Candidate: Nia Wassink
Office: Longmont City Council, Ward 1
Website: niaforlongmont.com
QUESTIONS FOR CANDIDATES:
Yes/No Questions – Please answer only with yes/no.
Are you a homeowner? Yes
Do you think your City should have a homeless shelter? Yes
If the City police force was fully staffed, would you advocate for adding more officers? No
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 a council member?
I spent 3 years working and volunteering for nonprofits in Boulder County. After getting to know the area, I had no doubt Longmont was where we wanted to put down roots. We officially made the move in 2015 and have been here ever since. The diversity, cultural events, and growing food scene were what drew us in. The people and the community are what has kept us here.
Serving on the Longmont Juneteenth Planning Committee this year gave me such an appreciation for how this community comes together to celebrate diversity, learn about history, and embrace a collective vision for the future.
I’ve been honored to work alongside many agencies across the front range in my career, both as staff and now as a consultant. The organizations that align with my values and impact my community are often the ones that I find most fulfilling. Through this work, I continued to encounter the same structural hurdles and policy issues that impacted much of their work.
As a member of Longmont City Council, I can help bridge the work of the City and the community we’re serving, while addressing the needs of our community with policy change.
When was the last time you paid rent, and where was that?
In 2010 we rented an apartment in Lakewood, Colorado before purchasing our first home.
When considering new developments, which is more important: density and affordability or preserving neighborhood character?
To create a more accessible, inclusive Longmont, it’s not simply about bringing in as much inexpensive housing as possible. It’s about having a variety of housing available. For a multi-generational family who is living together, an apartment setting may not meet their needs. For older adults, a condo, with yard maintenance taken care of may allow them to age in place. We must have a variety of housing available at affordable levels. To pit affordability and neighborhood character as the dichotomy in housing decisions misses the mark of addressing a diverse community with diverse needs.
Boulder County has experienced extreme natural disasters over the last decade, including flooding and wildfire. How do you plan to address these challenges?
We need to look at both continued investment in climate solutions, while also addressing emergency response.
Like many in Longmont, I watched in horror as the Marshall Fire ripped through our neighboring community, impacting many of my friends and loved ones. The reality that wildfires are no longer contained to mountain communities came into sharp focus. As the days passed from the fire, the news of ineffective or inaccessible emergency alerts began to be reported. Boulder County has made major investments to upgrade our emergency alert systems and I’m continuing to hear about language access issues. We must ensure that our emergency response systems do not further disadvantage or exclude those who are already at the margins of society.
As the spouse of a wildland firefighter, I also want to uplift the brave people who don’t get summer breaks, miss holiday picnics, and are always on call to keep us safe. City Council must continue to support our emergency responders.
Longmont’s Office of Sustainability and the Sustainability Plan need continued investment from City Council. That is one of the most useful things we can do: provide proper resources to equip the incredibly knowledgeable teams at the City to do their work at greater levels and throughout the community.
How do you think you stand out from other candidates?
Many family and friends have noted that my run for Council wasn’t a surprise, because my life has been leading to this moment. I’m deeply involved in community organizations, as a Board member, volunteer, and consultant. I am a connector: when somebody needs a resource, I’m often called upon to provide help, guidance, and a referral. My work with area service providers also means that I have the understanding of many of our systems and how we can work together to improve them.
I have extensive training in governance and am now regularly consulted to bring forth those skills and expertise. I currently provide strategic planning and facilitation support to many agencies, which will lead me to be a more transparent councilmember, following the plans and priorities that have been set forth.
At the same time, I strive for equity and inclusive leadership. Ensuring the voices of those who are not heard by Council regularly are uplifted is a goal of mine.
What question would you ask a fellow candidate on the ballot?
- How do they intend to engage the community in decisions, being informed by those whom we serve?
- How do they intend to work with City staff, uplifting their expertise in projects and proposals?
- How do they currently show up with and for community groups they may not identify with (ie: LGBTQ+, those with disabilities, immigrants)? And how would this impact their decision making on Council?
What are your solutions for the growing population of people experiencing homelessness?
I’ve spent much of my career supporting organizations working to end homelessness. What we know from extensive research is that there is one critical solution that makes the difference in any community’s ability to respond to homelessness: housing.
Continuing to promote the housing first model, we need to increase our capacity for emergency, transitional, and permanent supportive housing. Once individuals are safely housed in an environment that provides them the security and support that they need, any related concerns can be addressed.
I also would like to further explore the opportunity to use social impact bonds to fund these programs and socials. By engaging the investor community to fund the interventions with proven outcomes, we can create a true public/private partnership to address this pressing need.
What’s your plan for creating more affordable housing in Longmont?
When we hear about the “housing crisis,” it’s easy to get distracted by the buzz words and miss the people being impacted. There’s the teacher who lives in Westminster, commuting to Longmont every day for her students. There’s the 3-generations of a family, living in cramped corners on Longmont’s north side, to save on housing costs. There’s the young man who grew up in Longmont, graduating from Longmont High, and is now unable to live in the City he loves.
This housing crisis needs a multi-prong, multi-dimensional approach. There is no silver bullet. What we know is that we need a brave, innovative Council, working in tandem with our City staff to get this done. Approaches include:
- Supporting mixed-density developments, because one type of housing can’t serve everyone.
- Reviewing and refining regulations of short-term rental properties
- Holding true to our inclusionary housing regulations
- Supporting conversions to higher-density zoning
- Supporting ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units)
- Working with our state legislators to address statewide policy changes
- Working with community partners who represent some of our most vulnerable – older adults and those with disabilities – to ensure that they have access to appropriate housing solutions
- Ensuring service coordination and more upstream solutions for our unhoused community
How will you address climate change? How do you plan to meet some of the City’s climate goals?
I would work with our Office of Sustainability to ensure they have the resources necessary to meet our climate goals, while leveraging the position of a City Councilperson to increase public awareness and discourse. I will also continue to work with staff to ensure that our sustainability efforts are brought through all departments, services, and programs. From air quality to zero waste, transportation to natural resources, our approach must continue to be fully integrated and accessible.
We also must continue to ensure that the most vulnerable in our community have their needs met. In the aftermath of the 2013 floods, a study that was commissioned by the City and County, Resiliencia Para Todos/Resilience for All, showed that there were really significant gaps in the ability to access needed services by certain populations, especially monolingual-spanish speaking latinos. I want to ensure that the recommendations from this project have been addressed and that cultural brokers are continuing to be utilized to build bridges between the City and vulnerable populations.
What are your goals for transportation and how will you achieve them?
First, we must celebrate the amazing work of the City of Longmont in being recognized as a top-10 biker-friendly mid-level cities in the US by People For Bikes. This speaks to the continued investment in biking infrastructure and safety. Our work at the city is able to complement the regional efforts that help more people not just enjoy biking, but use it as a primary mode of transportation. As the bike path along 119 is redeveloped, Longmont must ensure we have proper connections for bike commuters to take advantage of the path.
The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project with RTD will also provide a significant improvement for Longmont to Boulder commuters, allowing for a quicker, reliable transit solution.
I’m very enthusiastic about the recent grant dollars received by the City to invest in microtransit solutions. Longmont has long been known for piloting innovative solutions in transit. I would look to provide support to our transportation department and Transportation Advisory Board to continue to look for unique, innovative ways to provide transportation access to our city for those who live here.
How do you plan to engage non-English speaking constituents?
This is a passion of mine and a real issue I see with the City right now. We absolutely must address language access across all meetings and events, hosted by the City. At a recent planning Board meeting, I witnessed a gentleman have his son provide testimony because interpretation wasn’t available.
Not only do we need Spanish-language interpretation, but we should also have ASL at City Meetings and events. Language access is currently a barrier to many community members getting involved and sharing their views with our City government.
How does diversity factor into your policy making?
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are values that I live into every day. For a City Councilperson, we must ensure that we are seeking diverse perspectives, providing opportunities for community engagement with low barriers to involvement (ie: town halls in the community at a variety of times and locations with childcare).
I will also seek input from community organizations. Recently, before meeting with a specific department head, I reached out to some community organizations to hear about their feedback or questions for that department. I seek to be a conduit for the community.
How will you reach residents who have different lived experiences than you?
As is the rallying call for many activist movements today, “Nothing About Us Without Us.” This is where I can put my network in the nonprofit space to use. As Councilmembers, we can go into community to hear directly from individuals instead of relying on those with privilege who can show up at public comment.
I strive to listen first, hearing about experiences and needs, before presenting solutions. This skill will serve me well on Council, to ensure that I am really taking in the perspectives of those most impacted by the decisions that we make.
Rank your top 5 issues in priority.
- Housing – Affordable
- Housing – Attainable
- Minimum Wage
- Early Childhood Access
- City Council Accessibility/Language Access
