Issue Position: Livable Communities

Issue Position

Colorado is growing rapidly with our statewide population projected to double from five million people today to ten million by 2050. Poorly-planned growth will result in more traffic and sprawl and a reduced quality of life in our communities, so we need to better manage that growth. The state of Colorado needs to be a better partner in working with local communities to engage in effective local and regional planning for smart growth that will help reduce traffic and make our communities more livable, not less, in the coming years.

Affordable Housing.

The cost of housing for both homeowners and renters is increasing across the state and the Denver metro region is becoming increasingly unaffordable as more people pay a disproportionate share of their income on housing costs.

Leslie's Plan- We need a statewide housing strategy that provides more tools and funding to enable seniors to age in place by staying in their homes as long as possible and creating more opportunities for young people and families to become homeowners, increasing their household wealth. My plan will:

*create a statewide housing strategy that better identifies market gaps in affordable housing and stronger incentives for developers to build more middle class housing for both renters and homeowners;
*repeal the limitation on cities and counties that prohibits the ability to assess fees on housing transactions to be used to establish housing funds.

More Transportation Choices.

Colorado's limited transportation dollars should be used for fixing our existing roads and bridges and expanding choices for getting around, including transit, bike lanes and walkable streets rather than new roadway capacity. We need to make our major transportation corridors more transit-friendly with tools such as advanced signal technology that helps buses travel more quickly.

Leslie's Plan - State highways that are also main streets in our communities, such as Colfax Avenue and Colorado Boulevard, are not going to be widened, so we need improvements to make them safer for pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders. My plan will:

*prioritize "fix it first" funding priorities for roads and bridges in the state budget;

*expand state resources and support for pedestrian and bicycling safety projects and safe routes to schools;

*invest in new technology such as advanced signals for buses along our most congested roads.

Smarter Land Use Planning.

We need better land use planning to manage growth with strong community involvement in decisions about land use. The state can also encourage collaboration between cities and counties by requiring coordination between cities and counties on major land use plans, allowing for smarter growth in our region and city/county with revenue sharing where appropriate.

Leslie's Plan - We make better decisions about land use when we do it together. My plan will:

*encourage greater community involvement in planning and land use by making local comprehensive plans enforceable rather than advisory as they are currently;

*increase capacity for revenue sharing between various levels of local government, including cities, counties and school districts.

Protecting our Environment.

Everyone in Colorado must have access to clean water, clean air and a healthy environment. We depend on all of these to keep our bodies--and our minds--healthy.

We've seen a lot of accomplishments in recent years. Colorado has passed many measures on renewable and clean energy requirements and initiatives, energy efficiency, water conservation, healthy rivers initiatives and stronger environmental protections for fossil fuel development.

But we have more work ahead of us. We are proud of our remarkable state whose mountains and wilderness draw people from all over the world. Colorado should continue to be leaders in efforts to protect our environmental health.

Leslie's Plan -- I will continue to support progress on the many areas where Colorado has advanced, and those areas that still need a lot of work. My plan will:

*Support implementation of a state plan to comply with the new federal Clean Air requirements;

*Support initiatives to protect the health of our water and our lands, and work closely with the many organizations that make this their number one priority;

*Develop and support walkable community and sustainable transportation initiatives;

*Continue to support renewable energy and green buildings initiatives;

*Stay informed and communicate with community members, utility companies and renewable energy companies regarding major proposals going through the state PUC.

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