When I first took office in 2021, I inherited some messy city construction projects. My office hosted a series of meetings with businesses and neighborhoods impacted by these projects. I heard from you about your struggles, and in response I initiated a program awarding an additional $10k in grant funds from a federal recovery program that we dedicated for businesses impacted by city construction projects. So far, we have distributed $1.35M in $10k grants to 135 businesses. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough, so this year we secured an additional $3.75M for grants exclusively for small businesses impacted by city construction projects.
While I worked to reduce the impacts of mismanaged projects that were initiated before I got into office, I also wanted to make sure that our city does a better job going forward. That is why I helped pass an ordinance prohibiting contractors with poor performance history from securing city contracts for three years.
I also submitted a proposal to make your government more efficient by getting city construction projects delivered on time with minimal disruption. My policy introduces bigger timeline completion incentive bonuses as well as penalties for unjustified delays. Any late fines collected will be distributed to the businesses that are hurt by project delays to help minimize losses and protect their employees.