All right.

Good evening.

Welcome to the Tempe City Council Candidate Forum at the Tempe History Museum.

My name is Taylor Seely.

I'm a reporter at the Arizona Republic and AC Central.com.

I am very grateful to be here with you all today, candidates and voters alike.

Those in the audience, how are you all feeling?

Okay, I lived in Tempe.

I know you can do better than that.

Audience, how are you feeling?

Candidates don't hold back.

How are you feeling?

Okay, we're gonna have fun.

This is gonna be fabulous.

Whether you are running for office or you're here learning about the people running for office, uh, your presence here means that you're making your community better.

We at the Arizona Republic feel very honored to play even a small role in that.

So truly, thank you for coming.

Election day is March 10th.

There are three city council seats up for grabs and seven candidates in the running.

Dun dun dun.

The purpose of tonight's forum is to give you the voters the information you need to make the best decisions you can.

The questions come from the Arizona Republic and audience attendees.

They have not been shared with any of the candidates ahead of time.

For ground rules, each candidate will get 90 seconds for an opening statement and 90 seconds to answer questions.

They will be given one minute for closing remarks.

We have a lot of questions to get to, as you might imagine, so I will ask candidates, please be mindful of your time and your tone.

And to the audience, I will kindly ask you to refrain from applause or cheering just in the name of time.

Those watching at home will be best served if they can hear the candidates fully, believe it or not.

So with that, we will get started with opening remarks.

We're gonna go in reverse order, reverse alphabetical order, starting with Elvis Tasca.

Hi, my name is Elvis Tasca.

And um I'm gonna veer away from my normal programming.

People have been asking me why I'm running, and the answer, the honest answer is I'm very concerned.

I'm concerned about the world.

I'm concerned about our country.

I'm concerned about our state.

And I'm here because city problems are where I actually have some power to do something.

I'm a neighbor, I live here, I walk the streets, I ride my bike, I work here, and I feel like I've watched fairness get chipped away in small, quiet ways.

Through confusing rules, uneven enforcement, and decisions that feel distant from the people that they affect, including me.

I want to be very clear.

I'm a lucky white guy, and I also live on teachers' pay and work in community spaces where fairness isn't abstract.

It's whether people feel safe, respected, and included.

I'm grateful to be here today and answer these questions.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Thank you all for being here, and thank you to the Arizona Republic and the Tempe History Museum for hosting us here tonight, and to Taylor Seely for moderating.

I'm Brooke St.

George, and I'm running for Tempe City Council because I was born and raised in Tempe and I love my hometown.

So much so that I chose to raise my own son here, attending the same Tempe public schools that I attended.

With this election, our residents have an opportunity for some positive change on our city council and the chance to develop new leadership.

Fresh ideas stemming from deep roots in our community.

The chance to elect someone who both remembers what Tempe used to be and who can also look ahead with clear eyes at what Tempe can be in the future.

I understand the issues facing our Tempe Redd residents from many perspectives as a renter, a parent, a community volunteer, a micro business owner, but also from the time I spent working inside City Hall supporting our mayor and council.

My time working for the city provided a crash course in our municipal government and the opportunity to build good working relationships with our incredible city employees.

But my role there also prepared me for the position I'm now seeking.

Because I've already performed the duties of council member in almost every way, but casting a vote on the dais.

When you elect me as your next Tempe City Council member, you can rest assured that there will be no learning curve for me.

I will be ready to hit the ground running on day one.

Thank you.

Good evening, everyone.

Thank you very much for being here today.

I appreciate this time we get to spend in community.

My name is Bobby Nichols.

I'm running for Tempe City Council, and I am a public attorney who works in the Child and Family Protective Division of the Arizona Attorney General's office where I represent the departments of child safety and economic security in cases that involve the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of children and vulnerable adults.

Before that, I worked as a homeless advocate or unhoused uh people's advocate.

I worked as a veterans advocate.

I also worked in intellectual property law, and I have been a legislative and policy development uh activist for the last five years, going back to the end of my time in law school when I was working in San Francisco city government.

I have chosen to run for office at this time because I'd like to build a family here.

My family grew up in Tempe.

Uh, this is where I got my first job, it's where I met my fiance, it's where I graduated from college, and it is a place that has always been just the most incredible community.

But it is getting expensive.

It is too expensive for young families to set up in Tempe at this time.

Our housing costs are too high, as are our transportation costs and even our grocery costs.

But what are we gonna do about this if the city council continues to vote in 7-0 blocks that continuously simply benefit the developers and businesses that have been able to make the most money from this?

We are gonna put in simple proven public policies around housing justice, transportation, and uh grocery prices and child care.

I have the experience to make this happen, and I've been doing this work for a long time.

I ask for your vote and I look forward to uh having this conversation.

Thank you so much, everyone, for coming.

My name is Joe Forte.

I moved here 20 years ago to go to school at Arizona State University after a four-year enlistment in the US Navy.

Subsequently, I graduated with a degree in business and communications.

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

Over five years ago, I was walking my dog in my neighborhood park, and I noticed there was trash on the ground.

Couldn't tell you what spurred it, but I started picking up the trash, it became a habit.

And through that small act, we started an organization called Keep Tempe Beautiful.

Over the past five years, that organization has removed over 22,000 pounds of trash and litter from city parks and streets and planted close to 200 trees.

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

And when the opportunity came for me to run for city council, I realized that we currently don't have a single business owner on the city council.

And as a business owner myself, I believe it's a point of view that is needed.

And so there's three areas that I want to focus on.

The first, I want to make the city of Tempe the easiest place to do business for a small business owner.

The second, I want to revitalize Mill Avenue, and a good place to do that is parking, but also more vibrant events, um, do more of what we already have done.

And the third is bring the jobs of the future here.

And I really look forward to sharing more of that information and plans throughout the night.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Thank you for making time for us to learn more about us.

Thank you for hosting and coordinating, and good luck with that.

Right.

Um I have lived in Tempe for more than 55-0 years.

Um I have served on numerous diverse community organization boards, nonprofits, and I believe that I'm well suited to lead as I have taken on leadership roles in several of those organizations.

Like many of my colleagues sitting up here, and for you to take the time to be here, we all care about our community.

And I think that's important, and that should be our focus.

I believe that I am well suited to lead uh for another term because of my experience in the community and my leadership style.

Very straightforward, pragmatic.

What you see is what you get uh often to the as a pain point to some people who may not want to hear directly, but that's how I operate.

I um we share a lot of the same care and concerns, and I look forward to sharing more information with you tonight and hope to earn your vote.

Thank you.

Thank you, Arlene, and the rest of the uh candidates.

Uh my name is Jennifer Adams, and I have an announcement to make that.

Bradetta Hodge is uh currently in her governing board meeting, but she will be attending as soon as she's done with that.

So she asked me to announce that.

Um my name is Jennifer Adams.

I've worked for the city for 37 years.

Um it's when you first get elected to council, it's like drinking from a fire hose.

But it was a lot easier for me to get up to speed because of my institutional knowledge.

I'm a social worker by trade, so I really don't like talking that much.

I'd rather listen any day and get ideas from the community that just tell my style.

Uh, but I am here to just uh give you a little overview of me.

So I uh I'm a social worker.

I worked in human services for 14 years, actually at the library building right up here.

And uh I did that, and I um went and did internal services.

I was a facilities manager for the city of Tempe.

I ran a 7.5 million dollar budget and a uh five million dollar um capital improvement budget every year, and I always brought it in the black.

Now, some of my colleagues didn't do so well, so they would steal my money.

But that's another another uh factor.

Anyway, and then I've definitely public works director.

I helped a lot with uh light rail build.

Um I'm on I'm chair of uh Valley Metro Board of Directors, and I have a lot of experience in transportation.

I also annex part of the county island up north.

Tempe, um I got uh Clark Park redone, and I am working on getting the roads repaired.

I've led that effort for seven years, and we finally got the bond passed.

That's uh me in a nutshell, and thank you very much for to everybody that came tonight.

I really appreciate it, and and to all the viewers too on TV.

Thank you.

Great.

Okay, thank you so much, candidates.

Uh, we're gonna hop into our questions.

So Arizona cities get a big chunk of their budget um from revenue tax revenue shared by the state, but actions at the state legislature, such as eliminating the residential rental tax, have meant that cities have to make do with less revenue than they were expecting.

Tempe took a 21 million dollar hit, and the city's financial officer has told council that there is no funding for new programs or to expand programs.

So, to the candidates, if the city needed to cut costs in the budget, where are you starting and under what conditions would you raise taxes?

We will start with Brooks St.

George.

Thank you for the question.

It's an important one.

Um I've worked inside the city of Tempe, so I know exactly how our budget works and where it has become bloated.

My plan is disciplined, transparent, and focused on protecting the services that our residents rely on.

I'd start with priority-based budgeting and a freeze on non-essential hiring.

Every program that we have would have to show real outcomes before we spend money, while public hiring, public safety hiring would stay protected.

Then I would launch 90-day zero-based budgeting sprints in our highest spending departments.

We'd rebuild those budgets from scratch, line by line, in public view.

Cities routinely save two to five percent this way without cutting services, and Tempe can too.

All results would be posted in open gov so residents can see exactly what we're doing.

To strengthen our long-term position, I'd responsibly pay down pension debt, maximize legal development impact fees, and use voluntary and for affordability incentives to grow housing and expand our future tax base.

I'd focus economic development on neighborhood retail, mid-scale employers, and arts and focus events that actually generate income.

And I would modernize cost uh event cost recovery so that taxpayers aren't subsidizing large events.

I would keep youth transit free and pilot targeted fare relief instead of unfunded universal fare-free transit.

I'd also put select city owned land to work through long-term ground leases to create recurring revenue and cut unnecessary spending like excessive travel and protect our core services.

Thank you.

So it is unacceptable that we are not going to be able to build out new programs and expand the programs we have right now.

We have a need to expand our child care programs, our pre-K program, our transportation programs, and our housing programs in the city of Tempe in order to make sure that the residents of this city have the ability to live meaningful, dignified lives full of prosperity and joy and community.

And we are going to be able to do that through a Q a couple of different ways.

The first way we're going to do that is by reducing wasteful spending on the criminalization of homelessness by implementing a housing first policy that has been shown to be a net positive for the finances of any given city that implements this policy rather than having unhoused people go to jail where they then have recidivism rates that are incredibly high, and the cost of policing them is much more than the cost of simply giving them a home and allowing them to become productive members of society who pay taxes.

The second way that we're going to do this is by increasing taxes on tourists and large businesses by increasing by 2% transaction privilege taxes on Airbnbs, short-term rentals, uh public or private transportation, private shipping, in addition to private construction projects and corporate leases.

This together would add 40 million dollars to the city's budget every single year, covering the cost of the current decrease that we've lost from the rental tax and also giving us space to put potentially 2,000 new families into our pre-K program every year, which would be developed into a universal program at that point.

This is not a c uh crazy idea.

This is a common sense um strategy to go forward, just uh responsible spending, balancing the budget.

Thank you so much for the question.

So first I want to just understand where where have everyone understand where we're at.

We're currently running a fiscal deficit and we're spending more money that we can come in.

So while it's nice to talk about ways to increase taxes for different programs, we're already underwater.

So the areas that I would like to improve is to do more of what works in the city.

I talk to a lot of residents, and they say they never go down to Mill Avenue.

Some might in this room might feel that way.

But then when you go when you see a large event happening, such as the Tempe Arts Festival or Tempe Blooms, the place is packed.

So I'd like to do more of what already works.

And two areas that I want to focus on is events, which will bring people from across the metro into our town, and tourism-based events that will bring people from across the country.

So as far as events, I would love to see farmers market, very popular type of event.

We currently don't have them, we we currently don't have any in the city.

As far as large scale tourism events, we once had a bowl game in the city of Tempe.

It was a thriving New Year's Eve event, and I'd like to bring that back.

And we could generate anywhere from 25 to 40 million dollars from the local economy and bring about a million dollars in tax revenue.

That's just one of many ideas, but I can only do so much in 90 seconds.

So uh I appreciate the question again.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So to address this, one of the ways that I initially approach it is you think about our own home budgets, right?

If you're feeling a crunch and you're tightening your belt, you look at ways to shift projects, and you prioritize what you have to pay for.

And the city does that, and they base the priorities on resident surveys.

That's done every year.

So that's taken into consideration on what gets prioritized in the budget.

You have to shift timelines for certain projects.

This is one of the reasons why the paving, the street paving got shifted because we had to tighten budgets in previous years until it got to a point where we needed to do something, so we overwhelmingly passed the bond to make that a high priority for our community.

The bottom line is to minimize disruption for our residents.

So we may need to get creative, adjust some timelines and projects.

Uh it's not to raise taxes.

We dip into reserve funds to cover some of these shortfalls, and we need to continue to find ways to bolster our sales tax and bed tax revenue.

Thank you.

Thank you for the question.

Uh first of all, I just want to make clear that I'm gonna run a positive campaign.

Uh tempings don't like negative campaigns, and mine will be positive until uh this is over.

So I just wanted to put that out there.

I'm also not in favor of raising taxes.

We need to live within our means.

And we have a 90% satisfaction rate among our residents.

They are happy living here.

Our can our city is not broken.

We are running more efficient efficiently than I've ever seen in the 37 years of experience I have at the city of Tempe.

We are doing a great job, and I'm really proud to be a part of that.

Um we have been taking action on our budget situation.

We froze uh taxes.

I'm sorry, we froze.

Oh, there you are.

I've read it.

I announced that she's gonna be running late.

That was right.

Anyway, um, we um do have a hiring freeze going on, so we're looking at um cutting our number of employees.

We have already cut 10 percent of our entire budgets, and we are gonna continue to do that.

And by the way, Joe mentioned that I um that he was the only one with a business, uh, but I I also run a family business, so I just wanted to clarify that.

And we have a 46% decrease in homeless.

No one else in the country can say that.

But by the efforts we've made through the IHO program, the Care Seven program, we the apartments that we're um renting out and our acquirement of uh hotels, we were able to home a lot of more people.

So I'm really proud of that.

We've spent 2037 million dollars on homelessness efforts um since 2022.

So that's impressive.

And we also have a 21% decrease in violent crime.

The numbers speak for themselves.

That's what I go on.

I I'm very pragmatic also, and I go on what the numbers say and the stats say.

Thank you.

All right.

Tempe is a unique city in a lot of ways.

What are sorry, Elvis?

My goodness, go ahead.

Thank you.

It's not easy talking about budgets.

I'm very new to the numbers of the Tempe City budget, but if you look at our budget, you can see some departments take up a lot of our resources.

I think that this impending deficit that's on our city is materializing as I sit in front of you, and I think that part of getting into this problem is why I'm here.

I'm the type of guy who's worked with almost nothing to create programs that are for youth and safety and for the common good.

If I was to be a part of the city council, what I can tell you are there would be things that I would not be cutting, which generally get the acts first monies for our nonprofits that do work with our homeless populations.

The teams that are on the ground working with those individuals deserve more support, and I believe that there are businesses here who should be paying more for what they've been able to achieve on the backs of teachers and artists.

Thank you.

Okay.

Tempe is a unique city in a lot of ways.

What are your two to three favorite things about the city?

And we'll start with Bobby Nichols.

I love going to see the Valley Suns play down at the uh uh arena on um ASU's campus.

I've been there with my dad a few times now just to enjoy seeing local professional basketball.

There is a lot to do here in this city.

I love being down on Mill Avenue, and while I was going to Arizona State University, I really enjoyed the culture that it developed down there, and I'd like to see that preserved.

I'm also just an incredible fan of the community that we have in this city.

The best thing about Tempe is the people who make it up, the community that we have developed, how we consistently show up to take care of our least fortunate neighbors and protect those who are suffering from financial distress by giving them food, by giving them shelter, by giving them clothes.

As a community, we continue to come together, even in the face of some actions that have made it more difficult to do that.

We didn't stop coming out, we didn't stop making that work, and we are gonna continue showing up for our neighbors, we're gonna continue showing up for our unhoused population, we're gonna continue showing up for each other, and that gives me the most incredible optimism and joy for the city of Tempe.

And uh, those are three things.

So I'm gonna stop there, but I'm really grateful for this opportunity to get to talk more about what makes our city so great, and again, it's all of you.

Well, first off, I want to say welcome because I actually missed the opening.

I was at a governing board meeting.

Um it was my first meeting of the year.

I could not miss, I apologize, but I wanted to explain why I was not here in the first thought of it.

Um, three three things I love.

I love our town lake.

We are very unique in that way to have a lake in the middle of our city that no one else has.

I mean, that is very special to us, you know.

Everything that Tempe embodies, it comes from our downtown quarter when it looks at that our Tempe Lake and going over to 202.

That's one of my favorite parts is going over to 202.

The second thing is the fact that Tempe is a it's a middle middle class city, but has that small town feel, meaning that people know each other, neighbors know each other, you're not afraid.

We're one of the only cities that can come in, and you can literally you can talk to your city council members, you know them, even if you like what they're doing or don't like what they're doing.

You have every you have that ability to speak to us at any time.

Tempe has one of the best in the state, and we have some of the great neighborhoods, and that just makes us embodied to be a better city.

So I thank you.

So one of the things that I I love, and it's to piggyback off of Councilmember Hodge is that it's a big city with a small town feel.

It's very common that I go into a coffee shop or I go to uh the grocery store and I run into people.

Um the fact that I know a lot of the faces here, I think speaks to that.

And it's one of the reasons why I'm running.

I want to do good by the people in this city, and I want to improve, improve the city for for everyone.

And so that's a really key thing that I love about the city of Tempe.

The second thing is the parks.

Um I I as I shared in my opening, I started in a nonprofit called Keep Tempe Beautiful, and through that experience, I've really been able to explore a lot of the hidden gems in our city that a lot of people actually don't even know about.

Um, places like Lopiano Park or you know, Hayden, Hayden Butte.

Um, you know, a lot of these places that we get to promote folks coming out to clean, get some exercise, um, but also exploring some of these hidden gems.

Uh, most don't know we have over 50 parks in a 40 square mile, much more than many of our closest neighbors.

So these are some of the things that I really love about the city of Tempe.

Thank you.

You're right, Taylor.

It's fun.

This is a fun question.

One of my very favorite things about Tempe is our three degrees of separation.

Are you familiar with the Kevin Bacon five degrees?

Okay.

In Tempe, we have three degrees.

Three degrees of separation.

Many of you have experienced this.

You meet someone new, and you learn that, oh, they live in Tempe, or they lived in Tempe, and you ask where they lived.

And you ask specifically, well, what neighborhood?

Where were you?

And you go down the road of, oh, well, do you know?

Right.

It happens all the time, and I love that.

And it it embodies the we're we are a community.

We're not a collection of buildings and homes.

We're a community of people, and we like getting to know one another.

The other thing, I'll use the example of what happened on October 13th.

The micro burst.

We dropped all arguments, fights, people came out of their homes to help one another, regardless of political position or what team you rooted for.

Everyone got together, and I love that about our community.

Caring and activity.

Thank you.

Yes, I was driving down college that day in the storm, and uh all the people, all the people were coming out of their houses, and how can we help and moving trees?

I mean, the trees were all down on college avenues along with everywhere a lot other places in Tempe, but um our community spirit is alive and well.

Um I like hiking a mountain because the views up there are incredible.

I love riding uh the streetcar, and I'm kind of a transportation nerd, so I like the street car and orbit.

I don't know if those of you that haven't uh um ridden orbit, you should do so because it's really fun.

And also uh writing like light rail down to games and things uh from Tempe.

I like working with nonprofits, trying to help out.

I'm a social worker, as I said, so I like to help people anytime I can do that.

I I take it take in and do it.

Um also the town lake is the second most visited place in the entire uh Arizona, the state of Arizona, and uh kayaking on the lakes is really peaceful experience, and I would recommend you guys do that.

You can get always rent kayaks and and go and uh paddle the lake, and the sunsets are amazing on the lake.

So I encourage you all to do that.

And uh in fact, today um I worked for years to get uh the paddle um boards uh or boats going.

So today was their opening ride, and I couldn't go because I was preparing for the debate.

But it's um I'm really happy about that, finally getting done, and we're gonna be able to have uh groups, you know, get on the paddle boats and and ride around and and see the lakes and have parties on the boats, lots of food, and whatever you want to take on the boats.

So it's it's gonna be fun, a great way to for our uh tourists too to see the valley.

Thank you.

You guys picked all the good ones.

Well, um, seeing as we're in the history museum, one of the most special parts about Tempe for me is the rich history.

It's wild to think that uh thousands of years ago they thought that there was a population over a million ho com that lived here before us.

I think that the history of our city really kind of adds something special, a flavor you don't get everywhere.

And um the parks and the arts, you know, that was said, but the parks and the art are really special because they also allow our residents to show their creativity and it provides community for all of us.

And I also believe that the public transportation is something that is really special to me.

And none of these three things I believe should be taken for granted, uh, that they couldn't be taken away from us.

And I want to make sure that we protect those things as best as possible, making sure that we have the right people uh in those projects, making sure to do work for us and create protections for us, and making sure that the funds that are needed to protect our history and our parks and our public transportation aren't taken out from under us.

Thank you, Taylor, for this fun question.

This is a nice break.

Um it goes without saying, but I'm gonna say it anyways.

Obviously, our residents, we have the best in all of the valley, um, and our parks because we have over 50 in our 44 square miles.

Like we are so lucky to have so many open public spaces to enjoy.

Um, but one thing that I love about Tempe is the diversity, not just the diversity of people, but the diversity of building types.

I as someone who grew up in Tempe in South Tempe, I love riding the light rail down the Apache corridor and seeing what has happened in that area of our city and and driving along the 202 and seeing our beautiful skyline, and just mean like we have tall buildings where it feels like a big city, and we have sprawling neighborhoods that I love as well.

Um, the other thing is our small businesses, our local watering holes that we all know and love where we can walk into on any given Friday night and feel like we're walking into cheers.

We see people that we know where it's like, hi Brooke, you know, you walk in and it just feels like home.

So our small businesses, our Casey Moore's oyster house and our freely and all over the city, we have really fun places where our residents can gather and enjoy each other, and I love that.

Thank you.

Okay, so I'm gonna move to an audience question.

This is what should Tempe's appropriate response be to ICE in the community?

And we are going to start with Burdetta Hodge.

Thank you.

Now, the appropriate thing uh question to that is that ICE is federal and we are city, and that we make sure that our police department isn't interfering with what ICE is doing because that's not our job to bake up federal offenses, but it's also our job to make sure and maintain that all of our citizens in our city are safe, meaning that if something is going on, if if you see our police officers there, they should be observing and make sure that nothing's going on with our citizen.

That's exactly what the council has addressed.

Even more, we should not just be working with the city council, we should be working with our schools too, because a lot was happening in a nation is they're picking up kids to get to the parents, and that is something that's is going on, and you we should know exactly what our school districts are doing because that is affecting what happens with our families too.

So I believe that we need to work to have a collaborative to make sure that we understand that we are not Tempe is not part of the federal ICE, that was a separate entity of us, and then we make sure that our citizens in our city are being treated with respect, and there's no ill no illegal situations going on with it because a lot of people think that well, you can override ice, which it's a federal federal, a federal.

We can't go over to federal, but we can also make sure that all laws are abided by why they have that, why ICE is there.

So I just think that there's a separation between police and ice.

Thank you for that question.

I think two things can be true at the same time.

The first is I don't want people to be unfairly targeted by ice that is just trying to make a living.

On the other hand, I don't want to tie our police department's hands to address violent crime.

And so I think the current Tempe police is doing a great job with how they're affected or how they're addressing this, and I wouldn't change anything from the current policy.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Some of you may have seen something I posted recently on this very topic on the campaign website.

I think one, what we're doing right now is not engaging in those activities of ICE coming in.

Absolutely.

We should continue to do that of not engaging.

At the same time, our duty is to protect our community and community members and to keep them safe.

And to stand up for our neighbors, to stand up for our neighbors that have constitutional rights and stand up for them and help protect them from any illegal activities that would endanger them.

Thank you.

And what what uh council member Hodge said about this the they're getting to the students, the the children.

Um I'm familiar with a number of uh situations where they've gone and taken the children and then come back and take a parent and then come back again, take another child.

It is it's really brutal what's happening with ICE.

The City of Tempe police department is not cooperating with ICE.

They want to they need to focus on our residents' needs and responding to emergency actual emergencies, and that's what our police department is doing.

We have a very highly rated police department, and um we have had a new chief now for a couple years, and he's done a great job.

And I'm very proud of our police and our fire fighters.

They're in situations that everyone runs away from and they run into it.

And that's that's just it's so important that we protect them and uh make sure that they're supported in a in a positive way.

And ICE uh is just coming into uh seems like to stir up some problems and to violate people's constitutional rights.

The woman that was killed in Minneapolis uh last week.

I mean, that was so avoidable.

I mean, they're um escalating situations instead of defusing them, and I think that if we all treat each other with dignity and respect, we can uh have a positive attitude or outcome, I should say.

Thank you very much.

You know, um I think that ICE is here, and I think that our residents are petrified.

I'm petrified by what I've seen on the news.

Immediately, I believe that the should city should be launching know your rights campaigns for people to understand what their rights are.

I think that there should be police outreach so that residents know who their local officers are and understand what protections they're granted as city of Tempe residents, and I also believe that there should be a very 7-0 type of city council that wants to make sure that the residents' voices and wants are heard and acted on as it pertains to ICE.

Thank you, Elvis.

I love that answer.

Her name is Renee Good, and I think we should keep saying it.

It is absolutely vile what ICE is doing in our communities across our country.

And I want to unequivocally state that I am opposed to it.

Uh good friend of mine, her nonviolent fiancee, father of an eight-year-old daughter, was taken, held in Eloy for months and months, and eventually deported to Mexico without charges being brought against him.

He's been here for 20 years, he has a business in Phoenix.

Um, as far as what council member Hodge stated, yes, it is a federal entity as a city.

We cannot stop them from coming into Tempe.

But we can as a city vote to enact ordinances that do not allow our cops to cooperate with them to aid them in any way.

Um, and I agree.

If we can as a city protect our residents by educating them about their rights, what they can do, and get to know their local police officers so that they know that that masked man that's coming up to them is not on their side.

I also would love to re-evaluate our contracts with the flock cameras that are currently surveying our citizens.

Uh, there are other companies that we could use for police augmenting police activity with technology, but the flock cameras are not the answer.

Thank you.

I'll start by saying rest in peace, Renee.

Good.

My heart goes out to her family, to her wife, to her child, to her other children, to those who loved and knew her.

I believe this is not the time to do nothing.

It is not enough to do nothing and say that we are just gonna allow ICE to do whatever they want whenever they want and act like we don't have any ability to step up and protect our residents from this rogue force that has been terrorizing the nation.

We need to be canceling that flock contract immediately.

Flock cameras are known to be monitored by ICE even when they don't have the permission of the cities or police departments who enter into those contracts.

This has been proven in court documents.

It is impossible for any person to get these flock camera uh details through uh simple public record requests, and these need to go away immediately.

We cannot be exposing our residents to this kind of dangerous surveillance which has been established to be used by ICE.

We also need to and can pass laws that prohibit city employees from uh detaining anyone based on their immigration status alone or collaborating with ICE or allowing for ICE to be uh take to benefit tacitly from uh their work.

There is a fear that people have expressed to me that is a rumor, but I'm trying to confirm it, see if it's possible to be confirmed that ICE monitors our police frequencies and checks when people are detained based on immigration status.

We need to also look at cities around the country and use those models to create ice-free zones in our city-owned spaces, which is legal under state, federal, and local law.

We also need to make sure that we are not uh we're passing a mandate that says all law enforcement must be identifiable.

Thank you.

So homelessness is not an issue that is unique to Tempe by any means, but it is a serious issue, and we tend to see two concerns emerge when we talk about it.

You have one that says the city needs to do more for the unhoused to meet them where they're at to treat them with greater care.

The other is that the city isn't doing enough to combat the effects that come with homelessness, such as disturbances to neighborhoods and concerns about safety.

Candidates, does one concern rise above the other for you and um or do you see them as equal?

And what specific action will you take to address this issue?

We will start with Joe Forte.

Thank you for that question.

I would like to see more of a public-private response to homelessness.

I believe Aeris Foundation is doing a fantastic job with what they're doing on their outreach night on Tuesday nights.

And I think Ares Foundation is a perfect example of the city working to find solutions with nonprofits.

It's very similar to when I started keep Tembi Beautiful.

I mean, we work in support of the city, but we're completely run by the funding that we've started on our own.

So I would like to find a solution more outreach.

I think if we can find, you know, two outreach nights a week, but very similar to how iHelp does it, where it's very decentralized and every day is a different neighborhood because that will alleviate the stress on any one neighborhood.

I've I've heard that that is an issue with the outreach in the parks.

It's negatively affecting the neighborhoods, and that's a real concern from residents.

So I would like to work with the folks that are doing the work out there in nonprofits and to find a solution and do more by helping folks that that want to do that work.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um you stated it within the question.

I think the answer to this question is a part of the question.

It's a complex issue.

And your direct question about does one issue rise above another?

I don't think you can resolve anything if you only pick one issue.

It's complex.

I think partnerships is a way to tackle this challenge in this community and many other communities around the country.

That it's not just public-private, it's public, private, and nonprofits working together.

One entity does not own all of the solutions or all of the answers.

There is some truth in all of the answers, and everyone, public, private, and nonprofit working together.

I think can make some uh headway into some of our challenges.

Again, if you've learned anything about the challenge of uh homelessness, helping unsheltered uh residents get out of the solution or get out of that situation.

There are so many reasons why they got into that situation, and it's a dangerous lifestyle, so how do we help them?

There are multiple ways, and we've got to work together.

First, I want to state that I agree with everything Arlene Chin just said, so thank you for that.

But I'm gonna add a little a few things onto that.

Um, the hometown for all program that Corey Woods started a few years ago, and uh it's become one of the nation's uh top programs for housing the homelessness and the unsheltered.

We're very proud of that program.

And I, for example, I was flown to Colorado uh recently to talk about our hometown for all outreach and and what we're doing for our residents.

So uh we have TCAA, that's a wonderful organization that we work with.

We have bought hotels, the city has bought hotels to work with the homeless and to house them.

We provide wraparound services because every homeless person has different needs.

So whether it's a GED or drug and alcohol counseling, uh housing, whatever the case may be, parenting maybe, whatever the case may be, they can get services and have counselor.

I am proud to have started uh taught the first class way back in 0N in the early 90s for care seven.

Um I helped uh institute that program, and it's been super popular, and they've done a great job.

And I'm I'm very proud of that.

Um also the park rangers have helped a lot in the parks and getting they're actually uh slash social workers because there's they're putting people connecting them with services, so it's that program's going really well.

And then we have the hope team.

And I want to reiterate we've lowered homelessness by 46 percent.

So what we're doing is working.

We just have to keep on doing what we're doing.

And we have spent 137 million dollars since 2022 on helping the unsheltered.

Thank you.

I 100% agree with Arlene when she says that it's a complicated and complex topic.

I've seen her inverted firsthand working on this project.

I've come to their offices to talk or had coffee.

And I believe that the city is doing enough, but I believe everybody knows in their heart they can do more.

I think working together with nonprofits like TCAA and making sure that we're on the same page and how we can do the best service for the people that are on the streets is hugely important.

And it also means working with our mutual aid groups.

If you don't know Austin Davis and his work, I implore you to please learn what he's doing and see if you can lend him a hand.

Their small but mighty team has been leading the charge with a population of individuals that range from all over the city at large, from Phoenix to Scottsdale to Mesa.

They come here looking for help.

Tempe has always been a beacon for people who have needed help and might be on the street or you know, down on their luck.

And I think that while this is a complicated, complex topic, the answer is easy.

We need to think with our hearts and make sure to galvanize more people to support this growing issue.

That's a great term, think with our hearts.

Homelessness is a human issue, and our solutions have to be human-centered.

Um I would love to see the hard work that Tempe's mutual aid groups are doing be promoted and uplifted by our city, they deserve that rather than be punished.

Um, I support in terms of how can we solve, like Arlene said, a complex issue that we did not start.

Um I support housing first because it is proven to work.

When you remove barriers like sobriety requirements or employment prerequisites, people can rebuild their lives from a foundation of safety and stability.

You can't get sober, get a job, or reunite with your family if you're sleeping outside.

Uh Tempe has made real progress over the past several years, and I want to protect and expand what is working.

That means funding shelter, bridge housing, and supportive services, and continuing to acquire properties for the Tempe Coalition for Affordable Housing, so that we can keep that pipeline moving.

It also means staying aligned with the countywide continuum of care so that people don't fall through the cracks.

We must embed street outreach outreach directly into our parks and public spaces.

And every interaction needs a service's handoff.

Housing navigation, mental health support, addiction treatment, whatever that person needs to move forward, they should get that from the city of Tempe.

Thank you.

The hard truth about homelessness is that it is a policy choice.

I don't believe that anybody should live on the street, and I don't think this is complicated.

There are programs that have worked around the country to get homeless people off the street and on their feet, which have been shown to increase their willingness to engage in the services that they need to beat addiction to beat poverty and to become functioning taxpaying members of society, which ultimately benefits all of us.

And that is the housing first policy.

This is why I have been advocating since day one to build public housing on our public land.

We don't need a ton, we need about three or four hundred units of permanent supportive housing, an item which has not been invested in at all by the city over the last five years in order to actually expand our ability to bring people into the living situations that they need in order to actually become functioning members of society who have jobs, who get uh file their taxes, who have uh the communities surrounding them, who are able to get into a room, close the door, have some privacy, and charge their phone with their own bed.

Uh, this is why I support non-congregate care facilities, and I also support the integration of the mutual aid groups and public good Samaritans who have been putting so much work into feeding the homeless and taking care of the homeless in this city into government programs.

We have people who know what to do, they have the connections with the city, uh, the city's homeless population, and they are the ones who we should be going to to talk about what policies we need to do to make sure that they are best cared for.

Thank you.

Okay, candidates.

I want you to grab the gosh, sorry, my bad.

Go ahead.

Well, well, a lot of it, it's been a lot of great answers, is up here.

Uh I will start off by saying it is both.

There is not one over the other.

It's it's equally important.

But the as we have talked about, we talked about the park rangers, we talked about hope.

We talked about all the programs we have.

We also got to realize two things.

One that is regional, is not we will not solve it just with the city of Tempe.

It has to be solved within the region of it because if we saw if we have the greatest thing, everybody from Phoenix or anybody from Mesa is gonna do it.

And is if Mesa's not doing it, then guess what?

Sooner or later, no matter how much we do, it's gonna still be more popular people this unsheltered than the places we have.

We got to make sure that it's a regional approach.

That's one thing that we are doing as the city council.

We need to speak to our colleagues in other cities to make sure that we're on the same page.

Second off, it's a human effect.

You can solve a bit housing.

You could put someone in a house, you can feed them.

But if they're not, if we don't hit the root cause of why they're out there on the streets, guess what?

You statistically wise, they will be back in it if we don't help them.

So I think we need to make more investment in emotional support too, as well as housing them.

We also got to make sure that we make sure that the body inside is taken care of, also.

So those are a few things I I do agree.

We are doing great things, but I also agree that we can there's always more to do.

There's always going to be more to do.

And as I said, I think the regional approach, we all we need to start talking more together.

That's been working apart.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, so obviously, as you heard from those answers, homelessness is complex.

There are a lot of different perspectives from the panel up here.

Some think the city is doing enough, some think the city is not doing enough.

So, candidates, I'd like you to grab your piece of paper and you have a marker next to you.

And I want you to set some expectations for the voters.

Five years from now, if you're elected, what's the best thing you can do to resolve homelessness?

What does it look like in five years?

And we're gonna give you 30 seconds.

Did I say one sentence?

One sentence.

All right.

We good?

Are we good on time, Wyatt?

Time is up, cards up, markers down.

No cheating, no cheating.

That's okay.

I'll trust it's good handwriting in that I'm just blind, but we'll start with Arlene Chin.

Just read it, that's it.

Organizations, public, private, and nonprofit, all underlined working together.

Also underlined to tackle the issue collectively.

Zero percent homelessness because we have continued our award-winning programs.

Zero percent in five years.

All right, Elvis.

I think we should engage.

Engage more volunteers for donating, volunteering, and mentorship.

We've implemented a housing first model that solved a number of problems at once.

It made our parks safe, our city costs are reduced, and our people are loved.

The complete elimination of unsheltered homelessness by building public permanent supportive housing on public land to implement the historically successful housing first policy.

Mine was easy.

More housing, more emotional support, more financial stability in the next five years.

Mine is building bridges between the city and mutual aid groups and communities where we were working together and not in silos.

Excellent.

Keep your markers with you.

We're gonna go back to that budget question now.

See, I told you it was gonna be fun.

So I said to get specific.

And time up, markers down, cards up.

Don't worry, we can't read them, so you'll just read them for us.

We'll start with Jennifer Adams.

Thank you very much for the question.

And uh for first of all, our number one priority is the budget and and safety for our residents.

So wait, hold on, sorry.

I don't want you to explain.

I just want you to read what you wrote.

Okay, okay.

Okay, uh safety is for okay, not fire and police or public works.

Those are our basic essential services, so we can shorten the time that buildings are open and get more volunteers to help with the city services.

Thank you, Elvis.

My salary.

My salary.

I don't know how much those are, but they're not much.

Um so many corporations when faced with uh budget crunches.

The number one thing that they do is cut excessive travel.

And I believe that our city is unnecessarily spending money by sending um folks out for sorry, are you reading?

Are you reading from your number one is excessive travel?

We live in a modern society, we can we can do a lot online.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Read from your paper, please.

Canceling the flock contract to save money on the surveillance of unhoused people and their good Samaritans who donate to support them in need.

I wasn't here for the question, but I just try to answer it the best way I could.

Oh, you're right.

You're a trooper.

Yeah, so I did answer it.

I said I would look at all of our services and see where we have we could cut from.

Yeah.

Is there is there any department you can give?

Any department or program?

You know what?

I would say no, because we don't know until we look at all of them and see where what we have, what we need.

I'm not gonna say one is more important than the other.

What are you looking for?

Like what's your criteria when you're looking at the whole budget?

Well, I just look at I make sure that we have sustainable things that we because when you look at a budget, you don't cut from one piece from the other.

You look at what is there, what we have, what we can, what we absolutely need versus what we absolutely can cut from.

So that's why I said it's not a one thing only because everything in the city is important in some aspects of it.

So I would look at the whole budget to make sure.

That's why that's why I couldn't answer that question because I really didn't have any context.

Thank you.

I would bring the budget back to historical levels.

I'd roll back the health and human services budget.

It was fifty million dollars in 2023-24, is currently 80 million dollars.

So I bring it back to 50 million and I'd take a closer look at personnel, including currently there is one aid per council member not too long ago.

We had one aid.

Is that on your paper?

You wrote fast, sir.

Two aides or one aide per two council members.

Thank you.

I will say that you might be just taking notes and you're having a difficult time with me forcing you to only read from your paper.

But we have a fantastic reporter, Lauren D.

Young, who covers Tempe for the Arizona Republic, and I'm sure she will be happy to follow up with each of you and get your full explanations later.

And I'm sure you will all be very happy to take her calls and answer every question she has.

Great.

Hold you to it.

All right, you can put your papers aside, candidates.

Oh my gosh, it's gonna happen every time.

Go ahead.

I will read from my paper.

Yes.

She follows the rules.

All department shoulder it together across the board cuts.

Okay.

All right.

You can put your papers aside.

I think we'll come back to them.

I'm having fun with it.

We're gonna go to another question now.

So I've loved covering city halls for five years at the Republic.

Um, it has been such a treat.

And one of the things I've learned is that campaigning and governing are two very different things.

As a candidate, the focus is on you as an individual.

It's all about what you envision for the city.

But as a council member, you are just one of several votes.

Your ability to get things done often depends on your relationships, your relationships with the mayor, your other council members, even city staff.

It's also about your persuasive abilities.

So, candidates, what is your strategy to effectively advance your agenda as just one council member?

Please be specific.

That's gonna be my word of the night about how you will accomplish your objectives.

Yes.

What is your strategy to effectively advance your agenda as just one council member?

Please be specific about how you will accomplish your objectives.

And this one we are not writing.

This one we're just answering.

I mean, you can take notes, of course, but who did I start with last time?

You.

Okay, so we'll start with Elvis.

My strategies surrounding making sure that my goals are met and kept when I'm on city council, involves really quality interpersonal relationships with people who have the power to make positive change.

I believe that it's the folks on city council also making sure to secure tighter relationships with people in state power to make sure the things coming down the pike are the changes that I want to see happening in Tempe.

I think that those relationships are how I am gonna be as effective as possible when I join City Council.

I think this is a great question, and voters should be wary of anyone claiming responsibility for anything that happens in this city.

Um the city council works as a body.

It is a team sport, and it is very important for people that we elect to hold this office to build really solid and good relationships with not only their fellow council members, but the city staff.

And I think that's all I'm gonna say about that.

Thank you.

Politics is about relationships, and I'm really proud to say that I've been able to develop friendly relationships with a number of members of council.

I can name three right off the top of my head.

Uh I've had good conversations with Mayor Corey Woods, I've had good conversations with Randy Keating.

In fact, I'm very proud to support Councilmember Keating's drink spiking ordinance that he is pushing right now to protect our students at Arizona State University.

I'm also a family friend of a family friend with Vice Mayor Dorian Garland.

And that's not to say that these people I know them so well, they're my best friends, but it is to show that I have the capacity to build connections with people who have uh the uh the seats and the votes that need to be activated to make these changes happen.

Uh and so I'm really looking forward to continuing to build out those relationships.

I'm also very excited to continue to build out our public input process and to continue to encourage and inspire people who have been uh pushing for a greater voice in city council through that process.

Uh we have seen count like one of the things that is important to remember about this is you don't need all seven people to vote the same way to get things done in city council.

You can just have four vote one way, three vote the other way, and it's important to know that even when you're in the minority or you're not getting something done immediately, there are people standing up for these positions that are held by so many people in Tempe.

I look forward to being the people's voice in the city of Tempe.

And I'm able to do that because I'm not taking any money from corporate developers, corporate landlords, or any of the other people who have such outsized influence in our city.

Thank you.

I think um I'm gonna answer it as as what we have already done, because that question I guess it it counts to.

What I've done is when I first got on council, I actually did tours to know the different departments, to get to know what everyone does, how you expect to make decisions or get to uh figure out what is needed, you have to speak to the people who actually do the job every single day.

So what I did is I made a tour.

I went out and I actually I've actually went and did a time with sanitation.

I've been out there when they were doing the roads, I've done, I do fire and police, I do park rangers.

I get to know each department through and through.

And when it's time for me to build that relationship, it's time for me to go out, and it's time for me to work with someone, they trust me and I trust them because we have built a collaboration.

Um what I will say is great about us on council right now is that we don't always agree.

Everybody believes we just vote 7-0.

We don't always vote seven, we don't always agree when we are when we're discussing things.

But we have a mutual respect and we actually like each other.

We want the councils in the city, the states that actually like each other.

That's how we get things done.

So building that relationship within your council members and building that relationship within your people in your city.

Thank you.

So my my strategy to enact my agenda on council really boils down to two things, and that's relationships, but also priorities.

I understand that Mayor Woods' uh priority is affordable housing.

I understand that council members Hodges priorities are education.

My priorities are to be a fighter for small business, but there's things that the council is already doing in those areas.

So, for instance, Mayor Wood Woods and our um council member Chin is working on building a more um thriving downtown.

So I would help them uh to do that.

Um, similarly, council member Amberg is working on ways to activate North Side of the Lake.

So I would help her with that.

Um it's not necessarily my agenda, but just a uh pro-small business agenda, and I look forward to working with all of the council, my council colleagues and city staff to enact that for the betterment of small business owners around the city.

Thank you.

So let me confirm the question.

How do you effectively advance your position on a topic or an issue and working with six other colleagues?

First of all, do your homework.

Come to the table with the knowledgeable about the issue.

Um keep in mind people.

I wrote down facts, data-driven, drive data-driven, pragmatic, but people, and I underlined people.

So keep the community focus at the core.

Assume that I always go in assuming that everybody has the best interests of the community at it at hand, right?

That that's their focus.

So I give them the benefit of the doubt, and then we work from there.

We can disagree on approaches.

Councilmember Hodge uh mentioned we don't always agree.

But at the core, we care, and we're trying to do good things and the right thing for the community.

So there are different ways to get to it, respectfully listen to others, and incorporate their ideas.

How do we get to the best idea or a better idea?

Thank you.

Thank you.

We work really well together, our council members.

We all respect each other and uh treat each other with dignity and trust, and it works out really well.

We don't always agree, that's for sure.

Um but we work out um solutions.

So we we meet in the middle, we compromise with one another.

I listen, listen, listen, because I like to listen a lot more than speak.

So that listening really helps um understand what the other members want, and we really try to work together as a team.

And it's it's not broken.

We're we're having huge successes uh with our um with our council.

Uh and some of the projects I've led the effort on, uh, Annex County Island, I we were able to push through Kawana's dog park.

We established the park rangers program, a trap neuter release program for the cats, trees for Tempe, led the effort for Desert Conservation Commission, supported operation slowdown for drag racing.

We're having horrible accidents with drag racing.

Um I led the effort for Clark Park Recreational Center, pay pavement improvements, and now I'm working on the mural on Warner and Rural to increase arts and music and striping on the walkway and um around the lake because people were running into each other.

So safety is always my number one priority.

And and that's that's why I started the scooter um subcommittee, so we can stop having accidents uh or prevent them, and we need to establish more uh safe measures for for that.

Bernetta Hodge and I are working on that committee.

Thank you.

That's all I have to I was waiting.

I thought maybe I forgot that there was another person.

I won't lie.

Okay, so since TEMPE is landlocked and almost entirely built out, developments tend to be building up instead of out.

What are the pros and cons of this and where would you draw the line?

I think we are starting with Jennifer Adams this.

Nope.

St.

George.

Yes.

Okay.

That's a fantastic question.

Um I want to address a common misconception that people have about the density that's happening in our city, and particularly around our um downtown core that we have approved in our 2050 general plan.

Um dense areas.

Uh people argue that density creates heat islands, but the reality is that a well planned uh well-planned density is far easier on the environment than sprawling suburbia.

Dense areas use less water and power per household, they require far less infrastructure and dramatically reduce car trips when they're built near robust transit, as we're doing here in Tempe.

Sprawl forces long drives, more pavement, and more emissions, all which worsen heat.

Sustainability in Tempe means more shade, smarter water use, greener buildings, and combat tra transit connected neighborhoods that actually cool the city rather than heat it up.

So I support expanding the use of the International Green Construction Code.

We have already made that voluntary for developers, but I think we need to offer stronger incentives for those developers who choose to adopt it because greener buildings reduce energy use, lower long-term costs, and ultimately help cool our city.

Thank you.

Yeah, I believe that we are facing a housing crisis in Tempe.

Our housing costs are 40 percent higher than the national average, that is 25 percent higher than Phoenix and 18 percent higher than Mesa.

And you're right, we are landlocked, so the way that we're gonna fix that is by building up.

We need to be looking into these density bonus programs, which I do support, and I like to see that the city has been focusing on increasing that density in a responsible and meaningful way.

I would say that it is very important this whole time that we are not just allowing developers to do whatever they want whenever they want, whether or not anybody can afford to live in the housing that they build.

We need to be enforcing uh um contractual obligations around uh the minimum number of affordable housing units that can go in.

So I really like what's happening at the Dorsey station project, where the city has in exchange for a uh uh a friendly lease, has gotten the developer to say we're gonna give this many, it's like a certain percentage of affordable housing units.

We need to continue to see that going forward.

I think that the density bonus program will work in that direction.

But I also think it's very important that as we build out, we are engaging the community at every single step.

We cannot allow for our city to be run by businesses and oftentimes business owners who live in Scottsdale or Phoenix.

It is important for us to get as much as we can out of these developments and other cities in Arizona have a great relationship with developers, but they get developers to pay into city coffers rather than just donating public land to them, which then turns around and is uh built into uh unaffordable luxury apartments.

Thank you.

Um thank you for the question.

I think that is it has to be a balance.

It has to be the fact that yes, we do need housing.

Yes, we are a landlock.

Yes, there's certain areas that need it.

We also got to make sure that we preserve our neighborhoods.

We also make sure that if it's um if we're uh if it's in like we have corridors for it.

We don't want, I don't think we want a neighborhood that has 20 stories that is only one or two-story houses.

We got to make sure we build and we build um educational, meaning that yes, we do need housing.

Yes, we do need to move build up, but I don't want it in the middle of a neighborhood.

I don't want to also, I live my life on Peterson Park on Priest and Southern.

I don't want to see anything built at Peterson Park, because that is something that we've have historical.

So we have to make sure that we have a balance, and that's what city council has to do.

They have to balance the historical parts of the city versus where we do build for density and build for um for you know build up and build for neighborhoods.

So it has to be a balance.

And that's where why we do listen to our DNC and our historical preservation, and we do listen to our neighbors.

Phil is right here.

He calls us all the time.

We do listen to our neighborhoods um associations when they talk about what's in our development.

So as we continue to listen and we just keep that balance going.

Thank you.

So the question was where where we should draw the line, and I think a a great place for that line is the general plan 2050.

There was a diverse coalition of residents that came together and put that together and it was voted on by the voters.

So I would like to see us have that as really the the set in stone uh type of thing and not really divert from that.

I would also like to see more modest condo development in the city instead of luxury apartments.

We have a lot of luxury apartments here, and I think when you talk about affordability, it's a lot more affordable to purchase a 200 to 300,000 condo than it is a four, five, six, seven hundred dollar single family home, which is pretty average in the city of Tempe.

And so there are some challenges with that.

Uh I've spoken with some workforce housing development developers, and there's some things in the legislature that could hopefully be changed to make it more palatable for condos, but that's something that I would would like to see more of.

Thank you.

This is uh often what I mean when I talk about smart growth.

Uh building up in areas where we have planned for it.

This is why we create the general plan.

We uh increase density in areas that can accommodate density, which means we've looked at the traffic and transit, transportation overlays, also what's the infrastructure in the area?

It needs to accommodate for it, and that is taken into consideration.

Also, when we talk about builds, we cannot we need to partner with earlier in another question.

We talked about partnerships, public, private, nonprofit, right?

That carries over into this question also.

When you're building how hubs of housing, well, residents need grocery stores.

They need transportation.

They need those amenities also, and you have to work with the people developing those buildings, those businesses to coexist.

So I would say that's what I mean by smart growth, going in areas where we have the infrastructure, the overlay, as the general plan does.

Thank you for the question.

Uh it's basically classic economic problem.

It's with our supply is too low and our demand is too high.

So we have to balance that out somehow and get it more even.

And one of the things that I've done is uh annex the county island.

So 18 acres of the county island is north of Scottsdale or north of the 202 and east of Scottsdale Road.

We have very nice apartments, 651 units, in fact, that are there that there that was just empty vacant land.

So I want to continue to annex the county island and build more housing and and have a lot of affordable housing in there also.

I'm a huge supporter of the 2050 plan.

We did a lot of outreach, had a lot of people involved in that.

It was a painful uh process for many of the people, but we made it through, and and uh and it's a great they came up with a great program.

And I want you know, I want to have more.

I'm sorry, I look lost my place for a second.

Um the pros, you know, the more we build, the more um the less less the rents will be, and the more that the community can work together, and everyone will have a hometown for all.

Thank you.

Um I don't want anyone to think that I don't love more neighbors.

I absolutely love being an ambassador to our city.

I've lived here for my entire life, 38 years.

I live on the same street where I grew up.

I bought the home next to my parents 20 years ago.

And new neighbors means new talents for our town, and as some of the other um folks have said, it also brings taxes and money for our city, which we need to survive on.

However, the cons are with more folks means more work for the city, and certain neighborhoods are treated differently when it comes to where we want to put density.

And I believe that uh there are many problems that face the communities in which this density is happening, the communities of our seniors, the communities of families trying to have kids that can go to our school, and then the trickle it down effect to our schools where there's not enough enrollment.

These issues are very serious and touchy because we do need to strike a balance, and uh I think that those are the pros and cons that I see I do want to ask a simple yes or no question to every candidate because something I heard in the answers a few times was that maybe the um boundary line is whatever the general plan says, and maybe I'm kind of simplifying that or being a little reductive here, but essentially look to the general plan for some guidance.

I know in my experience covering City Hall, residents tend to get really upset when uh developer might come forward and propose an amendment to the general plan, particularly those that increase density.

You guys do not have an easy decision by any means, but with a simple yes or no answer, would you reject any general plan amendments?

No.

I I think that's a you just want a yes or no.

I'm looking.

Well, the general plan has to be created that is something assuming it's acceptable in what we've done, then typically no, but there are times where what makes sense in that area and what's the proposal and what's the change.

So usually no, sometimes yes.

I will also go for usually no and sometimes yes.

Usually no.

I thought it was one word.

Usually no, sometimes yes.

Jennifer Adams is the only one following my rules right now.

No.

No.

No.

No.

Okay.

So it looks like we've got some council members who want to reserve some flexibility.

Um I want you to grab your piece of paper again.

Grab your marker.

Yeah, whichever.

Does anyone need an extra piece of paper?

Okay.

Okay, this is quick, this is simple, this is fun.

Write down the last book you read.

15 seconds.

Go.

Last book you read.

Okay, I think we're done.

Markers down.

Good.

Let's just start with Elvis and go down.

Harry, which one?

Chamber of Secrets.

Okay, good one.

Jesus and John Wayne.

Highly recommend required reading.

Okay.

The Blade Itself by Joe Ambercrombie.

It's a fantasy novel and it's incredible.

You would not believe what Harry Potter.

Was it also Chamber of Secrets?

No, it was all.

I read all of them.

I just went through all of the books.

That's my pastime.

Excellent.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

Turf Wars by Damaris Smith.

He uh it's a book.

He was the former president of the NFL Players Association, and he talks about his work with the union, and he's a friend of mine.

Okay.

The more you know.

The courage to heal.

The what?

The courage to heal.

The courage to heal.

That sounds nice.

That's a good book.

Okay.

All right, good.

See, that wasn't painful, right?

Yeah.

All right.

Let's switch it up and go to another reader or another audience member question.

Let's see.

Would you support okay?

So let a little context here for anyone who isn't aware.

Tempe's city council is at large.

That means that every council member is supposed to represent the totality of the city.

Other cities have a districted system where it's more uh segmented by region.

So would you support a district system in Tempe?

Why or why not?

And we I think are starting with Bobby Nichols this time.

I would support a district system in Tempe, and the reason is because currently there are four council members who are from Tempe's wealthiest and smallest zip code.

Uh there are only three other council members who live outside of 85284, and I don't think that is actually a representative of the city of Tempe.

Uh 85284 is a great zip code.

I've been there many times.

I think it's super fun and I love my parents live there, it's wonderful.

But I don't really believe that we should have the majority of the council be from the zip code that has the fewest people in the city of Tempe.

So, yes, in order to fix that, I would absolutely support a district system for the city of Tempe.

Um actually I would not because I think that the fact of the matter is that we are uh we are small enough that everybody should be a part of it.

I don't like the fact that if someone is in 852, I'm in 85281, but I would love if anybody in 85284 needs my help, I don't want it to be district wide that they can't come to me.

I think that they should be able to come to any of the city's seven Civity Council members.

It doesn't matter where you live.

We all are in uh we all are um what's the word I want to use?

We all are elected through the whole city.

So I think that every person should be able to work on anything in any part of it.

And when you do districts, that kind of separates you from someone else.

What if someone else has a specialty or something they do that they can help with?

They you lose that person because you're in a district wide, and when you do districts, most of the stuff the constituent works goes within the district.

I want to be able to help anybody in any zip code they have I would tend to agree with council member Hodge, and I would not support a district system.

I like the fact that I can talk with any of our seven representatives to help me with with issues and that I can introduce our residents to those seven council members.

And also when you have district system, district system, it becomes very I scratch my your back, you scratch my back.

If you approve something in my district, I'll approve something in your district.

And I think it's better to have a more holistic view view of the city.

We're only 44 square miles, not very large, so I think it's more than enough more than manageable enough to have all council members representing the whole city.

Thank you.

And I thought about it.

I had people ask me the question of what do I think about it?

And as I researched it and observed the behavior and decision making.

Tempe is too small of an area to um have districts.

Like the city of Phoenix has districts, but they're a lot larger than us, and their districts are about the size of the entire size of Tempe as far as population.

So I am not in favor of districts.

I love being able to go to every district and support them.

North Tempe, for instance, I live in South Tempe, but I'd love to go to North Tempe and support them.

I've done a lot in North Tempe, and I I know that some of those folks out there could uh attest to that.

And I just I'm proud to work with every every community in Tempe because it's very diverse.

So I always learn a lot.

I mean Tempe is very diverse.

And I mean the neighborhoods are awesome, and I just think that the districts would really shut that down.

And I also like to work with my colleagues to have compromises and and um and learn from one another and being able to not be stuck in one district and just stuck in a certain area is is not productive.

It's counterproductive.

Thank you.

I'm gonna use my time to tell a story.

Before I decided to run, I spent a long time doing something else.

I actually went looking for good leaders in my neighborhood.

One of them is here in the audience.

I talked to people who deep who I deeply respect in Tempe.

Tempe with oh leaders with wisdom, integrity, and long track records of service.

And again and again I heard the same thing.

They wouldn't run.

Not because they didn't care, but because they know what modern politics is in Tempe.

And it's exhausting, it's personal, and it often rewards behaviors most decent people want no part of.

Many of these folks gave me incredible advice.

They encouraged me, and after listening and watching and even getting to know the people I'm running against, I realized I still had to step forward for my neighborhood.

I live in North Tempe.

And while we are a 40 square mile city with 185,000 residents, our service population could be north of 300,000 people in our city at any given day.

And only 30,000 of those people are gonna show up to vote for this election.

That is concerning for me.

This system rewards people who are wealthy and have power, and it erodes the democracy, I believe is important for my city.

I would strongly support redistricting.

I also support redistricting.

Uh while the city of Tempe, yes, is population-wise smaller than many of the districts in Phoenix.

We are, as I alluded to before, so diverse.

I do want to make a slight correction, Bobby, no disrespect, but it is just three and eight, five two eight four.

Councilmember Keating is one of our eight, five, two, eight, three folks.

Uh but um I support redistricting because of the diversity, like I mentioned.

We it's a process that would take a long time to roll out.

It's not something that could happen overnight.

We would have to, you know, every two years as we continue to elect people and people rolled off our council, but it would allow for greater diversity and representation.

The interests of North Tempe are not the same as the interests of South Tempe.

And who better to advocate for their own neighborhoods than the people who live there?

It would encourage more people to run for office and people that live live in Tempe to feel like their interests are actually being represented.

Thank you.

Great.

Okay.

Um our next question.

Housing affordability affects every resident, and increasingly we're seeing young adults who grow up in Tempe, but then they struggle to afford a place to live and start a life or a family.

What do you propose doing to help bring down the cost of living?

And how do you balance that against maintaining the city's feel and character that longtime residents love and want to maintain that one goes to Burdetta?

Yes.

Thank you.

Well, you're right.

It is, it's it's it's it's very expensive to live in Tempe.

When I first uh when I was younger, I I was actually on the Section Eight.

I was one of the percipients of Section Eight when in the city of Tempe.

So I do understand, and I was one of the people who went from Section 8 to owning a house.

But if I was to try to do that at this point right now, I don't make enough in my life to be able to afford to live in the city I live in right now.

Only the way I can live in it right now is because I purchased my house almost 15 years ago.

So one of the things we have to do is we do have to work with development.

We have to work with federal grants.

You know, we have our mayor who's working on trying to produce more people of ownerships.

Um there is a there's gonna be a lot.

Tempe is landlock, so we're not gonna be in the market of building new homes.

We also got to make sure that we have more people who stay at home in their homes longer.

You know, we we have to think about our education system.

We don't have much more people coming if we don't have a great education system.

So we have to, I would say, just balance everything together.

We're gonna have to put more, we have to go for federal funding.

We have to make sure the developers put into housing.

We have to make sure there's um grants and and and things for people who are first-time owners.

We just have it's a whole holistic approach to make sure we get from point A to point B in this in that in the housing growth process.

Thank you.

So affordability is a tricky concept.

What's affordable to one member in this audience is completely different from what's affordable to the to the next.

And I bought my home here in 2008, it was 215,000.

That same home today is 550,000.

Is that because I'm this brilliant investor?

No.

It's because the dollars in our pocket are a third of what they were when I bought that house.

And so I don't want to get into a situation where we're building 20-story high-rises on every corner in Tempe because we're trying to chase this thing called affordability.

What I proposed is more condos because it's not a secret that the number one way for upward mobility mobility in this country is to own your own house.

And it's a lot more affordable to own a 200,000 dollar condo than it is a five, six, seven hundred thousand dollar house.

So I will be pushing for more of those four purchase homes, because I believe that will be a way more people can put down deep roots in this community, just like I have, and just have just have many of you have as well.

Thank you.

Um thank you.

Again, another complex question, a multi-pronged approach.

Absolutely, having housing available that is a robust inventory of both affordable workforce and market rate and not imbalanced in one of the categories.

I think there's a great need for more workforce housing also.

And with that, combined with that, here's the other non-housing um strategy attracting more higher paying wages for our for people so that they can afford housing.

And it could be the condo model first, and then they move on to single family home.

But diversity and housing would be helpful as well.

I completely agree.

I think if we follow the general plan, we'll be okay.

Uh I would like to build more housing, more workforce housing, affordable housing, and we even are low on luxury housing in Tempe.

And so I know that sounds like a surprise, but it's not.

We've been we've been looking at it.

So all we're we're low on all three of the um housing.

So I I'd just like to continue to build more housing and and make it a better place and more affordable for everyone to live.

Yeah, I want to echo that this is a pretty complicated topic.

Uh, affordability across the country is something that professionals have been working tirelessly on.

Almost every amazing metropolitan city in the US is facing this in some way or another.

I think that it's important to understand for me that a lot of people come here to go to school at ASU.

We have an educational powerhouse that rivals most of the largest businesses in the entire Southwest.

I think that there needs to be conversations with the university and making sure that there are soft landing pads for college students that come here that would like to buy homes in the form of jobs that pay well enough for them to afford to live here.

But my concerns really revolve around making sure that folks like teachers and artists who come here for the arts and our livability can stay here.

And finding them rents that are affordable first is how we're gonna allow people to save to potentially buy homes here.

I could go much further on this topic if anyone would want to uh join me at any time for this conversation.

Making Tempe more affordable starts with focusing on what we can legally and realistically do right now while still pushing for long-term community-centered solutions.

So for housing, that means expanding partnerships with nonprofits and mission-driven developers to build and preserved mixed income housing.

Um, and prioritizing housing first on our city owned parcels.

But Arizona law doesn't allow rent control, so the tools we can use are tenant protection, like just cause eviction standards, rental assistance, and a stronger pipeline of permanently affordable homes.

Um regarding transportation, affordability means access.

So in while fare-free transit, I think is sounds great, it's not financially feasible for us right now, but I would support piloting free or low fare routes for seniors, students, low-income riders, making sure we keep our fares free for our youth, as we do today, which I think is awesome.

My son uses it.

Uh we can also continue expanding protected bike lanes and walkability, which will reduce transportation costs for young families.

But um also rather than jumping to city-owned grocery stores or a municipal bank, while I love those ideas, they do come with major regulatory and operational hurdles.

So, what we can do in the short term is support food co-ops, mobile markets, and partnerships with credit unions to expand community lending and access to healthy food for our young families.

Thanks.

Thanks for calling my ideas.

Great.

I love that.

So I believe that affordability is about housing, but so many other things.

Obviously, housing is going to be front and center for making Tempe affordable for every working family.

And we're gonna have to address this in a multitude of ways, both by expanding our middle income, middle housing, and uh multi-income housing uh developments using programs like what's being developed in the Dorsey station uh to have enforceable rules around how many affordable housing units are put in by developers, having developers put money into uh the city's affiliate that purchases and builds out permanent supportive housing structures, uh, which they currently don't do at this time.

And also, we need to look at bringing down our cost of transportation.

That means expanding our fare-free public transit options.

Every dollar invested in public transit returns four dollars to the investing municipality.

And that is something that will over the long term of this city make it more affordable for everyone, and something that we need to start working on right away.

There are uh programs and changes we can make to the transaction privilege tax code, as we discussed right at the beginning of this, which will bring money into the city.

But one of the other things that I really want to focus in on is building out our child care system and expanding our pre-K program.

And one of the main things that I would like to do with the money that we can bring in by increasing taxes on Airbnbs, is to make our pre-K system work for every working family in Tempe by making it free for every working family in Tempe.

That is one of the costs that makes it really difficult for people to set up here, and it's one of the reasons why we don't have schools or the schools are closing down right now.

Thank you.

So we have, as you can imagine, plenty more questions, but we're getting close on time.

So please grab your pen and paper again.

We're gonna do some rapid questions, rapid fire questions.

Um, in one sentence, please.

What changes would you like to see regarding public transportation in Tempe?

Um let's do 20 seconds.

Okay, markers down.

And we'll go with we'll start with Joe, because we started with you.

Yeah, Joe Forte, go ahead.

Just read from your paper.

I actually wouldn't look to change anything with Tempe's public transportation.

Okay, it works great.

All right.

Expansion.

Expansion.

Okay.

Any specific areas you want to expand?

Does this mean increased more rides?

Does it mean to different locations?

Yes, all of that.

That's why I used one word.

I was trying to follow the rules this time.

I appreciate you.

Yeah, I just make note of that.

That expansion meaning um, some people don't use it because it's not convenient for them because of the route they're on to work or whatever it is.

So expansion.

Okay.

I thought we could use a sentence.

You can use a sentence.

Okay, thank you.

I want to follow the rules.

Don't want to go out of bounds here.

Arlene's just going for bonus points.

Oh, oh, that's what she's doing.

Okay, extra credit.

She's always trying that in council meetings.

Um, more transportation throughout the city, like expanding orbit routes.

Okay, great.

Light rail and orbit expansion.

Fair-free or reduced cost pilot programs in dense areas, particularly for our seniors and low-income writers.

Make streetcar free again, expand it to the library, expand it down to Mesa and improve and expand our orbit bus routes.

Expansion throughout the town, the city of Tempe, and also free transportation for seniors and people with disabilities.

So I'm not going to ask you whether you listen to voters and whether you support public input, because I know you are going to say yes, as at least you better.

But I am going to ask you to set expectations once again for voters.

What does it mean when you say you're going to consider public input?

What can people reasonably expect that to mean?

I'm going to assume it doesn't mean you're going to vote with what they say every single time.

You get lots of different perspectives.

So in one sentence, um, 30 seconds, please.

Okay, pens down.

And yes, Arlene Chin.

Um I whenever I do this and I overanalyze.

So I like data, and that means if you're talking about people, I want to hear opinions, I want to hear perspectives.

And it's incumbent upon me to understand what is um fact, opinion, feeling.

Thank you.

When I first started council, we were not having uh a lot of neighborhood meetings, and I believe the neighborhoods are the experts in their own neighborhoods.

So I insisted on at least two, two meetings with the neighborhoods to see what they wanted to see in their in their neighborhoods.

Thank you.

We're gonna we're gonna go to the next one because I gotta keep it quick.

Yep, no problem.

Protecting public comment as a right of Tempe residents considering public input means listening to all of our residents, making informed decisions and then communicating back out to our residents exactly why we made those decisions so that they understand why their opinion might not have been the one that ended up enacted on council.

Thank you.

I will not allow for decisions to be made in private secret meetings.

I will not support the illusion of unanimity.

I will not skip hard conversations by using legal loopholes, and I will protect the right to public comment in the city of Tempe, unlike other cities around the valley are doing right now.

Um data.

I'm very much I'm like Council Murray Chan, I like data, surveys, I like um neighborhood meetings, needing neighborhood leaders also, and just uh just continuing to communicate.

I have breakfast of Bradeta, I want you to be open to you can find me at any time.

I want to be open in to our community, our constituents, that they can see me not just on the dais, that you can find me in the community.

I put weight in people showing up and sharing their public opinion, and I would put the brakes on proposals that have overwhelming public opposition.

I think I can fit in one more rapid question.

So my last rapid question is if you are elected, will residents see more change or more of the same.

We we'll start with Jennifer Adams.

And you can just say it change or stay the same.

You can just say it.

Yes.

Oh, I didn't get three seconds.

That's okay.

I'm kidding, you um I think continue to do what we're what we're doing and and change in a positive direction.

Okay.

Cheater.

Okay.

I think now let's just go down.

I you know I'm bad at this, so we'll just go down.

Uh I want to say both, but I'm going to say change because of process improvement.

Okay.

You will see change with me on city council.

Thank you.

Change.

If we don't grow, we don't change.

We have to continue to change.

Change.

Change.

Change.

Okay.

Well, we have learned a lot, at least I have.

I hope you all have as well.

We are going to go to closing remarks, and this time we will go alphabetical order.

So we'll start again with Jennifer Adams for closing remarks.

And you get one minute each.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, everyone, for your paying attention tonight.

And I can see a lot of engaged people, and it really makes my heart warm to see our community come together and and you know really take this seriously.

This is a serious issue.

Who we uh elect is is um it's a priority and and it's important.

Um I would ask you to think about the best qualified candidates when you're making your decision.

Who is who has the most qualifications?

Who's done the work?

Who knows it inside and out?

That's what I have.

After 37 years of being in the city of Tempe, I have those qualifications, and I'm proud of what I've done.

I love to be a social worker, and I like to do social work with our communities also and solve problems.

People call me and they say, hey, I have a problem with such and such, and I hear you get stuff done.

Maybe another word was used.

But uh I I am known for getting things done because I love to help people, and I know the city so well that I can get problems, I know what departments to go to, what we need to do for solutions, and I can get ball rolling and not be stuck in a long bureaucracy.

Thank you so much.

And red tape.

Cut that red tape.

Earlier I mentioned that I have 50 years of lived experience in Tempe.

I've been a volunteer, I've been a resident, I've been a leader in community organizations.

So I have the experience to lead.

I think that one of the highest forms of community service is running for Tempe City Council.

Many of you in here I know volunteer for organizations.

So you may be able to relate to my approach in that when you volunteer, when you serve an organization, a cause, you want it to grow and thrive, and you want other people to understand it and participate and thrive and grow with it.

I hope to earn your support.

Thank you for your time tonight.

There's a quote I really love from Eleanor Roosevelt, and she said, Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, and small minds discuss people.

I'm an individual that comes up with ideas and not only come up with ideas but also roll up my sleeves to get stuff done.

And so there's ideas here, but also three reasons why uh I believe it should earn your vote.

The first is I'm a business owner, so I know how to manage budgets, I know how to put policies in place that's gonna move our city forward.

The second is I'm already very involved in the community.

I didn't just show up one day and start running for city council.

A lot, I know a lot of you from many of the great organizations that we have in this city.

And finally, I'm a veteran.

When veterans step step up to do things, we do it with our full heart, and that's what I can commit to you guys.

And so I ask for your vote, and those in the no go with Joe.

I just want to thank everybody for being here tonight, because you could do um a lot of different things on a Wednesday night, but you're here with us, so thank you so much.

Thank you for the Republic for putting non-dis um form.

I am um I'm gonna be honest.

I am a unique person because I build, I build that bridge between the education community and I build that bridge with the city.

You will not have strong cities if you don't have strong schools, you don't have strong neighborhoods.

What makes strong neighborhoods is strong schools.

We are a neighborhood school area.

That's one of the things that we bring to our to our city.

Also, I'm a small business owner also too.

I I have a nonprofit.

I run a head start program that me and my son run.

I I do understand budgets too.

I am one of the people that I I put my money where my mouth is.

I do a monthly meeting, breakfast with Berdetta, topics all the time.

You know what I'm doing out there because I have my newsletter every month letting you know what I'm doing.

You will be able to reach me.

You may not like every decision I make.

I will promise you that, but I will promise you if you call me, Tim Palmer has called me and yelled at me about my things, but he can say that I explain it back to you.

So I am one of the people you can reach out to and you can talk to me if you need to.

When federal and state governments fail to protect and provide for our people, local governments must step up by focusing public resources on public services like housing, transportation, nutrition, and child care.

It's not complicated.

It's common sense.

I didn't uh it I don't take any money from corporations, I don't take any money from land use attorneys, I don't take any money from private lobbyists, and that's because I am focused on supporting and speaking for the working people of Tempe, and I always will be.

Fundamentally, I believe government exists to improve resident lives, not to provide uh not to line private pockets.

So if you want our city to be affordable, accessible, and accountable to its residents.

I have a plan.

I have the policy making experience, and I ask for your vote.

If you have questions or concerns that you want to share with me or you want to discuss, there is a phone number and an email address that goes straight to me on my website, www.bobby40.com.

That's B-O-B-B-Y, the number for T E M P E.com.

And again, I ask for your vote.

Thank you for your time tonight.

Tempe isn't just where I live, it is the city that raised me, the city I chose to return to to raise my own son, and I am ready to give back to my hometown.

Our city right now is at a crossroads.

We can continue to react to rising rents, homelessness, traffic, extreme heat, or we can lead with intention, compassion, and proven solutions that work.

I believe in a tempeee that lifts people up instead of pushing them out.

Where public safety focuses on preventing repeat crises, and where teachers, service workers, students, and seniors can afford to stay in the city they love.

I am proud to be endorsed by six leading youth organizations, including the ASU Young Dems, as well as former mayor Harry Mitchell.

And I bring a unique perspective as someone who has worked inside City Hall.

I understand how the decisions get made, and I am ready to step in, roll up my sleeves, and get to work on day one in office.

I will bring fresh ideas, a solutions-oriented approach that can actually be accomplished, grounded in compassion and proven best practices to deliver real results, and I would be honored to earn your vote.

Thank you for being here tonight.

Brookfortempe.com.

That's for not the number.

Well, that'll that'll go there too.

Honestly, yeah.

Either way.

Thank you, everyone, from be for being here tonight and allowing me to be a little bit vulnerable in front of you.

I believe Tempe politics isn't loud.

It's subtle.

Power stays in place through timing, process, and exhaustion to a certain extent.

Off-cycle elections mean fewer voters.

Complex rules means it's easier if you already have money, staff, name recognition.

And when you've been in office long enough, you don't always have to do the hard part yourself.

None of this is dramatic.

It's just how underdogs get worn down quietly.

I know that firsthand, Christmas morning at midnight, putting in signs and realize there are different rules for different people.

All right.

Thank you so much, candidates.

Um it is really not an easy task to get up there, uh, push your platform and run for office, uh, but we need dedicated folks to do it.

So I think we should maybe perhaps give the candidates a round of applause.

The last day to register to vote is February 9th, and you need to get your ballots in the mail by March 3rd.

If you had questions that did not get asked or answered here, please head to the Arizona Republic and AZcentral.com.

As I said, my colleague Lauren DeYoung is a very diligent and dedicated reporter.

She will continue to cover this campaign.

The candidates will continue to pick up her calls.

And please do not hesitate to reach out to us.

When you read our stories, you will see that our emails, sometimes even our phone numbers are listed at the bottom of stories.

You guys are our eyes and ears in the community.

We want to hear from you.

We love being local journalists.

We love connecting with you.

So please consider supporting local journalism, whether that means just reading our stories more, sharing it with your friends and your family, or perhaps subscribing to the Arizona Republic.

Thank you so much for coming out tonight.

I'm Taylor Seely.

I would love to shake your hand and get to know you after this.

Thank you.