Last Saturday night, I rode along with the Mammoth Lakes Police Department. I wanted to see, firsthand, what our officers actually deal with on a given shift. Not the stereotype, not the politics, just the job. A few hours in a patrol car taught me more than any council meeting could. Here's what stood out, along with some factchecking on the bigger issues that came up. Staffing and Retention: The Housing Connection Is Real One of the first things I heard from officers was th

After an enlightening conversation with the ladies from the Mammoth Neighborhood Group, who introduced me to the Mammoth Lakes Community Vision, one thing really hit me. It's short (just seven values) but reading it through as someone running for Town Council, it landed differently than it might otherwise. It opens with this: "Surrounded by uniquely spectacular scenery and diverse four-season recreational opportunities, the community of Mammoth Lakes is committed to providing

This year, I spent my birthday the way I spend most of my favorite days: on a trail. I set out to climb Mt. Tom, one of the most striking peaks in the Eastern Sierra, and by "not easy feet" I mean it. The elevation gain doesn't let up, and by the time you're standing above 13,600+ feet, you've earned every bit of that view. And what a view it is. Looking out over the range I grew up in, the basin, the peaks I've hiked my whole life, it's the kind of perspective that reminds y

Last week I briefly sat down with the Mammoth Lakes Police Department for a great conversation about the issues they’re facing day to day. It was a good reminder of how much our officers juggle in a small mountain town, and how much I still have to learn. One topic that came up, and one I know is on a lot of residents’ minds, is automatic license plate readers (ALPRs), aka “Flock cameras.” I learned from the police that we do in fact have Flock cameras in town, though there a

The fire risk in Mammoth Lakes isn't a hypothetical. Voters recognized this when they passed Measure M in 2024, giving MLFPD a stable, dedicated funding stream for prevention, suppression, and emergency response. But fire prevention doesn’t stop at the department’s doorstep. Defensible space, fuel breaks, chipping programs, and home hardening are most effective when residents, the fire district, and the Town work in coordination. This involves providing straightforward, acces

Mammoth Lakes runs on the people who wait our tables, teach our kids, patrol our streets, and keep the lifts turning, and more of them are being priced out every year. I’ve watched it happen in real time, growing up here. I’ve also worked on the other side of it, in property management and short-term rentals, so I understand both why this town’s economy depends on visitors and why that same economy is squeezing the people who actually live here. This isn’t a problem we can wi

Campaigns like this one aren’t built by one person, they’re built by a community deciding it’s ready for something new. If you’ve been following along, you already know what I’m fighting for: workforce housing that actually works, restoring a dedicated Wildlife/Human Conflict Specialist to help keep our community and bears safe, real accountability from the larger businesses that benefit most from this town, and meaningful support for the small businesses that are the backbon

If you’ve lived here long enough, you remember when Mammoth Lakes had someone whose entire job was managing our relationship with the bears. A familiar face who knew the bears by name, kept people safe, and kept our wildlife wild instead of dangerous. We let that go. And in the years since, it feels like we’ve been playing catch-up ever since, with more incidents, more close calls, and a police department that’s stretched thin trying to handle something that used to have a de