Issues

Greg believes that climate change presents an existential threat to humanity and all living creatures that demands bold and urgent action by individuals, businesses, and all levels of government.  He wants to build community resilience to the effects of climate change by investing more in mitigation and adaptation programs. 

Heat waves, red flag days, bad air quality days, ice and wind storms, and flood risks will all continue to increase in the near future and we need to be prepared for it.  We need to harden our homes to protect them from wildfires.  We need to help people invest in greener appliances, heat pumps, and better insulation that will advance the city’s climate goals AND save residents money on their heating and cooling costs. 

We need to focus our investments on protecting the most vulnerable members of our community, such as those who can’t protect themselves because they experience housing insecurity, lack air conditioning, or can’t afford to turn it on.  We need to expand the city’s urban forestry program to plant more trees and replace the trees that will be killed by the emerald ash borer invasion, especially in neighborhoods that lack adequate shade and green spaces. 

Greg believes that access to safe, affordable, healthy, and accessible housing is a human right. As renters who aspire to own a home in Corvallis someday but have been unable to afford the high prices of the current market, Greg and his wife Marilyn are keenly aware of and directly affected by the city’s housing affordability crisis. This crisis is forcing young families to leave town or is excluding them entirely from considering a life here, and is contributing to school closures and significant challenges to the economic vitality of our downtown and the sustainability of our entire community. As a City Councilor, one of Greg’s highest priorities will be to continue the development of sustainable, affordable, infill housing in the urban core and in other areas close to where people work, shop, and play. He will also prioritize the protection and expansion of public open spaces, parks, and trails through support for conservation easements, partnerships with local nonprofits, and direct city land purchases when necessary and feasible.

Corvallis is facing looming budget and public infrastructure crises driven by high inflation, state laws from the 1990s that limit local government revenue growth, and a lack of planning and decision-making by previous City Councils.   At the same time, regressive city service fees have increased dramatically in recent years, adding to the already steep financial burden that working families face paying their bills every day. 

Greg proposes to enact a more progressive city budget, tax, and service fee structure, that would raise additional revenues for social services, badly needed infrastructure improvements, and inflation-driven budget shortfalls, while reducing the overall tax and fee burden on lower and middle income residents. This system would force the wealthiest residents, businesses, and non-resident employees who commute into Corvallis every day to pay their fair share for city services.

Greg will vote to enact an immediate moratorium on large data center construction until we can change our land development code to address the impacts they would have on water and energy costs and availability for the rest of us: residents, nonprofits, schools, governments, and small businesses.

Greg stands firmly against mass surveillance technologies like Flock cameras and cell phone signal interceptors. He will vote to keep those technologies out of Corvallis.