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If you’re a resident living in Lake Forest, I’d love to chat with you. Make yourself heard, voice your concerns, and share your vision of a better Lake Forest with me by submitting your contact info below.
Get to know me.
What makes you qualified?
I have always been inspired by people who do great good for others. The ones that aren’t afraid to stand up and make a difference. The saying goes, “It takes a village” and in the modern complexity of our world it can be challenging for us all to work together towards common goals. But what remains true is we remain the force for productive good to bring real change into the world.
At 17 I spent 10 days in Haiti with my local church helping build infrastructure, connect with locals, and learn about their needs. I spent 5-6 years as a youth leader mentoring high school kids and attending Summer / Winter camps and volunteered my time with homeless outreach programs.
My professional skillset is diverse and expanding because I love to dive into an unfamiliar space to learn and grow. As a Mechanical Engineer my experience of over 10 years has given me a tenacious attitude towards solving complicated problems and working on teams of diverse individuals to work towards a common goal. I believe in taking complex problems and breaking them down into manageable components in order to get to solutions. For over 3 years I lead the mechanical development of a new product line delegating personnel and resources while traveling to Switzerland and working with globally diverse teams. I have a US Patent No. 11474553 for a Hall Effect Joystick, and I can use these skills to thrive in new dynamic environments where there is a lot of information to take in.
Besides research and development I also worked as a Sales Engineer for several years. This experience is key for what I want to do now on City Council for you all. As a Sales Engineer I worked side by side with major construction contractors designing, developing, and submitting competitive job bids for large scale projects. I managed what must've been 7-15 projects at any given point in time and performed on site job walks in all of Southern California and Texas. Managing technical system design and client relationships really developed an important skillset for navigating and fostering helpful relationships, which I want to put to use for our city.
Understanding technical complexity and having a solid tool set for knowing how to design and finish a complicated project compliments my passion to serve and help people perfectly. Skills can always be taught, but what is much harder to teach is empathy and principles. I care and want to make a difference for you, whether it's a small business, someone struggling with financial security, or envisioning a more connected community.
Flock Cameras
Lake Forest needs someone on the City Council that can bring in a fresh understanding of technology and its usefulness as well as the risks. Lake Forest has already paid $735,000 to Flock cameras and will continue to pay an annual fee of $147,000 or higher to use these cameras.
There's a valid argument to be made that cutting edge technology can certainly be utilized to help make our communities safer, crime more preventable, and increased accountability. But these steps should be taken with great consideration and caution for unintended consequences and impact.
Flock has shown serious flaws in how the data is stored and accessed, and it's really not surprising to see public cases show the misuse and broken promises made by a private for profit company. One documented case is Flock giving access to surveillance in Illinois after receiving pressure from an outside agency, violating their own privacy contract.
I applaud Lake Forest for making public safety a high priority and taking steps to make it happen. But we have new information today and we need to re-evaluate the Flock approach and ask the question: is there not a more secure way to implement new technology without involving private interests? Multiple cities have ended their contract with Flock over these misuse scenarios and concerns over a platform design of interconnected surveillance data accumulation with smart detection. Because the issues we have today seem to only be the beginning as Flock seeks to grow and expand.
What's your top budget priority for the city?
Investing in a more connected community through our public spaces, infrastructure and commerce. We are on the other side of explosive growth, so I want to help our businesses benefit from that growth and support the spaces we have to be the best they can be. I am much more of a "its what you do with it" kind of person.
I would leverage my product development and project management background to really measure the effectiveness of how money is spent on technology and services. I believe in building your own expertise and I think we've all experienced how technology can overpromise on its effectiveness and ultimately under-deliver. I want to prioritize people over technology and find opportunities to invest more of our money on internal workers and competency.
How would you address homelessness?
I can appreciate Lake Forest's current multi-faceted approach to improving homelessness in our city. And I would also agree that addressing homelessness isn't a one solution fix. Partnering with local non-profits and individuals passionate about this cause I think is the most effective solution. I have personally participated in outreach and city censorships of the local homeless population to better understand why some people found themselves in the position of being unhoused or homeless and also to provide support and assistance to those individuals which most of the time was very well received. I believe in building a strong support system in the city and opportunities for rehabilitation as ways of focusing on the core issues that create circumstances for homelessness as opposed to superficial fixes. I also want to say even though I've had the privilege in my life of enjoying a successful career in engineering, life's circumstances can so easily disrupt security you've built for yourself. Last year I experienced for the very first time being laid off with 20+ others when a project I was working on was cancelled and it took me much longer than I anticipated to find a solid full-time job. Even with every safety net I had including unemployment I came very close to not being able to afford my own rent.
Check out this video by the City of Lake Forest for more information:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wx84fUOGoo&t=9s
