“Being a leader means stepping up when your constituents need help and doing whatever it takes to support them. For me, that included collecting and delivering tens of thousands of masks and gloves to frontline workers and service providers, and working night shifts serving meals in a COVID shelter hotel when we were severely understaffed. In times of crisis, you check your ego at the door, roll up your sleeves, and get to work.” -Matt
HOW CAN WE HAVE PRIDE in our community if our streets and sidewalks are covered with human waste, needles, and trash? One of my top priorities will be to fight for resources for daily sidewalk deep cleaning, community clean up crews, and open and clean public restrooms.
Here’s what I’ll do:
Fight for the deep daily sidewalk and street cleaning that our district needs -- right now, we are under-supported and under-resourced in street cleaning. This has to include early mornings, middle of the night, and weekends.
Increase community clean up crews -- helping to create jobs and pathways to stability, while also keeping our communities clean and safe.
Expand the number of trash cans in the district, and replace broken, old trash cans with new “Big Belly” style trash cans.
Implement “smart on trash” data analytics -- our resources should be targeted where, when and how they are most needed.
Double the number of public restrooms in our district, and extend hours into the evening and night.
Use public restrooms as fully staffed service centers -- if someone comes to a public restroom in the middle of the night, we should use that as an opportunity to get them off the street and into shelter.