Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
I know the best spot in my ward for …
Walking the beautiful neighborhoods when the trees are turning (University District, Riverfront, Rose Park).
If loving this is wrong, I don’t want to be right
Watching “The Bachelor” with my daughter.
This year, I really want to achieve …
I would really like to figure out how we can cover the costs of having the Johnson Street Shelter open for another year, working that within our budget, because it was hard this last summer and it’s going to be 10 times harder this coming summer because we’re out of ARPA dollars now. So, I would love it if we could achieve that.
What I order for the table
Desserts all around.
Never have I ever …
Hiked to the top of Mount Sentinel (I’ve gone half way up!).
How can we alleviate tax pressure on homeowners and renters?
I would say we either cut services, or the legislature reworks our taxation system so that we have a more diverse tax base, so that we can pull revenue from areas other than property taxes. And if we cut services, that has a lot of ramifications for our community. Because not only are they essential services that people expect, but once you start cutting services and asking folks in those departments to do more, you start having some serious morale and quality of work issues.
Change my mind about …
Print media going digital (I always would start my day with a newspaper and a cup of coffee and it would align me for the day).
I wind down by …
Reading.
What’s a specific approach or policy that a community elsewhere in the country has employed to reduce homelessness that you think might also work in Missoula?
We have this conversation all the time and are constantly looking at other communities. And I can tell you some of the most successful communities out there have not had the population growth and pressures that Missoula has had in the last few years. I do think there is potential for more collaboration with the private sector, with the faith community, with people whose nonprofits overlap in these areas of providing services.
I geek out on …
Local government (when you’re in the circle, you’re in deep).
My best dad joke
My husband always says his smartphone is smarter than him. (I think that’s a joke. Close enough.)
Three infrastructure priorities?
Getting bike lanes on the Hip Strip, building out the infrastructure in the Mullan/Sx͏ʷtpqyen area, the section of Russell from 3rd Street to Broadway.
My cry-in-the-car song
I’m not much of a crier! I cry when marching bands go by in a parade.
That fire levy though …
This is our long term effort to address how our budget will remain functional when we have incredibly tight constrictions around it. But with taxes going up exponentially this summer … it was clear there was a lot of consternation in the community and people hadn’t even seen their final tax bill yet when we’d be asking them to vote on it. So, it just wasn’t good timing. You have to ask at the right time to be successful.
Unusual skills
Cake decorating.
Together, we could …
Make Missoula work for everyone.
