Specific Policies

I support a constitutional amendment to transition the Michigan State House to Multi-Member Districts (MMD) with Proportional Representation. This replaces the current "winner-take-all" system that heavily disenfranchises voters, with a system that guarantees the number of seats a party holds in the House accurately matches its share of the statewide vote.

• Population-Based House Size: The total number of Representatives will be dynamically tied to the state's population as measured by the federal census, targeting approximately 1 seat for every 75,000 residents. This ensures consistent, appropriate representation for our communities.
• District Size and Seat Allocation: The independent redistricting commission (MICRC) will draw larger districts that elect 4 or 5 representatives each. Seats within each district are distributed to parties based on the percentage of votes they received.
• Open List Voting & Coalitions: Voters get a single vote for their State House Representative, and may vote for a specific candidate or a default party preference list. Independents and political parties can form official pre-election coalitions appearing on the ballot.
• Compensatory Seats: To ensure absolute fairness, once district seats are determined, "Compensatory Seats" are awarded to parties' most popular unelected candidates until the State House achieves exact proportionality matching the statewide vote (capped at 130% of the base district seat count).

Legislation should not be drafted in secret by corporate lobbyists and handed to politicians to sign. We believe in an "open source" model of governance where the community acts as the authors of their own laws.

Under our model for Collective Policy Making:

• Open Source Legislation: We utilize modern online platforms—similar to code repositories—where citizens, experts, and impacted workers can draft, debate, suggest edits, and collectively refine policy proposals in plain view of the public.
• Community Assemblies: For those who prefer in-person engagement, we use our neighborhood community assemblies to workshop ideas, gather consensus, and direct the focus of the online platform.
• Politicians as Stewards: The role of the elected representative shifts from being an isolated decision-maker to acting as a manager or steward of this collective policy repository. The politician facilitates the process, ensures legal formatting, and carries the community's approved, finalized legislation to Lansing to fight for its passage.

Our district requires practical, forward-thinking solutions that preserve the character and natural beauty of our neighborhoods while ensuring our communities and local economies can thrive. We can accommodate necessary growth by revitalizing our existing spaces.

• Town Center Revitalization (Adaptive Reuse): Instead of scattering density throughout quiet residential streets, we focus on transforming aging, underutilized commercial corridors and empty strip malls into vibrant, walkable, mixed-use "Town Centers." This fixes local eyesores, brings in premium local businesses, and adds housing without altering the layout of existing neighborhoods.
• Conservation Subdivisions (Clustered Development): When new land is developed, we incentivize "clustered" zoning. Homes are built closer together on a smaller footprint, permanently preserving 50% or more of the remaining land as untouched woodlands, wetlands, or community trails, protecting our green spaces from sprawling asphalt.
• Gentle Density & Multi-Generational Living: We support "Missing Middle" housing seamlessly designed to match the local architectural style, and Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). This allows aging parents or young adult children to live on family properties without being a financial burden, maintaining the visual prestige of the neighborhood.
• Infrastructure-Tied Development: We mandate that any new density must be legally tied to concurrent, developer-funded infrastructure upgrades. Development must actively enhance the community—with traffic calming measures, buried power lines, and expanded pedestrian/bike paths—rather than overwhelming it.