Are you working with any consultants, groups, or a slate of candidates? If yes, please disclose who you’re working with.
None, but because a new law bars candidates from obtaining the electronic voter file for Portsmouth, I had to get help from the state Democratic Committee to get this. I use it to select homes to go door to door in as many neighborhoods as I can each election.
What is the biggest problem Portsmouth is facing and how you would solve it? *
Housing is our biggest challenge. Rents and home prices have shot sky-high and the people who keep our city running can’t live here. Restaurants close because they lack service workers, and day care centers, hospitals and schools struggle to stay staffed.
New zoning in 2017 allowed our supply of housing to go from 40 new units a year to 260. Since 2015, we have added 1,810 but only 128 are affordable for working people. This shows how distorted our housing market is, and why it’s not delivering solutions.
To have the political will to address the problem, we need a citywide dialogue, surveys and education. Those who oppose more housing need to engage in a conversation with those who need it, especially in Portsmouth Listens-style small group discussions . I am working on such a dialogue with the city’s Housing Navigator.
We’ll need multiple solutions. We should make it easier for homeowners to make single family homes into double units. We have a surplus of land zoned “Office/Research” that could be revised to residential. Our Land Use Committee has improved ways we trade density bonuses for projects that make 10-20% of units affordable (which has created 46 units so far). Ruth Griffin Place, built on city-owned land, offers 82 units with rents in the $1,000 a month range, built with private capital and federal tax credits through Portsmouth Housing Authority. Micro housing, group living and other options bear exploring.
Should the city work to create below market rate housing, and where is the best site? *
Yes, and Griffin Place shows how. The old Sherburne school and the Community Campus are logical sites if consensus can be achieved. Beyond public land, communities like Montgomery County, Maryland have been very successful with projects that are 50% market rate, 50% affordable. The private sector has an appetite for these, feeding off federal tax credits. It’s a good model for the McIntyre, for dying retail plazas, and for surplus land non-profits or businesses wish to sell (of which there are a number of prime parcels). This could create scores if not hundreds of affordable units.
Should the council continue to try to acquire the Thomas J. McIntyre federal building property? *
In four years of work on McIntyre, I have worked consistently to get a project that benefits the public, not just developers. The “Values to Visions to Sketches” process in 2020, involving 3,800 residents, showed residents want more public space don’t want high rises on Bow Street.
I strongly support our council’s effort to pressure the GSA to honor the 2004 Senate Bill 1589 for a no-cost transfer to the city as passed into law, and use McIntyre for affordable housing, not more luxury condos.
The GSA is so far defying all efforts to enforce the 2004 law, and time is on their side to complete their auction. I don’t think there is the time nor public will to put together a bid. But based on the Values to Vision to Sketches process, the Planning Board and City Council approved zoning changes that reduce the density on the site and incentivize parks, observation decks and indoor gallery space. The public engagement ensured there will never be a project as big and dense as Redgate-Kane’s on that site. I am grateful for my role in that.
Do you support the council’s spending level on the last two budgets? If not, what’s an appropriate level? *
I did not vote for the FY23 budget because I felt adding 25 positions in one year was too much. Overall, the last two budgets have increased on average 4.5% a year. Historically, tax increases over the last five councils move in a range between 3.5%-4.5% a year. We are at the higher end of the range in the last 24 months due to inflation in all costs and a bulge in delayed capital spending after COVID. We’ve also made wise investments in wages for our police and fire teams, an IT overhaul, and in education. These were essential for long term stability, and to help kids recover from COVID learning loss. We need to hold tighter on headcount and have small and predictable budget steps in the future. To do this, I initiated a practice of the City Council setting spending limits for the City Manager at the outset of the budget process.
Should Market Square be open to pedestrian and bike travel only?*
No, but there are opportunities to widen the sidewalk for pedestrians on Congress Street.
How do you feel about the safety and aesthetics of outdoor dining in the city?*
Outdoor dining is an economic driver and creates vitality and memorable experience on summer nights. We should create aesthetic standards (such as decks level with sidewalk, more plantings, and softening of the Jersey barriers).
What’s a bigger priority, building a new police station or an indoor sports arena? *
The city needs a new police station. We are paying $400,000 to continually repair a building that inhibits progressive, modern policing. The crime lab is a cramped room in a basement, handcuffed prisoners must be walked through work areas almost the length of the building, to cite just a few examples. We have $38 million in the Capital Plan for this which we can handle within our means. We need to keep moving on it.
An indoor sports arena will serve Portsmouth, Greenland, Rye, and New Castle and need not be sited on our scarce city land. We should be very cautious about public private partnerships that require donation of public land – who gets what benefits?
Should the council address the pace and type of development in the city? If yes, how?*
Portsmouth is a highly desirable place to live and cannot be frozen in time or return to some mythical past. It will continue to grow. We should focus on doing it well. I often give the example of the Popovers’ building downtown. It replaced a drab, one-story building with something that enhanced the entire street. We should refine our land use controls to aim for this. A vigorous public process involving lots of citizens in the 2025 Master Plan can give residents’ views priority in the zoning for the city’s next decade.
More important than buildings are the people we attract. A city needs great schools, parks, recreation and infrastructure. I support investment in these to be a city where great young families want to live.
Is overserving at city bars and restaurants a public safety issue?
No — there are many cities with worse downtown drunkenness than Portsmouth.
Has Portsmouth changed for the better or worse during the past decade?*
This is like asking has the person you love changed for better or worse in your years together. The focus should be on what we can be in the future. We inherit strengths – Portsmouth is safe, it has very good schools, it celebrates and preserves its history, and has arts and culture of cities twice our size. It has community leaders who care deeply about all of these strengths, and residents who are smart and engaged. It has a robust economy buttressed by tourism and tech. It is challenged to be affordable for all income levels, a challenge we must meet. Government, developers, business owners and residents are all part of meeting that challenge.