 Good afternoon and welcome to the Longmont Museum Center for Culture in Northern Colorado Where people of all ages explore history Experience art and discover new ideas through dynamic programs exhibitions and events. My name is Justin Veach I'm the manager of the museum Stewart auditorium, and I curate public programs here I'd like to thank a number of people who make our programs possible the scientific and cultural facilities district the Stewart Family Foundation the Friends of the Longmont Museum are many museum donors and museum members Thank you all so much for your support. We simply can't do all that we do without you Yeah, I mean if you have any interest in membership Please drop by the front desk on your way out the door, and I'm sure they'll be ready to tell you all about the glories of membership We're very happy to be presenting this afternoon's conversation with the League of Women Voters and Longmont public media. We're going out to the World Wide Web via LPM and They're a consistent partner with us here at the Longmont Museum I do want to read a quick statement that was recently adopted by the city of Longmont We acknowledge that Longmont sits on the traditional territory of the Cheyenne Arapaho Ute and other indigenous peoples We honor the history and the living and spiritual connection that the first peoples have with this land It is our commitment to face the injustices that happened when the land was taken and to educate our communities Ourselves and our children to ensure those injustice injustices do not happen again Thank you for those of you who might find it Well for those of you who don't speak English as your first language we are offering a Spanish live Spanish interpretation For this program. So if you'd like to raise your hand if you'd like Spanish interpretation We do have some listening assisted devices that I can loan out to you So raise your hand if you'd like to hear this program live in Spanish Okay All right without further ado, I'd like to turn things over to our moderator Richard Lyons. Thank you Thank You Justin Well, welcome. Welcome to the 2021 debate for the at-large candidates for Longmont City Council This debate as well as the mayoral debate is brought to you through the sponsorship and joint production efforts of Longmont public media a media maker spake Makerspace devoted to the education production and distribution of local media that matters to you and of the League of Women Voters of Boulder County The League is a non-partisan political organization for a hundred years It has encouraged informed and active participation in government and influence public policy through education and advocacy To remain non-partisan the League never supports or poses political candidates or parties The League works throughout the year to help empower voters and to defend democracy Also again, we want to thank the Longmont Museum for making this wonderful venue available for these two debates The debate today is among these six candidates vying for the two open at-large seats on City Council The format format today is part forum and part debate Each candidate will first make an opening statement of 60 seconds And then we will start with questions which are based upon topics and questions that were submitted by you the public Each candidate will have 60 seconds for each question And they are free to use their respective 60 seconds to answer the question To respond to or debate the answer of another candidate or both answer and debate Using the 60 seconds in any manner the candidate may choose Candidates must stay on topic and must adhere to the second 60 second rule We will ask the questions in a round robin format rotating who is first asked the question Candidates are not allowed to speak except in their allotted time. We have timekeepers up front here from the league and They will be holding up cards indicating when 15 seconds remain At the conclusion of the debate each candidate will have another 60 seconds to make a closing statement As Justin indicated these debates are being simultaneously translated into Spanish and so we ask the candidates to not speak at hyper speed and when reading your prepared statements please slow down and In addition between questions there may be a brief pause to allow the interpreter to catch up an Audience we have two instructions for you First masks must be worn at all times per the city and county directors except for those of us on stage your distance and Second we ask you to refrain from reacting responding or displaying your support or opposition to any Candidate or to their answers or comments So let me translate that for you No applause no cheering and no booing Now if you will join me in the applause in welcoming the candidates Get turned around here and face you Thank you candidates for your participation here today. Please adhere to the rules your first violation of the rule Rules will result in the director muting your microphone Okay, the second violation. I'm not sure but I think I heard Justin say something about trap doors Down into a pit full of vipers, but I I'm not sure of that So please stick to the rules, okay? With that let's start and Diane We're gonna go alphabetically in the start off alphabetical order You lead off with your opening statement. You have 60 seconds Thank You Richard. Hi, my name is Diane Christ. I've lived in Longmont for 32 years I am married and we raised our four children in Longmont. I Am a business growth professional and I work with local businesses and have for 26 years We recently came back in 2014 from a military assignment I want Longmont to get on board with the hyperloop as I believe the hyperloop will Correct some of the issues many of the housing and transportation issues the city faces at this time I have deeper information about the hyperloop and a kind of a neat little video if you'd like to view it on my website Which is Christopher Longmont council calm In regards to budget, I think our city should collect money before they spend it and Anyone who is in favor of affordable housing should consider voting. Yes on proposition 120 I believe we can bring our village field back to Longmont and I look forward to more discussions in this regard Thank you Thank You Diane Jeremy Thank you for the League of Women Voters for hosting us tonight My name is Jeremy Johnson originally from Alabama moved to Longmont about 10 years ago married three kids I run an insurance and financial business here in town. I am a Veteran of the United States Army two tours to Iraq so I have core values own respect loyalty and being a part of my Community My biggest thing for wanting to run for city council is to be a voice for the people and That's everyone that has caused them to have a citizen of Longmont There's so much culture and so much history here in Longmont all the way back to small businesses small businesses Is the backbone of this community and we need to figure out a way to bring them back? like they used to be They provide a lifeline for our youth and for future endeavors just wait for the interpreter All right now Sean. Thank You Richard and the League of Women Voters. Hi. I'm Sean McCoy. I'm a Longmont native I have an undergraduate degree in political master's Cation and Was a Longmont City Council member in 2007 to 2011 I fought for many important community issues throughout my term I've been on multiple boards and commissions prior to serving as Longmont City Council member Those were Longmont Housing and Human Services Commission Longmont Planning Zoning Commission as well as other boards commission while on Longmont City Council I continued my service as members were assigned boards commission to liaison to I've earned a bronze level certification and From the National League of Cities after my council term I continued to serve on boards and commission and most importantly raised my family And one of the best places in the world Longmont, Colorado I currently teach us government at Monarch High School and believe as a teacher. I'm in a unique position Close to the heartbeat of the community Thank you and vote for me Sean McCoy Thank you Sean Okay Thank you. Mr. Lyons. I'm Aaron Rodriguez I'm honored as a fellow Longmont or to have served you for the last four years as a City council member at large as well as your mayor pro tem for the last two years I hope during the course of this forum that I am able to discuss both Affordable housing attainable housing responsible growth as well as the kind of infrastructure that the city needs and deserves I would also like to talk about the balance between economy and our environmental back Our environmental amenities and some of the beautiful things that make Longmont as great as it is Not to mention the fact that one of the few things that makes Longmont as special as it is Is our sense of community and continuing to foster the kinds of events that make Longmont such a tight community Even as we grow Just as many of our neighbors across the front range of growing and so through this forum and debate I hope to demonstrate to you that I'm worthy of your vote for reelection to Longmont city council. Thank you very much Thank you, Aaron Talas. All right. Hi. I'm Talas Salamatean. I've been in business and entrepreneurship for over 15 years I've been involved with a wide range of different ventures an iot company that I founded with a nationally around orthopedic surgeon I helped a friend of mine from the world bank start a machine learning company I've led an aerospace company that was one of 10 teams selected by nasa in 2019 to present at the space symposium In addition, I've earned an mba. I've taught business at the university of colorado I have a published book on business and some of you may recognize me from my tv show Along my public media that's happy entrepreneur Since covet I've been volunteering and mentoring small and local businesses throughout colorado I've done more to promote business and economic growth than any of my competitors. So please Help me continue my advocacy for small and local businesses by electing me onto the city council Thank you I want to say thank you for this opportunity to be here and thank you for hosting and the league of women voters Um and richard, I appreciate you My name is Shakita Yaburo And i'm running for city council at large because I want to be a positive impact on our community And because I believe that representation matters I believe that everyone has a voice And their voices deserves to be heard in our community I believe that affordable attainable housing is important and crucial in our community We need improved transportation that works I believe in preserving our climate and environmental equity And also preparing our youth for the future through mentoring And leadership opportunities Thank you I can hear the interpreters all right So we're going to start with the questions and jeremy you're going to lead off. Okay So the first question for all of you is What are the three most crucial challenges? Facing the city of longmont and what are your solutions for addressing them? The most crucial thing I see right now is The public feel like they're not being heard and represented correctly A lot of the concerns they bring they don't see them put forth into an action plan The second is the housing market The workforce here in longmont Entry level have nowhere to stay The affordable homes that we have we have pushed out the attainable side for a brand new family that's graduated college People want to be in longmont because of the view of front range. I mean it's priceless The second the third Is the youth I mean satellite learning and bringing our youth and giving them more education out Is going to be valuable for their success because they are the future of longmont Issue of affordable housing or obtainable housing RTD and homelessness are the three most important issues facing longmont right now affordable housing really does play into the issue of The economic situation of our community and I believe that we have to keep that in mind as we try to figure out How we as a community are going to house our workforce I believe that the lynchpin is rtd. I think that getting the train To longmont is going to make sure that we get talent brought into longmont and and we have people that can Inexpensively commute outside of longmont so that they can continue to live in longmont and then homelessness I think it's one of the issues that we as a community really need to handle And I have some ideas about that, but I think i'm going to run out of time Thank you shot Aaron Thank you again I would say that this really boils down to growth as the entire front range is dealing with growth that includes talking about housing We've done a great job and made great strides towards capital a subsidized affordable housing in the city of longmont What we need to know is what our unit deficit is for attainable workforce housing We need a number to make policy issues around We also need to make sure that we have good public transportation as was previously stated Not just a train that provides us regional connections, but also very strong connections within our city And that's not just working with necessarily rtd, but also maybe coming up with supplementary concepts of intercity Transportation so that we are making sure folks can get to where they need to go When they need to be there within the city and that helps also with economics and as such obviously I always like to talk about infrastructure and that's about how we best use our resources water the way we move traffic around The way we distribute electricity and these are three things that all tie into growth Thank you. Thank you erin Just want to remind you and all of the candidates to slow the speech down just a little bit for the interpreter Thank you talus I really appreciate it. Thanks. So I think that the main thing we need to focus on is helping businesses recover from covet They've really struggled through the last year and a half with covet And I think that having spoken to many different local business owners The things that we can do to support them is through workforce attainable housing When people who live in the community are able to work in the same community that they live Pollution decreases congestion decreases productivity of that workforce increases and quality of life increase So i'm all about trying to find innovative solutions to support local businesses Find solutions for their workforce attainable housing I also think that rescaling programs are critical I've been working with the r-center and front-range community college to make sure that people who have Ambition to retool and reseal they can through our resources like front-range community college I've run out of time, but I'd be happy to continue talking about this. I have a bunch of resources on my website as well I think she's through Shakita Thank you Three of A few more challenges that I feel that we are facing in the city of longmont Definitely housing Not just affordable housing, but how can we provide opportunities for renters that can transition into Owning their own home making sure that there are programs for them in the community Maybe mortgage low interest rates on the mortgages to subsidize Down payment deposits or whatever because we all know to create generational wealth as having asset So owning a home is very important even for myself. I wish I could own a home here, but I'm still here And so then the second would be transportation Transportation within our city is very important 15 seconds left and then our youth who's going to take over Right, so it's important that we train and develop our youth to be able to continue to run this wonderful city We need to be leaders for our youth I can still hear a translator and hold on Okay, diana it's your turn okay, so The top three are similar for all of us in that transportation is a big issue. I think we're somewhat I'm excited about infrastructure Aaron because I think we know we're on a 19th century Infrastructure right now and we need something that will take us through the 21st century and even into the 22nd century Which at this point is a hyper loop, which is Clean clean energy and nine minutes from Fort Collins down to Denver. It would be a life changer for the city of longmont Small businesses will be a big part of that Cities that have service mass transportation service talus also have Insulated businesses really and and it's important to have that And then as far as the youth and affordable housing affordable housing is directly related to property taxes And small business development would help with tax situation and youth Thank you All right, we've come to our next question and Sean you'll be the first to answer on this one Many small business owners in our city wish that they could afford a location in longmont's downtown due to the popularity of that area with the public What can and should the city do? To extend the benefits of longmont's downtown To other locally owned businesses that are not located downtown Well, that's a very good question I think that as we start to develop the area from martin street to main street We need to make sure that it is a mixed use development where smaller businesses can come in and and find those locations And that it is also still walkable for the community members to Get to and fro from those businesses as far as Having everybody downtown that is that's a that's a wonderful idea and and maybe there is ways that we can extend we've oftentimes talked about Going past ninth avenue with the downtown development authority and and trying to Move our our community in that direction where we have more smaller business sort of developmental areas, but As of yet that hasn't quite happened towards the the county courthouse erin Thank you very very much for this question. Um, we've been doing an amazing study called the the main street corridor plan and what that really likes to look at is equity from 66 all the way down to plateau road all the way along the main street corridor Not only do we need to look at that we need to look at hovers well because those are both Northwest thoroughfares as we go through town And one thing that makes downtown so so beneficial is that they have The ldda is spoken for that's an inherent lobbying group that gets a lot of things done And so if we could maybe find ways as a city to provide opportunities for both south main north main Maybe north hover and those kinds of places to help maybe organize them into a similar lobbying group That they might just start to get the kind of attention that they really feel they deserve that they feel they're not getting at this time Thank you Talas Thanks. Yeah, I I've been talking to a lot of local businesses. They're my core Supporters and I've learned some very interesting things The main street is great downtown economic development agencies Is great, but there's a lot of thriving businesses outside of main street that could really use the support Um a great great example of to our sugar beat on Delaware and gross and bar breweries They're both supporters of mine and they were bringing up the fact that Our primary focus on city council is main street, which is great, but Based on the prices of real estate on main street. It's very, you know Difficult for a small business to set up shop on main street So it just makes sense to me to have multiple economic zones not just on main street So i'm all about having multiple pockets of economic growth throughout our city Thank you Would you mind repeating that question for me again? Many small businesses owners in our city wish they could afford a location in downtown due to the popularity of that area with the public What can and should the city do to extend the benefits of long months downtown to other locally owned businesses that are not located downtown Well, I think that Providing More opportunities for them for those businesses who want to be downtown, but um There are wonderful businesses that are not downtown We know downtown is a great place It's cute and quaint and and everything and I myself also have talked to several business owners in The reason why they have taken sacrifices to be downtown So that is the option Are you willing to not have a c in some of the units downtown for some of those businesses whom I talk to? Um, because that's how they can afford to be downtown So there are sacrifices that some of those business owners are making So yes, it's beautiful and it's nice and it's great because there's high traffic But there are also sacrifices. So understanding the options of being downtown And if they are willing to sacrifice some things There we go. Diane well, um, Jeremy talked about um The youth being a concern And one of my neighbors says there isn't a single road. She can put her teenage driver on that She feels safe for it to have them drive And I think a lot of seniors feel that way too and in my neighborhood. I have both senior housing and Growing families and I think something that would would help more are Walking neighborhoods that have pockets of commercial activity in them Most people want to be able to get a few groceries You know get snacks for the kids go to their bank and have a few restaurants that they can go to very easily And I think when we reimagine the transportation in our town We'll end up with More walking situations for these neighborhoods that are developing Jeremy That's a great question. So the biggest thing for me, uh, I've actually been part of what we call the retrofit Back in my hometown It's a lot of funding that can be used For what we you can name this project as restructuring downtown longmont By doing that you can let the small business owners know That we need them not just want them When they feel that they're needed in a community, they will want to stay in that community And we can move that restoration as you know, they looked at the stem project, you know a multi-use Uh buildings But you know bringing a small business here is going to be great But I want to go one step farther before and to pivot back on the housing And people being able to four homes Metropolitan districts score the lower The down payment and give people more opportunity at longmont to own homes All right. Thank you Okay, erin your next step Do longmont police treat all people equally or do they use force or other methods of coercion? Against people who don't deserve it? Well, that's an absolutely loaded question there my friend, uh, I will say that By and large if you stack up longmont police department versus many police departments not just within our Regional area, but also in the state much less than nation You would see that longmont police has acted very judiciously when it with any use of force And while there may be exceptions to that there's exceptions everywhere you go It's it's a very difficult Occupation I hope that with our new public safety director mr. Artis that we continue to train and have best practices moving forward I As far as my understanding goes We have not had Too many uses of force as compared to many Regional municipalities that are our contemporaries within the last two or three years even and so I have high confidence that If we are not there yet, we will continue to improve and get better and be The epitome of a good police department. Thank you Thank you phallus I appreciate this question and i'm not sure how many of my fellow Candids have done a ride along with the police department But I have and I can tell you from First-hand experience that the officer that I did a ride along with was a outstanding both citizen and individual I've spoken with chief spinlow prior to him leaving and I believe that langmah has a very progressive law enforcement agency I haven't had an opportunity to speak with the new chief, but I have every expectation that they're also very progressive I am not a defund the police person. I obviously think that things should continually be increased in efficiency and productivity I'm a six sigma efficiency management guys. So that's all about continually improving um But I I I understand there's limitations to the current police Department because we're down at least 10 percent of our officers So it's important that we think of innovative ways to bring more officers to our community that are representative of our values Great, I know everyone is looking at me to answer this question um yes, so From my understanding with the police department. I've spoken with um Detective I've spoken with our new chief artist um from within the past of over my Nine years of living here. I can say that any type of um external Harsh force have not been like rather than in other cities not long mind um, I know that this police department needs more support right now and um They are down 45 officers. They are working overtime And so how can we support our officers now? That is a very broad question because I am not with every officer None of us are so we don't know what goes on behind the scenes So I cannot say that that is not true that that does or doesn't happen But I can say that the officers right now are working hard and we need to work hard to retain them Thank you Diane I have two examples of working with the police um When I first moved to longmont. I was Eight months pregnant. I had to get cat food I was walking home with a heavy bag of cat food waddling and shifting that bag back and forth and a police officer Officer stopped and said can I take you home? And that was my introduction to my neighborhood. I was brought home by the police Uh, and recently, uh, my neighbor across the street had a disoriented individual walk into her kitchen and start yelling at her The police were there within minutes And they were all over our neighborhood looking for that individual and and soothing her and reassuring her that they would Correct that situation I have had only the best experiences with the police in this city Thank you I will say this talus. You're not the only one um to actually Of the police department I've actually made it all the way through the final interview process with the boulder pd I've actually wanted to be a law enforcement officer growing up So I've done that interview process here in longmont and in boulder Um that question comes from the national news I feel like the law enforcement officers here in longmont goes through a pretty vetted process They hire the best they try to obtain the best That's why longmont is one of the only cities in the front range area that has a master sergeant position to obtain industry leaders Uh, I 100 support law enforcement and first responders every year for thanksgiving. I feed over 100 of them through my business Thanksgiving dinners free of calls because I give them a lot because they give the community a lot Sean well I said before I was a native of longmont and uh, you know, I've been here when in the 1980s when we had some real problems in longmont And I will tell you that we faced our demons and we've tried very hard to make sure that we've done the right thing in this community I've been a longmont police standards and reviewed reviewed board member from 2000 to 2004 And I can tell you that yes I've gone and ride alongs and I've been there for the Police and I believe that our community is kind of unique. We were at that time bringing on tasers Nobody came back and said that they Felt that the police had been oppressive in any way or any way aspect Because they knew what the alternative was and they also In this situation here, you know, we have evolved even further and brought mental health experts in With us out into the field our police officers have And I know that longmont hires the best and I know that we've got a good police force here Thank you So the next question goes to talas How would you address residents complaints regarding urban noise such as the airport the trains and the fireworks? Uh, are we playing one of these things or not like the other because I don't think that the airport noise is quite the same as fireworks or The train or even a straight pipe engines that go around a street hot rotting across my neighborhood My wife and I live on collier and mountain view and there doesn't there's a night that goes by that I don't either hear a straight pipe motorcycle or a straight pipe hot rod. So Um, I think that the airport is an engine of economic growth I think that we should invest more into the airport rather than Talk about it as being a nuisance. I think that we should look at all opportunities for low hanging fruit In order to increase our non-tax income for the city We get six dollars a gallon or six cents a gallon rather for every gallon that the airport You know sells so I see this as revenue generator But the fireworks and the train and not so much So I think there's a big difference between those three Shakira, that is such a good question um I would say as far as the fireworks I was in city council meeting when people were really upset about the fireworks Um, I think it's important that we try to make sure that we have one area Or maybe a couple of areas where the entire city can't enjoy the fireworks and really Push towards a policy to where people Don't have fireworks in their neighborhoods because it it can be very very dangerous. So we all can enjoy it as a city um As far as the noise the music people Driving their cars with the music sometimes it sounds pretty good But I know it can be annoying when you're trying to sleep and in the music is loud and as far as the airport Um, that's a really good question. You know, I don't know about the noise I think people moved over there when they knew it was the airport. I'm I'm not sure how to really answer that question because I hadn't thought about that. Oh, sorry. Thank you I am Well, we're back to transportation Uh, the thing about the hyperloop it's meant to be a passenger pod transportation service Um, it's magnetic levitation I am actually um, because what I'm going to say is that the hyperloop is also has an application for Moving goods and services from di a into town Now there's certain things that can only go by train But there's a wide variety of of materials that can be serviced on the hyperloop Now an interesting thing that I learned over here at the longmont library Is that the town used to complain about manure because we were horse drawn carriages And now no one complains about that anymore. And I think I I'm very much in favor of the airport But I think it tends to become more recreational the less it's used for commercial uses Diane I'm going to give you 10 more seconds and because you didn't address the issue of fireworks Oh, yeah Well, I'm uh, we're a patriotic family and I think uh, particularly this last year The problem was that it wasn't uh, people were unsure whether we were having fireworks or not And I think once we have the city fireworks will be will be good to go people know what they can expect All right. Thank you Jeremy The airport is a very pivotal point in growing longmont and a lot of different ways The new quiet for the train, you know Making sure the train doesn't blow its horn downtown with the new multi-use developments that's down, which is a great idea You know, but it does bring on cost Making sure that we have the arm barriers So as a city passes that you don't have a fatality where somebody can still cross the railroad tracks So, I mean I I'm all for that because people buy these homes in longmont, which are really expensive So they want to be able to have a quiet place. That's their sacred place is their home when it comes to fireworks Um, I was actually Gone this year, but the fireworks show at foxy old country club was a I mean a lot of people came out from the city Um, so if they can figure out these pockets and have a standard on times I feel like a lot of uh citizens of longmont will kind of be aware of that Thank you Sean Well, uh while I was on council I was actually the liaison to the airport advisory board and I can tell you that that's a huge economic generator in the community and it has And it really took off around that time there the train. That's a sound of longmont Listen into it at night and thinking about, you know, where that that train is headed And as far as the loud cars, you know, we've always been a cruising community and I think that uh Uh, it's it's one of those things that we just have to Kind of deal with in a case-by-case situation and as far as the fireworks, I think that's a little bit of a pent up You know Feeling of wanting to get out and be part of the community and not being able to and so I think that maybe that will Dispate in the future due to the fact that we will have our lives back to some sense of normalcy Thank you Aaron Uh, thank you very much I'd like to start first off with the train situation as in I was an early proponent of the quiet zones because I believe that increases quality of life issues for the city of longmont Especially considering that the train goes by two different elementary schools multiple times per day and we need our children having uninterrupted learning space Uh, and when people talk about It favors one area of the neighborhood versus other areas of the city Well, I say that parks do that too, but we don't stop funding parks now. Do we uh when it comes to fireworks I think that we've been in unprecedented time Due to coveted where we were not allowing for the normal Boulder county fireworks show that we always would do in the past as somebody who would at one time lay On the county fairgrounds Site and have ashes raining down on me. They don't obviously allow that anymore As far as the airport's concerned, we need to continue to educate and be good communicators as a city with our businesses there To try to mitigate as much of that noise as possible in a responsible way Thank you, Aaron Shakita, we have the next question for you What is the ethical obligation of the city of longmont to limit carbon emissions in order to address the global challenges of climate change Well, um, the city of longmont has a 2030 plan. I support that plan Um, and making sure that you know, we can have as much Electric as possible Um So to reduce the carbon again, we're talking about People who don't live here, but work here So we have a lot of commuters that are here that come through which also can Increase emissions as well. So again, I know I'm trying to stick with it, but it turns back into housing again It's full of circles. So if we can get people who work outside of this State the city that can That work here can live here. Then I think that would at least decrease the amount of transportation Um, and also emission of the commuting All right. Thank you Diane So when you talk to the Colorado Department of Transportation They say that we grew 50 percent in the last 20 years and they expect us to grow another 50 percent in the 20 years We've just begun One of the reasons for the hyperloop is they're they're trying to get it to a speed where they can move 30,000 people an hour because that's what they think we will need going forward And another thing that it it does is it creates local traffic again And that you would get off the hyperloop and your traffic would be local to the town So it reduces the amount of pass-through traffic or congestion from drive-throughs The other thing about the hyperloop they're saying it will reduce emissions on the highway by about a third And I think what they haven't considered is how much of an effect that will be in the city if we go back to just local traffic But I think it's worth considering Jeremy Just like Shakita said, you know long month is part of that sustainable energy by 2030 My previous years of work and I worked oil and gas for 16 years Oil and gas have served this purpose. We will continue to need Oil and gas as a community. I mean I look out at all the audience and I see a lot of women Uh vast majority of you guys wear makeup And that is a byproduct of that industry But for sustainable energy is amazing. I mean it reduces Emissions it protects their environment. I mean we look at the amount of wildfires that's going on Around us all the way out to california and colorado I mean sustainable energy reducing the ozone damage is amazing. I'm 100 on board with that But like I said, you can't just push out the renewable energy from our natural resources Sean Okay, well, of course having new charging stations and and increasing the number of charging stations and having Other opportunities for people to get from one place to another via Some sort of mass transit is really one of the key elements of making sure that the community Does meet their goal of 2030 but as a high school teacher I can tell you in the last 20 years. I've seen a vast amount of increase in Kids using computers and phones and things like that and I think what we need to have is at every single one of our Buildings in our community whether it be a city building or a school or somewhere like that have solar gardening and solar and when Farms going on small sort of when farms going on so that the idea is that we reduce the amount of carbon Emissions that's going out there From our other sources and so Thank you, Aaron Thank you much. It's a very much a larger holistic conversation to have It's not just about the greenhouse emissions from say cars and how we deal with electric vehicles But also necessarily with our our commercial endeavors for instance We just received a report fairly recently that the semex plant just outside of longmont in close to lions Is putting out enough greenhouse gas emissions to equal the entire years worth of gas emissions from our vehicles On the streets here in longmont so we can help and be partners with our commercial endeavors and our commercial partners within the city of longmont to help reduce and make them more sustainable Because that will make everything more sustainable outside of the big one that i'm sure everyone's talking about is water We can can continue as the city to be Proactive in helping people get more efficient taps and toilets and and showers into their homes for water conservation And that's all has to do with growth as well. Thank you Thank you tallows Lots to cover on this one. Um, so you guys remember I mentioned I was the CEO of an aerospace company One of the things that we were producing is an ability to collect radiation and use that as an energy source So I probably know the most about this topic out of anyone But uh, just to go on the same topic for diane I I love the idea of a hyperloop and I did a lot of research I spoke to physicists that I work with and they all agreed that The amount of energy that is required to create a zero vacuum in a chamber like a hyperloop tube in order to send a Pod through it is way too much energy to do a commuter type system It only really works if you're doing a thousand miles on a trip So unless there's something new that my physicists that I work with that haven't heard of The hyperloop's not going to work. I love the idea, but I'm sorry Uh, when majority of our energy is coming from plat, which is a coal fire power plant I think that we're right on point for looking at innovative solutions like Aaron was talking about looking for solar panels and other ways to develop energy more efficiently Thank you Diane we're back to you and the question is What will you propose to do with longmont share the federal infrastructure funding provided for in the bills? Which are pending currently in congress I Would like to respond to talus also in that I want to say that not every physicist thinks the same This technology is being used in other parts of the world maglev trains and bullet trains and what have you But what they're trying to do here is actually increase the speed and there are three Companies that are involved in this Swiss pod announced september 3rd that they're actually going to put a test facility in Pueblo And I wish longmont had gotten on board with this sooner because that's a thousand jobs in deep tech and high tech To work on this technology in this state So and to segue into the infrastructure bill I think what I said before we're all a little uncomfortable With infrastructure because I think we know we're still in the 19th century And I think the thing is History says technology will advance I mean so history is on our side Technology will advance and they will find a way to build this Mr. Johnson growth is good But not all growth is good If you're looking at all the bills on how to bring That money and use it correctly we have to be smart I mean erin's talked a couple times, you know in the 3d design For you know commercial and more multi-use the stem project that you know current city council Have kind of you know brought out as a great idea of how to use those fundings um, I I kind of got a little negative feedback when I said growth But if we're going to be here as a city We have to grow And using those dollars wisely from those bills For our youth is going to be tremendous support all the way across Yeah, Sean well infrastructure is is so important to uh the ideas of actually getting a light rail from long from long want to boulder to demberg and that is one of those things that if we can utilize the The funding from the Infrastructure bill along with trying to pursue Maybe having a couple of hired grant writers to go after amtrak dollars and after other National transportation dollars as well as state transportation dollars As well as any sort of private dollars out there. I think that's really really important then that's How I think we're going to end up having a real opportunity to bring some great transportation Activities to long month You mr. Rodriguez Thank you very much. I think as some folks know the infrastructure plan is still kind of halted in congress So i'm not really going to speak too much to that because there's thousands of pages We don't know what that really says. Uh, what I do know is that the arpa has passed the american rescue plan act And that has money delineated and it's delineated in a very specific manner And those dollars are being administered by the county government. So it will take a strong voice to not only Get the amount of dollars that we need in the city of longmont because we are Uh negotiating against our fellow municipalities in boulder county But we also need to understand specifically what those buckets of dollars go for and in longmont so far What we've identified as an easy bucket of dollars that we can get that we really need is for affordable housing And right now that is the specific Priority that I also support on a city council level as we negotiate with boulder county for arpa dollars Thank you talus. Can you repeat the question to make sure that I address it properly? What what will you propose to do with longmont share the federal infrastructure funding provided for in the bills Which are currently pending in congress Yeah, I appreciate you repeating it for me. Uh, yeah, as erin mentioned, you know, they're not guaranteed I have a high suspicion that they will come through Ideally we should use the money instead of for affordable We just go for attainable because the number one way families amass wealth is through home ownership Not through keeping people in poverty and cheap rentals So that would be my number one thing. I also believe that we should make their city more bikeable more public transportation friendly There's no reason why our public transportation rtd can't go to trailheads We have this beautiful open spaces in our community that we're under they're being underutilized because people are, you know, unable to get there without Driving and oftentimes they're full the parking lots are full So there's a lot of things that we can do to make our city more enjoyable and more environmentally friendly. So I think we should focus on those Shakira Yes, so if we You know, if we do receive that money I do believe that we can create some programs again to help people transition from rental into home buying And also I think the number one thing is making sure that our community we know what our community want That's important. So if we send out an evaluation or a survey or something like that to ask the community Where do you think these dollars should go? That's important that will lead council in making some decisions for our city That's important because we all have to live in this community together. I would love to, you know, that money to go for Better transportation where teenagers in schools don't have to depend on One another to get a ride home because especially at nighwatt high school. There is no bus stop there So guess what? They're gonna get a ride with somebody who is an experienced driver So we should have bus stops all throughout the city along mine. So transportation and definitely programs for housing Thank you Jeremy you're up In light of recent anti-semitic and white supremacist propaganda posted throughout the city Do you have a response as a potential community leader? King jr. Stated don't judge a book by is covered by the contents of his character So some people have Grew up in environments where that's you know, what they're stating or what they're writing as they're normal Is that right? No But as a community we need to be able to teach History bring them out of that level open their eyes to bigger issues And to kind of make the plan feel equal I mean I've Looked at a lot of things in longmont when it comes to multicultural stuff and I don't agree with a lot of things But we have to be able to support and Educate our community Sean Potential community leader at my school Monarch High School We have no place for hate and I absolutely stand by that. There is absolutely no place for white supremacy No place for hate in that sort of uh area And there is no way that They're going to get any sort of pass from me if I serve on Longmont City Council Again and be able to If I'm able to I will support any sort of action that stops that sort of Unethical and Racist behavior Oh, thank you very much. I would say first of all silence is complicity So we must always be sure that we speak out and there is no place in this community For any such kind of hate speech as such I also think that we need to respect the rule of law and push a back On it when it is not right in this case There or at least in the most recent case That we saw those flyers in some of our on some of our businesses Unfortunately, it didn't reach the level Where it was prosecutable But when they do and there are many occasions where say it has been damaged to property for instance That is a crime and so therefore we must prosecute that and also take into consideration uh, you know mitigating factors or or Factors that exacerbate the situation, but we have to stand United against This kind of of behavior while understanding people are allowed to say what they would like to say Thank you, talus As one of the three people of color on the stage I would like to say that I think it's great that half the people who are running for city council are A person of color. So I think that's amazing for us moving forward I think that as erin mentioned it's a very fine line between what we can do on city council And then legalities of freedom of speech, you know our freedom of speech is very important I don't believe that we should Inhibit the ability for people to Say their feelings because it's important for critical thinking for everyone to hear these ideas and notice that they're out there Uh by suppressing that you push it on the ground making it even more volatile and potentially dangerous So I think it's very important that these people who are, you know, obviously Troubled because if you read the note, there's grammatical and spelling errors everywhere. This person was not well But I mean, it's important that As elected official we stand up for people's rights regardless of how abhorrent they are Thank you Thank you for this question. I think it's four of us. That's people of color. That's on this panel, but um First of all, I would like to say that we have to start bridging gaps within our community We it starts at home not just us community leaders. It it starts at home Educate yourselves as to what's right and what's wrong how you want to be treated Right, so it's important. It's important that you educate your children your grandchildren your nieces and your nephews It's important That's the only way we can live in this community and thrive And be what who we supposed to be we need to be examples In this community Why is it okay for someone that they think is okay to use the n-word? Because it's been permissible and there's no what comp silence is complicity, right? It's complicit So we have to start standing up for what's wrong Thank you Diane I think one of the problems that's facing our culture right now is the idea of either or discussions Either i'm right or you're right And I think that Takes away the free speech of individuals. It also takes away the listening part of What is your point of view? It is possible and I think one thing we've learned on this council today Is that we all have different ideas And when we work together and combine those ideas sometimes great solutions occur now It's interesting when people Choose to use words that they know are inflammatory And I believe that's an effort to start an either or conversation and I agree with shakita. Maybe it's just a girl thing but One thing we need to do is educate ourselves Morally and in in the way of our character as jeremy mentioned All right, thank you Okay, so we're going to Make up a little time here. You don't get 60 seconds. This is a yes or no Question, okay, and we'll just go right around And starting with shawn Do you trust that the results of this Will be fairly and accurately tabulated? Yes Yes Yes Thank you So I think shawn we're up next Should longman allow multifamily housing in all neighborhoods? Oh erin. I'm sorry Well, you know we have to take a look at that because we do have some very wonderful historic districts in this neighbor in the city that Buy-in-large should be preserved. Does that take everything off the table buy-in-no means? We do have to continue to see What is the best method forward for our growth in the appropriate places with which to put that because there are also neighborhoods that have been historically Those of folks who are lower on the socioeconomics spectrum and to start Land grabbing there and building luxury multifamily housing does nothing to necessarily Talk to our affordability issues And so it has to be the right situation in the right places So do to say blanket that we should do away with all single family zoning in the city of longmont I don't think we're there yet, but we may get there in in the coming years Thanks, talus you know this is a Someone with such a subject and a lot of people who bought their houses 30 40 years ago They don't want to change the character of their neighborhood But the problem is the people who bought their houses 30 40 years ago It was very attainable to buy houses 30 40 years ago And the wages didn't keep up with the cost of living here So right now I believe that anyone who says Oh, we should preserve the character of our neighborhood. They don't realize that it's things are a lot different now So if we're talking about allowing people to buy homes in a mass wealth, we've got to be serious about it We can't just give lip service to it like erin is talking about We need to actually do something about it and leave all options on the table for finding people ability to buy workforce attainable housing Thank you Shakita Yes, I feel that after much research And I think we have to do our research first and find out if that's what the community want and then also You know, we have a huge senior population You know, so what about that population? They may not want to be mixed in so let's you know, I think it's important that we look at our research Do our evaluation? I believe in listening to my community and what they want. So that's important to me Um, our seniors are living long longer. Thank god Because grandparents get to be around longer. So how are we accommodating them? So for me my answer I just believe that we need to do our research and um, it would be great if we could but that's if that's what the community wants Thank you miss chris Well, I believe that housing has a lot to do with transportation And uh, the thing about being able to access transportation that can get you 20 minutes From any town into into longmont means that you can live where you can afford to live And still work where you are needed and A lot of these small towns, uh, it's kind of popular right now for Uh seniors to retire in walsenberg I don't know if anyone else has heard this But it would be 20 minutes from walsenberg up to this area And many of these small towns are looking for more development Whereas in longmont we have a finite amount of land and one of the problems is that once it's committed That land is is committed for good as far as our generation is concerned Thank you Jeremy I'm going to piggyback a little bit with shakita. Um, so we started out. We had the noise issue So in some of these neighborhoods where we do have the You know senior citizen population or you know other you know protected our Age barriers or differences if you put those multi families there is going to become more neighborhood issues And then that's going to take more public service hours to kind of solve those issues Do I feel like the multifamily Buildings deserve the same opportunities. Yes, but we have to be smart on where we place them at I mean because we got to be able to keep Those working people in longmont somewhere to stay It's a lot of history here as they mentioned We have to try to preserve it and be smart on where we place and how we run those units Thank you mr. McCoy Well Always and always we need to Listen to the community That's probably the number one thing that anybody who serves on council should be always doing and it is critical but We need to also send a clear message to the development community that the days of urban sprawl and Levittown's sort of developments Are over the south side of longmont Over near nelson and airport. It's a good example of an unwalkable nightmare Where kids can't get to places because we we don't have adequate transportation and other things like that We have to do something that is referred to as smart growth or targeted growth And that is as we start to look at Areas like from martin street to main street That's going to be a mixed youths development Let's hope and it'll be something that also plays into our transportation needs you talis Longmont has many challenges related to the desire ability of living here including the cost of housing How should longmont accommodate all the people who want to live here? Hello, there we go No feedback. All right, cool Uh, that's a great question. It's an important question because we do live in an desirable area There's a lot of people who want to relocate here because of a proximity to both bolder open spaces and in general Longmont's a great place to live However, um, we can't Our city can't withstand An unlimited amount of people to move into this community So I I do believe that we should focus on the people who work in our community and people who are already in our community To be able to find attainable housing for them Uh, after that, I believe that, you know, if there's High-income people moving into our community. They're buying high-value homes That's different than people who are coming in and taking away the attainable housing stock So I think it's really important to look at the minutiae in this argument. Um Additionally, I think that we should focus on infill development Looking at opportunities to convert Uh, what is currently commercial real estate into residential real estate because of the Change in the economy. All right. Thank you Shakir um, well I wish That we can have everyone live in this wonderful city I am so grateful myself To live in the city of Longmont. I'm not originally from here. I'm originally from Chicago But yet here I am almost 10 years later So who am I to say other people can't live here? Right because it's so great and the people before me have made it what it is today And I'm grateful for the decisions of past councils and past community leaders I think that together we can we can find the policies and the changes we can figure it out You know, if people want to live here, of course There will be some restrictions and we have to look and see how that attainable the equitable growth manageable growth because It's inevitable We are going to grow Because we're so wonderful and it's just true Um, so back to what Diane had mentioned. Okay. Sorry Diane Diane Could you repeat the question? Please Longmont has many challenges related to the desirability of living here Including the cost of housing reduced to air quality and traffic. How should Longmont accommodate all the people who want to live here? It's interesting to talk about air quality. Um our Sister city if you will across the mountains In the inner mountain regions saying Utah Salt Lake city area They made a concerted effort to buy up a bunch of cars They could convert to compress natural gas because they have the same Inversion that we do in the winter in other words, you know that gets socked in and we have poor air quality And it made a significant change in their air quality So I I don't want to keep pushing the same button But one thing that we need to look at is a physical solution like the hyperloop Because it does affect the air quality Also, it reduces traffic And housing would be more available in other areas and the commute would be reasonable with a mass transit system Thank you. Mr. Johnson Uh Just to kind of piggyback a little bit. I mean I'm not originally from Longmont I love being here everybody who visit here would like I would love to live here I mean, do we have enough space to take on everyone? No But giving the equal playing field. So if you want to live here in Longmont, you can't I mean, we have to be open to be more manageable growth and being smart with the decisions we have When it comes to air quality, I mean we've Longmont's initiative on the 2030 sustainable energy Is going to start working on solving the air pollution but the Inventory of homes is what keeps a lot of people from not being able to move to Longmont But as business owners start to open up business here We're going to need people to live in Longmont to open those extra businesses Thank you Sean It's critical that we focus on those who currently live in Longmont And in this community The obvious issue is that there is a limited amount of resources of water energy space in our landfills and buildable space in our community We have to be smart about how our community is is developed for walkability and bike ability And our ability to access mass transit as well as access The sort of resources that we need for everyday life. So I think that's What our big issues are Thank you Well, thank you I think obviously the question would lend itself to housing but we've spoken much about housing throughout the last number of minutes I'll just go back to what I like to talk about a little bit is infrastructure In the sense that we don't want to have a flint michigan level water crisis We don't need to have another flood like we did in 2013 just a month or two ago We had two massive sinkholes opened up. I believe along Collier street We do not need these kinds of infrastructure failures And so we need to continue to be proactive and invest not only in replacing and maintenance of our infrastructure But modernizing and making sure that our our infrastructure will accommodate any growth that happens And that that also equates to as we transition away from carbon-based fuels As as we transition towards more water conservation better Better technology when it comes to our heating systems These are the kind of things that we need to be proactive about if we're going to be able to react to the growth. That's inevitable Thank you. Thank you Shikita, I think you're the next one for this question What are your thoughts on mask and vaccination mandates by the city or the state to combat the spread of covid 19 Well, I feel that The state job is to do the best that they can to protect our community members their citizens and so They have people in place to do their research They have people in place that they listen to and so I believe that it's for the better good of our community when they put out these regulations It's not to harm anyone. That's that's my belief I don't believe it's out to harm anyone when they they put these restrictions out for us to wear a mask because you know people are hurt from this virus and so I just want to do my part And do what they you know what I feel that if I can harm someone by not wearing it Then I want to do my part to make sure that we're just so that um, I won't harm someone Thank you. Ms. Chris something interesting that I learned from boulder public health is that About 15 percent of the population has a disability It's actually one of the fastest growing minorities in our population is the disability um, so They mentioned that 82 percent of the population here is vaccinated And when you take out 15 percent that may not be able to wear masks that leaves us with about 3 percent That may or may not be vaccinated, but are likely to have some kind of herd immunity So I thought these were interesting facts, especially since I think that's probably the best we're going to do in our county Um, I think if you if wearing a mask makes you feel protected you should do it But I think also social distancing and maintaining good hygiene are just as effective at this point in the covid Thank you chairman This uh, the mass situation my wife is a nurse so she works here at the local hospital So, you know with the vaccine and with all of the state mandates city county mandates on wearing a mask I feel like it's a little Outreach. I mean people are losing their Ability to make a decision I mean when it comes to the senior citizen population Yeah, I mean if you have family members that have you know medical issues you want to protect them I 100% agree with that but I mean just kind of reaching out And business owners is that struggle from you know having to pay for the cleaning supplies the the mandates and have Brought a big financial burden to me and the vaccine has People kind of say well, you know, it's because it's becoming arguments because people don't get vaccinated I feel like we got to be able to support one another no matter what the decision is Sean all right. I'm a strong believer in mass mandates and vaccination. I think that as a high school teacher We're never going to get out of this thing if we don't Absolutely encourage everybody to get vaccinated and to wear their mask and social distance and and do good hygiene Practices, you know, I think we need to listen to the state and the county They're not just options and these people actually know what they're talking about. They're experts in the field And this is all about the betterment for the community And we're never going to get out of this if we can't figure that one out And you know, if that makes me a bad guy here, fine I'm willing to stand on my where I am and say that this is the Turning point of our generation and we have to do something serious about uh, ending this COVID-19 and the other variants that are out there Thank you, Erin Oh, thank you very much I think that many folks know that the city of Longmont doesn't have its own public health department And so for us to impose these things at a city level We we do need to rely on authoritative sources educated authoritative sources And so we do rely on boulder county public health and the state and and the federal government for that And I think it's similar to anything where if you do something alone at a municipal level That's not necessarily going to be effective if the municipality next to you is also not doing it as many people know Longmont spans both boulder county and weld county And so that's been a struggle for the last, you know, year and a half plus now is you know I guess you would say mingling those two approaches to the the mass King and vaccination debate as such I think that we've made the smart choice in trusting the educated authorities At boulder county health and the state You tell us So I am not a medical professional But my mom is and she was smack me upside the head if I didn't get a vaccine So I absolutely got mine Um, and my aunt is a epidemiologist and then another aunt who's a researcher at stanford So I mean I get these great sources that are telling me how important these vaccines are And in fact, one of our local community members here in longmont actually through computer aided drug design It was involved with the creation of the mrna vaccines and he's a supporter of mine So I believe that the vaccines are safe. I think that it's important that people take them However, I also believe that's important that people have the Agency in their own body to make those choices that they feel is best I mean this is very important for I mean look at women's reproductive health, right? I mean you can't say hey everyone should have a vaccine and dictate it from a governmental perspective and then say oh, hey, you know Vaccines are different than abortion but Also, I believe that free market is important that people have the Flexibility as business owner to make their own decisions for what they want to allow in their business. All right. Thank you Diane we're back to you and this is our last question What have you done to help the community adapt to and recover from the pandemic? Well, let me respond to the mask issue Given the information people have put forward I think this is an excellent example of an either or conversation Where either we wear masks or we don't wear masks And I think what is true is that we can be safe in a society and have Mixed use if you will some people wearing masks and other people not wearing masks and it should People should be in charge of their own health status So maybe that would be one thing I would help with the COVID recovery is to say let's find a middle ground and not make it an either or topic Um But one of the things I do For a career as I work with small businesses and small businesses have been very hard hit in that Um, it's sort of just wrong footed them Everything has been wrong in the last 18 months for small businesses And something we can do for to relate this to affordable housing Is we can support our businesses to bring more taxes into the city. Thank you. Thank you very much Jeremy, can you repeat that again? What have you done to help the community adapt to and recover from the pandemic? The biggest thing is as soon as we was able to get back out into public I think my me and my family we ran downtown longmont to actually be inside of restaurants and be in back with people I mean the whole COVID Lockdown that we kind of had I won't call it a lockdown but having to stay at home order You know not being able to get outside of your family and be with people When we was able to do it. It was like let's go. Let's go be around our fellow neighbors And I mean I shop local. I try to stay local and does does the business owners that Put the signs on the doors that you had to wear a mask to come in It didn't stop us from going in it. I mean we supported them 100 because those are the backbone of the community And you know being just being a part 100 no matter what the outcome is Sean I'm as a teacher. I'm close to the community I taught from my home office. I taught from my school with hybrid learning And so I know exactly where the community is coming from the teachers and the students and I know that it was difficult for people and I What I did to help people is always try to stay positive always try to keep people feeling that you know, we're moving forward We're doing the best we know how and to encourage people to Shop local and to Look out for your neighbors and try to do the right thing Thank you Erin All right. Thank you very much I I think has been stated multiple times and probably will be stated continuously is that I made sure and got local dollars out to businesses that were still able to operate And then for those businesses that were not able to operate at the time You know, I would take some time and reach out to some of their employees and give them opportunities for You know some side work if you will just to keep some dollars going into their accounts as well And I may not be the richest man in long month But I was able to provide a few opportunities for some folks to have you know, at least a good week or two worth of pay For just some some simple items that could help around the city or help around My business or as well as my home And so those are a few of the things that I decided to do with what few means that I had available to me. Thank you Thank you, Talas I'm so glad you asked that Well, good. So I've been involved with energized to colorado pretty Intensely since the covet started. I'm actually spotlight this week as this month As one of the main people who are helping Energize, Colorado You can look at my website see the testimonials from people like wendy lee who is the head a ceo of energized colorado I have plenty of people who I've taught through students of mine at cu boulder when I taught the capstone to the business minor who Are have testimonials on how I've helped their and their businesses I've done so much work through Both energized colorado and my own mentorship If you go to my website, well my not my campaign website, but my book website savvy handbook.com You can download free resources on that can really help your business. So I have not just been helping businesses during covet I've been Main moving force for business in colorado since I moved to colorado in 2014 So there's no one else on this panel who's more committed to helping businesses than I am Thank you Shakira Okay, um Yes, I have Oh I made sure that my community was educated about the covet measures and the guidelines It was so important that our community is educated Understand have the resources Whether they choose to to get vaccinated or not they knew where to go So I made sure I have a group that's called families of color colorado And so we made sure that we have a distribution list to those families and send out that information here This is this is if you are in bolder if you in in long mind This is where you go get this at right? And so then I also had the privilege to be the chair of strong mind to make sure small businesses BIPOC businesses had the finances that they need to continue on to operate in the city of long mind So and I also had the privilege and it is a privilege to support businesses if you have the money to do so Well that concludes our questions And I wish we had the time to give each of you a break to prepare your closing remarks, but we don't And so we're going to start with Jeremy Johnson got 60 seconds for your closing statement First off, I want to say thank you guys for being here and listening to us. I thank everyone on the Stage here for taking the time out to actually run If I'm elected a city council First thing and the most important thing is I want to be there and listen here and put your ideas to a plan of action I want to be the guy that you can reach out to no matter what the issue is how big or small It's come about the homeless population a couple times a night. It didn't come up as much as I thought But figuring out how to Bring those people that's in that life You know back to a you know a normal standard supporting them and giving them the tools So as your next city council, please vote for me on november 2nd I look forward to all the support. If you have any questions, I'll be around. We can have a further conversation Thank you, mr. McCoy. All right. Thank you, richard and the league of lemon voters Remember to vote for me. Sean McCoy I have the experience the dedication to serve the community. I love and see it grow and thrive Please go to mccoy for longmont.com to learn more about me and my campaign and again vote for me Sean p. McCoy for long went city council at large and remember experience counts All right, thank you very much Once again, I'm erin rodriguez mayor pro tem as well as sitting city council member at large I'd like to thank the league of women voters and longmont public media I believe that throughout the course of this forum I've demonstrated a knowledge about many and a diverse range of issues facing the city of longmont And I also just like to have a little fun. So some of you might remember me from four years ago So longmont longmont stand by me And reelect rodriguez in 2021. Thank you Tell us how you're gonna follow that I can't do that. I'm not a classically trained musician like he is but uh, I do want to thank the league of women voters And everyone else dick. I appreciate everyone who's worked very hard to put this event together It's critical that we all stay engaged in local democracy. So thank you all for attending and those who are watching all across the world and through the internets Thank you all for being so engaged. This is critical for us to move forward as a nation I just wanted to point out that I've been endorsed by the local longmont association realtors metro housing coalition and others that shows that my Views and strategies for looking for attainable housing are Supported by these massive entities who are embedded within our community I'm also committed to finding businesses and opportunity to thrive in our community through workforce attainable housing If you are a local business, please reach out. I do offer free mentorship. So Well for me, thanks Shakita Thank you all for coming here today. You could have been doing something totally different and I appreciate you Um, I'm grateful to be running for city council at large. I may be new to politics But I'm not new to long mind I have invested in this city and I have fought for the well-being of our whole entire community I believe we all deserve affordable housing Longmont deserves a great transportation system And that the youth of our city should be prepared for the future So when you vote for me on november 2nd, know that you voted for someone who is committed to change Thank you Longmont city council has a 20 year plan The problem with that plan is it doesn't really go 20 years in the future And and I want you to imagine how hard it is to to imagine 20 years in the future Just think about the cell phone you have now and the one you had 20 years ago if you had a cell phone then Um, so that is something that I can bring to the council The idea of light rail has some traction locally But as c dot has mentioned and I'm I'm talking about Amy Ford here from c dot The next 20 years it just won't handle the volume that we will have here And we need somebody that can at least see what 20 years in the future might look like for longmont Please check out my website christforlongmontcouncil.com There's some interesting information there And I'd appreciate your vote on november 2nd and please whatever you do get out and vote Thank you Thanks to all the candidates for taking time out of your busy schedules. I know that it's Tough to do that on a sunday, especially with the broncos game, but thank you very much for participating here today Um, I also want to thank our interpreter who kept up with the rapid speeches Rapid talk. I was going to say catch up to the fast talking politicians, but maybe I shouldn't say that And again, thank you to longmont public media and the league of women voters down here in front for jointly sponsoring and producing these sidebars Thank you for raising the time signs And again, special thanks to the museum for making this beautiful auditorium available for the two debates And to our viewers, uh, the ballots will soon be mailed to all longmont voters And for more information about the candidates other races and ballot issues on your ballot Check uh vote 411.org that's vote 411.org. It's a service of the league of Uh women voters So please exercise your right to vote in this important election In the words of george carlin talk is cheap, but voting is free So let's all vote. I'm richard lions and thank you very much