Julia is a progressive, passionate, and present leader. She cares deeply about building a community where everyone can live a life of dignity, respect, and freedom.
Julia is running for Mayor of Mankato because she’s frustrated with the status quo. She understands the experience of everyday Mankatoans and thinks our local government could be doing better by our community members.
Meet Julia
Julia is a proud Mankato “townie” through and through. As a lifelong Mankato resident, Julia is committed to giving back to the community that has nurtured her.
Julia is running for Mayor to change the conversation at City Council - to center the conversation around the real-life experiences of people in our town. As a social worker, renter, queer woman, survivor of gender-based violence, millennial, and auntie, she understands the challenges many people in Mankato face and believes everyone should be heard and respected - especially those too often left out of decision making.
Her guiding values include equity, accountability, transparency, dignity, justice, freedom, growth, and community.
Positions
As mayor, Julia knows she can’t singlehandedly change city policy overnight, but she can promise to show up, ask hard questions, bring new ideas to the table, and challenge the status quo.
Julia wants to start new conversations about issues our town cares about.
Community Input and Transparency
Julia wants to ensure that citizens are listened to and that city government remains transparent and accountable to the community.
She hopes to create more opportunities for open dialogue between the City Council and Mankato residents by exploring new ways to gather feedback from citizens, especially from those most impacted by decisions and voices often left out of conversations. She wants to increase transparency in the council’s decision-making processes and ensure that the council is responsive and respectful to feedback and ideas from their constituents.
Environmental Justice and Sustainability
Julia wants to bring new conversations to the city council about how we can sustain a healthy future for Mankato by examining how proposed developments, like data centers, might impact our environment.
Julia understands it is our responsibility as humans to care for our environment and to be proactive about safeguarding our climate for future generations. She wants to explore what steps we can take locally to be resilient in the face of climate change. Julia is inspired by cities who prioritize the environment through climate change impact plans, and policies that de-incentivize harmful practices, such as a plastic bag fee. If it can happen in other cities, why not Mankato?
Affordability and Tenants Rights
Julia understands that Mankato citizens are experiencing serious financial strain and the gap between the richest and most impoverished individuals is growing.
Julia plans to re-examine how the city defines affordable housing and invests in the creation of more affordable units. She is also committed to ensuring fair and just rental practices. She’s interested in exploring ways city policy can support businesses in paying living wage.
Reimagining Public Safety
Julia believes that safety for citizens goes far beyond law enforcement and emergency services.
Community safety is achieved through a strong social safety network where citizens have access to resources beyond police intervention. When people have access to safe housing, financial stability, and community support systems that help prevent crises before they happen, communities thrive. Julia supports strengthening partnerships with local social service organizations and reviewing the city’s ordinances that criminalize homelessness.
Contact and Volunteer
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Contact the Campaign
