Bryce Kaw-uh

Why are you running for this office?

While living here in Manchester, I’ve gotten increasingly involved in the community. I currently serve as Chair of the Planning Board and have been on the Board for over 3 years total. I love this city and can see its immense potential. I also see the work that we need to put in if we want to turn that potential into our reality. That’s why I’m running: To use what I’ve learned and get to work making this place better for all of us. Improving our transportation infrastructure, building more affordable housing, and addressing the mental health and energy crises are all necessary and interrelated efforts. We need leaders who are willing to take bold actions in order to build a better Manchester for every one of us who calls this city our home.

What qualifies you as the best candidate for this office?

What candidates running for office in Manchester for races (other than your own) do you support?

I support the ability of Ward 1 voters to make their own decisions about who they in turn will support for public office. While I have my own preferences, my focus is on serving the community to the best of my ability. If you agree with what I stand for then I’d greatly appreciate your vote.

What are your thoughts on and plans for addressing homelessness?

Homelessness is a complex statewide issue that has severe local implications for public health and safety in Manchester. It’s clear that more must be done to improve housing stability in our community. While we would benefit from more help from the state level, in the meantime we have to do what we can at the local level to help those in need. Thankfully, Manchester has a proud history of reimagining public safety as an extension of public health. The recently retired Safe Station program is one great example. Our neighbors who struggle with homelessness or substance use disorder need social support, not criminalization. The way out of these overlapping crises is to expand the range of housing assistance, substance abuse treatment opportunities, and mental health services available to those who need it most in our community. And as your Alderman, that’s what I’ll strive to do.

What are your thoughts on housing costs and plans for addressing those concerns?

At this point, everybody can see that there’s a serious housing shortage here in Manchester. We’re all feeling the crunch in one way or another and know folks firsthand who have been negatively impacted. I want to flip the script and achieve housing abundance in our community, while also preserving important features that make neighborhoods like those in Ward 1 so great. As your Alderman, I’ll take an all-of-the-above approach to building more homes of all kinds so that more people can live in the type of housing that’s right for them and their families. This includes supporting new mixed-use development and office space conversions that deliver a more walkable and livable urban core. Accomplishing that will require the Board of Mayor & Aldermen to modernize our planning and zoning ordinances so that they better suit our needs, something I’ve become greatly familiar with in my time on the Planning Board. I’ll also work to expand legitimately affordable housing opportunities by investing a greater share of city funds into the existing but under-utilized Affordable Housing Trust. We have to take a multi-prong approach in order to address both housing supply and affordability.

What are your thoughts on and plans regarding crime and public safety?

I deeply appreciate all the hard work that our first responders put in every day to make our community a safer place. I support continuing to fund full complements for our police and fire departments, as well as ensuring that our first responder compensation packages are competitive so that we can hire and retain the best. We also ought to transition certain social service responsibilities towards community social workers wherever possible to reduce the burden we’ve been placing on our police and fire departments. Plus, investing in community services is a helpful way to reduce crime in the long run while improving quality of life for residents in general. Public safety also includes redesigning our built environment. Kids should be able to walk to school without their parents or guardians having to worry if they’ll make it there safely. Adults should be free to bike to Ben & Jerry’s or the Puritan Backroom for some ice cream without having to share a lane with two-ton vehicles. And those of us who drive — myself included! — deserve to navigate a road network that makes sense and doesn’t add more stress to our day.

What are your thoughts on and/or plans for addressing concerns about property tax rates?

As a homeowner myself, I have a vested interest in avoiding unnecessary increases to my property tax bill. At the same time, I recognize that in order to get a return on investment, we have to be proactive and make an investment in the first place. It’s a delicate balance and one that requires careful evaluation. In general, I strongly support efforts by city departments to apply for state and federal grants to supplement our municipal appropriations. The Manchester Health Department has done a great job at that under the leadership of Anna Thomas. I also believe we have to be creative about how we grow as a city. Encouraging infill development and smart density are great ways to generate additional revenue that won’t cost existing residents much more in terms of city services. For example, converting an underutilized $10 million downtown office building to mixed use, with commercial on the ground floor and residential above, could double its assessed value to $20 million. This would generate approximately $180,000 more per year for the city, all without requiring us to build or maintain more sprawling, costly infrastructure.

What are your thoughts on the city's snow removal and trash pickup services?

I find the city’s snow removal and trash pickup services to be largely sufficient. That being said, we should swiftly address any specific issues that arise, while keeping an eye towards future improvements. For example, I think we have opportunities to improve the trash pickup services in our urban core where there is sufficient density and volume to justify some new approaches. One idea is to extend the range of the so-called “BigBelly” waste bins that you can now find at specific locations along Elm Street. They are decorative, network-capable, and most importantly have a solar-powered compactor unit that significantly increases their storage capacity. I also believe an innovative underground waste container system could be installed in certain locations downtown to further expand capacity and beautify the area at the same time.

What are your thoughts on the city's small business climate?

What are your thoughts on and plans on improving the city's medium and large business climate?

I believe that improving our small business climate will help improve our medium and large business climate by extension. That being said, I do want to make it clear that I am opposed to promising one-off tax breaks to large corporations in an attempt to woo them to Manchester. We ought to spend our time, money, and effort on investing in our people, attracting and cultivating the talented workforce that we have here, improving our infrastructure, and overall making sure that medium and large businesses can operate effectively if they do choose to locate their operations here in the Queen City.

What are your thoughts on and plans on improving parks and recreation in the city?

What are your thoughts on how public transportation and infrastructure in the city can be improved?

Transportation is a huge part of our daily lives. Everyone’s got somewhere to be. And whether we walk, roll, bike, drive, or take the bus, we all deserve to get to our destination safely and efficiently. I will continue to be a strong voice for improving the connectivity of our city. We need to better maintain our streets; expand our fledgling bike lane network; improve pedestrian connections to the Millyard and across the Merrimack; finish our part of the state rail trail network; embrace regional rail service; increase the frequency of public transit; and so much more. There’s a lot to accomplish and I will push to get it done, for the benefit of everyone in Ward 1 and beyond.

What are your thoughts on the current state of the city's civic pride and ideas on how to improve it?

I think people are plenty proud of Manchester. There is a deep sense of community strength and resilience. We also have many residents with an affinity for the arts, as demonstrated most visibly by our many festivals and the countless new murals springing up across the city. I strongly support these efforts to express Manchester’s cultural diversity more fully. I also strongly support the recent Community Event and Activation Grant (CEAG) program administered by the city, which provided funding to local groups engaged in bringing people together. That is how you increase civic pride: Encouraging folks to spend time together, enjoying what the city has to offer, and making Manchester even better along the way. On top of that, something else we could do to improve civic pride is create a unified strategy for promoting all the great things happening in our city so that everyone is aware of our community’s strengths. Thankfully, the Manchester Economic Development Office (MEDO) is hard at work on doing exactly that.

What are your thoughts on any neighborhood specific issues in your ward as well as any plans on addressing those issues?

At some point in the near future, the state government will close the Sununu Youth Services Center along River Road and sell the property. This is an inevitable result of HB49 which Governor Sununu recently signed into law. There are many questions surrounding the future development of that sprawling parcel. Will it all go to one developer? What kind of density and mix of uses will be allowed? Is there going to be any public green space? And so on. I strongly believe that the residents of Manchester, and especially the residents of Ward 1, deserve a say. This is why I’ve worked alongside ZBA Chair Anne Ketterer and State Representative Mark MacKenzie to gather information and explore what we can do to get folks involved in the process. Keep your eye out for a potential community meeting!

What is your view on the main role of an Alderman?