Ryan Schuchard running for Boulder City Council

Amber Carlson, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.
·2 min read
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Aug. 16—Ryan Schuchard has entered the growing pool of candidates for Boulder City Council in this fall's election.

Schuchard, a member of Boulder's Transportation Advisory Board, has made a career out of climate-related consulting, policy advising and advocacy, and he has honed in on the intersection between climate and transportation.

Through his work, he said, he's learned there are a few things that have "an incredible amount of potential" to impact people's happiness and health: transportation, housing prices and addressing the climate crisis.

Regarding climate change, he said, "While Boulder is doing a lot of leadership, we collectively, as a society, aren't really treating it much differently than we did 20 years ago, when we knew of this problem."

Schuchard sees the climate crisis as being intertwined with transportation and housing, and said the number of people that commute to Boulder every day for work is a clear sign that the city lacks affordable housing. He also pointed out that hundreds of students and families are leaving the Boulder Valley School District, particularly in areas with higher housing prices.

On the housing front, Schuchard said he's in favor of creating "people first, transit rich, space efficient" communities, which he believes will make these spaces safer, more inclusive and easier to live in.

He hopes to strengthen the city's Core Arterial Network and greatly expand public transportation if elected. Schuchard said he advocates for creating safer streets, saying that vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death in Boulder County, and he has spoken with community members about the importance of improving transit access within Boulder as well as between the city and other areas.

"We should give people choices for this," said Schuchard. "It's something that people really care about. And a lot of people don't know that they're allowed to ask for it. ... People underestimate how quickly we can change transportation systems, and we should."

Schuchard and his family moved to Boulder in 2019 from Oakland, Calif. He is the founder and principle of More Mobility, a firm that offers advising on climate-related programs and policies.

More information about Schuchard's campaign is available at www.ryanforboulder.com.