For years, local leaders have repeated the phrase “we need more affordable housing” without a concrete plan. While new housing continues to go up across Madison, current efforts miss the core crisis: our city is short of more than 11,000 units of housing for households earning below 30% of the Area Median Income (AMI)—this is an emergency for the neighbors who need stability the most. Building more market-rate units alone will not bridge this gap. We have to be innovative and creative, and use strategies that will work as soon as possible, not years from now. 

Solving this shortage requires using the city's financial and regulatory tools to ensure deep, lasting affordability. We have a concrete plan including:

• Direct city subsidies, tax-incremental financing (TIF), and municipal land sales toward developments that guarantee a percentage of units reserved specifically for extremely low-income households (30% AMI and below).

• Create innovative solutions by partnering with non-profit developers, community land trusts, and faith-based institutions to lower land costs and build long-term community wealth.
  

• Improve the review and approval process for housing projects that meet critical affordability thresholds, lowering carrying costs for developers committed to community goals.

• Partnering with Responsible Developers: Work alongside forward-thinking developers who share a commitment to inclusive growth and equitable neighborhood development.

Local government belongs to everyone. Real leadership requires bringing government into the community and creating meaningful avenues for residents to shape decisions that will affect them in the short and long term. 

Our community-led plans include:

• Establishing a collaborative program within the Mayor’s Office to connect young leaders directly with city operations. Through this Leadership Lab, participants will contribute to real policy initiatives, bring fresh perspectives to local government, and develop leadership skills for Madison’s future.

• Shifting a portion of office hours away from the City County building and into neighborhood centers, public libraries, and community hubs across Madison to meet residents where they live and work.

• Providing plain-language updates on upcoming council decisions, budget choices, and major city initiatives. 

Transit should be about getting people where they need to go efficiently, safely, and comfortably. Our current system needs improvement. Rather than sticking with plans just because they were started, our administration will continuously evaluate real-world transit data to fix what works and let go of what doesn't. Our priorities are to:

• Regularly audit route efficiency, frequency, and actual community usage. If a bus route or street design isn't serving workers and families effectively, we adapt—listening to direct rider feedback over rigid policy assumptions.

• Passenger rail connects Madison to regional opportunity. We will advocate fiercely to secure an accessible Amtrak station in Madison—ensuring the terminal and surrounding transit connections meet Universal Design standards for people of all physical abilities, seniors, and parents with strollers

• Equitable Sidewalks & First/Last Mile Connections: Ensure transit investment doesn't end at the bus stop or train platform. We will prioritize complete sidewalk networks, safe street crossings, and winter snow removal so every resident can safely reach public transportation.

Madison families are telling us that they cannot afford to live here, and city government should be held to a standard of affordability. This starts with transparency: being honest about where taxpayer dollars go and ensuring city spending directly improves daily life. Beyond these transparent conversations, we must:

• Eliminate unnecessary executive positions, such as redundant deputy mayor roles. Tax dollars should support front-line service providers—like transit operators, parks maintenance, and public health workers—not top-heavy administrative staff.

• Break down the complex annual municipal budget into accessible, transparent reports so residents can see exactly how their property taxes and fees are being spent.
  

• Bring community members, local business owners, and regional partners into the budget conversation early—focusing on long-term fiscal stability while protecting essential public services.

True public safety requires a comprehensive approach. While a well-trained, responsive police department is an essential part of keeping our neighborhoods secure, a community is safest when we address the root causes of crisis before emergencies happen. Our community safety standards involve:

• Work toward a community-focused law enforcement style. This involves strengthening mobile crisis intervention like C.A.R.E.S and mental health response teams to handle non-violent distress calls, freeing up police officers to focus on violent crime and urgent emergencies.

• Support community-led violence intervention programs, neighborhood centers, youth mentorship, and addiction recovery resources that create long-term stability across all Madison neighborhoods.

• With racial equity at the center, treat housing stability, food security, clean public spaces, and traffic safety as essential pillars of public health and safety.

Protecting Madison’s natural beauty—our lakes, parks, and clean air—requires bold, proactive leadership. Climate justice means ensuring that economic growth never comes at the expense of our health, our water, or our most vulnerable neighborhoods.

• We must implement smart regulation on high-impact development. We will enforce strict environmental oversight on resource-intensive developments, such as large data centers, to protect our local power grid and municipal water supply from unsustainable energy and water strain. 

• Continuously advocate for affected residents near Truax Field and east side neighborhoods. We will prioritize aggressive remediation of PFAS "forever chemicals" in our groundwater and continue to push for real mitigation measures regarding jet engine noise pollution.