I would like to see the government become one that says “Yes!” to its residents’ ideas and supports their visions into becoming reality, rather than one with its red tape and excuses ready.

I propose a Department of Opportunity that manages coordination between zoning changes and aiding residents’ pursuit of what businesses they’d like to open or see in their neighborhood, along with identifying funding streams, helping collaborative efforts take off, and serving as fiscal sponsor for more of our residents’ projects.

Increasing transparency and reciprocity with residents is a key to a future-oriented Wilkinsburg. The Home Rule charter has more stringent transparency requirements for Borough agencies and affiliated authorities.

The installation and upkeep of Borough operated billboards and message boards to keep residents engaged, heard, and up to speed is a necessary ingredient in our more democratic Home Rule structure. Hearing notices taped to random sticks of wood isn’t quite cutting it.

A government that knows what its residents wants, informs them how it hopes to accomplish it, and operates in a more dynamic way alongside them is the kind of government for this moment.

We have plenty of roads that are one-way but are four lanes wide when you include parking. This was intended as a traffic calming measure, yet I still see folks speeding outside my house, right next to a daycare. Unfortunately, that failure created a lot of wasted space.

We should shrink those streets and give more space to our pedestrians, who currently are dodging neglected trash cans, tree roots, or broken pavement. Most opt to just walk in the street, next to speeding vehicles.

The Borough needs to assume the responsibility of taking care of our sidewalks, because it is wrong to send seniors or those in wheelchairs into the street because of impassable messes outside of vacant homes. This would also afford the opportunity for more street tree plantings and beautification.

Taking it a step further, I believe Wilkinsburg is the right kind of place for pedestrian-only zones near parks, and zoning changes to allow more cornerstones, coffee shops, and cottage industries around where people live.

More activity, more opportunity, and more people around keeps places safer.

The Borough should use eminent domain to reclaim all of the vacant property within its jurisdiction.

Yes, all of it. It is simply a public good to see these properties taken care of.

We’ve allowed residents to suffer diminished property values, shoulder an unfair tax burden, and live amongst hazards for far too long. It is a form of structural insanity to allow the legally dead owners of these blighted properties to block us from having a thriving community.

We can redistribute these properties. Expanding the tax base is a crucial job for our government—this Borough once had triple our current population. Making home owners out of long term renters and building wealth within our community should be our goal.

But, some houses do need demolished, and then vacant lots follow; we need solutions:

A Department of Social Housing should be created. Adopting approaches taken elsewhere—small lot sizes, effectively priced prefabricated or modular housing—we can address this on our own without giving up our land to larger development corporations to swoop in and only make more renters out of us.

Currently the Borough requires votes on too many kinds of permits, including even letting a family host their child’s party in the park. That is something there should be no politics to: we can establish clear processes for applications, and when you do it, you’re approved. If someone on Council had a bad interaction with you once upon a time, personal relations shouldn’t prevent you from getting to picnic with your friends and family.

Wilkinsburg ought to move to a Permission mindset. Yes, you can put that bench by the bus stop; yes, you can plant that flower; yes, you can sell your crafts on the street. Yes, we will help you with your idea. And rather than soliciting big developers, we can make programs that support the steps that get a local entrepreneur into one of our vacant storefronts.

Similarly, when we’re spending $20,000 to demolish a structure and start over, we could be putting that money into the hands of a resident to repair their home, protect their investment, rather than abandon it and see decreasing value. We can end that cycle of waste.

There are large rental companies that have an outsized control of Wilkinsburg’s real estate: rent controls to protect the community from being monopolized by them would be prudent measures.

And we should be asking why the Borough would hand land over to an NFL player who’s made over $150 million, instead of build up the people from here who’ve never touched a penny compared to that.

More pedestrian and bike friendly infrastructure means a more kid friendly environment. Families that can afford to stay in the same neighborhood are what sustain them.

The tree coverage in Wilkinsburg is a blessing and contributes a great deal to its character. But the trees are old. The Borough needs to ensure that when trees fall, like so many just did, they can be replaced by operating a municipal nursery.

Fruit and nut bearing trees for urban orchards and farming are part of the solution to our vacant lot problem, and we should embrace them as a resource to that end, because a climate change future will demand more self sufficiency and resiliency. That is our future. Let’s get ahead of it.

Parts of Wilkinsburg are practically forested, with our own urban wildlife zoo. That’s great! We should be responsible stewards for our non-human neighbors, but we need the houses to be for residents, not raccoons.