The City of Fairway Mission Statement proclaims to provide a strong community free from discrimination, preserve and protect our green spaces and improve sustainability, and respond to the needs of residents with innovative solutions to ensure their best quality of life. But that is far from the reality for many working class residents in our city. Fairway is becoming increasingly unlivable for regular families who can't keep up with skyrocketing housing costs, and the ever-increasing class barriers that prevent their success are not being addressed by City Council. That is why my goal is to bring my neighbors' voices back to City Hall and ensure the tenets of Equality, Sustainability, and Reliability that make our city great.
Kiel's Platform
Equality
Standing Up for Working Class Families and Renters
Fairway is becoming an increasingly difficult place to live for those who are not wealthy. Gentrification of neighborhoods is driving up property values while pushing out people who can't afford to own their homes, forcing them to rent and only increasing the wealth disparity between working-class citizens and the rich landlords receiving a passive income from owning multiple houses. The city government wants people to own houses in Fairway because it is a desirable neighborhood, but there are very few opportunities for anyone not already wealthy to do so. There are so many barriers for fixed-income working class families that Fairway is starting to look like a gated community without the physical gates. I believe everyone deserves to live and prosper in our beautiful city, not just homeowners who are primarily rich and white. Diversity makes our community stronger, especially when we all work together to achieve our goals. When people say Fairway is the place to be, I want that to mean for everyone. If elected I will take steps to ensure equal footing for all residents and protect Fairway from the unfair concentration of wealth, including limiting the number of properties one individual or company can buy.
Ensuring Fair Code Enforcement
The inequality between renters and homeowners is even more apparent in how the city tends to enforce codes. City code penalties are enforced regularly for minor beautification issues such as visible trash cans or limbs in the yard because these items generate easy revenue with minimal effort from the city. Yet some renters continue living in houses with blatant safety violations while the owners face no consequences. Residents renting in Ward 4 tell me their complaints to the city go unanswered. It's time to readjust our priorities. Cosmetic issues should never outweigh issues that affect the health and individual rights of our residents. As a council member I will commit to strict enforcement of city codes on landlords providing inadequate living conditions and establish an enforcement oversight committee within City Council to ensure that city policies don't disproportionately impact renters and non-wealthy families.
Paving the Way for Change
The cost of housing and rent prices are out of control, many people are living paycheck-to-paycheck struggling to afford basic living in our neighborhoods, and yet the minimum wage here in Fairway is still stuck at $7.25 an hour (the federal rate that has not changed in over 15 years despite inflation!). This is because Kansas state law adheres to the federal standard for minimum wage and prohibits municipalities from establishing minimum wage rates that differ from the state or federal standards.
Rent control is also illegal in Kansas, meaning cities and counties cannot set limits on the amount landlords charge renters to live in their homes, even if it is exorbitantly high. But if enough municipal governments take action anyway it can show a demand for the state law to change, which is why I plan to introduce rent control and increased minimum wage ordinances in Fairway as "trigger laws" which will encourage the state legislation to be amended in favor of working-class citizens and become immediately enforceable as soon as it does. In the meantime I will strive to enact an assistance program to ease the burden on Fairway renters and homeowners, implemented using the money already collected by property tax.
Sustainability
Stopping Reckless Housing Developments
Fairway has become plagued by a corporate house developer phenomenon in which perfectly functional one-story houses are being bought and demolished in order to construct brand new and bigger two-story houses in their place. These luxury redevelopments, often called "McMansions" by residents, drastically drive up the property values and taxes of the surrounding area and make the entire neighborhood more unaffordable to rent or own houses in — including for neighbors already residing in those communities who now get priced out of their own homes. This cost-of-living increase is not sustainable for many residents in our city and is especially hard on our senior citizens and anyone else on a fixed income. If we let this continue eventually the end result will be Fairway becoming unlivable for anyone without excessive wealth.
These ostentatious teardown/rebuild projects are not only a massive waste of resources to construct and maintain, but they also damage the strong character of our neighborhoods and the local environment, replacing historical architecture from the 1930s and having less green space than normally included on other homes. I frequently hear from neighbors about noise and safety concerns regarding these construction projects as well. One of my priorities in City Council will be to push back on the approval of such projects and put a stop to our neighborhoods being taken over by these unsustainable housing developments that increase the cost of living and become both a visual and financial burden on the rest of the community.
Putting Existing Resources to Good Use
In the profit-driven mindset developers have created, houses are seen as an economic investment and many investors are buying additional houses solely to turn into Airbnbs. These houses sit empty most of the time but are unavailable to potential new buyers, while residents who are struggling with rent have less options to overcome struggles as landlords can use the lack of private owned houses to justify high rent prices. No house should sit empty while hard-working people are in need of homes.
Current city code only places a restriction on the distance between Airbnb locations which is a good start, but if we want to limit the amount that exist here in Fairway a better solution is to instead revise city code to say no future houses may be bought with the sole intent to use them as Airbnbs, which I intend to bring to City Council if elected.
In addition to these changes in housing, I intend to take on other city resources being misused in Fairway and reallocate these funds and systems to be used for the benefit of all residents, stop waste, and keep our city running smoothly.
Reliability
Bringing Your Voice to City Council
As a constituent I have brought issues to City Council and sometimes had them brushed aside or not taken seriously. I've spoken with neighbors who tell me they have issues that are important to them but they don't feel they have the power to do anything about it. I want to show people that together, we DO have the power to change our city for the better. If elected I promise to listen to ALL residents of my ward and address their concerns with care. I will stand up for my working-class neighbors and make sure their voices don't go unheard in favor of policies that only benefit the wealthy.
Getting Results That Matter
Many solutions provided by City Council are just band-aid measures seeking to make a quick profit instead of actually addressing systemic issues that are hurting citizens in the first place. As a council member I pledge to get to the root of the problems most impacting our hard-working Fairway communities. I will use my mathematical and analytical skills to get hard proof and data-driven results, and will hold frequent community meetings for transparency and stay involved with my neighbors throughout the implementation process so we can ensure that any measures taken by the city actually help the people they are supposed to.