EARLY BIRD CANDIDATE SURVEY: Tracy Greever-Rice for City Council, Pt. 2

EARLY BIRD CANDIDATE SURVEY:  Tracy Greever-Rice for City Council, Pt. 2

Fourth Ward Columbia city council candidate Tracy Greever-Rice (left) answers the Columbia Heart Beat's Early Bird Candidate Survey from local journalists.   Survey questions went out to early filers for mayor and city council.  Our team of questioning journalists:

George Kennedy, professor of journalism and columnist, The Columbia Missourian

Tyree Byndom, Host, Kore Issues, KOPN radio

Mary Daly, Managing Editor, The MU Maneater

Jonathan Sessions, columnist/blogger, Columbia Business Times

This second part continues answers from Greever-Rice. 

Tyree Byndom (right) asks:  What type of legacy would you like to leave? 

Greever-Rice:   A commitment to responsive, inclusive, and transparent government.   From services like utilities and emergency response to the research and evidence used to justify a policy, Columbians should expect a genuinely responsive city government.

Transparency in local governance can't just mean peering into the proverbial 'smoky backroom' after policy decisions that affect everyone have been made by and for a few.  Smoking is banned in Columbia, and real transparency means that smoky backrooms are banned as well.

Transparency builds on itself.  Aside from access and fairness, transparency ensures that policy initiatives that do work can be used as models, and initiatives that do not work are avoided.

I also want to assure that citizens have the opportunity for authentic participation.  Currently, the city has 45 standing boards and commissions with hundreds of volunteers working on a gamut of issues.  Their commitment, ideas, and time should be honored by incorporating their original contributions into the policy development process, including the public record.

Mary Daly asks:  What changes that would affect students could we expect to see if you were elected?

Greever-Rice:   Like all of us, students need to both be and feel safe and secure.  I'd like to see more coordination between city public safety and higher ed officials to ensure that students are fully aware and respectful of rules of the road -- and how to operate safely in a "multi-modal" environment.  

I support the recent shift in policing that emphasizes curbing underage and/or excessive drinking.  Dealing pre-emptively with this risk to young people will go a long way to ensuring public safety on our campuses and the areas that surround them, including downtown.

I'd also like to impact economic development and job creation.  Our student population is an important economic driver.  Students bring millions of external dollars into our community.  We need to make sure we have lots of opportunities for those dollars to cycle many times through our local economy by supporting policies that encourage thriving retail, restaurant, recreation, and entertainment sectors. 

Further, many college students need flexible, part-time employment to afford their education. It's these kind of jobs that allow them to live here, rather than remaining in their home communities while attending commuter campuses.

Questions, Part 1:

http://www.columbiaheartbeat.com/2010/01/beat-byte-new-columbia-mayoral.html