Issues
What we do have in common is the desire to afford a life in Costa Mesa that doesn’t come at the expense of our ability to not just survive, but thrive. Talk to most Costa Mesans, and the issue of affordability is top of everyone’s minds. As rents and home prices continue to rise, as well as the daily costs of living, we need leaders in city government sensitive to the challenges we face and creative in their problem solving. I envision a city that recognizes the needs of an extremely diverse population who may want different things when it comes to housing and that doesn’t sacrifice design for affordability. The City cannot directly control the cost of housing but can influence the supply of housing.
Thriving Communities
Affordability
For myself and my family, the diversity of small businesses in Costa Mesa is one of the reasons we were so attracted to settle and raise our daughter here. I want to encourage small businesses not just to come to Costa Mesa and stay, but to tell their friends to set up shop here too! When on Council, I will prioritize small business development in our district because none of us want to live in a neighborhood with empty buildings.
As I talk with people who own businesses in Costa Mesa, I do hear a lot of great things about running a business in the city; I also hear a desire for the city to streamline and modernize processes so that it’s easier, and faster, to open a business. I’m committed to supporting our small business community by improving processes and expanding our concierge service so that businesses have more of a one-stop-shop model when it comes to navigating city departments.
Set up shop
Who doesn’t love a good park? In some ways, Costa Mesa is quite rich in terms of its parks, though the City’s recent Park Needs Assessment Report indicates that approximately a dozen of our parks are in need of some real loving care. In District 5 we have incredible parks like Fairview Park and Canyon Park at one side of the district, and then no parks at the other side of the district.
Those areas without parks within a 10-minute walk are known as “park deserts.” My husband and I raised our daughter in a park desert, and know firsthand how important it is to have a local park for our children. And for ourselves! Parks help create community, and a sense of belonging. Parents and grandparents need this as much as the kiddos. I support developing parks by focusing our energy and financial resources on those areas without parks–areas that are also part of an environmental justice tract that position us for grant funding from the state.
Parks make life better
Growing and protecting open space
Especially as we consider issues of affordability–and the housing situation that we face in Costa Mesa–it’s especially important that we balance that with protecting and growing our open space. Open space means not only parks but fields for our sports groups and less developed areas for unstructured play and wildlife, etc. Thriving communities need open spaces that allow for both passive and active use of the space.
As Chair of the Parks Commission I’ve advocated for the development of additional community gardens throughout the city. If you can believe it, we only have two community gardens for our entire population! Community gardens are wildly popular and fairly inexpensive to maintain (they even have the potential to generate a small amount of revenue). In these economic times, let’s support residents in creating community as they grow nutritious food to feed their families and their neighbors.
What does it take for all of us to live well in Costa Mesa? Well: the answer is as varied as the people who live here!
But I see some common themes that unite many of us living in District 5.
A city of and for the arts
We are lucky in District 5: art is alive via a thriving scene of musicians, ceramicists, photographers, clothing designers, painters, surfboard shapers, bakers, poets, and so much more! We add much to the vibrant arts scene in the city. By supporting the arts in Costa Mesa, we can encourage the creative ability of our communities and simultaneously support our small businesses. Let’s think strategically about housing that supports these communities and is true to our city’s motto. Let's take seriously the need to invest in growing the reach of the arts across the city, connecting with our schools, our streets, our businesses, and people of all ages.
As a mom of a teenager who likes to walk to the local coffee shop or store, my #1 safety concern in Costa Mesa is safe streets. What can we do to make sure our streets are safe for ALL users including the most vulnerable? It means continuing the good work of building safe bike and walking routes. It means quieting traffic down, especially in those neighborhoods and corridors where we want to encourage active walking and biking!
Public Safety
Safe streets
Supporting personnel and infrastructure is an important investment in our city’s present and future. I support a fully staffed department and prioritizing funding for the rehabilitation of in-need fire stations, especially as they have maintenance issues and do not fully accommodate all of our personnel. I believe it is also crucial to support the mental and physical health of our crews, and invest in systems and infrastructure that prioritize our first responders.
Costa Mesa Fire Department
We can’t live well in a city that doesn’t prioritize basic issues of safety. As I navigate the world today, and especially with my daughter in mind, I think a lot about what it means to feel and be safe. Yes–it most certainly means issues like responsibly supporting the needs of our first responders. But public safety is so much more. It is also safe streets. It’s climate action. It’s investing in community-led initiatives. Its strengthening and connecting neighborhoods. Right now, it includes thinking about the safety of community members who are afraid to leave their homes for fear of ICE raids.
Costa Mesa Police Department
The good news is that sworn officer positions are fully staffed for the first time in 15 years! This well positions us to continue the work in the community, and attend to the issues we experience across the city–including in our parks, which have needed additional park ranger support.
Climate Action
As our climate changes and weather intensifies, we must be ready to support our communities through a variety of health, safety, and security issues. I support the implementation of the Costa Mesa Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, and will work to further strengthen its many efforts, which include creating local green jobs, improving air quality for citizens and improving energy efficiency in buildings and transportation, and much more.
Climate action is not just something that scientists can work on. It’s for all of us to engage with! For the past two years I was part of a large University of California climate action grant in Orange County. This involved: Facilitating a group of interfaith leaders tackling climate change from their faith’s perspective; Supporting strategic communications for the program; Spearheading a climate communications program for undergraduate students; Organizing and hosting a countywide Earthrise Climate Action Festival.
Community-led neighboring
I feel safest when I know that I’m in a community that’s looking out for me–and where I am looking out for others. The informal security network of neighbors is something that not only provides a sense of belonging, but helps neighbors feel a sense of physical safety too. As a Council member, I’ll support and encourage low or no-cost community driven and led activities that help build more community-led neighboring throughout the city.
Government Transparency
My necessary pillars for government transparency? Fiscal responsibility, public engagement, and process improvement. Fiscal responsibility is the bare minimum we should expect from our elected leaders. Anyone who promises just that, without attention to how you achieve this and then what comes next, is just checking a rhetorical (and totally predictable) box. We can, and should, do much more to ensure that our government is as inclusive, responsive, and as transparent as possible–while still attentive to the pressing work that needs to be done in a timely manner!
Fiscal responsibility
Fiscal responsibility is something that every public official should take seriously as the minimum standard for decision making. For me this includes working within a budget, and being clear about how the budget is, or isn’t, in line with priorities. Budget transparency, however, allows for all Costa Mesans–including our Commissions and Committees–to be engaged in the serious conversations around what things should be funded, and how because the process is open and readable. As someone who has managed multi-million dollar projects for various government agencies, I always exercise fiscal responsibility–it’s how I make sure that the funding covers the activities we have planned and positions us for the following year or project. But as a member of the Parks Commission in Costa Mesa, I’ve sometimes felt there hasn’t been enough transparency around the budget as I’d like–though we are moving in the right direction, and I want to keep us moving towards more openness.
Public engagement
Public engagement is one of the most essential aspects of government transparency because it doesn’t just allow the public in–it invites us to be a part of the process. Consistent and thoughtful public engagement makes our city a better place to live because it centers our ideas, our concerns, and our interests. This kind of invitation should extend across all city services and events, and emphasize meaningful engagement on topics where public input is useful, serves a variety of goals, and is implemented in substantial ways.
As Chair of the Parks Commission, I’ve worked diligently with the Commission to build public engagement into our work. This includes leading the development and implementation of the city’s first ever values framework to guide park funding decision making. Public engagement is at the heart of this framework–for the very reason that good financial decision making should be in line with community wants and needs!
Process improvement
In my experience, more often than not, process improvement helps substantially with government transparency. We’ve all experienced it in our lives: inflexible systems that don’t make much sense and sometimes feel designed to frustrate us. As someone who has worked in government for over two decades, I will acknowledge that some processes, while frustrating, are necessary. But many others can and should be changed to better enable more people to participate and to facilitate or streamline the experience. Process improvement is something I’m particularly interested in because I think that government should work for all of us–and the mechanics of that work is grounded in the process!
Boulders placed to block the bike path at Brentwood Park, May 2026 -- A real world case for process improvement and community engagement!