Name: Junie Joseph
Website: junieforboulder.com
Age: 33
Family: No children and single
How long have you lived in Boulder: One year
Professional background: Human rights and development
Political/community experience: Former United Nations human rights monitoring officer, within the United Nations Mission to the Central African Republic, protection of civilians in armed conflict; worked in the Obama White House, promoting the rights of Native Americans; Boulder County Community Corrections member.
Education: University of Florida, BA political science; University of York, MA human rights; University of Colorado Boulder, JD candidate.
What kind of new funding mechanisms, if any, would you support the city exploring and implementing to finance transportation network improvements?
The city has been struggling to find new funding sources for transportation for at least a decade, and there’s no panacea. We need to continue to investigate fees based on usage, such as parking fees or perhaps congestion fees. Meanwhile, we need to be more efficient in our use of existing transportation funding, especially for capital projects, by supporting better street environments for walking and biking. And we should prioritize policy-level changes that are cost effecting, including making our transportation design and construction standards more progressive.
Do you think Boulder can build its way to better affordability? And if not, what kind of local regulations aimed at boosting affordable housing and limiting housing costs that would not require a change to state law to impose would you support?
As someone who is running on socio-economic diversity and political inclusion, housing homeless families, students, the elderly, workers such as teachers, firefighters and other safety personnel are very important to me. But I also understand that simply building more won’t get us to affordability, especially when we look at other cities that are extremely dense, yet unaffordable. Nonetheless, we must be diligent to protect our climate and also care for the families that are income challenged. We must consider in-fills and how we use space. We must seek opportunities to provide affordable housing to some of those who desire to live here. Consequently, we need sensible housing and land-based regulations that take into account the climate, our transportation infrastructure, and our limited budget. As a candidate, I have had the opportunity to walk your neighborhoods and heard your concerns about neighborhood character. My aspiration as a future council member is to find solutions for transit-oriented housing while respecting existing neighborhoods. Additionally, although I am still learning about the current ballot initiative to protect middle-income families, I will support it.
Do you support instituting some type of fee on users or vehicles entering open space properties to fund their maintenance, and if so, what kind?
We already have fees on parking at some mountain parks. It makes sense to expand this system, both to generate funding for open space maintenance and to encourage non-auto-based visitation. As it relates to charging a fee on users of open space, I currently support the open space ballot initiative because I see open space as the great equalizer. Charging people to use open space may have a negative impact on poorer families, students, and seniors living in Boulder who are on a fixed income.
