Goals
Three important things:
Three things that make for good government (and thus are important to me) are:
- Transparency
- Responsibility
- Freedom
If something increases those attributes in our government, I support it. If it diminishes or decreases those, I oppose it. Freedom in particular is easy to lose, but difficult to regain. It is precious and will be treated with the utmost respect.
Some additional thoughts and goals:
- Limit the size of government in Eagle Mountain to that which is reasonable and desirable. City government's role should be primarily planning growth and development.
- Support the mayor's efforts to improve our city's disaster preparedness. In the event of an emergency, power and water will become essential to life. A little forethought and action now will allow us to respond in a robust and sustainable way in the future, should disaster strike. As a cybersecurity expert, I can also help to prepare and defend our city against cyber attacks such as ransomware, which are becoming much more common and are a real threat.
- Grow the city in a responsible way that accepts the realities of growth, but works to avoid and minimize the negative effects of that growth, such as traffic congestion. We have a geographically large city, and we can take advantage of that to build a city that works for all and offers an amazing place to live and work.
- Manage cost of living so our children can afford to live in Eagle Mountain. The cost of housing all over Utah County is going up. For lower income people or fixed income people (such as the young and elderly) many of them cannot even afford to live in their home towns anymore. As a father of five this breaks my heart. I believe we can work toward making Eagle Mountain a great place to live and work for all people.
- Make Eagle Mountain a tech friendly place, and one where employers want to open offices and/or headquarters. This includes supporting tech sector employment (which are among some of the higher paying jobs in the state). Eagle Mountain is at a point where new infrastructure is being developed and installed. Now is the best time to ensure that the groundwork is laid for the future. Companies also pay for infrastructure when they build, which benefits everyone.
- Increase transparency by making information more accessible. Insight into the workings of city government are often difficult because it's a small enough market that major press isn't typically involved unless it's major news. Even then, often it's not the most accessible. A blog and/or podcast would be a nice source for citizens wishing to keep up on the happenings in the city government.
Let's build something great.