1.  How many years have you lived in Maine? 39

2.  What experiences, motivations, and leadership styles will make you an effective City Councilor? Currently District 5 School Committee representative and Chairman of the Portland School Comm. Motivated by the changes that are needed to make this continue to be a great city. This is a great time to make choices that will have long term success in this city. I am the type of leader that looks to the community to have there views heard and represent my District and the entire City.

3.  If elected, what would your top three priorities be?  How do they affect Portlander's aged 18-35?  Number one would be tax relief. This affects the 18-35’s by helping them with affordable property taxes. Whether you rent or own this plays a part in your financial planning. Secondly the safety of this city is very important to me. This would make it an attractive place to relocate to or continue to live in. Lastly we need to be a business friendly city. Attracting new business owners both local and national.

4.  Please share one positive change you have seen on City Council AND in Portland over the last year? Positively the City has tried to be responsible with the budget. It is lean but still offers great services to the general public.

5.  Please share one frustrating change you have seen on City Council AND in Portland over the last year? Personally the division between the members is troubling. I do not say that every item should be a 9-0 vote but the way that this has spilled out publicly has been noted.

6.  What competing responsibilities do you have professionally and personally? Professionally I work as a Juvenile Community Corrections Officer. This is a Department of Corrections job. This is not in conflict with this position. Personally with my wife we are raising two daughters and we have navigated things well during the last three years since being elected to the PSC.

7.  Are you a homeowner or a renter? Owner

8.  Please answer and explain the following: 
a. Do you support reducing the parking requirements for new construction (Y/N)?  Explain.
b. Do you support increasing housing density to build more units (Y/N)  Explain.
c. What are you thoughts and ideas about housing in Portland?

9.  What is your primary mode of transportation?  Mini-van  How can we improve transportation in Portland?Promote public transportation better through the community. Parking seems to be a problem in the downtown district. It appears that there are more parking in recent projects to help ease the congestion.

10.  How do you intend to represent the needs of low-income and new American community members? I would look through the lense of education to be the best way to advocate for these communities. Make the systems easy to navigate. I do not mean make it easier to access and receive but to make it clear in the way you access these services.

11.  What do you see the role of the city council to be? The Council should be representative of the voters in Portland. Public involvement is necessary to make sure that voters are heard  If elected, how would you govern? Govern with an open mind. I would maintain the solid base that I have built through my time with the PSC.

12.  In the last budget cycle the city council made cuts across the board to social services, forced a merger of two city departments, and scaled back equipment and positions for public safety departments.  If the future council were forced into a similar situation where the city budget needs to be balanced, what would you be in favor of cutting?  I would accept cuts that are solid and proven to impact the least. I would also say that in the budget process as new programs are added and others continue to grow we need to take a hard look toward the future to see where things belong. Adding a new program would have to link with our long term goals and I would favor removing something from the current programs. We need to balance what we have and what we need. To continuosly add only will push the future budgets out of balance.

13.  How would you go about increasing local revenue? A local options tax to the lodging industry. This would look at the not just local people footing the bill for our things. We have an untapped resource where the increase would be minimal to those that use these type of services/

14.  Do you support the Peninsula Transit Study recommendations, which indicates that car owners should pay the true costs of storing their vehicles on public properties and directing the funds to support transit and neighborhood redevelopment projects (sidewalks, parks, etc.)?  If not, what areas don’t you support and what would you change? I do not support this in its current state and would need to study it further and look at possible suggestions to this.

15.  Given that car sharing was cited as a short-term recommendation in the Peninsula Transit Study do you feel the City should actively pursue car sharing?  And if so, would you recommend the City designate funds and/or parking spaces for such a program? Car Sharing is a fine idea that would have to be advertised well. More parking spaces would be a first step so it is accessible.

16.  Do you support or oppose the repeal of the 100 ft. dispersal requirement between establishments with entertainment licenses in the Old Port Overlay Zone? I support this and spoke to it when it was brought in front of the Council. It needs to be manageable there in the Old Port and this does help with that cause.

17.  Would you support or oppose community benefit agreements in contracts between the City and developers?  If so, what stipulations would you include in these agreements? I would support that and would make sure that these developers and neighbors have clear and deliberate conversations that come to a clear agreement.

18.  Would you support or oppose a proposal to ban smoking in the outdoor seating areas of restaurants until 10pm?  I would not support this choice. I think that this is a situation that is to much government. I think that the proposal is something that is unmanageable. I do not think that it can be enforced well.

19.  What are your plans for reducing energy costs and consumption for the City?  We need to look at “greening” the city when we are renovating our own facilities and when there are new developments there should be inclusive plans that show energy efficiencies.

20.  What would you do to increase constituency engagement in City activities and City planning? I would look to public meetings with local neighborhood assoc., e-mails to groups and build on that as more people become aware of this. Return phone calls and e-mails in a timely fashion.