RYAN DAYE FOR
EDINA CITY COUNCIL
Campaign Pillars & Key Issues
Click the icons below and read on for more information on our campaign pillars and other key issues.
BALANCED GROWTH
As Edina inevitably grows and changes, it’s important that we don’t lose the special attributes of our city’s identity that make us stand out.
Balance is key.
We need to:
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Balance renewal and progress with protection and preservation.
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Balance developer aspirations with community feedback.
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Balance denser housing with preservation of green space.
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Balance decisions that protect and improve neighborhood nodes, with near-and long-term impacts on vehicle traffic and pedestrian safety.
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Balance the push for growth and increased housing density with commitments made to residents via the comprehensive plan, zoning code and small area plans.
Overall, development must be analyzed—and balanced—in terms of the impact to infrastructure, emergency services, and the benefits we should provide residents
As a council member, I will strive to keep Edina a top destination for all families and maintain its well-earned reputation as a successful, mature, forward-thinking community. Our city doesn’t need to be reinvented, just continuously refined.
TRUST & TRANSPARENCY
There’s that word again: transparency. Why has it become such a buzzword especially in government? I believe it goes beyond being open and honest. It’s about creating processes that are easily understood, followed and fairly applied, combined with a system that welcomes engagement.
As an engineer, I not only respect process, I live process. We dedicate time and resources developing operating procedures, rules and protocols—processes that guide decisions. Once developed and implemented it’s expected the processes will be followed. When processes are ignored, deadlines and goals are not achieved, or worse yet products fail or people can get hurt.
Similarly, Edina residents, city staff and consultants have invested significant time and resources developing what should be its process frameworks and guiding documents—from the comprehensive plan to Vision Edina. These efforts should result in clear decision-making process, but unfortunately that is not always the case. Often residents don’t trust decisions because the process isn’t explained, or documents are too ambiguous, or the rules perceived to be unfairly applied to favor one project over another.
Lack of consistent processes results in distrust and ultimately a broken system.
Residents must be able to trust the city council operates in a way that respects process. Individual preferences shouldn’t overrule ordinances, laws, planning documents and regulations.
When everyone follows the same rules and guidelines it makes it possible to build trust and foster mutually beneficial civic engagement.
CREATIVE SOLUTIONS
There are a lot of challenges our city, state, nation, and planet currently face. The mindset our leaders adopt when confronting those challenges is extremely important. I believe that it is much better to incentivize change rather than take punitive measures against residents in attempt to force change.
I understand the intent behind the new bag fee and tree ordinance for example. We all have a part to play in being good stewards of our environment. However, I fundamentally disagree with the sentiment “behavioral change is impossible to do without some irritants". That type of approach encourages pushback and resentment. A one-size-fits-all response limits creative and more effective solutions. Edina can do better.
Incentivizing change is more effective than relying on punitive measures because it:
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Offers positive reinforcement for desired behaviors or actions.
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Fosters a collaborative approach between our city government and stakeholders.
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Can be more cost-effective. Incentives often require less administrative overhead and resources to implement and monitor.
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Can be tailored to specific circumstances, allowing our government to address diverse needs and challenges effectively.
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Stimulates innovation by rewarding new ideas, technologies, or practices that contribute to desired outcomes (e.g., sustainability, economic growth, public health). Incentives create an environment where experimentation and risk-taking are encouraged, leading to creative solutions that may not emerge otherwise.
In summary we need more creativity to craft solutions. More engagement and less lecturing. After all, we will win the battle for the transformation required to solve our biggest challenges only if citizens see themselves as part of that transformation, rather than as passive recipients of top-down decisions.
FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY
Fiscal responsibility requires fiscal discipline. As your councilmember, I pledge to uphold these fiscally-sound principles:
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Every tax dollar is spent wisely, effectively and guided with clear community-developed goals.
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Budgets prioritize funding essential services like infrastructure and public safety without relying excessively on debt, new tax levies or volatile revenue sources.
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Opportunities to streamline operations and eliminate waste are part of the city’s mission and objectives.
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Tax incentives for developers must carefully weigh the short-term potential benefits (e.g. job creation or increased housing stock) against long-term fiscal impacts (e.g. shifting of tax burden to single-family property owners; greater pressure on providing core city services; under-evaluated infrastructure needs and maintenance).
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Edina can sustainably meet its financial obligations for current and future generations.
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Councilmembers serve as responsible fiscal stewards making informed decisions that benefit the greater community.
OTHER KEY ISSUES
Some of the other issues that I am passionate about include:
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Preserving and protecting the small and mid-sized local businesses that serve our community by ensuring that the few spaces we have allocated to these types of amenities don’t disappear as Edina grows and changes.
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Keeping open and expanding opportunities for all families to call Edina home. I am especially concerned with preserving some of the more moderately priced housing that exists in the city (e.g., the “missing middle” and starter homes).
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Exploring creative opportunities to make our community more pedestrian and bike friendly while also acknowledging the limitations we face due to existing infrastructure, our cold climate, and the personal situations of our residents (e.g., those who have limited mobility, those with young children to transport, those with long work commutes, etc.).
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Supporting a well-funded and well-trained Edina Police Department and Edina Fire Department to keep our community safe.
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Supporting our school system, for current students and future generations (including my future children), by maintaining the necessary flow of funds into the Edina public school district instead of diverting those important dollars to subsidize developers and new commercial projects.