Candidate: Bob Yates
Office: Boulder Mayor
Website: http://www.bobyatesboulder.com/
QUESTIONS FOR CANDIDATES:
Yes/No Questions – Please answer only with yes/no.
Are you a homeowner? Yes
Do you think your City should add more beds to the homeless shelter? No
If the City police force was fully staffed, would you advocate for adding more officers? Yes
Do you believe there’s a need for more housing? Yes
Do you believe the City should spend more money on homelessness services? Yes
Longform Questions – Please limit responses to 300 words or less.
Why do you want to be Boulder’s first elected mayor?
“I have been a Boulder City Council member since 2015. I am running for mayor so that I can share my four decades of leadership experience in the business, nonprofit, and government arenas with the community.”
When was the last time you paid rent, and where was that?
“2001, London”
Boulder County has experienced extreme natural disasters over the last decade, including flooding and wildfire. How do you plan to address these challenges?
“The county and the city have excellent disaster prevention plans and emergency services, including the Office of Disaster Management, the police and fire departments, and the county sheriff’s office. They are constantly planning for disaster preparedness, emergency notifications, and evacuation strategies. For example, the city’s fire department counsels residents on best practices to minimize fire risks around and in their homes. The city’s water utilities spend millions of dollars per year in flood mitigation facilities. And, thanks to passage of last year’s Ballot Measure 1A, the Office of Disaster Management has recently launched Genasys Protect, which will help residents stay informed of ongoing disasters and learn of evacuation orders and routes.”
How do you think you stand out from other candidates?
“I have four decades of leadership experience in the business, nonprofit, and government arenas. I am a lawyer by training and was a partner in a large law firm. I was tapped to launch the European division of what would become a Fortune 500 company, ultimately serving as division president, managing 1700 employees. After I retired from paid work at the age of 50, I dived into nonprofit work in Boulder, taking on leadership roles with the Museum of Boulder, the Dairy Arts Center, Chautauqua, the Parks Board, Downtown Boulder, the Conference on World Affairs, the Convention & Visitors Bureau, Boulder Housing Partners, Out Boulder, and Columbia Cemetery. I am a CU student mentor, I serve on the Board of Advisors for CU’s Center for Leadership, and I periodically teach classes as an adjunct professor in CU’s Wolf Law. I have served on the Boulder City Council since 2015, having served as Mayor Pro Tem, and on the Audit, Finance, Engagement, and Retreat committees. Since 2016, I have published a monthly newsletter, the Boulder Bulletin, in which I present proposed city policy initiatives and in which I explain the reasons for my votes. More than 7,500 Boulder residents subscribe. I believe that my leadership experiences and communication skills distinguish me from the other candidates. I offer those experiences and skills to the Boulder community as their first directly-elected mayor.”
What question would you ask a fellow candidate on the ballot?
“Some of our community’s more difficult challenges lie in addressing homelessness. I would ask a fellow candidate what solutions they might suggest to address the causes and effects of homelessness.”
What are your solutions for the growing population of people experiencing homelessness?
“I have offered an eight-point plan to address the causes and effects of homelessness, which I published in the September issue of my monthly newsletter, the Boulder Bulletin, and which can be read here. Those eight solutions are (1) permanent supportive housing; (2) mental health and substance abuse treatment; (3) night shelter utilization; (4) day shelter; (5) camping ban enforcement; (6) encampment clean-ups; (7) crime prevention; and (8) transience mitigation. In my newsletter, I provide more information and detail around each of these eight strategies.”
What’s your plan for creating more affordable housing in Boulder?
“If elected as mayor, I plan to:
- Continue to evaluate and approve housing projects as they are presented.
- Streamline the city’s planning and review process, so that projects get through the pipeline more quickly and less expensively.
- Use the 2024-25 update of the Comprehensive Plan to change land use designations that will facilitate more housing. The most important of these designation changes is shifting the Area III Planning Reserve to Area II, so that parcels can be considered for annexation and housing can be built there.
- Work with CU to help them achieve their goal of 40% of their students living in university-owned housing.
- Work with the state legislature and the governor to craft state legislation for 2024 that does a better job than SB23-213 in incentivizing cities to create housing opportunities for residents and workers.
- Expand the number of permanent supportive housing opportunities so that unhoused people not only have a place to live, but also access to services that will help them thrive.
- Adjust, as necessary, the Middle Income Down Payment Assistance Program, the ADU Type 2 rent cap program (each of which I crafted), and occupancy laws to ensure that the city government is supporting true housing affordability.”
How will you address climate change? How do you plan to meet some of the City’s climate goals, like reducing emissions by 70% by 2030, becoming a net-zero City by 2035, and becoming a carbon-positive City by 2040?
“I have voted in favor of every environmental action that city council has adopted since I took office in November 2015. This includes: Boulder’s Climate Commitment (2016); Energy Conservation Code (2017); the fracking moratorium (2018); Climate Emergency Resolution (2019); the Climate Tax (2020); and by voting each year in favor of the city’s annual Legislative Agenda, which includes dozens of state and national climate actions.
While all of those efforts are worthy, one of my proudest climate action achievements during my eight years on city council has been negotiating on behalf of the city a resolution of the city’s long-standing dispute with Xcel Energy. Among many things, that settlement requires Xcel to:
- Reduce carbon emissions statewide by 80% from 2005 levels by 2030, with interim milestones throughout this decade.
- Spend a minimum of $33 million to underground power lines in Boulder, to increase resiliency, improve safety, and reduce fire danger.
- Sell to Boulder all of the streetlights in town so the city can make energy-saving LED conversions (that sale is being completed over the next few months).
- Partner with the city on local distribution system planning and grid modernization, helping the city achieve its goal of 100 percent carbon reduction by 2030.
- This year, I proudly voted in favor of a city e-bike voucher program, and I supported a ban on gas-powered landscaping equipment—like leaf-blowers and mowers—as well as requiring all new residential construction to be all-electric. City council will give final approval to these initiatives next year, and I hope that I serve on the next council to vote in favor of them.”
What are your goals for transportation and how will you achieve them?
If we want to encourage people to drive less, we have to make some commuting trips unnecessary, by moving workers into town, and by making alternative forms of transportation easy and safe.
To make non-car transportation easier, expansion of the B-Cycle and e-Scooter programs is helping. But, RTD lags. There was a plan a few years ago to expand the city-run HOP bus into four routes, but that got bumped by Covid. We need to dust off that HOP plan and bring it back.
As far as safe transportation:
- We must continue to quickly add protected bike lanes, which are the key to helping riders of all ages and skills get comfortable riding on the same streets as cars.
- We must quickly patch potholes that are annoying for cars and downright dangerous for bikes and scooters.
- And we must clear bike path underpasses of refuse and people, and either light them or paint them white so cyclists can see obstacles in time to react.
Finally, I am proud of championing Twenty is Plenty during my early years on council and finally making it a reality in 2021. Cars are hard and people are squishy. By slowing down cars in neighborhoods, cyclists and pedestrians have a fighting chance when a collision occurs. The safer it is to bike and walk, the more likely people will embrace those ways of getting around, leaving their cars behind.”
How do you plan to engage with non-English speaking constituents?
“When I first ran for city council in 2015, I advocated for the creation of “Chats with Council,” in which council members could interact informally with constituents with diverse backgrounds and interests. After I was elected, I worked with city staff to launch Chats with Council (and, ultimately, also Walks with Council) encouraging council members to meet with residents where they live and work. Many of these sessions have been with community members who do not speak English, with interpretation services available, as needed. I have learned much from participating in these sessions, and I look forward to expanding this interactive engagement program during my third term on city council.”
How does diversity factor into your policy making?
“We are each different from all others. This diversity in background, culture, experience, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and ability contributes to our rich and dynamic community. I seek out people who look, act, and think differently than I do. Each experience gives me a new perspective to ponder. But, it also causes me to reflect on the privileges I have, some unearned. Those interactions make me work harder to ensure that we strive for equity in all that we do.”
How will you reach residents who have different lived experiences than you?
“When I first ran for city council in 2015, I advocated for the creation of “Chats with Council,” in which council members could interact informally with constituents with diverse backgrounds and interests. After I was elected, I worked with city staff to launch Chats with Council (and, ultimately, also Walks with Council) encouraging council members to meet with residents where they lived and worked. Many of these sessions have been with community members with experiences different from mine. I have learned much from participating in these sessions, and I look forward to expanding this interactive engagement program during my third term on city council.”
Rank your top 5 issues in priority.
- Public safety
- Housing affordability
- Transportation efficiency & safety
- Climate action
- Financial responsibility
