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It’s an exciting time to be a young, environmentally mindful, community-seeking ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥an. The City Council elections offer an opportunity for Ward 6 to choose a leader who just gets it about budgets, local economic investment, and supporting the healthy growth of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ for decades to come — Miranda Schubert.

Miranda gives me hope for analytical, process-focused leadership that puts people and the sustainable growth of our city above quick fixes. Miranda is incredibly pragmatic, and to say otherwise is to say you’ve never talked to her. She is one of the most accessible candidates I have ever met, genuinely asking my opinions on policy, not just the issues that matter to me with no plans for action.

My current neighborhood — Swan Way Park — just formed a Neighborhood Association to better connect and protect their neighbors. I support Miranda because she understands true public safety must include public health approaches, smart reform of rigid zoning of our city, and efforts to increase connectivity to our neighbors. She also understands environmental conservation must center land-use, and the cost of maintenance. From her knowledgeable support of a Housing First model to address homelessness and the cost of living for ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ans young and old; to her thoughtful and future-focused opposition to a data center in the desert that would strain our precious water and electricity utilities with barely a promise of community support; to her support of fare-free transit, Miranda shows we can provide more for all neighbors to lead dignified lives as the cost of everything continues to increase.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ is changing and growing whether we like it or not. I am moving to the Rincon Heights neighborhood because the denser parts of our city often provide a better service for what I am looking for in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥: sidewalks. The lack of sidewalks and mixed-use zoning on the east side of our ward tells a story of development in our city that prioritizes city and county services for the movement of vehicles over the physical health, safety, and movement of our pedestrians and transit riders, often the only options for independent mobility for many ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ residents. ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ ranked third in the nation for pedestrian deaths recently. Opposing transit-oriented growth while still demanding endless services for roads is fiscal hypocrisy. We can and should allow our city to grow closer together — for climate resilience, physical health, and the lower costs of maintenance. Everything from global migration to hospital and healthcare services to water access and electricity needs to be thoughtfully supported with a sustainable, entrepreneurial spirit. In order to keep our local charm, we need leaders who know how to keep local businesses alive, and local character protected. Miranda is that candidate.

Miranda dreams of public policy in a way we all should want from a City councilperson. She has connections to local political leaders because that’s what you do when you’re genuinely trying to understand local policy. She knows that endorsements are support, but they do not mean she gives up independent thought and decision making. She stated her opposition to the data center before the Mayor and Council hold their vote on whether to annex the land, not after, because she is a leader who centers the long-term cost concerns of the community.

Miranda also has the funding solutions to prove scarcity mindsets for services provision is relative to who they serve. Fares on buses only ever covered less than 15% of the total cost of maintenance for the system. So, Miranda explained to me how a slight increase in the bed tax for our out-of-town visitors who can afford paying a couple extra bucks — more than our transit riders can — is a logical, progressive policy that maintains accessibility, not isolation.

Miranda is endlessly considerate, energized, and outspoken about how progressive policy is the same as smart economic policy. For our desert, for our elders, and for generations to come, Miranda Schubert is the systems thinking, engaged, policy-nerd candidate for Ward 6 that will represent her constituents as friends, neighbors, and valuable collaborators to continue the work of creating a ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ for everyone.