Boulder budget ambitions depend on public safety

At a recent City Council candidate forum, all prospective council members gave lip service to the city’s budget woes and the challenges of funding social and infrastructure programs. Only one candidate, Mark Wallach, made the vital connection between public safety and tax revenues. Seeing the big picture, as a seasoned and pragmatic member of council, Mark observed that if business owners, employees, Boulder citizens and visitors do not feel safe on the Pearl Street Mall or downtown areas, we will continue to lose our small business base and erode our sales tax revenue. Then with falling sales tax, we’ll be unable to pay for transportation, police, fire, homeless and housing projects.

Boulder needs practical leaders who can connect all the complex pieces of running the city, not ideologues who focus on theoretical pet projects. While the progressive wing on council has a record of ignoring downtown safety and ignoring our small business base, Mark sees the big picture. He clearly sees that safety on our streets and parks directly impacts the health of Boulder retail and restaurants, which in turn drives sales taxes, which are then the foundation of our city budget and critical programs.

While everyone on stage at the forum had concerns about housing, wildfire safety and programs for the unhoused, only Mark Wallach had a view of how all the pieces of this puzzle fit together. We need his responsible guidance back on Boulder City Council for another term.

— Donald Bergal, Boulder