1800 Doors Later
Dear neighbors,
I hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend of Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos festivities and that you’re recovering from the Daylight Saving Time switch.
With just two days left before Election Day this Tuesday, I’m glad to share that my small team and I have knocked on nearly 2000 doors across Lafayette, on top of countless conversations with folks around our town in-person and online.
Running for City Council in Lafayette has been an incredible, challenging, intimidating, and meaningful experience. I’m really grateful for how many Lafayette folks took the time to speak with me about what they love about our town and what their concerns are. It’s a challenge in an election with nine other candidates to differentiate oneself as a candidate, so I’ve tried to stand out from the other impressive candidates in two ways:
First, by emphasizing my unique skills and experiences that help me be an effective and humble team player, pragmatic collaborator, and seasoned strategist, to include: I’ve developed national security strategies, led a global violence extremism prevention network, ran United Nations conferences, served as a conflict mediator, lived in Germany and Rwanda and Uganda, helped people recover from disasters, and was in Pakistan when the Taliban reconquered Afghanistan.
Second, by trying to be as transparent and approachable and open as possible, to include through hosting an "AMA" on Reddit where anyone could publicly Ask Me Anything, posting up at the Farmers Market for hours at a time to talk with folks and hear their concerns, spending a lot of time with neighbors and walking the city, and being excessively verbose online with how I’m seeing an issue and thinking through things, so that folks can understand my thought process (messy as it is!). I’ve hoped that, while folks may not always agree with my opinion or conclusions, that they may get a sense of how I approach a problem set, how I engage with folks, and thus have a good read on how I would operate as a Councilor.
And so, building on that second point, as we approach Election Day I wanted to share a few final thoughts about what I’ve heard from Lafayette neighbors as I’ve door-knocked, canvassed, and had coffee with folks around town. The below thoughts aren’t exhaustive nor is my read at all definitive, but these themes came through time and again:
Talking to hundreds of neighbors in-person has confirmed that a) Lafayette is made up of generous, thoughtful, and kind people who love this place, b) algorithm-driven social media does not reflect our city’s warm and diverse character, and c) people are really concerned about what’s going on in our city, region, and nationally, and most of them don’t feel particularly represented by their elected leaders at all levels of government. I wanted to start with this observation because a) it’s what I heard, and b) there’s a tendency in an election season to focus on things that broken, what isn’t working, who erred, etc. And I think it’s important to take a beat and appreciate that we live in a wonderful place with really good people who are doing their best, and there is a shared experience of too many folks feeling unrepresented, unheard, and un-advocated for.
Ballot Issue 2C, the bond issue for up to $74M, is very, very unpopular. I’ve been opposed to 2C since the beginning of the campaign, and that judgement call has been confirmed by countless Lafayette residents, who take issue with how we the public were asked for our opinion on what to fund, and then the City railroaded its preference to build a new civic center regardless. I think both Roy Johnson a few days ago and Doug Connaroe a couple months ago made compelling cases that, to me, confirm 2C is not the right move for our city at this time. I was baffled by the City Council’s decision on October 28th to vote to endorse 2C, 5-2; kudos to Councilors Samson and Fridland for their good judgement in voting against the motion to endorse.
I’ve heard strong feelings about how many taxes and fees are on this year’s ballot. While I’m opposed to 2C, I was proud to vote in favor of LL and MM to support Healthy School Meals, as well as measures to protect open space and mental health support. But when you add the problematic 2C bond on top of those good ballot items, I empathize with voters who are angry at the pile of tax increases they see on their ballot. It’s my view that our country is hurtling into a recession so I think it is extra important to be good stewards of tax dollars right now, and demonstrate that we see and hear the folks for whom several additional taxes is a real strain on their household budgets.
I’ve heard very strong, legitimate feelings around growth and housing affordability. I view the role of a good City Councilor as representing all of Lafayette, not just the folks that agree with one another or voted a certain way, so I think it’s really important to empathize with, respect, and understand everyone’s point of view. So I respect the perspective that Lafayette has changed a lot in the past decades, alongside fear of gentrification pushing out longtime residents and losing the town’s character. I also respect the perspective that housing costs have skyrocketed and young people can’t afford to live in the town they grew up in; working people can’t afford to live in the place they work; and that for our economy to thrive for all folks, we need to build more housing. I wrote quite a bit on how to balance these perspectives on housing in my Reddit Ask Me Anything, and I think there are a lot of creative ways we can tackle housing affordability without putting up a “Lafayette is closed” sign or touching our open space. My position on protecting Lafayette’s open space remains non-negotiable; you can read more about that here.
Navigating the collapse of local journalism as a first-time candidate is just as challenging (albeit differently) as navigating it as a citizen and voter. There are of course candidate profiles in the Daily Camera or Yellow Scene, but they are largely simple Q&A, not exhaustive reporting, and lacking the context that a team of local reporters would have. This absence of reporting makes it difficult for voters to distinguish among ten (!!) candidates, but it is also a challenge as a candidate in terms of getting the word out, being heard, and trying to get noticed. And, with the proliferation of dozens of social media platforms where there used to be only a few, there is no “digital commons” where we all gather together online. This is why I think that Karen Norback and Vicky Uhland’s writing is such an important voice in our community; in addition to deep knowledge, familiarity, and tenacity, they’re also essentially the only game in town!
Lafayette’s City Council is a mystery to Lafayette residents. Because life is hectic, it makes sense that most folks haven’t been tracking election specifics. But most folks in Lafayette aren't sure who sits on City Council, what it does, or how to access them. I’ve heard from a fair number of folks that getting responses from councilors or the city is harder than it used to be, or should be. And while I’m sure that’s not from a lack of care, because councilors and city staff are very busy, I think it definitely could be improved. My read is that there are both structural and cultural factors that a future Council could address, to make the city government more transparent, accessible, and accountable to Lafayette residents.
A large number of folks I’ve talked with in Lafayette think our local elections don’t matter, so I’ve found myself in this funny spot of evangelizing for how much local politics matters (because it does!) at the same time as asking folks for their vote (which feels self-centered). It breaks my heart that so many folks feel disconnected and not heard, and I think they have a lot of legitimate reasons for feeling that way. If elected, I really want to get City Council out of City Hall as much as possible, to meet people where they are and develop those relationships and demonstrate responsiveness and accountability.
A few other key themes that have come up frequently include concern around Flock cameras (get them out of Lafayette!), water security (we need much greater transparency and a long-term plan), disruptive red tape and permitting delays for small businesses (let's streamline our rulebook and get out of our own way), and wildfire resilience (we have to fully resource our Fire Dept and update our building and land use codes).
Lastly, I’ve heard a lot of appreciation for the range of great candidates running in this election. I believe Lafayette has the strongest bench of candidates for City Council in Boulder County, and it says a lot about our town that so many good folks stepped up to give it a shot. I don’t agree with everyone on everything, but it’s a good group of folks who have been a real pleasure to be fellow candidates with, and it will be fascinating to find out which direction Lafayette voters want to take our city.
So that’s it, those are my final thoughts as the campaign winds down and Election Day nears!
As of yesterday only 4600 ballots have been counted in Lafayette, which means there’s almost 18,000 ballots still out there!
I hope everyone in Lafayette votes, and I really hope to earn one of your four votes, but if I'm not the candidate for you, that's okay, please make sure to vote so that your voice is counted and we can increase Lafayette's voter turnout!
And if you’ve already voted, that’s wonderful, please encourage some of your friends, neighbors, and family to vote, too, and please feel free to share this message with anyone you think might enjoy reading it!
Thank you so much, and have a wonderful evening,
All the best,
Kyle Beaulieu
