as my family is concerned, amenities that the city has. So, Erin, it looks like Longmont, according to the latest map, will switch from the being in the fourth congressional district to the second congressional district. What impact, if any, do you think that's going to have on Longmont? Well, I think that depending on who decides to run for congress in the second district, I'm assuming that Congressman Ngoose will run for reelection. I feel that he will be more responsive to concerns of the city of Longmont than Congressman Buck has been. And having been endorsed by Congressman Ngoose, I would say that I really am proud of the job he does and think he would make an excellent representative for the city of Longmont. Great. How do you stay informed about local, state and national issues? Well, I think you have to kind of compile a lot of different news sources to really get an accurate picture. So I try to watch both left-leaning and right-leaning national media, such as seeing what Fox News says versus what CNN says, reading various periodicals, be it the Wall Street Journal, the Hill, more left-leaning stuff like the Huntington Post or Huffington Post, I mean. I think the important part, though, is being able to cross-reference these sources to get a more accurate picture than just relying on one. As far as local goes, you know, I try as best I can to see what's being reported by both the Longmont leader as well as the Longmont Times call. And I'm glad that there is the second option that seems to be doing fairly well. I know there's been a few different experiments into it, such as the Compass and the Observer, where some different iterations as well. And then really just trying to see what people are saying locally while maybe not the best information source at least gives you a little bit of a pulse of what the folks are thinking. So you just got to take a holistic approach to seeking out information, I think. Good. So I think we all agree that national politics are very divisive and that has now come down to the state level. And although city council is nonpartisan, some say it's becoming more political. So what would you do to keep that divisiveness from occurring in the city council? Well, it's tough because, you know, you don't have much control over your fellow colleagues on city council. I think a lot of it falls to the chair, which is the mayor's position to keep a certain level of order as far as the meeting is concerned. And really, when the time is appropriate, kind of make your impassioned speech or lobby your fellow colleagues for some sense of decorum if things start to get out of hand. As Mayor Pro Tem, I've had a couple of opportunities to try to tamp down some of the emotions and try to look at this from, you know, a more pragmatic approach. I understand that folks are very invested in what they believe. But at the same time, we're one of seven votes. Each member of council is one of seven. And that if the vote doesn't go your way, it's not the end of the world. You know, I've had a number of votes go my way and a number of votes that I've been in the minority for. And at the end of the day, I still go home and feel good about, you know, the service that I've performed for the community. And I would really hope that people vet the candidates for somewhat similar, maybe, personality traits, if you will. So I think you alluded to this earlier in one of your answers, but how do you plan on involving residents in the decision making process of the City Council? So, you know, that's a tricky question. I know that the City has been experimenting with some various software platforms, but that's only as good as people that are willing to engage, which I believe is the name of the platform, Engage Longmont, take the surveys. But we also have to realize those surveys are not necessarily scientific surveys. And so a lot of it is actually getting out there and having listening sessions and like coffee with councils are very good. Venue is where you get to actually have that one-on-one interaction that is often not possible in City Council due to the rules of procedure for the meeting. And our open forums that we have twice a year now, I think are also great opportunities to sit there and have the back and forth and really have the conversation with folks. I think that's the best way to both communicate the vision that you may have as a council member as well as understand the concerns that folks might have around a certain policy or maybe the need for more information. Going to the people is the best route. Good point. Good point. So I have to ask you, if you could change one thing in the current municipal code, what would that be? Ooh, that's a tough one. Well, one thing that I've been asking for for about two or three years is to re-examine our building design standards. It's within this section of code that we will start to be able to allow for new technologies such as 3D printed homes possibly. Or our code, our design code currently states that only a certain percentage of a building can be, for instance, steel facade. And I understand where that came from, from the, I believe, 50, 60, 70s when they were putting up corrugated steel buildings and they're not necessarily the most attractive buildings. Well, those materials have come a long way since then, and there's some very nice products that I think can be implemented in a cost-effective manner to help us start cutting down on some of these construction costs and material costs that are helping to drive some of our new construction values up. So I really hope to do that, hopefully if I'm re-elected in the coming term, dive into that and really make some concerted changes as to what we consider allowable building materials and techniques as we're facing the housing crisis that the entire front range is facing. And so for our last question, between affordable housing and attainable housing between those two, which do you prioritize as being the greater need facing the city? Well, I think we had to take it in two different steps, and I feel that we, you know, generally moved in the right direction by first trying to stabilize our capital A affordable housing. Because those folks are probably suffering or would suffer the most if we had not stabilized the housing authority as well as to continue to build those, you know, subsidized units. And the good things that we did was we also found the metrics and the benchmarks that we needed, you know, so we can aim and have a goal. That's the next step for attainable housing is we need to figure out where the shortcoming is. How many units do we truly need to stabilize the market in a way where we can build back up that kind of middle-class home ownership concept again, as well as continue to keep it fairly affordable for folks who are on a fixed income living in our city, you know, as taxes rise due to property value increases and things like that. And so we need to find that number, and that's the first challenge. The second challenge, as I told you, is becoming more flexible and innovative with the kind of products that we bring in, as well as the concept of adaptive reuse of underutilized buildings and properties. That's definitely challenges. Well, Aaron, that concludes our conversation. Thanks very much for coming today. Well, thank you. Appreciate it and good luck with your campaign. Thank you very much.