Edgewater City Council candidate Lilly Steirer
This weekend we will be spotlighting the candidates for Edgewater Mayor and City Council. There is only one candidate for Edgewater Mayor, current City Councilmember John Beltrone. There are four candidates for four seats on Edgewater City Council. The City Council candidate with the least number of votes will finish the last two years of former Councilmember Micha Rosenoer’s term on Council.
You can read the candidate spotlights as they are released here.
Today we are spotlighting one of four candidates for Edgewater City Council, Lilly Steirer.
Your Occupation:
Local Food & Garden Instructor and Consultant as well as a Cooking Instructor for Slow Food Denver working in JeffCo School District + Denver Public Schools and a Qoya Teacher
What do you love about Edgewater?
The small town feel of Edgewater with its proximity to beautiful nature and urban conveniences is what I love about our city. The ability to walk or bike to incredible local businesses while knowing that I might meet up with a friend or neighbor is why I love raising my two children in this city. Overall though, the people who make up our community is what I love the most.
What do you view as the role of the Edgewater City Council?
City Council listens and works in collaboration with city staff, boards, and commissions, to make decisions about how to balance and shape legislation for the whole community of Edgewater. This includes embracing what will work best for residents as well as city staff, employees, and business owners who are all essential for our city to thrive.
Which of Edgewater’s recent legislative actions is your least favorite? Which is your favorite?
City Council rose up to many challenges brought on with the pandemic and I am happy with the legislation that gave monthly assistance to Edgewater residents through Brothers Redevelopment. I am also impressed with City Council’s call to improve equity, equality, and inclusion.
Overall, I am looking forward to moving ahead with the Mobility Plan. I have been walking and biking with my children in our streets since they were babies and it is challenging and shocking at times how motorists behave. We are clearly needing safer road ways for pedestrians, cyclists, elderly, and families.
However, it was very concerning that the most recent decision for the roundabout at Pierce & 24th will require the removal of at least three mature, thriving trees. It is my understanding this was the only option given by the JeffCo School District that owns that land, but I do not feel all options were fully explored.
In the future, I will work to make sure the efforts with the Mobility Plan can increase not decrease our natural ecosystem. Trees improve our air quality and have a natural traffic calming effect that could have added safety to this high school roundabout. We need safer roads, but we also have to decrease our urban heat island effect while keeping trees for our air quality, as flood mitigation, and traffic calming. There is a balance that was not met with this recent legislation. Safe roads and protecting ecosystems are not mutually exclusive.
What role can Edgewater City Council play in supporting current small businesses and attracting new ones?
As a small business owner since 2004, I understand the challenges of engaging with and supporting small businesses. Given the small size of our city, ensuring safe walkability to our businesses can have a dramatic impact. If one is able to walk to a local business, they tend to frequent more often and spend more dollars. Supporting our small businesses is another great reason to support the Mobility Plan. I am also proud to serve on the Sheridan Stakeholders team that is working to make that corridor safer while providing welcoming and smooth access to businesses. With our tax revenue coming from businesses, resident support of our local businesses is essential for our entire community.
Why should Edgewater residents vote for you?
For the last three years, I have served as the chair of the Edgewater Sustainability Board. We wrote the first Sustainability Plan for our city and have been implementing it since right before the pandemic. Our successes include bringing in a composting program, energy audit rebates, fall leaf drop off program, the Sustainability Ambassador program, and joining the Colorado Communities for Climate Action (CC4CA). My intention is to bring my passion for sustainability and my enthusiasm to take productive action to the City Council meetings while mindfully working for our entire community.
Please reach out: hello@lillyforedgewater.com I would love to hear from you about how you would like for me to serve you on City Council.
Find more information at lillyforedgewater.com or facebook.com/lillyforedgewater
Joel has been a resident of Edgewater, Colorado with his family since 2012. He is the Executive Director of local education nonprofit Edgewater Collective and Editor of the Edgewater Echo.
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