1. What is it that you love about Ann Arbor?
I love the progressive ideals that so many of my neighbors share. Living in Ann Arbor has given me hope that social progress is possible, and it starts within our own community.
2. What are the three most pressing problems that you care most about fixing?
Affordability, affordability, and affordability. Ann Arbor has a cost-of-living crisis, and our current city leaders are not giving their best efforts to address it. Development for the sake of private interests does not make our lives better or our rent cheaper; it just exacerbates the divide between the wealthy and the working class.
3. How would you go about fixing those problems?
Public housing, public power, and public accountability. The people of our city have been exploited by landlords, DTE, and the privatization of our resources for too long. Affordability for our residents is attainable when local government works for the people, not investors.
On housing: I’ll push for a major expansion of city-supported affordable housing, and I mean genuinely affordable, not “affordable” priced at 80% of area median income that working families still can’t reach. That means using the affordable housing millage aggressively, exploring community land trust and co-op models that take homes off the speculative market permanently, and strengthening inclusionary requirements so every new development contributes meaningfully to affordability rather than pushing people out.
On power: DTE’s combination of high rates and unreliable service is a tax on every household in this city. I support fully implementing the Sustainable Energy Utility that Ann Arbor voters approved, and A2P2. No community should be at the mercy of an out-of-town monopoly.
On accountability: I’ll champion participatory budgeting so residents have a direct say in how city dollars get spent, stronger tenant protections including a Tenant Bill of Rights, and real transparency around the deals our city makes with developers and contractors.
These aren’t abstract ideals. Cities across the country are already doing this work and Ann Arbor can too.
4. Let’s say that your solution meets resistance or some part of your plan doesn’t work. What do you do next?
Every setback will be a lesson. I’m not running because I’m a policy expert; I’m running because the working-class and the young people of this city deserve a voice. I have met so many incredible civic-minded people who are full of great ideas. I look forward to growing and learning as a community leader and am willing to work with anyone who has our city’s best interests at the center of their mission.
5. You are one of three candidates running for Ward 1. How do you think the voters should think of the differences between you and your opponents?
The policies we run on and the people we represent should be the center of this race. I am the youngest candidate and represent a nationwide movement of true progressives fighting against the realities that younger generations are facing.
6. The way that we do politics in this country has been changing rapidly via Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Abigail Spanberger, Mikie Sherrill, and Zohran Mamdani. What are your thoughts on this decade + evolution in how we do politics in this country, and how has it changed the way that you approach running for office and delivering for the people?
People across the country just want to be heard. For too long, the democratic establishment has ignored the cries of the working class and allowed reactionary authoritarianism to take hold. Zohran Mamdani and others like him have shown that when the left values solidarity, accountability, and progress, they can win on a platform of hope rather than just fear of the other side. We all have the opportunity right now to be a part of that movement.
7. The nation is at an extremely low ebb in democratic participation, trust in institutions, and feeling truly connected to a community. I want to give you the chance to make your case to AA Observer readers that you really care about them, and that you are the right person, with the right talents and strategy, to make meaningful changes that will improve their economic lot in life, safeguard the rule of law, make sure that they won’t be left behind, and that you can ensure their inclusion and dignity in Treetown.
I understand the disconnection you’re describing because I feel it too. I’m not a career politician; I’m someone who’s watched friends priced out of the city they grew up loving, watched neighbors choose between rent and groceries, and decided to do something about it instead of waiting on someone else.
To readers worried about their economic future: I will fight every day to bring down the cost of living here. That means more genuinely affordable housing, holding utility monopolies accountable for what they charge us, and supporting living wages for the people who keep this city running.
To readers worried about the rule of law as national institutions buckle, local government is the front line. A city that funds its libraries, protects its renters, defends its immigrant neighbors, and refuses to cooperate with federal overreach is doing the work of democracy in a way that matters right now.
To readers afraid of being left behind: my campaign is built on the belief that no one in this city is disposable. Not the student working two jobs, not the retiree on a fixed income, not the family searching for a home they can afford, not the worker whose industry is changing under their feet.
And to anyone wondering whether their voice still counts in Ann Arbor: I won’t just listen. I’ll organize with you, knock on doors with you, and bring the energy of this campaign into every council meeting. Treetown belongs to all of us, and I’m running to keep it that way.
8. Zingerman’s, Ahmos, No Thai, Fleetwood, or Le Dog. Where would you rather go to lunch?
Zingerman’s all day, every day.