1. In your opinion, what are the three biggest challenges facing Iowa City over the next 10 years and what would you propose to address them?

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "1. In your opinion, what are the three biggest challenges facing Iowa City over the next 10 years and what would you propose to address them?"

Hubert Rose
5 years ago
Views:

Christine Ralston 1. In your opinion, what are the three biggest challenges facing Iowa City over the next 10 years and what would you propose to address them?

1 Christine Ralston 1. In your opinion, what are the three biggest challenges facing Iowa City over the next 10 years and what would you propose to address them? Our three biggest challenges over the next decade are issues of community equity: 1) affordable housing and all of opportunities associated with filling this supply gap; 2) concentrated poverty and de facto segregation in our neighborhoods; and 3) supporting and promoting new and existing local businesses in the marketplace. I am offering myself for this vacancy because I have the skills, education, experience, and passion for place to move Iowa City forward. Affordable Housing. We have a supply problem that we can most effectively address with a comprehensive approach that provides private sector incentives and leverages public sector dollars to ensure genuine housing choice in locations suitable to residents needs and lives. Housing affordability is not an arbitrary term; rather, it is a standard that means spending no more than 30 percent of income on housing. I specialized in housing while finishing my graduate degree in urban planning, brainstorming concrete solutions such as density bonuses and quantifying the costs for developers to significantly contribute housing stock without sacrificing investment returns. I know from my time on the Housing and Community Development Commission that we have a significant gap at the $350/month affordability range. This is a challenge for the private market to provide in any appreciable quantity. While I strongly support offering creative and lucrative incentives to encourage private developers participation in providing for our lowest income residents, I recognize the need for strategic use of public moneys (local tools like Tax Increment Financing, federal dollars like the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, or LIHTC) to target the shortfall at the lowest income ranges. Concentrated Poverty. Closely connected to our housing shortfall is the concomitant pockets of poverty and de facto racial and economic segregation in our neighborhoods. This is an issue both with where residents live and whether they can access our entire community. It requires that we listen more and talk less to better understand solutions that our marginalized residents want and support. Iowa City must 1) collaborate with private developers to provide housing across the income spectrum throughout town, and 2) work to better connect outlying neighborhoods physically through public transportation solutions and socially by making the community welcoming to everyone.

2 Local Business. I support small local business in word and deed, and I recognize that we can reduce barriers to entry into the local marketplace and create a regulatory environment that decreases uncertainty and provides stability to entrepreneurs wanting to invest in our local economy. We ve seen growth and reinvestment in our Downtown and Northside neighborhoods, and exciting things are happening in Riverfront Crossings. We should continue to expand access to goods and services by exploring similar small retail districts elsewhere, and we should help fledgling businesses by zoning for very small retail space, considering semipermanent pop-up solutions like ICDD s holiday pop-up market. We can encourage investment by providing sustainable financing, by thoughtfully considering requests to rezone benchmarked against the comprehensive plan and community goals, and by prioritizing local businesses receiving local dollars. 2. The mission of the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce is to continuously foster a better business environment. If elected, what would you do to continue to improve the business environment in Iowa City? As a Councilor, I would work with the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, the Iowa City Downtown District, and the Iowa City/Coralville Convention and Visitors Bureau to ensure I have a comprehensive and holistic understanding of the issues facing local businesses and the way each of those issues connects to other constituencies. Expanding on what I mentioned in item one, I would like to see the City work to reduce uncertainty in the marketplace by making clear and affirmative statements of expectations and outcomes. For example, if a property owner investigates rezoning their property, I would like that owner to be able to determine as clearly as possible whether their proposal will be approved based on clearly articulated guidelines. I understand, of course, that not all details can be codified, but to the extent that the City can play a role in reducing uncertainty, we should. I firmly believe that our local business owners understand the unique market and community needs that we have here in Iowa City. While there is certainly a place for large national retailers in our community, and we should use financial incentives that privilege our home-grown businesses. And while I do need to learn more about the existing tools that the City has at its disposal to support local businesses, it is right that local businesses have priority for our local dollars. The SSMID is a strong indicator to me, as a resident, that we have a community of thoughtful business owners who want to be part of making Iowa City even better. As a Councilor, I want to collaborate with our business owners to ensure an economic environment that allows local businesses to thrive and improves the quality of life of all of our residents.

3 3. What are your thoughts on the role of economic development incentives (TIF, workforce housing credits, etc.) in continuing the growth of Iowa City? Would you support continued use of these incentives? We absolutely do have to use all of the incentives we have available to ensure smart and sustainable growth in our community. I say this with a strong emphasis on the word sustainable. As a City, we have a responsibility to our entire community to ensure that we use limited public dollars in a way that yields a long-term public benefit. Which is to say that taxes are important. I absolutely believe there is a place for public support of private enterprise in the interest of economic vitality and vibrancy. And when we sacrifice tax revenues, we have to ensure that we do so thoughtfully and with an eye on the total public coffers. This means, 1) ensuring any tax credits to businesses accrue to one of our many responsible, enterprising, creative entrepreneurs, and 2) ensuring that the community receives something in return for the investment of public dollars. Just like I would not walk into one of my favorite downtown businesses and leave a $100 bill without any product, the City should ask for something in return for investing in its businesses. And I know our business community understand and respects this as well. While it is my understanding that the Iowa Economic Development Authority is not currently accepting applications for the Workforce Housing Tax Credit, I strongly support financial incentives like these to meet basic human needs for City residents. Much like my discussion of the LIHTC above, our community lacks stock for middle-income working families and would benefit from accessing tax credits to support the development of workforce housing. 4. Transit has been a long-standing issue for employers and employees throughout the region. What would you do to improve Iowa City s transit system, and to improve coordination of this system between other regional governments? Iowa City s transit systems struggles to meet the needs of all of our residents, and many of the things that make our community great aren t accessible to everyone. We cannot rest on the laurels of our progressive local brand; rather, we must expand transportation options to allow residents to access workplaces, grocery, medical care, and community gathering spaces as well as our vibrant downtown, the university s educational and arts events, and our nonprofit festivals and venues. And we are on the right track. The commuter bus that will connect Iowa City to Cedar Rapids beginning this fall is a shining example of regional connectivity and collaboration to reinforce our already strong regional economy. Locally, though, I believe Iowa City requires several important steps to strengthen our transit system to serve all residents. We need to:

4 1) Expand bus service times to include nights and weekends. Not all of our community members work the first shift, and we will better serve workers and their employers by ensuring reliable transportation options around the clock; 2) Connect more of our neighborhoods by bus. While downtown is a natural hub, we should investigate use patterns to determine additional direct routes between neighborhoods and workplaces; 3) Connect and expand our bike and walking paths. The Iowa City metro area does not cover a large geographical footprint, and we have neighboring communities with terrific paths. We should connect with existing paths, increasing pedestrian-friendly sidewalks, and add more bike lanes, much as we are working toward on Gilbert Street. This will ease the strain on infrastructure as well as provide tangible environmental impacts; and 4) Look at each of these approaches with an eye toward accessibility for our residents with specific mobility needs. This means appropriate curb cuts and accommodations for visually impaired bus and walkway users, among other things. 5. Access to affordable housing is important to the business community because it contributes to the quality of life for employees and their families, and helps attract and retain employees. How will you work to improve access to affordable housing in the region? Access to affordable housing is a key equity issue in Iowa City. Indeed, I believe it to be one of the very most important, especially as it impacts so many other parts of life in our community. We have to address the supply problem in Iowa City by activating the public sector and empowering the private sector. Where the public sector is concerned, the City should leverage public dollars to provide at the most difficult to develop income levels. This means strategically using HOME dollars to support the development of affordable housing at the lowest income levels. In terms of workforce and middle-income housing, this is a strong area of need for private developers to step in and aid in filling the supply shortfall while earning reasonable returns. This means asking developers to embrace our work with the Inclusionary Zoning ordinance at Riverfront Crossings as well as be open to including even more affordable housing at lower income levels. And not without benefit to the developers; rather, by incentivizing additional units. To further empower private sector contribution to affordable housing development, the City can begin by 1) providing more generous tax increment financing for developers providing additional affordable units, 2) providing financial incentives--such as density bonuses--for providing units above the required quantity or below the required affordability threshold; and 3) considering strategic rezonings to permit the development of smaller units on infill lots. Iowa City is a community that would likely provide a willing market for tiny houses, and the City can encourage development by

5 removing regulatory barriers to subdividing existing lots, modifying setback requirements, etc. Housing development is a key opportunity to connect public sector resources with the private sector to efficiently and effectively meet the needs of Iowa City s residents. 6. The general business environment in Johnson County will always be a key issue in mind for the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, including the responsible use of regulation on business. How would you work to ensure business has a seat at the table and that regulation is well thought out, placing minimal burden on our community s small business owners? Iowa City has been wise not to participate in a race to the bottom in a fight for development. We do not want development for development s sake, and we should absolutely require that businesses asking for a tangle economic benefit from the community--whether cash outlays, tax credits, or rezoning requests--should yield a tangible economic and/or social benefit to the community. That is and should be the cost of being a good citizen in this great place. At the same time, we have lost both existing business and a number of strong investment opportunities because we were not able to compete with neighboring communities. There is a middle ground. Iowa City can work with the private sector to brainstorm solutions to identified barriers to doing business. Regulation should always consider the total economic impact of that decision. We should not place undue burdens on our local business owners and investors. Furthermore, we must be flexible when opportunities come to the table outside of our development comfort zone. This means meeting with potential investors and entrepreneurs to understand their ideas and their business needs, reconciling the idea with our overall community vision, and deciding whether an opportunity fills a need within the community, as guided by our comprehensive plan. If all signs indicate that an investment opportunity would be a good match for our community s needs, then we can t should be a challenge, not an answer. The City employs thoughtful, creative, incredibly intelligent staff members who are educated as City Planners. We can and should empower them to investigate and recommend forward-thinking solutions that would allow Iowa City to truly earn our progressive label.

HEMPSTEAD LIVABLE CENTERS STUDY VALUES WORKSHOP

HEMPSTEAD LIVABLE CENTERS STUDY VALUES WORKSHOP PARTNERS AGENDA Project Background Purpose of Livable Centers Study Approach and Process Expectations Review Goals for Livable Centers Study Opportunity