Chandler Delivers!

Strengthen Police and Fire Response Times - I led the charge to hire more Chandler police officers. Today, for the first time, we are a fully manned police force. Now, we’re working on ways we can allow our police officers and firefighters to spend a little bit more vacation or family time and have backups when an officer is out for medical reasons.

Solving Crimes Faster -Through my efforts with my fellow council members, Chandler will soon have its own forensic lab This lab will allow our police officers solve crimes quicker without having to sub subcontract time-sensitive work out to other cities whose own priorities are higher than ours.  

Better Ambulance Service - I will ensure we fully implement our firefighters taking over operation of our crucial ambulance services. Not only will it make our services safer and more responsive, but it will be a revenue generator for our city. We will be billing the insurance companies rather than the private ambulance providers collecting those funds.

Enhanced Public Safety - Community Safety goes beyond the typical concept of police and fire services, while obviously involving much that our city first responders offer. It is shorthand for:

Addiction and Mental Health - Community Safety also stands for working with addiction, homelessness, domestic violence and mental health service providers. Chandler addressed some of this area with both our firefighter crisis response team and the mental health response team in our Police Department but there’s more to do. 

Partnerships - We need to strengthen those City agencies that support these services while working with non-profits which are able to leverage federal state and city dollars to help Chandler be an even safer. 

This is an area where Chandler has developed a strong background over the years but one needs constant attention in several key areas. 

Attracting International Investment - One is obviously our semiconductor industry. We need more investments from global technology companies. Recently, Germany, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan opened or expanded facilities in Chandler. We need to continue that global search by working with our current semiconductor tech industries partners to assure on-going investments in infrastructure helps Chandler attract additional semiconductor related companies.  

For over thirty years, I worked in the high-tech industry, developing business plans and businesses around the world. I speak the language of large technology businesses and have the unique background necessary to understand those global dynamics. In that global environment, I’ve done multi-million-dollar business opportunities from San Diego to Singapore. I'll put that experience with large, complex projects and problems to work for Chandler.

Small Business Support – Having a global mindset doesn't mean we should neglect the backbone of our economy...small business. The ASU Innovation Center, a collaboration between Chandler and ASU, has been a great partnership in helping our small business owners and our young entrepreneurs grow and gain the experience and education needed to make their businesses flourish.  

Partnerships - Working with the Chamber of Commerce is a huge and essential element for the City. As mayor, I plan on expanding that partnership with the Chamber of Commerce and other small business development organizations on which we've relied for many years. We continue to rely on them to do things that they do best and allow our city government to focus on areas that we do best. 

Workforce Development – implement a comprehensive workforce strategy - We need to enhance partnerships and integrated solutions with the business community, labor organizations, Chamber of Commerce and our high schools, as well as our community colleges, to develop long-lasting programs so our students could get the experience that they need to be successful in the job market. 

Streamline Planning Process - We also need to streamline our internal processes to ensure that our economic development team works together with our planning and zoning team so that permits are issued easily and quickly and the least amount of government red tape as possible. We made a stab at that a few years ago and this year we’re making our second attempt. I’ll continue to work to minimize governmental obstacles without jeopardizing quality and safety.

Art and Entertainment Defines a Community - We also need to focus more on the arts and entertainment opportunities. By working with the Chandler School District, we can create a more robust Chandler Art Center that can allow for more entertainment opportunities and provide additional revenues for both entities. We are reimagining our AJ Chandler Downtown Park to be more open, shaded and inviting park to all for more entertainment opportunities.

Stable and Clean Neighborhoods - We need to continue cleaning up our neighborhoods and ensure that neighbors are helping themselves keep our neighborhoods clean and safe. For those who do not live up to the standard we expect in Chandler, we need to work with them to make sure they do so that other owners in the area feel confident. We’ve made great strides on affordable housing, but we need to do much more. 

Sustainable Community - Chandler was one of the first communities to invest in solar energy at our downtown municipal facilities; we expanded solar energy throughout all our city buildings, airport and our wastewater treatment plant – this will amount to millions of dollars of electrical savings per year. We converted our streetlights to LED bulbs, saving close to a million dollars per year in electric costs. We need to investigate new cutting-edge technologies like cool pavements. 

Future Water Supply. I’ve worked for many years to ensure agreements with water providers and other users will ensure Chandler has redundant and diversified water supplies. Our water supply is so precious that we sued a water provider who was not delivering on their promises. We’ll take those necessary actions as far as water goes. 

We’re drilling new wells and increasing our conservation efforts in every way possible. We’ve been doing this for a long time but we’ve developed an even more intensive program over the last few years. We need adequate new supplies and we are working to build a new dam with SRP as well as building the new infrastructure needed to store water from our Central Arizona Project (CAP) allotment directly into our underground reservoir. We’re replacing aging pipelines to ensure that our water system is built for the future. As Chandler’s representative to Arizona Municipal Water Users Association (AMWUA) committee, I have firsthand knowledge of what’s happening in our water community.

Housing for All – As mayor I will continue to concentrate on improving housing affordability city wide by encouraging  compatible infill projects for new housing and redeveloping existing public housing sites to provide housing affordability options for seniors, veterans, people with disabilities and families.  We need expand our relationship with non–profit organizations (Newtown, Habitat for Humanity, etc.) to build additional affordable and middle housing in Chandler. 

My Housing for All Plan will specifically:

Work with the financial intuitions, realtors and mortgage community to find creative ways to increase sales to first-time home buyers by providing down payment assistance - via grants, non-profits, and private sector funding that will be paid back over a short period of time.  

Work with home builders on infill and redevelopment projects to build new for sale homes for middle housing markets, first time buyers and homes for those who desire to downsize.

Accelerate the downtown home project – build new for sale homes for the middle housing market on the approximately 40 undeveloped properties in downtown Chandler with public land trust and private funding.

Complete Chandler’s Villas on McQueen (157 units) affordable work force housing development and accelerate the second phase The Haven on Hamilton St. (over 250 units) utilizing private funding and government grants/funding sources. Work to get Phase 3 and 4 completed.

Work with our schools and churches to increase housing affordability projects on their land because of school closures or excess vacant property. 

I’ve worked for many years to ensure agreements with water providers and other users will ensure Chandler has redundant and diversified water supplies. Our water supply is so precious that we sued a water provider who was not delivering on their promises. We’ll take those necessary actions as far as water goes. 

We’re drilling new wells and increasing our conservation efforts in every way possible. We’ve been doing this for a long time but we’ve developed an even more intensive program over the last few years. We need adequate new supplies and we are working to build a new dam with SRP as well as building the new infrastructure needed to store water from our Central Arizona Project (CAP) allotment directly into our underground reservoir. We’re replacing aging pipelines to ensure that our water system is built for the future. As Chandler’s representative to Arizona Municipal Water Users Association (AMWUA) committee, I have firsthand knowledge of what’s happening in our water community.

Chandler is well positioned ensuring clean, safe water and an assured water supply... smart conservation efforts using technology and converting turf to desert landscaping. We are leading the state in these important areas and are well positioned for potential cuts to water allocations.

We need to enhance partnerships and integrated solutions with the business community, labor organizations, Chamber of Commerce and our high schools, as well as our community colleges, to develop long-lasting programs so our students could get the experience that they need to be successful in the job market.