Ryan Bartholomew

Housing Ban Private Equity Firms from Buying Starter Homes: We should explore all of our options to stop this practice from occurring locally, as it is driving up prices for first-time homebuyers and rent prices. We must also strictly enforce non-owner occupied short-term rental regulations. Housing Expand Affordable Housing Options: Instead of focusing on building luxury 1 million condos, the city needs to build a lot of real, affordable housing that working people can actually afford. We should expand publicly owned, permanently affordable housing options so that working-class people and seniors can actually afford to live in this city. Taxes / Budget Give Residents a Voice in the Budget Process: We should democratize the budget process through participatory budgeting, where each Ward would decide on how to spend a set amount of money to best meet the public’s needs. Housing Ensure Rent Quotes Are Honored: If a prospective tenant is quoted a monthly rent, that price should be honored for at least 48 hours. People need time to check their finances without having to worry that the quoted price will change. Environment / Energy Support Municipal Public Power: DTE maximizes profits for their shareholders at our expense. Owning our own grid will help us to lower costs for city residents, better facilitate a switch to 100% renewable energy, and drastically improve reliability. Environment / Energy Ensure Biodiversity and Space for Pollinators: Ann Arbor needs to create a workplan to ensure that we are thoughtfully protecting our biodiversity and vulnerable pollinator and songbird populations as we expand our density. Social Services Create a Pilot Program for Municipal-Run Childcare: Childcare is more expensive in Ann Arbor than anywhere else in the state, averaging 2600 per month for infant care. How can we expect working people like teachers to take care of our children when they cannot afford to have people take care of theirs? Government Reform Commit to Reject Corporate PAC Campaign Contributions: Residents deserve to have confidence that their elected leaders are making decisions based on what is best for the community. That is why I am committed to not taking donations from corporate PACs or developers. Public trust matters, and political donations from special interests can erode that trust. With me, you can be certain that the only folks I’m working for are my constituents. Housing Adopt a Tenants’ Bill of Rights: This includes items like calling on the state to remove the preemption on rent control, giving tenants the right to organize, and ensuring that dwellings are safe and habitable. Housing Stop Price Fixing: Some corporate landlords in Ann Arbor are utilizing software to collude with one another to artificially keep rent higher than market rate. I wrote a bill in Lansing to ban this practice, and I will work to do it on Council too. Housing Stop Subsidizing Large Corporate Developers: We should not be providing corporate welfare to multi-million dollar development companies, like the more than 350 million for Arbor South’s parking structures. Ann Arborites’ tax dollars should stay in our community to pay for essential services and help people who are struggling. Immigration Ensure Everyone Knows Their Rights: The federal government has blatantly violated half of the Bill of Rights in their use of ICE and CBP. We must ensure that all Ann Arborites are aware of their rights so they can protect themselves and their neighbors. Taxes / Budget Hire In-House Analysts: Ann Arbor pays consultants millions of dollars for what can be done more cost-effectively in-house. We have so much talent in this city, and we should hire folks to work for City Hall and use the savings to better serve our constituents. Government Reform Stop the Privatization of City Services: Over the last several years, we’ve watched city services from trash pickup to snow removal be privatized. Instead of stripping away good, union jobs, let’s bring these services back to the city for improved quality and reliability. Wages / Job Benefits Pay City Workers What They Are Worth: City AFSCME workers have been working without a contract for 4 months, have not had a raise in 2 years, and have a turnover rate north of 70%. These folks do the work that make the city function, and we should compensate and treat them as such. Immigration Prepare for ICE Deployment to Ann Arbor: President Trump has made it clear that Detroit is on his list of potential next targets for a big deployment, which means Ann Arbor would follow. We need to continue to be proactive in preparing for that eventuality to protect our residents. Environment / Energy Rein In the Construction of Unregulated Data Centers: Major corporations are racing to build unregulated data centers in Washtenaw County that threaten our air, water, and electricity costs. We must ban new centers in Ann Arbor and push for strong state regulations on existing ones.