Good evening and welcome everybody.

Thank you so much for taking the time to be here for the Tempe Chamber of Commerce City Council candidate forum.

So we are really looking forward to tonight.

I know a lot of you that are here in the room.

If you don't know me, I am Robin Arradondo Savage.

I am the president and CEO of the Tempe Chamber of Commerce.

And I know we had talked about uh being live, and I think they're working on that right now, and Matt will have some more information for that.

So I just want you to know that tonight is really all about access and clarity.

Uh you get to hear from these candidates directly.

You're going to hear their own words about their priorities and about their vision for the city of Tempe.

This forum is grounded in fairness and transparency, and every candidate will be asked the same question with the same amount of time to respond.

Our goal is to help voters and our business community walk away better informed and more confident heading into this election.

So before we again begin, I just want to recognize the Tempe Chamber of Commerce team and our board of directors that are with us here today.

I know we have a couple over here, Paulette and Evan that are taking uh times for us.

We have our good governance committee and our board of directors.

If you guys just want to stand, raise your hand.

Yes, thank you all for everything that you do every day.

Really do appreciate you.

Thank you.

And like I mentioned before, I do want to just say a great thank you to our good governance committee.

For those of you who don't know, this group has put in a significant amount of time and energy.

They've actually conducted in an individual interviews, which each one of these candidates right here.

They've helped put together these questions that you're going to hear tonight.

And they also will be reconvening soon after this forum to decide on what the can what the candidates will be recommended to our board of directors and who the chamber will be supporting moving forward.

So we really do uh make this, we take this process very seriously, and we do it with uh uh deep thoughts and and very intentional.

So thank you all for taking that time, and we really do value uh your input.

So thank you, good governance.

Um and tonight's format, we're gonna move through about 90 minutes of questions directed at each candidate with about a minute and a half for responses.

So it's now it's my pleasure to introduce our moderator, uh, Matt Heil, Matthew Heil, Chair of our public policy and government relations committee.

And Matt has been tremendous when it comes to our advocacy in this community.

So we are very grateful to give him uh the the reins tonight and take charge and really do appreciate that.

And just so you know, if you would like to view this later, it will be uh there will have a link on our chamber website, which is TempeChamber.org.

So without further ado, I'm gonna go ahead and turn it on over to Matt.

So thank you, Matthew.

Thank you, Robin.

Good evening, everyone.

Uh, it is amazing to see such a crowd here.

That makes me feel very proud for Tempe and for our democracy generally.

Uh Robin did mention we are having a little bit of a technical issue, unfortunately, due to uh connection between Tempe 11 and Cox.

I I think an issue with Cox.

We will not be streaming this live, so you all are going to see this live first, and then Tempe City staff is going to broadcast it tomorrow.

So please uh enjoy.

I'm gonna read through some of the ground rules and then we'll get started.

Uh again, my name is Matthew Heil.

I'm the chairman of the Tempe Chamber Public Policy and Government Relations Committee.

I will be the moderator for tonight's candidate forum brought to you by the Tempe Chamber of Commerce and Tempe 11.

Our questions tonight will focus primarily on issues impacting economic development and businesses in Tempe.

The Tempe primary election will take place on Tuesday, March 10th.

The deadline to register to vote in this election is Tuesday, February 9th.

Since this is a vote by mail only election, ballots should begin arriving in resident mailboxes on or about February 11th.

You will have until March 3rd to mail in your ballot.

Now to our candidates.

Three city council seats are up for election this cycle.

This year seven candidates are seeking those city council seats.

Council members Jennifer Adams, Arlene Chin, and Burdetta Hodge are running for re-election.

Also running for the open seats are Joe Forte, Bobby Nichols, Brooke St.

George, and Elvis Tesca.

If three of the five candidates do not receive more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary election, the city will hold a general election on May 19th.

Tonight's discussion will be a bit different than past forums.

So let's get specific to the rules.

Candidates will have the opportunity to give opening and closing remarks.

They will be permitted up to a minute and a half per answer to allow for extension and expansion of points and ideas.

Our timekeepers up front.

If you could raise your hands, please, just so everybody knows.

We'll count down the remaining time for each candidate and notify him or her when time is up.

And as a good moderator, I will also help with that.

Rebuttals are permitted if an opposing candidate's name is used in an answer or in a if a response is warranted.

Rebuttals will be kept to one minute, and decorum is expected in all responses.

There will be no audience questions at this forum.

Questions were developed by members of the Tempe Chamber of Commerce.

I will rotate starting questions with each candidate.

Please be respectful of the candidates and their answers.

They have chosen to seek public office, and we appreciate their dedication to the Tempe community.

If decorum cannot be followed and disruption occurs, audience members may be asked to leave.

Lastly, enjoy yourselves.

Candidates, this is an opportunity to gain votes.

Audience members, this is an ideal opportunity to learn more about your future leaders.

Well, let's begin with opening remarks, and in alphabetical order, we will start with Jennifer Adams.

Our first question.

Thank you very much.

Is my mic working?

You guys can hear me?

Oh closer.

Okay.

Okay, there we go.

I think that's that's better.

Uh my name is Jennifer Adams, and I have served the residents of Tempe for 37 years.

I enjoy being a public servant and getting things done.

I like to I more of a workhorse than a show horse, so I'd like to work behind the scenes and get things done, and and my experience really helps.

I was a facilities maintenance manager, I was a social worker in the human services department, and I was deputy public works director.

So I've been at it for a number of years, and my experience really has helped me uh be a good council member.

My vision is clear.

We need to continue to assist the unsheltered.

Since 2022, we have invested 137 million dollars, 137 million dollars in helping create shelter space, growing our hope team, connecting people to jobs, funding nonprofits with resources, and expanding our affordable housing.

And we have already reduced the unsheltered population by 46 percent.

46 percent.

I don't think any city in the country can say that.

I'm very proud to work for Tempe and to make a difference and reduce our homelessness.

I would like to bring that debt number down in the next four years to zero.

So that's that's my goal.

I think we can do it with our resources that we have and our team.

Our team is amazing that takes care of uh the unsheltered, and I just plan on uh continuing to work in that direction.

Perfect.

Thank you, Mr.

Tesco.

Uh you said alphabetical order.

We were just starting there.

We're gonna go down the row and then rotate.

Psych Elvis.

Thank you all for taking the time to be here today.

I'm Elvis Tasca, born and raised here in Tempe, living next to my parents on the same street I grew up on.

I'm deeply invested in this city's future for the next 50 years.

My career has been built on bringing people together who don't normally share space.

Seniors, artists, tradespeople, engineers, entrepreneurs, neighborhood groups, and now city departments.

I turn complicated problems into collaborative efforts.

Tempe, in my opinion, is at an inflection point where we can either keep reacting to challenges or we can design the next 10 years with intention.

My focuses are around water security, public education, housing, public safety, and workforce development.

What I bring to council is a skill set that is unique in a fresh mindset.

I'm not here for political theater or ideology.

I'm here to take Tempe residents to the next level with the services that we provide here in City Council.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Haj.

Good evening.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Berdetta Hodge, and I've been honored to of my life to serve as your council member for the last four years.

I'm a proud daughter of the city of Tempe.

I grew up here.

I graduated from Tempe High School, Go Buffaloes.

I raised my two boys here as a single mother.

This city shaped me, support me, and prepared me for my everyday life and tasks I do.

As I work every day to serve and work and give the same support to our every family in our community.

Serving on the Tempe City Council is more than a role for me.

It's my purpose.

I listen, I solve problems, and I show up.

For the last nine years, I've also served on the Tempe Union High School District Governing Board, work and I work closely to close that education gap to ensure our students are ready for college, career, and life.

When our young kids succeed, our entire our entire city succeed.

I envision a city where every person can afford to live, work, and play.

I would be honored here to gain your support, and I want to thank every candidate for participating tonight and every resident for showing up and being part of this democracy.

It's a privilege to serve you, and I look forward to our conversation for tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

St.

George.

Thank you.

Good evening.

And I want to thank the Tempe Chamber of Commerce and the Tempe History Museum for hosting us here tonight.

I am Brooke St.

George and I am running for Tempe City Council because I was born and raised in this city, and although I moved away for 20 years after college and lived in other cities and countries, I returned to my hometown in 2016 because this is my community, this is the city that raised me, and I love it deeply.

I am running for council because uh we are we have a chance for change, and I believe that Tempe's next chapter should be intentional, inclusive, and built to last.

Tempe is doing important outreach on public safety, and that matters, but cities across the country are showing us that housing first strategies, prevention-based public safety, and smart housey smart housing policy actually reduce costs and improve outcomes.

And those are the tools that I want to bring to Tempe.

I am a parent, I am a single mom as well.

Um I'm a parent, I'm a renter, I have been a student here, I am a micro business owner.

I have seen Tempe through a lot of lenses.

I was also an employee inside our Tempe City government.

So I understand how the decisions get made, who the players are, and I know how to turn good ideas into action.

I'm asking for your support because my goal is simple.

I would like to take a city like Tempe that is working really well and make it even better for our residents, our businesses, and for future generations.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Forte.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Joe Forte.

I moved here in Tempe 20 years ago to go to Arizona State University out after I uh got out of the U.S.

Navy.

And since then, I graduated with a degree in business and communications.

I purchased a home here, and I started a successful business.

About five years ago, I was walking in my neighborhood park, and I noticed that there was trash all over the place.

And I couldn't tell you what spurred it, but I started cleaning up the trash, it became a habit.

And that small act started a nonprofit called Keep Tempi Beautiful.

For the past five years, our organization has removed over 22,000 pounds of trash from city parks and streets, and we've planted close to 200 trees.

That was the catalyst that got me involved in the community, and I've been very active since.

When the opportunity arose for me to run for city council, I realized that we don't have a single business owner that sits on council.

And as a small business owner myself, I believe that's a perspective that should be on the council.

And so I ask for your vote, and I really look forward to sharing some of my ideas.

My priorities are economic in nature.

I want to focus on how to make small business owners operate easier.

I want to revitalize Mill Avenue, and I want to make sure that we bring the next generation of job creators here in Tempe so that ASU students like myself can grow roots like I have.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Chin.

Thank you, Matt.

Thank you all for being here this evening.

I want to start out my introduction by letting you know that I sit before you seeking re-election because I deeply care about Tempe.

I currently serve on Tempe City Council.

I have been a resident and grew up in Tempe.

I've lived here for more than 50 years.

Yes, I admit that.

And I continue to serve also the uh the Tempe Sister Cities Board, which it is broad-based experience and vision that I've gained and had the privilege of learning from in Tempe.

And I'm here to give back.

I've gained so much by growing up here that it's my turn now to serve and help more people enjoy and learn to love Tempe like I do.

Thank you.

Thank you and Mr.

Nichols.

Thank you very much, Matt.

Uh thank you, Tempe.

I appreciate your time.

My name is Bobby Nichols.

I've lived in Tempe for 25 years since I was six years old.

I grew up in Tempe.

I met my fiance in Tempe.

I got my first job in Tempe.

I graduated from Arizona State University, Go Devils.

And I'm looking forward to this conversation because I'd like to talk about what I vis uh what my vision is for the city of Tempe and how I believe we can move forward together as a community.

First of all, I want to thank my mom who's joined us here today for all the work she's put into bringing me to this moment because of her commitment to the education of myself and my siblings to our uh development as people.

Uh we are uh able to uh grow in a sorry we're better people before it.

Uh I sit here today as an assistant attorney general.

I represent the state of Arizona and the Department of Child Safety and Economic Security.

I have been a public policy advocate for several years at this point, and I've worked on bills relating to parks, relating to domestic violence survivors and their protection and relating to housing justice in San Francisco and in Arizona.

Uh, my goal as a city council member is to control the cost of living in Tempe, to reduce the cost of living by implementing plans around public housing, around public transportation, expanding systems that have worked really well, and expanding our public pre-K system so that we have a universal child care system for every uh parent in Tempe.

I'd like to bring the cost down so that young people like me can build families here, just like my family was built here.

Thank you very much for your time.

I look forward to getting through the rest of this.

Thank you.

Uh so for our second question, I'll start with you, Mr.

Tesca.

Arizona's minimum wage will increase by 45 cents in less than two weeks on January 1st.

Arizona's minimum wage is more than double the federal minimum wage.

In your opinion, should Tempe raise its minimum wage above the Arizona minimum wage?

And please explain your reasoning.

Thank you.

I mean, how exciting to have a city that is doing more for workers by making sure that they have livable funds, respectable wages for the work that's done here, whether it's within our city or within businesses that operate throughout our city.

I believe that as our city becomes more expensive to live in, the only answer is going to be to make sure that workers who live and work here are supported in a way that makes sure that we honor them for the work that they do.

So I would definitely be for making sure that residents and workers here in our city are honored through the wages that they get for their jobs.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Hodge.

Thank you for the question.

That's a two two-part question for me.

I also know that, you know, as I say, Tempe is a great city to live in.

You know, we do need minimum wages.

We need affordable wages for our for our constituents, our people, but we also have to think about our business community because we have small businesses here that we have to put that impact on.

So we have to balance that.

That's not just a one a one-to- for we got to make sure if we do raise it, that we have some fund, we have some grants or funding to make sure that our small our businesses don't suffer in top of the fact of we raising the their wages.

So I see it both ways.

I see, yes, we do need a we need wages that our community can live on, but we also don't want to bankrupt our businesses in to be half of that time.

So that's how we have to work to make sure that we have grants and funding in place to help out to society with that if we do that in our city.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

St.

George.

Thank you, Matthew.

Um quick calculation.

Let's say, let's say minimum wage is $15 an hour at 40 hours a week.

That's about $600 uh week uh and $2,400 a month.

The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Tempe is about 1,700.

So we are looking at an unsustainable process, even at minimum wage.

I I say I would support, I I agree, I see both sides of the issue.

We need to ensure that our small businesses, especially our small businesses are able to pay the workers, but I see it as a circular economy.

If they do not have expendable money, they can't go support those small businesses.

And so I agree.

We need grants and funding to make sure that we can help our businesses thrive and pay workers livable wages so that they can afford to live here in Tempe, be near where they work, and continue to pour money back into our local economy.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Forte.

So I think the minimum wage is a tricky issue because when you raise the minimum wage, you're only encouraging people to invest in technology and have those jobs go away.

I mean, we we see it in California, where now the average fast food worker is making eighty thousand dollars a year.

Well, if you can buy a Tesla robot for 50,000 or 30,000, those are gonna go away much quicker.

So as a small business owner, I would not be in favor of increasing the minimum wage because I think you're only really hurting the entry-level workers.

If you have to pay someone 20, 25 dollars an hour, why would you get a 16-year-old to run in your shop?

You would get someone that has more experience.

So I would not be in support of it, but I'm very supportive of workers and making sure that they're taken care of.

Um my focus is on bringing the jobs of the future here so that we have jobs that you can afford living in Tempe.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Chin.

Thank you.

I believe in fair wages.

I think we're missing an opportunity when we narrow our focus on the minimum wage question.

I think we have enough partnerships in place.

I think the chamber in Tempe is uh is already partnered with several great stakeholders where we can focus on workers to help them upskill.

Let's have employees that are in minimum wage jobs.

Let's give them opportunities to get out of minimum wage jobs.

We have we should focus on more high-wage, high-skill jobs in Tempe and partner together and help people learn more so they can grow more.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Mr.

Nichols?

I do believe the minimum wage should be higher in Tempe, and I believe that if minimum wage had stuck with productivity since the 70s, it would be closer to $25 an hour than $15 an hour.

And that is for reasons that were discussed just a moment ago.

In order to keep up with the cost of living in Tempe to deal with our housing costs, which are 40 percent above the national average to deal with our transportation costs, which are 10 percent higher than the national average, to take care of our grocery costs, which are another 5% above the national average, we need workers to be able to afford to live here.

And covering those costs by inside by incentivizing businesses to provide higher wages will increase the purchasing power of the everyday Tempe resident, which will ultimately lead to those businesses flourishing and being supported.

I've had good conversations with business owners in Tempe.

I'm thinking specifically of one of my favorite craft beer bars down on McClintock and Southern.

And having spoken with them a few times now, I've come to learn that their main hope for people in Tempe is that they have more spending power.

They would like people in Tempe to be able to come to community bars, be able to come to community spaces and provide that third space that uh is beneficial for everybody.

That's not possible if workers don't have the money that it takes to support and fund those businesses.

So I would say yes.

Um, but I would think we would need to look at the specific numbers and tailor it to our situation.

Thank you.

And Ms.

Adams.

Yes, thank you for the question, and thanks to the chamber for uh hosting us tonight.

I was remiss in uh saying that earlier.

So and to all the people that came tonight, it really it's good to see a lot of friend friendly faces.

So as far as minimum wage, uh proposition 206 passed in 2016, and they uh the voters, the voters voted on that and to raise it to 45 cents per hour.

Uh I'm in I am in support of keeping the minimum wage at that level.

I don't think we need to raise the minimum wage.

I think if we can make housing more affordable, then people will have more opportunity to buy more things and they'll have uh more uh expendable income uh as a result.

So my focus is to keep housing down, continue to uh increase our inventory and to keep our minimum wage where it is based on what the voters asked.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Ms.

Hodge, I have the next question starting with you.

City council members must make difficult decisions to balance the city budget.

How would you prioritize funding?

City services and maintaining a competitive tax environment.

Some candidates have discussed raising taxes of various types.

Where do you stand on the raising taxes?

Um you mean like you repeat that because extremely long questions city council members must make difficult decisions to balance the city budget.

How would you prioritize funding city services and maintaining a competitive tax environment?

Some candidates have discussed raising taxes of various types.

Where do you stand?

I um do not stand on just raising taxes on the city level all the time.

We we are they already do that on the state level.

We are budgeting, we have been budgeting our uh budgets for years and years on not raise on not just raising taxes.

I don't want that to be the only thing that we go into as raising taxes.

We already do that for the school districts, we do it in the state level.

The taxes are being raised.

I understand that we do have to budget, we have to prioritize.

So we have to also go out, and there's also a chance for us to go out for federal funding.

Like we have to start with federal grants.

We are I know we have social services that we do we handle, we have our unsheltered, our housing, but some of those things doesn't have to be raised by just raising taxes.

We can go out to find funding.

There is funding out there, and that's what we do in the city already is we try to partner with our federal, our federal level, and also we mark we also actually have to lobby our state.

It's more about help getting our partnerships together, because our state level already raise taxes every year for the things that we're doing.

We don't want to put, I don't want to put more burden on our community by just continually raise taxes.

I want to find other solutions to help out our city without it going right first thing we do is go right out to raise taxes.

So in my job is to also find partnerships.

That's why I have federal partnership level um partners.

I also have state level.

We uh that's why we we we lobby with the state.

So thank you.

I guess that my time is up.

Thank you.

Ms.

St.

George.

Uh thank you for the question.

I think there are two ways that we can take a look at our city budget and help to keep it balanced while reducing costs so that we are do not have to raise taxes on our citizens.

Um, two things I'd like to look at are um and let's talk about public safety.

So in cities like Denver, they have a model where they are sending mental health trained mental health professionals out to nonviolent police calls.

And that is saving the police force to focus on actual violent crime and other issues that they need to really be focusing on where they might not be as trained to go into a situation where uh a police presence is not maybe necessary.

Um so we need to be smarter about our resources and where we send them.

Um, nonviolent calls, uh reducing police presence at nonviolent calls reduces repeat crises and frees officers to focus on the serious crime, which then in turn reduces not only the expenditures of the city, but it increases public trust in our public safety responders.

Um the second thing I would be is to adopt a housing first model.

This has been shown uh time and again, used in successfully in cities like Houston, Seattle, and parts of Denver, um, that permanent housing solves the homelessness problem more so that more effectively than temporary solutions.

And so in the long run, if we adopt that model, we are going to be saving money that we are currently expending on trying to reduce homelessness and bring that back into our city budget so we can increase our parks and our public safety.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Fortune.

So first I think we should just be looking at the money that we already have.

If you look at the budget, pre-2020, our budget was about 700 million dollars.

It is currently coming up to 1.7 billion dollars.

So ask yourself, are you feeling a billion dollars more of better services, or do we have a council that's mismanaging our money?

And so I would focus on ways that we can increase revenue into the city without raising taxes.

And there's two areas that I would focus on.

One is large-scale events, and the other is um large-scale events and uh and large-scale events.

All right.

So uh two two areas that I want to focus on is one bringing back a bowl game.

We had a bowl game here many years ago.

We had a thriving New Year's party, and that brought a lot of money money into our into our um coffers.

And we have all the amenities to do that.

We have a 300 million dollar stadium, we have the restaurants, we have the hotels, we have the light rail.

And if we brought back that stadium, that would increase revenue to our city by 25 to 40 million dollars, which would increase taxes by half a million to a million dollars, and that could do a lot for all of these wonderful services that we're looking at.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Chin.

Thank you, Matthew.

Uh I really appreciate this question because you asked the current as a council member, there are difficult decisions related to budget.

Absolutely.

We are entering into probably the most challenging well.

The one of the most challenging budget cycles of our time.

We've that would that Tempe has ever faced.

Let me give you some numbers to think about.

Uh in alignment with the changes in the federal tax rules, the big beautiful bill, we will we will be down 2.5 million in the general fund.

We will uh we took a hit in the rental tax of approximately 21 million dollars.

Our current projected sales tax is down 2.5 percent, which equals about 140 million dollars.

These are hard decisions, and the question involved how will we preserve services for our residents and businesses?

That is absolutely a priority.

So there are a lot of hard decisions coming up.

Also, for our residents, costs are higher.

The cost of living, affordability is a real issue for all of us right now.

So I don't think more or new taxes are the answer.

Thank you, Mr.

Nichols.

So I do believe that there are a few areas where we should implement a 2% transaction privilege tax increase in the city of Tempe in order to raise about 40 million dollars for the city budget.

This is well laid out on my website.

I believe I am the sum candidates that was mentioned in the question because this is something that I'm very you know consistent about.

We need to be getting the best services that we can to the people of Tempe and doing a 2% transaction privilege tax increase on Airbnbs, short-term rentals, commercial shipping, commercial leases, and commercial construction projects will result in approximately 40 million dollars coming into the city's coffers every single year.

Uh that means that we can put that money towards cutting uh back the budget deficit that we're gonna see as a result of the rental tax reduction.

Uh we can cut back the city, uh we can help to deal with the city's budget deficit that's coming from uh the sales tax decrease, and we're gonna need to have those resources in order to continue to provide city services for the people of Tempe.

And if you want to look at the specifics of what we can get from that, it costs about $850 a month for somebody to get child care in Tempe through Tempe's pre-K program.

If we want to look at making that a universal program for the people of Tempe, we can put about 20 million dollars towards that from that 40 million that's coming in, just hypothetically, which would result in approximately 2,000 people being served every single month.

Uh that's something that we can do for the people of Tempe, which will ultimately free up the workforce, increase the workforce, and allow for people to have more money in their pocket, thus increasing their spending power.

Thank you.

Uh Ms.

Adams.

Yes, thank you for the question.

Uh talking about budgets is one of my favorite things to do.

Um I uh ran uh $7.5 million operating budget at the city of Tempe and facilities.

I um had three to five million dollars in capital improvement projects every year.

I was able to always run my budget in the black, and we had other uh department heads that had to borrow money from my bank account um to get in the black.

I'm I'm fiscally very responsible.

I do not believe in raising taxes anymore.

That's just gonna hurt us in the long run.

Um and I we are going into the most challenging ever as a council member Chin had mentioned.

We are gonna be it's gonna be tough with all the tax uh changes.

Uh and I've been through three downturns as a city employee, three downturns.

So I know how to get things done, I know how to save money, and I know how to uh operate the city.

So I'm very proud of my budget experience and could talk about it all night long.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Tasca.

Difficult decisions when it pertains to the city's money is not easy to answer in 90 seconds.

But one thing that I can tell you, whether you like it or not.

If taxes don't clearly improve safety infrastructure, economic stability, or the availability of our public education to succeed here in Tempe, I don't want it.

But I also believe that you have to pay for what you get.

And Tempe has incredible services that we all get to utilize.

And if we want to keep the best services that we can possibly have, we will have to make tough decisions as it pertains to taxes.

For me, that tax money needs to come from folks who are coming here and creating big business that don't necessarily live here as neighbors.

Neighbors, people on fixed incomes, single mothers need to be able to feel a little relief while also making sure that our city continues to provide the level of service we've had for decades.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Ms.

St.

George, uh question four.

I'll start with you.

The city is currently studying drink spiking in Tempe.

One of the proposals requires Tempe bars and restaurants to provide kits and drink covers rather than just educating patrons.

What are your thoughts on these mandates on Tempe city businesses?

Um, as a woman, I support uh Councilmember Keating's efforts to protect women and anyone who is at risk of sexual assault as a result of drink spiking.

So what I understand the efforts behind it.

I also can see the concern that businesses have to be mandated and told that this is something that they now have to require and pay for and provide.

Um at the same time, I think that they should also be concerned about their patrons and and their patrons' safety in their establishments.

So I support I support the efforts.

Um I'm not sure if mandate is the right best way to go about it.

Um I think if we are going to require that of businesses, we also need to financially support them so that they can do what we're asking of them.

Um if we are not able to do that, then it needs to be a you know an option on the table for them.

Um if we can look at ways to find grants and subsidize this that support, then I think that we need to take a strong look at that because keeping keeping their patrons safe should be their top priority as a business.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Forte.

So I think this is a perfect example of a non-business owner trying to solve a problem.

And with drink spiking, if you think about it, you're gonna have a cover for a beer bottle, a whiskey drink, a beer mug, all these different types of things that I don't think you're gonna have the un the intended results that you're looking for.

And I love council member Keating.

I mean, I do, certain sincerely.

Um, but I don't think this is it.

And what I would do is I would let it be, I would pick a number of bars, maybe three bars to try it out and see if it's making the result that we're looking for, and then proceed.

But I wouldn't just mandate something on every business in town where when we don't know if the results are gonna be there.

So that that's my my view on it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Chin.

Thank you, Matt.

Um I think safety is important.

Safety in our community is a priority.

I would uh my first move was would be to go to education, educating businesses, educating patrons, working with businesses to educate first.

More broadly, what are ways that we can reach the intended audiences and or what are the what are the objectives of the effort?

I think that needs to be identified and then develop strategies to reach that.

Safety is very important.

I think mandates would be the very last resort.

Thank you, Mr.

Nichols.

So one point on this, I'll say, having uh spoken with Councilmember Keating about it a number of times now is that the ordinance that's being proposed would actually have the city pay for these uh tests and covers.

It would not be on each individual business to take care of that.

And in fact, the businesses would be empowered to then sell those on the back end or charge for them if they're not using them.

Uh so there is not actually a massive cost that comes with this, except that uh the businesses would be required to keep them somewhere.

Uh and that's a extra step in terms of work and training and all this.

I think that is a very necessary step, though.

Uh we're in a very large college town.

It's really important for us to have protections for the young women who attend Arizona State University and the young men as well, uh, all of whom are susceptible to drink spiking when it's done by somebody who doesn't have uh when there are no protections in place.

And this is something that I've um worked around in the past, having done protective services work before, having seen the use of chemical restraints on vulnerable individuals.

And let me tell you, it's something that we need to fight back against very, very strongly.

And so I do support this ordinance.

I think it's the right move, and I think that it is actually something that would be beneficial for everybody.

Thank you, Ms.

Adams.

Thank you for the thank you for the question.

Uh drink spiking is a serious problem.

Uh I think we need to increase our education.

I think um the tops for putting on drinks cost a cent.

So um that would be a good solution for people to have their own tops uh to seal their drinks when they're out and about.

Businesses operate on a very thin margin, and I don't want to have any more pressure on the businesses to pay for anything.

And I I think perhaps the major distributors of the alcohol could also provide um education and uh tops for drinks, and um mandates for businesses would be the last resort.

Thank you, Mr.

Tasca.

After I was cut loose from my career early during the pandemic, I moved into the entertainment industry for five years.

I've managed multiple concert venue spaces in downtown Phoenix.

I've grown these businesses from about a dozen employees to over a hundred employees.

Any given night at the two spaces that I managed, we'd see over 3,000 people.

I can tell you that in those spaces, we had under a handful of drinking spiking incidences over five years.

Tempe and the culture of drinking is changing.

I believe that all public safety as it pertains to youth growing through their life at ASU deserves a real thought.

But I also believe that those businesses who have high margins on selling alcohol to youth should be held responsible to making sure that there's an environment of safety consent and the knowledge that there are resources for when people feel like they have been spiked in their drinks, have been spiked, and that they are facing a situation that is of serious concern to their physical nature.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Hange.

Yes.

I actually sit on the spike uh the drink spiking um commit subcommittee with council member Keaton, and it's it's it's not just an easy answer if you support or don't support.

One thing I do know is that our our we do have a community of kids in and adults who needs protection at safety.

But second off on that is we also need to make sure, and this is one thing that I know councilmember Keaton is working on, and we were taking surveys on on making sure it doesn't hit the business community in a way that it strikes them that they can't afford to do it.

So right now, what is going on is that we are doing a survey to see how this is going to respond.

We do, as once I think someone down there just said we do have a grant that we are trying to make sure to mitigate that there's no written no financial burden on our businesses.

But we're gonna work together.

One what I like to do is I'm in a learning service.

I want to make sure that our constituents are safe when they go out, but it's not uh to affect our businesses so they can't survive.

So we are right now at that gathering part of our subcommittee to make sure that we hit both sides of the of e-circle.

So at this point, because I'm on the subcommittee, I am in to listen to everybody's side of it.

And if you have if any business wants to come out and talk to any of us, we we're willing to hear, we want to know the each side.

We've talked to the students, we talked to different communities.

Now we're talking to the business, but we want to make as I said, want to make sure that we're safe, but also make sure that our businesses are not hit in a negative way.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

St.

George.

Oh.

Yep, that's right.

Sorry, I lost my place.

Um Mr.

Forte, I have question number five for you.

Tempe has always been a leader when it comes to public transportation.

The city is currently studying extending the Tempe Streetcar into Mesa.

What are your thoughts on this project and do you support it?

So I believe if public transportation has a if that's going to be going to a location that would increase economic activity, then I'm I'm in support of it.

So for instance, if it's going to the Cub Stadium, I think that's fantastic because it can take folks from Tempe to the Cub Stadium back here to, you know, go out to eat, get a drink in downtown Mill or our downtown Tempe.

And so I'm very supportive if there is economic activity that would go go beyond it, but I wouldn't be support of bringing it to places that there wouldn't be an increased economic activity.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Jen.

Thank you, Matt.

Um my questions.

My initial reaction to that question is great.

What I hear is not just extending into Mesa, but coming into Tempe from Mesa, and that's important for me.

Because I think it's important that it would align with existing transportation, established transportation, so it makes sense when what's the disruption on the business corridor during the build, and what do our business need in terms of support during that time, and how's it who's going to pay for it and how will it be paid for?

So Tempe would be willing to pay our fair share, but I would expect that Mesa pays a fair share as well, the federal county, state governments as well.

But overall in favor of it if it uh helps enhance businesses in Tempe.

Thank you.

Mr.

Nichols?

So studies have shown that every dollar invested in public transportation results in $4 back to the investor based on increased social mobility and economic activity.

The benefits of expanding uh extending the streetcar into Mesa are potentially enormous.

That's a great way to bring people into Tempe where we have our local businesses.

It's a great way to have people from Tempe going out to Mesa to see their friends and family and that businesses along that corridor that are going to be uh having increased turnout or increased um uh attendance because of the streetcar will benefit enormously from having that additional um customer base.

I believe that's something that we definitely need to look into.

I also think that we should look into expanding our orbit bus routes, bring uh bringing more neighborhood circulators to the city of Tempe.

And I think this is because we need to start pushing back on uh the cost of car culture.

Transportation costs in Tempe are very high, and so we need to be able to bring down those costs by giving people an option that doesn't require them to uh take their own car out on the road, pay for gas, pay for their own insurance.

Uh this is something that I would see done in a lot of cities across the world.

I think it's a very successful model that we need to look into here as well, so that we can save people money who are trying to get to work or to school or wherever they'd like to go.

Uh and we can also increase the customer bases that our local businesses have.

Thank you, Ms.

Adams.

One of my favorite questions, I love transportation.

I um have the privilege of chairing Valley Metro Board of Directors.

Uh Congressman Stanton has secured funding for the planning of the streetcar from Tempe to Mesa and vice versa.

Um so we're already in a good spot with that, and extending it to Mesa would promote Tempe businesses and Mesa businesses.

And where we have built light rail or streetcars has led to increased economic security tenfold.

So Apache, those of you that have lived here for a while, I think you remember what Apache was like, and we put light rail in there, and we've had five billion dollars of infrastructure and businesses as a result.

So transportation does work, it's very effective.

Mesa would have to help with funding too.

That is something that I'm not going to give up on because they will benefit from it.

I I'm optimistic that Mesa will be glad to help us with um the funding because it's going to promote their businesses and it's going to promote my um Tempe's businesses.

And like having lunch at CAF Cafe Boa, for example, and then taking the streetcar all the way to Sloan Field, where you can watch a Cubs game and uh enjoy yourself and not have to drive, I think is a really big uh a really big benefit for uh the streetcar expansion.

And if you're from Chicago, you like that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Tascom.

Thanks, Matt.

I believe that I should definitely be an advocate for public transportation infrastructure growing across our city.

I absolutely believe that public transportation serves people who are furthest from vehicles, folks who are disabled and have no other way to get around.

And it also opens up opportunities for neighboring cities to be able to participate in our businesses and our education.

We already have a light rail spur that goes through Tempe into Mesa.

And if you're familiar with Mesa, they've doubled down on making sure that those corridors are places where businesses can open up, local businesses throughout Mesa have thrived because of the light rail.

I believe that more public transportation infrastructure from our streetcar and light rail could be very helpful.

The one thing that I do know about that particular part of our public transportation is it serves a lot of our college students and the people who live in North Tempe.

I want to make sure that folks who live South Tempe also have the opportunity to participate with our light rail transit strategies for the upcim upcoming decades.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ms.

Hodge.

Yes.

As one person who took public transportation for a lot of my years of my life growing up, you know, being a single mom, me and my kids road transportation.

I think it's more important that we make sure we expand it out.

We need to expand out to every community.

But on top of that is a caveat to it.

We got to also make sure that we're protecting our businesses because I know how that hit the last time with the light rail with some of our businesses closing.

So we got to make sure we're in strong communication with our with the with the chamber and our business make sure that we are making ways to subside, make sure the businesses can still be open on the front of that of that services.

Talking about funding is here and there because the funding is already there.

We Mesa's already accepted, Tempese already, we already have federal funding.

But we just want to make sure that it's gonna hit our make sure that the constituents and those businesses are not hit in this situation as we go on expanding.

Because it's it's it's it's all known.

More public transits we have in our city, it helps.

It it it only increases the city.

But we ought to make sure that we're not taken away from all the small businesses in one part about the city of Tempe to the city of Mesa, there's a lot of small businesses in within that corridor of where we got to go.

Let's make sure that we working together to make sure those businesses stay afloat while we have that that uh building going on at the time.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

St.

George.

Thank you for the question.

Um I want to say thank you to Councilmember Hodge for um acknowledging the education portion of that being so important, and that we are making sure that we accurately plan for this expansion so that those businesses can thrive along there during the construction time.

Because once that is constructed, wow.

And so I'm absolutely in support of the streetcar.

And like she said, it is funded, Mesa's in, Tempe's all in.

We have the federal funding thanks to Congressman Stanton.

And we all saw, like Councilmember Adams said, we saw what happened on the Apache corridor.

Um not only were businesses able to thrive and we were able to bring in billions more to our economy, but we were able to start then building the housing density that not only I I believe since we need it here in Tempe, they probably need it in Mesa as well.

And we can't get those federal dollars for transit unless we have housing density around it.

That is one of the caveats in getting that federal funding.

So not only will that help us increase our housing, sorry, our housing supply, but it will also help us build businesses along that and get cars off the road and allow people to just move more freely between our communities and spend their money in both.

So I'm absolutely in support of the streetcar expansion.

I can't wait to write it.

Thank you.

Uh Ms.

Chin, the next question is for you.

Tempe is implementing a new business license, in your opinion.

Should Tempe include incentives for registration like surrounding communities?

If so, what should they be?

I think so.

I think uh our neighboring city, Mesa has a model that we can study to see how it's positively impacted the business that have participated.

Uh they've added uh the ability for those that participate as a registered or they've paid for their license, then it opens up some other avenues.

Back to one of the first questions about small business development.

They've offered incentives such as workforce training and development and helping the business grow and develop and learn more.

So opened up, created partnerships that the business license licensees can access.

So absolutely.

Thank you, Mr.

Nichols.

Yeah, I do believe that there should be incentives around getting involved in this program.

I think those incentives should include programs to assist with business rentals, uh rental spaces in uh areas that need to have new startups, new programs getting out there, and uh also with uh wage assistance for uh employees who are gonna be helping to build out those businesses.

I think that we should try and focus those incentives as much as we can on new and local businesses.

I'd like to see us put a lot of effort into building out our local economy here in Tempe, which means that we need to be having our local businesses hiring local people, dealing in local spaces and actually bringing people into Tempe so that the money that we have spent as a city and that we spend uh as a community goes to supporting everybody in our in our spaces and will actually be beneficial in the long run for all the people in Tempe.

So I do agree that we should put incentives there, and I think we should look at supporting people's rents and supporting people's wages.

Thank you, Ms.

Adams.

Thank you, uh Matt, for the question.

Uh the businesses uh we've recently implemented a $25 a year uh increase for businesses.

And that is a really great way to track businesses and to have uh the chamber reach out to those businesses and be able to mentor them and help them be successful.

So by having that knowledge, uh, you know, knowledge is power, and and we'll be able to educate them and mentor them, and the chamber will have a whole nother role in in helping with the businesses.

And I just think that it really uh is gonna make a big difference uh for our our entire community and having successful businesses is the heart and soul of our community.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

I'll definitely echo it.

No, sorry.

Please proceed.

Yeah, I um I definitely want to echo what Jen said.

Um I believe this is surrounding the $25 licensure that's just been passed by the city council.

I think that if small businesses are having a problem paying $25 for licensure, there's probably another problem.

I think that the Chamber of Commerce has a huge opportunity to provide incentives for the business development that our city needs, and they need to pay their employees for what the businesses are getting and that strategic plan.

And I definitely would lean into the professionals within the chamber in making sure that those incentives and the plan were carried out in a way that made sure to honor those business folks who are paying that licensure.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Haj.

Yes, thank you.

Thank you for the question.

Um just want to stay off the same, but I think someone said earlier that no one on council owns a small business, which I really do own a small business.

I've been running for 15 years.

So when we start to say that conversation, let's not say that none of us don't know what it means to run a small business anymore.

I also understand that I were I my business is run in a city that is so large that we don't have a situation like that.

We would this would be great.

I would like to know the incentive, yes, I think we a hundred percent, but I also want to know a survey to know what the small business want for incentives.

I don't want to be the one to set it.

I want to be able to have the small businesses come in and say what they need as an incentive to do it.

So I think a survey going out and working with the chamber with that to will help us to create an incentive that will work for small businesses in our community.

I just thank you for that.

Thank you, Ms.

St.

George.

Yes, I think um I think $25 is a relatively small price to pay to be operating uh a business in a city as wonderful as Tempe.

Um I like that we are not asking that of nonprofits.

I think that only for-profit businesses should be participating in this.

But even 25 business $25 for every business in the city is not gonna be a huge coffer to draw from.

However, I would love to see some portions of that be dedicated to workforce development here.

Um we've already got career ready tempee in place, which is a fantastic program that educates our high school kids, allows them an opportunity to intern over the summer, paid intern over the summer uh for our juniors and seniors at various Tempe businesses, including the City of Tempe.

Um so I would love to see more of that.

So many so many large employers um say that they don't really need four-year degrees in their employees.

They need perhaps a two-year degree, some training, and a good work ethic.

And so I think if we can take that $25, put that back into funding uh workforce development so that our employers here in Tempe have a good pool to draw from, then that would is an effective use of that money.

And also it goes into a business listing to where their business is going to be more readable readily available and found uh by people who might be looking for it.

So that's the incentive I'm looking for.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Forte.

So if anyone has been following the business license, I was not a fan of the business license.

I opposed it.

I spoke out against council.

And the reason why is because I consider myself a limited government type of guy.

I don't want more fees and more things.

It's very easy to say, oh, it's $25, $20, now it's $50, now it's $100.

I mean, we know how the government works.

So if you look at the numbers behind it, we modeled the business license off of Mesa.

Mesa, only 20% of businesses are in that program.

So if we looked at it from we have 30,000 businesses, 20 percent of the businesses would be 6,000 businesses.

At $25, that would be $150,000.

That could probably pay for one staff member to actually manage this program.

And it probably wouldn't even benefit the business owner.

It would probably go for enforcement.

And so I just thought it was misguided.

I would have liked to see a more free market solution for that, but it's certainly not a hill I'm gonna die on.

So business license, yay.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Forte.

Um Mr.

Nichols, the next question is for you.

The students of today are the workforce of tomorrow.

While Tempe is a net importer of jobs, how can the city work with the chamber to improve workforce development?

Well, I think that's uh also going to involve working with the Arizona State University and finding students who are looking to build their lives here in Tempe.

I think the Chamber has a great repository of businesses that are looking for work, and I think the city has some great programs, both around finding uh employment for uh students, like Ms.

George mentioned, Mr.

St.

George mentioned a moment ago.

Uh but there's also programs for finding employment for people who are unhoused and experiencing homelessness.

And we need to continue to expand these programs so that we can find uh the best employment that we can for everybody here in Tempe, which will again increase the average person's uh purchasing power, which will ultimately support the businesses that we are hoping to put people into to expand their ability to um just live and work in Tempe and build good lives.

So I would agree that we need to expand those programs.

And uh I think we have the bones of some really good programs already.

I would just like to see the university and the city and the chamber all come together around these programs so that we can continue to find our students, our unhoused population, and our up-and-coming uh new workforce job training so they can have the best lives possible.

Thank you, Ms.

Adams.

Yes, thank you for the question.

Uh so we have such opportunities.

We have the largest university in the country in our in our front yard and backyard.

Uh and and I think the ASU, I'm a big ASU fan, go devils.

I graduated with my master's degree from ASU, so it's near and dear to my heart.

Um the students of the today have a lot of different choices.

You know, we have EVIT, that's uh for um like more um let's see how I word it, um, more uh like plumbers and uh custodians and auto mechanics, and they have a very very wide spectrum, and so people can go there and get educated and plumbers make a lot of money.

Anybody had had to pay a plumber lately?

So it's it's a very uh good place to learn.

Also, real Solado uh College, we have that in our backyard, and that's a great um college and opportunity for people to learn.

Um Robin Arodondo started the career ready program.

Thank you, Councilmember Ardondo for that, and that really helps the kids too get started and and get careers.

So I am I am like very excited for our new generation to to work, and they have a lot of different options, more options than we had when we were growing up because of all the different uh technology companies and also uh workplace uh learning areas.

So I when I was at the city of Tempe, I had a mentorship program that I led with um time up.

They're looking times up.

Uh anyway, that's uh proud of it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Tasca.

I'm very concerned right now for students that are graduating both high school and college throughout our city because I wonder where will the jobs be that they should be getting once they graduate.

And what are those jobs gonna look like with technology advancing as fast as it is?

AI, robots, cars that are driving themselves.

What is really gonna be the outlook of the future that these young folks, what is the job landscape that they're gonna have to face?

I very much think that there's opportunities to expand trade skills, learning surrounding technology in robotics and AI that is collaborative efforts between ASU, our public schools, and our nonprofits.

If I was elected to City Council, I would absolutely be working to strengthen the education that these students are learning their hands-on skills to be ready to move into jobs that are gonna be there for them when they graduate.

Thank you, Ms.

Hodge.

Well, I've been waiting for this question all night long being a governing board member because it actually starts in the high school level, it starts in grade school level.

What we're doing right now with our kids, we're building the next generation of our of our community workforce.

And right now, that's why it's so important.

And Robin was one before me that you need someone who is directly in the education world with the students to help to build a workforce of the future.

And that's what I do.

Part of what we do right now is we're making sure that we do see AI.

How are we in inpitting that in our schools today to make sure that AI is not just taking over, but these kids understand it and how to use it and how to make sure that they'd be able to work into the future.

So, as me on council and me still as a governing board member of nine years, I will continue to work together with the business community and the city of Tempe and ASU to make sure that we are building the future of our city within the schools that within the city kids that we have in our schools today.

We don't need to go to another city or another state to find the workforce that we have.

We already have it in our city, and that's what we need to continue to do.

So the more we build in our platform on our students that are already in our city, the stronger our workforce will continue to be.

And that's one thing that I will lead and continue to do on city council and as a governing board member.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

St.

George.

Thank you.

I don't think there's a whole lot more that I can say that has not been said uh by my fellow candidates.

Um it really does come down to education, and Councilmember Hodge is right.

That starts at the high school and even junior high level.

Um letting these kids know and and through the chamber, a partnership with the city and the chamber, letting these kids know about the opportunities that are ahead of them.

They might not all be ready to go to college or even think that that is something that they can do, but we are lucky enough to live in one of the largest metropolitan areas of the country, and we have union training centers.

We have con major construction companies like SUNT that are employee-owned that have their own training centers so that people can go into the trades so that they can go to any one of our numerous community colleges that we have access to.

They need to know that there are various pathways ahead of them.

And so I think that the Tempe uh Chamber and the City of Tempe has a really great opportunity to come together with all of the knowledge and the authority that they have to put together some really great programs for the younger kids to let them know that there are many pathways ahead of them and they are available right here in our beautiful city.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Forte.

Yeah, so I I think we actually do a really great job already with workforce development, partnering with the city and with the chamber.

Uh I want to give shout out to Councilmember Hodge because she does she's done some phenomenal work as far as with um getting the the Tempe Union High School District embedded in these workforce programs.

And I'm a connector, so I would just help facilitate what's already being done.

And um I'm I'm all about it.

I'm I'm all in.

So yeah, workforce development.

Thank you, Ms.

Jen.

Thank you for the question.

I was excited about this one as well since I alluded to it earlier.

I think we're missing a few pieces here.

Certainly uh through the education system, um early on, right?

Educating students about not just the jobs that they know about, but opportunities that they do not know about.

That's the key.

But we're missing the adults here.

We're talking about workforce development.

So what about adults who want to upskill or reskill or do something slightly different in a changing landscape of economics.

People want an edge, they want to learn more, they want to do more.

The high-wage, high-pay jobs, how do they qualify for those also?

Absolutely, the students I've worked in public education for the vast majority of my career, so I'm absolutely an advocate for students.

My current job is in a nonprofit where we provide scholarships to students who want to advance and get those jobs.

But don't forget the adults that are currently in the workforce.

Also, the traditional school model is fantastic.

However, for those who do not want to follow that model, the unions have incredible apprenticeship programs that not many people know about, and we need to educate those people, more people about those opportunities.

So absolutely.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Adams.

Next question goes to you.

Please tell us what you feel you've contributed to the city of Tempe that sets you apart from the other candidates who are competing.

Yes, thank you for the question.

So I've spent 37 years at the city of Tempe, and I've contributed a great deal of uh resources and time to the city.

I helped annex the county island along with council member Keating and Navarro.

I'm the president of Valley Metro.

I led the effort for the Kowanas Dog Park, which has been a huge success.

I was out there this week and the dogs are very happy running around.

Um I initiated the park ranger program because I knew it when I was an employee at the city of Tempe, and then in 2008, we got rid of the program because of budget cuts, and then our parks uh um kind of got out of control.

Right now, people are feeling much safer in the parks as a result of our park rangers.

Plus, there are also resources for people that need help.

So the park rangers are there and and can hook them up with services.

So they're kind of social workers in the parks, if you will.

Um I serve on the Tempe Tourism Board of Directors, which brings in two million dollars of revenue every single year.

I started trees for Tempe.

Here's my little visual aid there.

Uh led the effort for the Desert Conservation Commission, supported operation slow slowdown because the drag racing was out of control in the city.

So we've done that.

Uh Clark Park Recreational Center, when I was knocking neighbor doors in that neighborhood, I learned that they were not learning how to swim.

And so it was a safety issue.

So we redid Clark Park, really proud of that.

Uh payment improvements.

I've been on that mission for uh since I started on council, and with the bond and the chamber support, we were able to uh pass that bond.

Thank you.

I'm out of time.

Thank you, Mr.

Tesco I'm very new to the political arena here in Tempe, but I've lived here for 38 years on the same street that I was born 20 years ago.

I bought the home next to my parents.

They moved here in the 80s to work at the university.

My mom was the director of the disability resources for students, and my dad was a teacher of the blind.

My brother now lives on our block, and he is also a teacher of the blind in the Tempe School District.

What I've done here in Tempe is created a legacy of friends and family and community of neighbors that do good.

We're the type of people that'll change your tire or jump your car, even when we're having a bad day.

We're the type of neighbors that are gonna wave from our bikes as we're riding to Mill Avenue.

We're also the types of folks who are here to make sure to protect our furthest from power, our unhoused individuals, our neighbors who are suffering from mental illness, and also our seniors who need neighbors who are there when their families can't come.

And that's what I've done here in Tempe, and I'll continue to do for the next 50 years.

Thank you, Ms.

Hodge.

Yes.

Well, I am the council member who went from Section 8 in the City of Tempe to home ownership in the city of Tempe.

I have been on every spectrum of it.

I'm also a council member that's also a governing board member.

No other person is holding both titles.

I've done it since I've been on council.

I've done I've been a governing board member for nine years.

I've also been on council for now.

This is my fourth year, and I make sure that the education community is connected to the city, which is very important when you building workforce government housing workforce um and you also building what is needed for the future.

Another part of me is I'm also commissioner for the state.

So I have strong connections to the state in the community at the State House so we I can lobby for what we need in our city.

I also have national connections because I'm on the education task force.

So I go to DC and I lobby for us in in that capacity.

So when you bring national, state, and local together, that's what I do.

I also have I'm very proud of being the person who done the brass knuckles ordinance.

I've done that, and I think that's very important to our city.

And also that we are the only second city in the state, which I part I'm I led that is to have uh Sandy Hook.

We're the second city in the country to have the Sandy Hook promise as our city.

So we are now supporting our kids on another level when it comes to safety throughout our whole city.

And that's that doesn't just include just children, I includes everyone.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

St.

George.

Thank you.

Um I grew up uh not far from here uh behind what was the Gemco on Baseline and McClintalk now, the target.

But uh I also grew up at Grace Community Church just down the road, and that instilled in me a heart for service.

Um it is just a natural inclination that I have.

I am running to be a public servant for the city of Tempe and not a politician.

Uh so when I when I left, I and I came back to to Tempe, I threw myself into public service.

I became uh the PTO president at the same middle school that I was the student body president at uh go KMS Scorpions.

Um but I joined the YMCA board.

I am on the board of youth impact mentoring.

I really care about the the kids.

In fact, just today I uh volunteered over at Ken McDonald Golf Course.

They provide once a year a free um field trip, a steam-based field trip, STEM-based field trip for the kids at Ninos Elementary to come on over.

And uh and that was a lot of fun.

We spent four hours out on the golf course today teaching kids about science, um, just as a as a favor to my friend Des over there at Kenny Mac.

I've run campaigns to improve our city and our state because I I am just passionate about our our public.

Um and as a PTO member, I also worked really hard to build bridges between our families at our schools and the businesses around that are still uh in play today.

Um went to a PTO meeting just last week at my old middle school and saw that all the things I instilled are still in play.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Fortune.

Well, thank you for the question.

Uh I think this is really where I shine as um someone that that volunteers a lot.

Uh as I shared in my opener, I started a nonprofit called Keep Tempi Beautiful, and um we've done some phenomenal work in the in the city, but I'm even more excited that we have new leadership in that because I knew that running for city council, I wanted to make sure that that relationship continued on.

Um but in addition to that, I was the volunteer coordinator for a number of years for the uh Tempe Oktoberfest, and all proceeds benefit the Tempe sister cities.

I'm very very proud of that.

I also serve on the Development Review Commission, which is the city's land use and zoning board, and I think that's a very unique uh unique position because I see a lot of the things that council members deal with every single every single day.

And so I think that's a great um prepper preparation for a city council member.

Uh I'm also uh I sit on the board of the Kowanis Club of Tempe, which I'm very proud of, as well as the Tempe Sister Cities program.

Uh and I'm also on the Sister Cities International Board of Directors and was responsible for bringing their fall leadership program to the City of Tempe.

And that's the type of things that I'd like to do, making sure we bring vibrant events into town where folks are spending money and it's going into the the generating more revenue for the local economy, and um it's doing our city good.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Chen.

Brooke, I was also eighth grade class president at Kyreen Jr.

Hi.

And my slogan then was win with Chin also, just so you know.

That was worth 10 seconds.

Thank you.

I am a more than 50-year resident who has served on numerous community um boards and commissions and have had a depth and breadth of experience in serving the community in leadership roles.

I've learned uh by living here, I've learned by I uh uh from and benefited from the shoulders of others that came before me.

I sit before you seeking re-election because I want to continue to serve my community.

What separates me?

I'm always direct.

Uh sometimes my friends don't always like that, but I will ask you hard questions.

I will study the issues.

I do study the issues, and I will always be fair.

I am not particularly verbose, but I mean what I say, and I seek your support.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Nichols.

So for the state of Arizona and the city of Tempe, I believe I've done quite a bit, even though it has not been in the capacity of a sitting council member.

I have passed laws at the state of Arizona that protect survivors of domestic violence and their minor children in the city of Tempe.

I have helped to protect our access to public parks and protect public event organizers from criminalization.

I've also organized and volunteered very consistently with mutual aid operations in the city of Tempe, which provide for the unhoused both clothing and needed uh food supplies when they are facing starvation or are unable to pay for those things themselves.

I've put a lot of work into building momentum and movements within the city of Tempe and within the state of Arizona.

And one of the things that I have that is distinct from the other candidates here today is that my conversation, the policies that I'm putting forward around housing, around economic uh responsibility, around how we're gonna pay for these things, they're being uh brought into other candidates' campaigns at this time.

Uh I am the only candidate who has another candidate still site on their website that they are using my idea, and I see that happening in other campaigns as well, where I have been putting forward ideas that are gonna be really beneficial for the city of Tempe.

So by having these conversations and pushing these ideas forward, we are actively changing the political discourse in this city for the better.

And I really do think that's the right thing to be doing right now, especially seeing what we're seeing around the country.

And I ask for your support because I believe we're gonna win for Tempe and have a world that we all deserve, which is better than what we have right now.

Thank you.

So we are nearing the end of our forum, so I am going to ask the candidates to take one minute.

So update your timers, please, timekeepers, to share your final thoughts and closing remarks.

And Mr.

Tyska, I'm going to start with you.

Thank you, everybody for allowing me to speak in front of you as a neighbor and a friend.

I'm here because I believe that Tempe deserves at least one new leader at the table who's future focused, collaborative, and deeply invested in this city for the long haul.

You're gonna get experience from these incumbents.

That's a given.

But what I offer is something a little bit different: a breath of fresh air, innovation that's grounded in practicality, and a long-term stake in Tempe's success.

If you guys vote for me, it will be something that will bring community closer together within our city.

The 40 square miles or 180,000 residents that lived here will have someone that will be making sure to be available to every one of them at any time.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Hodge.

Thank you.

I thank the chamber for putting this on.

I thank you guys for spending your afternoon with this evening with me.

Um as I am also asking to be re-elected.

I will give you some promises.

I will promise you this much that you may or may not like all my votes that I have.

But I will promise you this much.

I promise you that you will be able to reach out to me or I'll reach out to you and we can discuss everything.

I do promise that you will be able to see me.

I'm very active.

I do a breakfast of Bordetta every month and I do a newsletter every month.

So you know what I'm doing at all times.

And I also do promise that I will work extremely hard at uh at making sure that Tempe maintains and continues to work that we can live, work, and play in the city is uh we we gotta have issues.

Every city has issues, but we're gonna continue to work forward to make sure, and I'm actively listening to everyone in the community, not just the people who are the business owners or community owners.

I listen from if you are zero to two hundred and ninety-nine.

So I just thank you, and I just ask for your support again.

Thank you, Ms.

St.

George.

Thank you.

Uh thank you again to the chamber and the Tempe History Museum and everyone that came out tonight.

This has been really insightful, and I have learned quite a bit.

Um my vision is a Tempe where growth lifts people uh up instead of pushing them out.

So as Tempe where we house people first because cities that invest in permanent housing and prevention see homelessness go down.

A city where businesses are supported and more money can circulate through our local economy as a result, where teachers, service workers, students, and seniors can afford to live and thrive in the city that they love.

I've worked inside city government.

I know how our decisions get made, how we often settle for short-term solutions and fixes because we're in a panic mode instead of long-term results.

So if elected, I will bring urgency, accountability, and a willingness to learn from what's working in other cities and how those strategies can be applied here.

I'll bring a fresh solutions-oriented approach to our city government, and one that blends compassion, uh, data-driven policy, and real results.

I'd be honored to earn your support.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Forte.

There's a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt that I really love, and it goes that great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, and small minds discuss people.

I'm someone who brings out event uh brings out ideas, but not just sharing ideas, execute on them.

I'm not a dreamer, I'm a doer, and I want to do the same thing as a member of the city council.

All these folks up here are great people.

I don't have anything bad to say about them, and they're all doing this for the right reasons.

There's three reasons, though, I believe I should earn your vote if if you'd like.

The first is I'm a business owner.

So I've dealt with budgets.

I know the type of policies to put in place to move our economy forward, and I work with people and organizations every day.

I'm also very involved with the community already.

This isn't something where I just decided to join City Council.

And finally, I'm a Navy veteran and us veterans were kind of cut from a different cloth.

So uh I asked for your vote, and remember, those in the no, go with Joe.

Thank you, Ms.

Chin.

Thank you, Matthew.

Thank you to the chamber, and thank you to all of you for spending time to get to know us a little bit better.

Uh I think that's appreciated, and I'll speak for all of you right now.

Umpe is in the middle.

You know we're in landlocked, right?

Uh, but we've never been in the middle of the pack.

Tempe has always led other cities.

And my hope is that we will continue to lead other cities in how we approach problems and how we work together, and how we are always striving to be better together.

I hope to earn your vote.

Um it takes collaboration and working with stakeholders and being willing to uh speak honestly and transparently together.

So thank you again for your time.

Thank you, Mr.

Nichols.

Thank you all for your time.

I really appreciate being here with you all today.

And I hope it's been made clear that the reason I'm running is to try and address crises that I've identified in the city of Tempe, specifically around affordability.

When the federal government fails, when the state government doesn't step up, and when our local communities are overburdened, that responsibility to provide for our neighbors falls to local governments.

And that's what I think we need to be doing here right now.

I support universal child care programs because young families need help.

Kyren School District just voted to close six schools because not just because of ESA vouchers, though it certainly doesn't help, but because we have a enrollment crisis due to young families not being able to pay for life in Tempe.

I believe in public housing programs like rental assistance, rental subsidies, rent controls, and also uh public housing being developed on our public lands so that we can actually provide sub-market rate housing to the workforces that are coming in without having to deal with the profit motive there.

I also support free, fast public transit for our students, workers, and seniors because it is something that we're gonna need to expand our social mobility and our economic situation.

I ask for your vote.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Ms.

Adams.

Yes, thank you.

Thank you for everyone that came out tonight.

Uh I also um run the family business.

Uh I forgot to mention that earlier, so I'm I'm good at businesses.

I ask for your vote.

It's very important.

It's a critical time.

It's gonna be the probably the most challenging time, and experience matters.

The incumbents in this election know what we're doing, and it's not a time to uh try to learn on the job.

It's 90 percent of our businesses like working for the city.

90 percent of our businesses like working with the city.

That's impressive.

We have decreased violent crime by 21 percent.

That's impressive.

Safety is number one to me, and our I'm supported and endorsed by the fire and police departments for a reason because safety is very important and number one for me.

Um we have a 46 decrease percent decrease in the unsheltered.

And the stats that we just got from our residents and businesses showed that we are happy, that the residents and the businesses are happy.

Thank you very much.

And please vote for me, Jennifer Adams.

Thank you, everyone.

That actually concludes our forum this evening.

I wanted to take a moment to thank all the candidates for such an informative, thoughtful, and civil discussion this evening.

I really do appreciate it.

If we could all give them a round of applause.

Thank you to each and every one of you for participating today.

And I hope that we will see you go out and vote.

Have a lovely night.