WHY FOUNTAIN HILLS MATTERS

There’s many reasons why someone seeks public office. They are as varied as the people who throw their hat into the ring, yet too often self-aggrandizement rather than service is the motivation. 

As I’ve been meeting with residents during the campaign, I keep hearing how burnt out they are with our current political climate. Not just over the venom flung at people with different opinions, but over politicians who seem to have no stake in the places they govern, and therefore no incentive to improve the lives of the people they serve.

Which brings me to why I am running. 

As my wife and I were driving home from dinner one night, she stopped me mid-conversation and pointed,

 “Look!”

She drew my attention to 3 teenagers riding their bikes as the sun set over the mountains. 

“What about them?” I asked, 

“You don’t see that anywhere else.”

Frankly, she was right. 

Where else in Arizona can parents send their kids out for a day and trust they’ll be home when the sun sets? 

What exists in our town is vanishing across the state. 

We should know, because we lived it. 

My wife stayed in Tempe while attending ASU while I lived just down the street. 

We loved our jobs, our friends, our business networks, the ability to grab subs at 2AM on a random Wednesday. It seemed like life couldn’t get any better. 

Then something shifted. 

It could have been COVID, the families who were driven out by crime, uncontrolled development, or a myriad of other things. 

We soon began to realize that what we enjoyed most about our community was slipping away. 

Investors gobbled up properties to build high-density apartments, 

Parks became filthy, 

We started to avoid restaurants we loved because of crime, 

Our friends moved away to start families of their own in safe towns, 

Our city was overrun with homeless encampments. 

Towards the end, I watched as SWAT executed drug raids on the houses down the block. My wife coordinated her daily walk so she could dip into a nearby business if a vagrant decided to accost her.

When deciding where to raise our own family, these images were seared into our heads. 

Should we look for a safer neighborhood? 

Should we move out of state? 

Should we binge Taylor Sheridan’s “1883” in preparation to live off the grid in a mountain compound? 

But that night, we realized what the answer was. 

It was an odyssey that led me to run for Town Council. At first, I baulked at the idea of putting on a suit every two weeks just to subject my family to the kind of political division our town has become  known for.  Regardless, we seemingly had everything that we wanted in Fountain Hills. 

Then, my wife told me she was expecting our daughter. 

Nothing shatters what you thought was meaningful like the realization that you will bring a child into the world. My life was no longer my own. I am now responsible for raising and nurturing an innocent soul and protecting her from all that would seek to harm her. 

Fountain Hills is our home, and that is why we should do everything we can to keep it that way. 

This is the place my wife grew up, 

Where we married, 

Where my family lives, 

And it's where my daughter will be raised. 

It's the home we love. 

And you fight for what you love. 

That’s why Fountain Hills matters to me. It’s not just another town with great restaurants and beautiful parks. It's my daughter’s home as much as mine. I now have the opportunity to raise my daughter in a place that offers everything my wife and I want out of a home. 

Yet, if we want our town to remain our home, it will be up to us to keep everything that makes it great. 

That’s why I’m running.