People first. Covington city staff are the best in the Commonwealth, and we need to hold on to that talent. We can delay equipment purchases and infrastructure improvements, but we can’t afford to lose the momentum city staff has sustained.

Police and firefighters make up the large majority of city staff, so it’s crucial that we match staffing with demonstrated need. Let’s take care of our first responders by compensating those who commit to serving Covington in the long term.

Many in Covington are still coming to terms with the reality that this city is the place to live in Northern Kentucky; our revenue collection strategies need to capitalize on that attraction without burdening longer-term residents.

When I filled in as an emergency substitute in a Government/Civics class, students flagged litter as the problem that bothered them most. There’s a lesson to learn there, that high school sophomores — who likely knew little about ‘broken windows’ policing or similiar sociology — identified a quality-of-life concern as a priority. Covington has reached an inflection point — residents shouldn’t have to tolerate neighbors who refuse to maintain their houses or sidewalks.

We need code enforcement calibrated to property owners’ resources. That’s long meant patience for residents on fixed incomes, but we can pivot now to expect more from folks who own several properties or who were able to buy into the market at high income prices. Let’s not mistake the quirky, gritty Covington we love for unsafe housing and unnecessary eyesores — listen to the kids on this one. Every neighborhood deserves clean streets, well-kept housing, and incentives for responsible development.

Walkable streets and ready access to public transportation are chief priorities, but we can’t separate pedestrians from traffic enforcement, parking from bike lanes, or cracked sidewalks from code enforcement.

I propose that the city form a mayor-appointed Streetscape Commission that would absorb the current Parking Authority and take a fully comprehensive approach to all aspects of street design and infrastructure in Covington. We can have better pedestrian and bicycle connections to South Covington, safe sidewalks in Mainstrasse, better streetscapes at bus stops in Latonia, and a balance between residential and commercial parking throughout the city.

Residents want speedbumps, better-engineered one-way streets, bike lanes, and safe sidewalks. Instead of the current street-by-street / ad hoc approach, I propose that the citizen-led commission classify streets by traffic volume and function, and then work up design standards for each classification (streetlight spacing, speedbump frequency, parking guidelines). Instead of asking city staff to make case-by-case decisions, then, uniform standards would guide a systematic approach to improvements in every neighborhood.

Two major projects are changing the fabric and infrastructure of Covington — the Covington Central Riverfront development and the Brent Spence companion bridge construction. As we look forward to the transformative impact of these projects, commissioners must monitor and report progress to Covington residents.

For the bridge project in particular, its design-build model allows for changes along the way — commissioners need to keep track of any such changes that would affect residents, for example, the erection of sound barriers.

City staff are already busy with standard operations, so it will fall to active commissioners to serve as watchdogs for the community. Protecting quality of life for our residents requires a full-time commitment from each commissioner. The city can't exert direct influence over state and federal projects; we need commissioners willing to grab a seat at the table anyway and, if necessary, leverage media coverage to defend Covington interests.

Affordable, quality housing is a problem nationwide, and there are no easy solutions. In Covington, the already dense housing concentration means that there's limited space to relieve demand and address the housing shortage. Subsidies help many families but can also inflate leases, and there's no ready mechanism that the city can use to depress rent prices. For better or worse, we're locked into a market in which the city depends on private developers to build and renovate housing, and with construction costs spiraling upward, developers charge more to make a return.

In simple terms, we need more housing. And even new market-rate housing can indirectly depress costs down the line. If new home buyers don't over-spend on scarce housing, there's a ripple effect that will help with rents in lower-cost housing. And more housing means more property tax revenue that the city can push back into rent subsidies.

As commissioner I’ll work with the tools we have to open up more affordable housing for those who need it most:

1) incentives for developers to build more infill housing, in particular on the many vacant lots held by absentee landowners;

2) more aggressive code and tax enforcement applied to absentee and problem landowners whose properties are unsafe or abandoned — we should take full advantage of the housing stock we already have;

3) expanded restrictions on short-term rentals, which in essence take housing out of circulation and so worsen the housing shortage; and

4) supporting the Housing Authority of Covington in its mission to distribute funding to families in need.

Covington shoulders much of the region’s social service outreach to those in need, the unhoused in particular. We should be proud that our city shows compassion to folks that neighboring cities refuse to serve. But the concentration of services here puts a strain on our public safety personnel and hence our budget. Duplication of services and sometimes poorly monitored agencies result in unacceptable conditions and hardships for those already underserved.

I propose that we form a citizens’ board to facilitate cooperation and efficiencies among the various social service agencies. The latter are often understaffed and poorly funded, but a volunteer board could step in to enable those agencies to coordinate their efforts and make sure everyone who needs help is served in a way that’s compassionate, efficient, and doesn’t burden Covington’s budget or its permanent residents.

In talking with Covington neighbors, I hear folks concerned about what the city can do to provide recreational opportunities for our kids. We've built a great network of parks, but there's always more to do.

Until recently, an ad hoc citizen advisory committee convened regularly to provide input on park facilities and programming. I'd propose re-forming that committee, but along with it establish a committee staffed by Covington kids from every neighborhood. We adults have lots of well-meaning ideas about 'what kids need' in terms of recreation, but aside from a few surveys, how often do we really listen to what kids want. Let's plan facilities and programs that kids are excited about and that they'll actually use — not just re-create what we liked to do when we were kids.