Cambridge Election 2024 Ward 1 candidate Laurel Atkiss
Editor’s Note: On Oct. 19, 2024, voters in the City of Cambridge will select from a field of candidates for City Council and Mayor.
CAMBRIDGE -In August, the Banner reached out to each candidate with questions and will be posting their answers in full on Bay-to-Bay News each day during the week of Sept. 23 – 27, and in upcoming Dorchester Banner print editions.
If print edition space is limited, a link to each full response on Bay-to-Bay News will be provided.
City Council Candidates – Ward 1: Laurel Atkiss
What inspired you to run for City Council in 2024?
The passion I have for Cambridge has not lessened since I took office last spring.
I am more dedicated and driven in my commitment to serving the citizens of Ward 1 and the city than ever before. Having joined the council in a special election in 2023 with only a year and a half remaining in the term, I have only scratched the surface of being an effective leader in the city.
In traffic & safety I am bringing innovative additions to street and sidewalk improvements to address run-off and stormwater issues throughout our neighborhoods, such as the installation of rain gardens and the reduction of non-permeable paving. We are working our way through the city ensuring ADA-compliant and accessible intersections and sidewalks exist throughout Cambridge and creating logical and effective solutions to speeding and other traffic complaints.
My program at New Beginnings, funded in part by the Dorchester Center for the Arts, works to bring art to marginalized sections of the city, distribute art funding in the community and empower our youth through creativity and personal expression. In our third year I am eager to work with our Arts & Entertainment Committee and make our Art In Public Spaces program take form, bringing our community together in creation and installation of pieces throughout our city’s parks and public spaces. Art fosters community identity, brings awareness to human issues, creates a sense of belonging for citizens, encourages expression and boosts economic development when thoughtfully and constructively installed across a cityscape.
I am eager to continue my work with the Cambridge Harbor development and the CWDI board as we have made such great strides in becoming more collaborative with all partners, county and state included, and in bringing increased transparency and diplomacy to the process. Participation in regular meetings and cooperative sessions serves to bring the project forward in a way that adheres to the community's vision and the community’s needs, and I am committed to this work.
The DoCo Pride organization that I founded has been taken over by a fully seated board of community members and is finding its way to serve and beautify the city through projects such as dog waste stations and bike rack installations. Working with community groups, and helping them find ways to engage and activate their missions, is something I want to continue.
Connecting and empowering our charitable groups with opportunities and support is important and something else on which I want to keep focus. I have more to offer our city than the one and a half years I achieved in my last election, and I ask the citizens of Ward 1 to vote for me to allow me to continue working diligently, on their behalf, on these and other pivotal issues that affect us all.
Please comment on any qualifications or background you feel would be especially beneficial to serving on City Council?
In my 51 years I have worked in a variety of levels of service, hospitality, tourism, and business management. I have spent more than half of that time living and working on the Eastern Shore and a decade working throughout Cambridge and Dorchester County connecting with the community on a personal and genuine level.
Except for my years earning my BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, I have been a small-town girl my entire life with my earliest years on a self-sufficient farm learning hard work and commitment early on. I have cultivated relationships and trust with both employers and patrons through not only my dedication to each business and transaction, but also through volunteering and contributing to community efforts including the Rescue Fire Company Holiday Train Garden, the DCA Arts Showcase, the annual CPD Easter Egg Hunt and community clean-ups with Shore Rivers, or pre-dawn traffic and crowd control for Ironman and Eagleman races.
I have been heavily invested in attending city council meetings and being informed on city issues for years leading up to my campaigns in the last two special elections, and I continue to become more impassioned by the needs of the city as the weeks pass.
Through my experience in whitewater adventure and ecological tours, which includes swiftwater rescue, first-aid, and life-saving training, I possess skills in emergency management and high-stress situations where lives are on the line and are my personal responsibility.
The ability to connect personally and effectively with people on a human level, making them feel safe, heard, and provided for is one that I think is unique in myself as a member of the city council.
In my experience I have worked with small town Main Street, Merchants Association and Rotary Club organizations activating economic development opportunities and actions, I have organized and executed community events and fundraisers, and I have owned and operated my own small business as well as managed small businesses for other owners.
I possess administrative experience with local contracting companies and have worked with homeowners to access grants from state organizations to improve and protect their homes from issues such as storm and water damage, mold, and lead paint.
My wealth of diverse experiences, education and empathy makes me an effective, accountable, and relatable community leader for Cambridge.
Can you pinpoint one or more area(s) of personal and/or professional growth which would be a strength for serving on the City Council?
Recognizing that my background and experience, while being unlike that of most people who enter politics on a local level, is relevant and worthy of being applied to community leadership was a powerful moment of personal growth for me. Acknowledging that my voice and my insight are valuable to the community and efforts to make it better for everyone.
Running for Mayor in 2022 and finding a strong feeling of accomplishment in not winning, but in running effectively and displaying my potential to my fellow citizens, was a great lesson in the fact that you can’t let a loss stop your momentum, that one will experience all number of obstacles and opposition, but you can’t let it weaken your purpose or your commitment.
Effectively structuring my life, finances, and career to allow me the time and flexibility to be truly present and engaged with my position was a great achievement and I am further motivated by the satisfaction that I feel by being effective for my constituents.
I want to prove that politics can be done with integrity and honesty, and for righteous reasons; to be a true public servant to my community.
Comment on any (or all) of the following issues currently facing Cambridge. Feel free to add any additional issues:
1. Juvenile curfew and positive youth initiatives
The juvenile curfew, which the council just voted to extend for 1 year with continued reports on its efficacy, has proven to be effective and helpful as a tool for our officers to employ creating dialogue between themselves and youth in the community. A problem that plagues at-risk youth is lack of structure and consistency, our officers and the vast community policing efforts they have engaged in bring a level of structure and consistency to the community that our youth can recognize and easily manage. The curfew is one element of this creating accountability and consequences for children to consider when they make their choices. The positive effect the programs and initiatives being enacted for the youth in Cambridge are amazing and only need more citizen involvement to continue growing and thriving! Flag football with sponsorship from Under Armor, community holiday events with sponsorship from Paul Davis Restoration, community organizations like New Beginnings founded by the late Dr. Teresa Stafford and the dedication of the Boys & Girl’s Club headed up by Gabriel Butler all act to build stronger, smarter, more engaged, and prouder citizens for our future. I encourage my fellow citizens to help these efforts through volunteering, mentoring, or donating to these and similar programs to help expand and preserve them! Your voice, experience and contribution are all relevant and impactful for the children.
2. Cambridge Waterfront development, YMCA
I have been fully committed from my first day to ensuring that the Cambridge Harbor project is done in a manner that truly benefits the people of the City of Cambridge, Dorchester County and the State of Maryland in the long term with community-focused and sustainable development that does not rely on public funds for its success. Maintaining open and green waterfront space for the community and visitors to our city is a vitally important action. Cambridge was established on the Choptank River because of the bounty within it that sustains people and economies, and because of the opportunities for travel, transportation, and recreation on the waterways. The boat ramp, a community fishing pier and park lands are all essential to the vision for Cambridge Harbor. Space and amenities for traditions like the Kite Festival or the Muskrat Leg Eating Competition and opportunities like outdoor concerts and family reunions need to be created and maintained. But a balance needs to be made between these elements and elements that will create tax revenue and economic growth for our community. I am in support of a small and appropriately designed hotel offering a fresh style of service and a personal investment into the city and I stand firmly in the belief that the remainder of the property needs to be reissued to developers for a new round of Requests for Proposals. These new RFPs must be shared publicly and examined carefully to ensure we find the most effective and attractive development to bring Cambridge into the future. We need to ensure that any retail does not detract from our existing shops and galleries; in adding food service options we must recognize our nearly 30 non-chain restaurants already operating and not compromise their successes. With a fully seated CWDI board comprised of experienced and forward-thinking members, a master developer and private investments, advisement from brokers and legal experts, and transparency for the community in the process we can achieve a successful Harbor and waterfront that will usher Cambridge to the revitalization we have so steadily been fighting for.
I do not believe that the YMCA should be a part of the Cambridge Harbor project, but I am in staunch support of finding a way to ensure that our community does gain an improved or new facility. The waterfront is the outer edge of the county and not centrally located to any of the residential neighborhoods that rely on the facilities the most. The health of our community is vital and programs and places that foster healthy lifestyles and activities are crucial to one’s success. I want the community to be provided with a study evaluating the options for improving or rebuilding on the current location as well as other locations in the city that keep our marginalized neighborhoods, youth, and senior citizens in mind.
3. Flooding mitigation efforts
We face a true and aggressive issue with flooding, tidal impacts, increasing storm activity and shoreline erosion. To remedy many of the problems we must think differently than we had in the past. The city can’t solve these problems alone either. In some areas we need to consider the value of trading unencumbered water views for reinforced shorelines and flat monoculture lawns for rain gardens and dry streambed landscaping options.
It will take efforts in a variety of areas to see effective flood and stormwater management. As we build and maintain streets and sidewalks eliminating or reducing the amount of impermeable paving, as we build parks and infrastructure, including natural elements that use native plants and natural swales to help contain runoff and reduce property damage, and accessing public funds wherever possible to support the cost of planning, installing and maintaining these projects.
4. Safe, affordable housing
I am exceedingly proud of the progress Cambridge made under the guidance of Tom Carroll to establish Land Banking, our Healthy Homes initiative, and our Home Ownership Works program. Under the watch of Ed Crosby and Gavin Woolford, of our city housing program, we are set to aggressively tackle housing blight and derelict properties throughout the city. Land Banking is a process found to be successful in a variety of communities that enables the municipality to purchase and improve, activate, or redevelop properties in the city that are threatening the health and growth of an area. In some cases, this will allow the city to take over a blighted or abandoned site and turn it around into a safe and affordable home then offered to the community for purchase.
One can see this in action at Chesapeake Court and High Street where up to 20 new single-family homes are being planned to redefine the neighborhood and create generational wealth and community pride for city residents. Habitat for Humanity is working hard throughout the area building quality and affordable homes, placing them into the ownership of qualified citizens and transforming entire streets into areas that were truly blighted previously. Cambridge is one of the first cities in the State of Maryland to activate land banking and with our other initiatives and success in achieving funds in excess of three million dollars, we are leading the way in the state in how to effectively use the programs. Safe housing is just as important as affordable housing, lead paint, mold, water damage and pests can all create unsafe and unhealthy environments that negatively impact our citizens. In addition to providing new and renovated properties, we must ensure that people are able to address problems such as these and maintain their residences to prevent them from becoming blighted or abandoned in the future.
Healthier homes mean healthier residents improving our children’s attendance and ability to learn and thrive, improving our families’ abilities to succeed and improving our workforce’s productivity and strength. Affordable housing, while somehow carrying a negative connotation, is a vitally important thing in our city and county. We are an ALICE community, asset limited income constrained-employed, meaning half of our citizens are employed and working but are not able to make ends meet. Rents have skyrocketed across the city and the country, one-bedroom apartments in our downtown are going for $1,400 or more while wages are stagnant and new, better jobs are not flocking to the area. The corporate commoditization of real estate and the hoarding of wealth have caused housing prices to reach ridiculous and unattainable highs exacerbating the need for affordable options. We are also newly prepared to make improvements in how we manage rentals from registration to inspections and code enforcement.
Our new Open Gov software is going to enable us to effectively register, track and better manage rental properties throughout the city, breaking the model of landlords pocketing high rents without investing in the upkeep or quality of the properties. Infill housing ideas need to be explored in areas of the city where gaps exist in neighborhoods as well as property owners taking advantage of existing zoning allowing secondary structures in Cambridge. Garage apartments, in-law quarters and guest houses available for reasonable rents allow individuals and families to live in neighborhoods otherwise out of reach and to experience inclusion in their community in a new way, strengthening the bonds between citizens and therefore our city.
5. Growing and sustaining Main Street and Pine Street
The vitality and successes of both Race and Pine streets are forever etched in history, we know the real potential of the city of Cambridge. But we also know lessons of racial division, unsustainable business practices and poor urban planning. Both streets host derelict buildings, vacant storefronts, empty lots, and struggling businesses. We see pockets of transformation and success and we struggle to agree on the best way to make changes. Ensuring equitable distribution of grants and funding between both areas is important and fostering bright and welcoming paths on the streets that connect Race and Pine. Streets, like Muir, Elm, and Cedar. I believe in creating a cohesive and comprehensive brand for the city of Cambridge that includes and highlights our diversity and inclusivity, our history and our resiliency, and our unique landscape and location. Creating a unified beautification effort that highlights our gateways and connects them throughout the city with parks, plantings, art installations and community spaces that show a city-wide unity and equity in resources is a strategy I would like to employ.
I encourage everyone to look at The Lewisburg Foundation in Lewisburg WV where they started with managing the development of the town when the interstate came through in 1980, working with local government and merchants’ associations to find and execute strategies to keep the historic downtown vibrant while guiding new development to support the existing businesses instead of competing with them. 40 years later they operate as a non-profit, community member-driven organization that is dedicated to maintaining a “stunning environment that protects and enhances the unique qualities” of the historic town.
Their modest annual budget is funded by gifts from members, friends and private foundations and takes care of mowing, trimming, weeding, mulching, fertilizing, pruning, replacing, and planting of shrubs, trees, turf, and flowers across the public spaces in the city. Capital projects like splash pads, flagpoles, picnic shelters and holiday decorations are funded by grants or special gifts. What they have created is a cohesive and beautiful flow through the entire city that supports tourism and stimulates comfortable movement through clean, attractive neighborhoods.
Such an organization in Cambridge could work alongside the city, Main Street and Park & Rec to elevate the appearance and cohesiveness of our city scenery. With a solid brand, a beautiful cityscape and improved housing and businesses we can start promoting Cambridge nationally as a destination and a place of potential and opportunity for tourists, individuals, families, and businesses to create real economic growth for the area. Another crucial element to the success of our downtown business districts is our support for them! If we want more shops and boutiques downtown, we must patronize the ones we already have. Amazon and the internet have made it cheap and easy to not shop at your local businesses, but it is crucial to remember that about .75 cents of every dollar spent in a small, local business stays in the community!
How would you help contribute to moving Cambridge forward? Addressing the past? Bringing the city together?
To move forward and bring the city together I will simply continue to apply myself to ensuring our staff and departments are properly supported and funded to be effective in their functions, to being honest and accountable for my actions and those of the city, and to working diligently on the issues that continue to hold us back. Ensuring that our weakest members are supported and provided for and that those carrying heavier tax burdens feel that they are getting the services and support that they need as well. I will continue to be relatable, present, and transparent in my work and I will remain available to the citizens, and I will move with the integrity I promised to each of you when I asked for your vote.
(Tomorrow: Ward 2 Candidate responses.)
