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Each week, the publisher of the Arizona Daily Sun poses a question to the candidates for city council and mayor. Below are each of my answers. Local journalism is so important and I encourage you to subscribe. I’ll add additional answers as they appear in the newspaper.

Before the latest survey from the Center for the Future of Arizona was released, I believed that we’re in agreement on important issues more often than not. I base this primarily on conversations I’ve had with people who hold myriad political opinions about candidates and so-called partisan issues, but with whom I’ve found agreement on many of the problems we humans face. The Center recently released their Arizona Voters’ Agenda (AVA) based on a statistically relevant survey of Arizona voters—results of a second, post-Primary survey will be released this fall. A great thing about serving as mayor is that I get discuss issues with all kinds of people and to focus on problem-solving. We agree on some big issues and when we prioritize these issues,…

The Executive Director of the Arizona Pet Project reached out to me several months ago and I was excited to learn more about their work. It combines issues that are priorities for me—housing, animal and human welfare, and animal shelter overcrowding. The mission of the Arizona Pet Project: To reduce the number of dogs and cats entering Arizona shelters by providing the resources needed to keep pets and their families together. This organization is staffed by social workers and they can tailor a solution to each individual situation. If a family or individual meets income requirements, the AZ Pet Project can assist with money to help with veterinarian bills, rental deposits, temporary boarding, or most any other need. They also have some funding available specific…

Flagstaff’s housing problem is acute, and I know it can sometimes feel like not enough is being done to address it. I wish we had double the resources to tackle this problem, but we’re making progress—due, in large part, to the partnerships the city has with our non-profit housing partners combined with some smart investments of our resources. Yet, there’s still much work to do. First, I’ll speak to the housing programs led by the city’s housing section and some of the work of our non-profit partners. The City of Flagstaff Housing Authority owns two, and manages three, rental developments totaling 345 units serving low-income residents with incomes from 50% to 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI). The AMI is set by the U.S….

I recently took some items to the “Fix It Clinic,” an event sponsored by the City’s Sustainability Section and staffed by community volunteers. Residents can bring items such as small electronics, toys, lamps, vacuum cleaners, bikes, and clothing while handy and creative volunteers will do their best to fix them for free. I struck up a conversation with Ward Davis, a long-time community volunteer involved with many great projects around town. Ward was working with two young men to disassemble items that couldn’t be fixed, but that contained parts that could either be repurposed or recycled. The entire event got me thinking about consumption and solid waste so I went back to the video of a presentation City Council received about the Cinder Hills Landfill…

Jim Babbitt honored at the 2022 Viola Awards.