Hello, Fellow Mounties!

My story and why I am running for office

One of the key reasons I have decided to put my name forward for council is that I firmly believe that all government begins at home – in our towns and locally. I have spent my career working for mission-driven organizations, mostly non-profits working with USAID and other foreign development work, and my passion for making the world a better place is even more ignited with what’s going on right now at the federal level. I considered putting my name forward for several years and this year I felt it was time to seek a seat on the City Council to serve the city and community.

In my professional career, I have lived in Ecuador, Jordan and Egypt, and I speak Spanish, French and (Egyptian) Arabic. I have worked as lead negotiator and a senior executive for large international NGOs, leading teams to win billions of dollars in grants and contacts, driving organizational strategy and organizational development, and overseeing millions of dollars in budgets. I have deep expertise in working on complex teams to achieve consensus on challenging issues and creating community wherever I work. Three years ago, I started my own consulting business based in Mt Rainier to use my skills and experience to help small and medium sized NGOs and domestic nonprofits.

As a progressive gay man, I find Mount Rainier to be such a welcoming community and I feel such joy as I walk around and see pride flags flying, support posters for Ukraine and BLM flags and signs on houses. Our community cares so much for the world and for this place we live in. 

Growing up in central Illinois, I grew up on a brick tree-lined street where I sat on our front porch with my parents who waved and spoke to neighbors as they walked past, walking their dogs, walking with their children or just headed to or from the park. This is the true sense of community feeling I have here in Mt Rainier as well as I sit on my own porch now, greeting neighbors as they stroll by and say hello, sometimes stopping to chat. I love this community and the small town feel we have in our city.

As a regular voter and very vocal advocate for citizen engagement, I believe in increasing and strengthening our city’s civic engagement. To me this means having people included and involved in the city as much as possible. As City Council Member for Ward 2, I would seek to have regular, in person, resident engagement meetings to hear from and speak with our constituents. I’d also advocate for our city council to return to more in person meetings rather than Zoom calls to help with teamwork, to allow for in person resident engagement and to show that we are dedicated to working in the city for the city in person. I would explore ways to engage with the teens and young adults of our town, in partnership with the board of elections, when possible, to encourage their engagement at the local level in the city. I would also like to see how I could help support our fellow Mounties who have been impacted by the drastic measures taking place at the Federal Government level, especially those that have lost their jobs or businesses. 

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Living here in Mt Rainier, I often feel the looming presence of DC on one side and Hyattsville on the other. Watching traffic speed through town from one to the other. One of the main reasons I chose Mt Rainier as my home was the vibrant art community at the entrance of the Gateway Arts District from DC (as well as our beautiful trees and rolling hills). I would love to see how the city might be able to continue to drive awareness of the historic sites in Mt Rainier, our talented artists, our growing food destinations and even entice new businesses to open up in some of the empty shopfronts in town to encourage more business and visits from other towns around us. Living in Boston, the artist community in my neighborhood held First Fridays – open galleries and chances to visit and shop, sip wine and socialize. I’d love to see us have something similar in town, expanding on the annual Open Studios we have now. 

In my free time, I consider myself to be a fiber artist. I knit, crochet, weave, and sew. One thing I looked for in a home was a room I could put my floor loom in and have space to weave – which I found in my bungalow here in Mt Rainier! I teach sewing classes now and then in Hyattsville at Three Little Birds and love to design new things from fabric – clothing, sweaters, quilts, blankets and more. I knit and crochet every night while watching tv and I have made hundreds of crocheted hats that I have donated to those who need warmth through local churches, community organizations and my neighbors. I participated in the Mt Rainier Holiday Craft Fair at Joe’s this past year and loved seeing other artists there from our city and getting the chance to chat with neighbors as they walked around by my booth.