As election season approaches, Jennifer Strait and the other Sedona City Council candidates answered many questions about their goals in the position and vision for the city. The six candidates are running for three four-year openings on the council.
Q: How long have lived in Sedona?
I arrived one year ago. [I’m] excited to make a life here and have a family.
Q: What do you or did you do for a living?
I’ve been a professional writer and newspaper reporter tending to town hall meetings and understanding the underpinnings of politics. I’m earning a doctorate in transformative economics, which will address Sedona’s complex economic landscape through hard research.
Q: Where in Sedona do you spend the most time?
You can find me at community events, outdoors, in my women’s group and at the airport, because I’m a pilot and love to fly. Every Sunday I’m at Wayside Bible Chapel for church service and prayer. Most importantly, I’m out and about every day, listening, and speaking with people about their desires for re-balance, albeit traffic management, affordable housing, chamber funding transparency, economic priorities for Sedona residents and keeping our natural lands clean and sacred.
Q: How else are you involved in the Sedona community [other than running for office]?
I’m active in helping those in need. As a community, I believe we are here to support one another. Recently, I organized a large event at the Sedona Performing Arts Center with eight other presenters, “Voices of Our Community.”
Q: What do you believe are the most important values to Sedona residents?
Everywhere I go, residents echo the same sentiment regarding their values: Restore a true sense of community. Transparency in government is critical to the long-term success of Sedona as a healthy, sustainable community. Residents value a government that listens to their problems; a government that’s mindful to cultivate balance for all constituents and a government that is committed to nurturing quality of life.
Q: What are Sedona’s top three issues right now?
From what I hear from so many residents, traffic is causing the deteriorating quality of life and ATV destruction of the land. Short-term rentals created an affordable housing crisis. I support local homeowners’ right to short-term rentals and am committed to taking short-term rentals to the state level to dissuade corporate takeover.
Q: What do you feel is the City Council’s biggest responsibility to the residents?
The most immediate responsibility is transparency, auditing and communications. This begins with eliminating Home Rule, which gives all residents the right to vote on issues, rather than just the City Council, thereby releasing the stronghold of old policies. We are all in this together and it’s the city’s responsibility to include residents in its policy decision-making.
Q: Why are you running for City Council?
I’m running because I love Sedona and recognize there are many large, structural changes taking place. Once enacted, they’re hard to undo. Schools find challenges for buildings, resident parks are being converted to event spaces for tourists and funding directed into the chamber when they could go towards community programs and small business support. Another deep-seated issue is our current voting system. A concentration of power in a small group council can foster group bias. I believe in participatory voting and eliminating Home Rule.
