Since coming home from Baptist Hospital and into a home in East Hill, I’ve lived in six different neighborhoods as a Pensacolian. At just 39 square miles, every decision made in any part of our city affects every part of our city. The health and vibrancy of our neighborhoods is paramount to a growing city.

I will ensure that all our neighborhoods are safe from crime, safe for our bikers and pedestrians and that no neighborhood is overlooked.

As mayor, I will take make five key priorities:

• Create the city’s first neighborhood safety dashboard.

As our city evolves to performance-based measurement, the safety of our neighborhoods will be no different. We will take a deeper look and track the specific and unique safety issues of neighborhoods across our city to ensure that we optimize staffing in each neighborhood.

• Attack our affordable housing issue.

According to Harvard University, the U.S. is short about 3.8 million homes, and 46 percent of U.S. renters are currently rent burdened. We see the same here in Pensacola. D.C. has a two part strategy to increase our ability to house Pensacolians, curb rising rental rates and hyperfocus on creating affordable housing opportunities for workforce like our policeman, firefighters, teachers and nurses.

• Focus on biking/pedestrian safety.

I have a wealth of experience working with world renowned firms that focus on building a connected community. He will support the active transportation study underway from Pensacola City Council and look for opportunities to grow our biking infrastructure to ensure our citizens can move around safely and efficiently.

• Start a City of Pensacola Grants Office.

There are unprecedented federal dollars coming to help with infrastructure. Because of my desire to seize opportunity for Pensacola we’ll start a City Grants Office that will be responsible for coordinating all grant requests for our city. That means someone for our community wakes up each day thinking about how we can bring more dollars to support issues like stormwater, coastal resiliency, road infrastructure, police funding programs and more.

• Focus on the environment.

What makes communities like Pensacola great is preserving our unique environment. Growing our tree canopy, especially along our city streets that create pedestrian shade and so many environmental benefits, will be a priority as well as how we can use nature to address some of our stormwater needs.