Growing new roots in our community

Some folks in Columbia Heights may know me as “the sunflower house lady.” That’s because I enjoy planting huge sunflowers around my gardens, among many other pollinator plants.

My vision for our city is much like growing a garden; cultivating a wide variety of plants to ensure that everyone can grow and thrive together in harmony. I want to be a sunflower in this garden, providing wide roots and a strong stalk for transformative work to lean on for support, and serving the vining plants as they grow upward.

With that in mind, I invite you to explore my top priorities. These actionable areas that I feel will improve the quality of life for residents of Columbia Heights, while helping us prepare for a healthier and happier future together. I enthusiastically welcome your questions and feedback, to make sure all voices are heard.

Woman smiling outdoors holding a large sunflower with a clear blue sky behind her.

Transportation

I walk my dog around our streets every day, and commute to my full-time job in downtown Minneapolis. Walking, driving, biking, or busing around our city is not as easy as it should be.

I’ll champion expansions of our sidewalk networks and painted crosswalks, create our first-ever network of dedicated bike lanes, propose adding bike racks along Central Ave, and work closely with our partners in Anoka County government, the Metropolitan Council and the Minnesota Department of Transportation to advocate for our city’s public transportation needs.

As a member of the Sustainability Commission, I have already been in engaging in conversations with MNDOT on the Central Ave redesign project since 2024. As this project approaches review and implementation, I will continue to be a loud voice for pedestrians, bicyclists and transit riders, ensuring that our city is designed to be easy for travel for ALL, not just cars.

Housing

Columbia Heights is an amazing place to live, with our great school district, parks, and local businesses. We have a vibrant mix of housing in our community; single-family homes, duplexes, apartment buildings, mobile homes, both rented and owned.

As our population grows and ages, we need to build new housing options that increase density and keep rents low, ensuring our city partners with developers who can bring us a mix of townhomes, apartments, business storefronts and greenspaces. It is also vitally important for us to refurbish our aging housing stock and make sure residents are connected to programs to increase affordability of home repairs, especially those that reduce energy use and boost cost savings on utilities.

To ensure everyone can live here safely and happily, I am also dedicated to expanding protections for renters and working with landlords to ensure our rental properties stay in the hands of small-business owners — not large commercial developers.

I look forward to actively assisting with planning and prioritization for the Rainbow site at 43rd/Central and the Medtronic site at 53rd/Central. These are important projects for adding dense housing to our city; not only to create new, affordable units, but also to increase our property tax base and expand city services with new revenues. These are particularly exciting projects since they will be built along major transit routes.

Climate Resilience

I am a passionate advocate for climate action, and efforts to protect people and the environment from lasting harm. I want to make sure that our city is prepared to take care of our residents during the worst effects of the climate crisis, including heat waves, cold snaps, and poor air quality.

Many similar cities across the US and Canada are leading the way in developing climate resiliency plans for taking care of kids, elderly folks, and other vulnerable groups during climate events by leveraging public spaces like schools, libraries, and community centers. I will work to adapt these types of plans for Columbia Heights and create our own personalized strategies to keep all residents safe and healthy during extreme events.

Beyond preparing for specific climate events, I want to lead the charge on investing in physical infrastructure, robust greenspaces, stormwater management, energy-reduction solutions and other key areas that will help us live more sustainably day-to-day, while being more prepared for climate extremes.

Public Safety & Civil Liberties

I believe all people should feel safe and protected while living and working in Columbia Heights. That’s why I am adamant about continuing our city’s efforts in community policing, as well as expanding programs to reduce interactions between armed law enforcement and civilians, such as responding to crisis situations with paramedics, mental health resources, and social workers.

Further, I am 100% opposed to our city’s current Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) program, and will work tirelessly to terminate our current contract with Flock. I am also determined to prevent Anoka County’s proposed ALPR cameras from taking effect in Columbia Heights, and avoid being included in their drone-assisted first-responder programs. I believe these types of technologies are easily exploited by those seeking to terrorize and harm immigrants, people of color, and unhoused folks.

Instead, I plan to partner with our police department and fire department to understand what types of solutions and technologies they need in their work, which do not infringe on civil liberties or breach individual privacy.

A group of people wearing reflective safety vests posing outdoors in front of bushes and a building with large windows. One person is taking a selfie, with a woman in the foreground smiling and holding a drink. Several others stand behind with a dog on a leash.

Your Questions, Answered

  • I am in favor of switching our city from a strict winter parking ban to a snow-emergency system, like Saint Paul and Minneapolis. To ensure that cars do not become impediments to snow plows or emergency vehicles, I will work to set up the necessary communication structure to build accountability with those who street park.

  • I was shocked to learn that our current Master Parks Plan was written by a graduate student intern in 1996! Having a clear, actionable plan helps our city invest wisely in improving our parks, offering new programming and ensuring everyone can walk and bike to their nearest recreation space. I look forward to partnering with the new Parks and Recreation Director on this work.

  • The Columbia Heights Public Library is a crowning jewel of our community.

    I support full and increased funding for the library, to ensure a robust collection of materials for patrons, comprehensive programming in numerous languages, and dedicated space for public engagement on key projects.

  • I am not a fan! “Car-oriented businesses” refers to businesses that sell auto parts, provide car washes/car repair, and other products or services that cater solely to cars.

    I am fine having a reasonable amount of these businesses in our non-Main Street areas of the city, but would like to bring back a moratorium on new car-oriented businesses along Central Avenue. Instead, I want to save this space for human-centric amenities and businesses.