Occupation: I currently work for a national non-profit called Year Up United, leading a small team of digital product designers and researchers within Enterprise Technology. Previously, I’ve worked in advertising and publications, and was an adjunct professor of Graphic Design for five years.
Your Education/Background: I graduated from Sanford High School in Sanford, ME, in 1996. From there, I obtained a BFA and an MFA in Graphic Design.
How Long Have You Lived in Manchester? 8 years
Hobbies/Fun Fact about you/other biographical info: For fun, I go outside! I love to ride my bike (mostly on the road, but sometimes down a mountain) and hike (mostly in winter, rarely in summer). Fun fact: I’m a direct descendant on my father’s mother’s side, of a former President of the country of Colombia. My great-great-grea-grandfather, Fransisco Javier Zaldúa, began his political career on the city council in Bogotá.
If re-elected, what steps would you endorse to address the issue of homelessness in the city?
In my four years on the board, I’ve taken several votes that amount to short-term bandaids that have cost our city a lot of money, but have yielded only moderate returns. At this point, our city needs an actual long-term strategy so that we can build a plan and take meaningful steps that get people off the street.
The consolidation of the Department of Homelessness Initiatives directly under the Mayor has led to reduced transparency, unilateral decision-making and planning, and ultimately leaves us pretty close to where we were two years ago. I’d start by making a motion to restore Homelessness Initiatives to its own Department; resume regular updates to the public during BMA meetings; and the convening of a standing task force that revisits the recommendations provided by the National Coalition to End Homelessness and puts forward a proper strategy to include specific goals and benchmarks at 12 months, 24 months, and 36 months. No more six-to-nine-month patches.
If re-elected, what steps would you endorse to address the issue of housing costs?
We have an Affordable Housing Fund but we don’t use it strategically. Instead, we randomly dip into it if and when a project pops up that seems like “a good fit.” We should establish a roadmap of suitable projects or initiatives that do more to actually stabilize housing in a way that creates sustainable, scalable impacts over time, vs short-term one-offs.
For example, we could dedicate a portion of the fund to help defray rising tax bills and rents for our seniors and actually create a plan to ensure the fund is continuously replenished through sustained investment. Additionally, rather than focusing all our energy just on developing new (and mostly market rate) apartments; we should also give thought on how to revitalize our current housing stock, which is sorely in need of some TLC.
Another example: what if we incentivized local property owners with tax breaks to make improvements in exchange for not raising rent or displacing current tenants? Programs like 79-E used tax breaks in trade for new and expensive housing that’s done nothing to bring housing costs down. Let’s use tax incentives to encourage re-development for those who need it most (which is most of us)!
Finally, I would also seek to encourage development of starter homes rather than more apartments. While we do need all forms of housing, we must be careful not to flood our market with inaccessible apartments that do nothing to help our neighbors establish roots or build personal wealth and stability. We can’t get stuck in the “more is more” mindset, and more importantly, we can’t be sucked in by only short-term wins.
If re-elected, what steps would you endorse to address the issue of attracting and retaining quality city employees?
To begin with, I won’t harass them and/or create a hostile work environment for them. And I will listen to them and respect them as the experts they are, rather than treat them like a group of people who only exist for my amusement and personal benefit. Sadly, these obvious things need to be explicitly stated now. Beyond the obvious, I will continue to take votes that ensure city employees earn livable wages, have comprehensive healthcare, and a path for professional growth and development. Establishing strong policies—including contracts—that invest in and benefit our employees is an investment and benefit to our city. These two things are inextricable.
What is your perspective on the city’s roads, transit system and parking? If you believe improvement is needed, how would you accomplish that?
The short answer is to fully fund the Department of Public Works. Under-investing in public infrastructure (to include our employees) by millions of dollars over the past two years has put our city even further behind and stuck on our back foot. Not only do residents bear the burden of this divestment as our streets and sidewalks continue to break down at a rate faster than we can keep up with—our employees do, too. They’re asked to cover extra shifts to compensate for vacancies for under-paid positions that cannot be filled, and they’re in a reactive posture when it comes to maintaining our core infrastructure. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where we actually have a multi-modal, interconnected transit system (which, in turn will reduce the need for cars and parking spaces), when we’re busy just chasing potholes. Again, we need to prioritize long-term investments that build up our core city infrastructure rather than short-term wins that ultimately set us back.
What is your opinion on the city’s parks, library and entertainment offerings/public events? If improvement is needed, what should be done?
Manchester is blessed with so many beautiful parks across the entire city. The Parks & Rec Department does a tremendous job maintaining playgrounds, sports fields and courts, trails, pools, cemeteries, the country club, and more—plus all the incredible programming they provide. They also have the difficult task of ensuring that homeless individuals observe the various rules and ordinances in place to keep our parks clean and safe. This is no doubt very challenging and I give them credit for maintaining a respectful balance across everyone’s interests and needs.
The same can be said of our Library staff. They also must deal with the challenges of maintaining public spaces that are, in theory, for all, while ensuring the historic grounds and spaces are welcoming—all while filling their charge as a cultural, educational, and informational hub for our entire city. Additionally, in both the case of parks and libraries, equal access and investment throughout all our neighborhoods is essential and I would encourage both departments to continue their efforts in our Center City and West Side neighborhoods.
What is your opinion on the city’s policies regarding property taxes and other fees (i.e. – pet licenses, parking meters, etc.)
I’m not a fan of the NH property taxation structure as a whole, in that I feel our state places a disproportionate burden on property owners to serve as the main revenue stream for all the services and systems cities and towns provide. This is especially true in larger cities like Manchester, where a large number of our residents rent rather than own. This means we see a lower per-person contribution to the tax base despite us all equally drawing on city resources. To be honest, I’m not sure what the right answer is apart from a flat tax or perhaps a local sales tax, but I know that’s not in line with the culture of our state or our city. I just know that maintaining a city and a community the size of Manchester requires a lot of money…and just like individuals are feeling the squeeze, so is the city.
This is why I’m quite frustrated by the last two budget cycles where the Mayor and BMA placed a priority on staying well below the tax cap vs. realizing and investing our full revenue base. I’m not suggesting we blow our tax cap—it’s there for a reason—but when the city’s revenue stream is so limited to begin with, we need all we can get. Let’s commit to following the charter relative to our tax cap and fully realize all revenue.
What are your thoughts on the city’s business climate and how would you attract more businesses to come to Manchester or convince more people to start businesses in Manchester?
Manchester’s local economy continues to expand, which is great! With that though, comes the challenges of demand on our housing market and infrastructure—including our schools. Our business community spoke up loudly and clearly this year in support of fully funding our school district and pointed to the direct connection between a healthy school district and a strong economy. They are also raising their voice in favor of more affordable housing. For businesses to thrive, they need people to hire. Right now our city is inaccessible from a cost of living perspective and it’s not a good look when our school district keeps getting underfunded. That sends the wrong message to people who might consider making Manchester home. Education, housing, and the economy are tied together—we must invest in order to see continued growth!
What is your opinion of the state of education in Manchester and what should the relationship be between the Board of School Committee and Board of Mayor and Aldermen?
I’ve said a lot about schools in my other responses. From my point of view, we are making a grave mistake by divesting in our school district the way we’ve done in this term under Mayor Ruais. Our district—the largest and most diverse in our state—is equivalent in size, budget wise, to the rest of the city combined. It requires its own dedicated finance team, legal team, HR team, administrative team, and of course, its own governing body. It’s too big and too complex to be folded under the BMA.
I’ll speak very candidly and say that as an Alderman, I would not have the capacity to take on oversight of the School District and actually do a good job for students and families! The School Board members and the District staff are rightly singularly focused on running this “city within our city” and it should remain that way. Let the BMA oversee the city, and let the BOSC oversee the district. It’ll yield better results on both sides and accountability can be maintained on both sides through elections.
Anything else you’d like to add not mentioned here and what is the best way voters can reach you if they have more questions?
I can be reached at 215.287.8022 or via email at cfajardo@manchesternh.gov. I would like to thank the residents of Ward 4 for your continued support. I’m certainly not perfect, nor do I consider myself the model alderman, but I do my best to show up, put politics aside, respect others, ask important questions, and ensure and our city is making progress and moving forward. If re-elected, I commit to continuing this work on your behalf. Finally, thank you to Ink Link, for the opportunity to share my perspective. And thank you for your commitment to coverage of important news within our city—and for keeping it free and fully accessible to all!