Candidate Profile: Stephen Barr, Littleton City Council

LITTLETON, CO — Nine City Council candidates are running for Littleton's Nov. 2 municipal election.

Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as Election Day draws near.

Stephen Barr is running for Littleton City Council.

Age: 35

Family: Heather Hollingsworth (37), wife. Kayleigh Barr (6), daughter.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government? My wife is a Speech Language Pathologist with Littleton Public Schools. While not directly linked, my sister, Jennifer Barr, works as a researcher for the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Finance. All not directly related to my government position (but wanted to ensure I pointed out any relevant connections to public institutions).

Education: BSc Environmental Engineering, MSc International Development

Occupation: Program Manager

Campaign website: steve4littleton.org

Why are you seeking elective office?

I am running for Littleton City Council in District 3 because I am passionate about lifting up my community. I have the right kind of experience, the drive, and the window of opportunity in my life to make meaningful, long-term decisions about Littleton's future. I want to do this, because I care deeply about making the investments necessary to nurture and strengthen our families, our neighborhoods, and our environment.

The single most pressing issue facing our city is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The largest issue facing Littleton is the lack of will to invest in our City’s future; be it our infrastructure, our housing, or growing our business community. I want to be a representative for District 3 that motivates our citizens to continuously invest in the critical components that make our City a wonderful place to live. This would start with the Littleton’s sales tax increase to address critical infrastructure fixes, and I want to use this moment to show Littleton’s residents what can come from investing in our community. I intend to change the mindset of our Council and the individuals in my District to show that investing in the broad spectrum of housing options, making our neighborhoods more walkable and business friendly, and investing in the care and upkeep of our open spaces will make Littleton a place we can all be proud of for the next generation.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

The biggest difference between myself and the other candidate seeking this position is the breadth of relevant experience in contributing to the public good. While he has the advantage of having observed and reported on Littleton for a long period of time, my experience in working on infrastructure planning projects, disaster response, environmental and community activism projects make my experiences more relevant to the task of leading this City forward and tackling tough challenges. My opponent and I want nothing but the best for those in Littleton, but I bring a unique and diverse skillset to the table of translating real concerns into practical solutions.

How do you think local officials are performing in responding to the coronavirus? What if anything would you have done differently?

The COVID-19 pandemic response in our locality has been driven primarily by the TriCounty Health Department, which I think has done an average job with regards to their response. However, as a representative for families with school aged children in Littleton, as well as those who are in assisted living facilities, we can do more to support the economic recovery and stability of our citizens in the form of rental assistance, food assistance, and ensuring we enable our residents to re-enter the workforce. COVID has also pushed our most vulnerable citizens past the brink, with regards to the increase in homelessness, substance abuse, and crime. We need fortify our first responders with the tools and resources to manage these convening crises and get at the root cause of providing the care to those that need it the most, rather than continuously chasing the impacts of COVID into the future. I would have pushed our local authorities to provided clearer and more consistent guidance to ensuring that we took care of school aged children and working families at a moment of real hardship.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

My campaign platform is grounded in the making the long-term investments in families, neighborhoods, infrastructure, our commercial services, our governance, and our environment. We need to ensure that kids and young families can live in Littleton to attend schools, that neighborhoods are enhanced to be more walkable and accessible to businesses, and where we ensure a healthy fiscal, local government where staff are empowered every day to improve our lives.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I feel like the strength of my candidacy comes from my personal and professional experiences, and how I can tackle a diversity of challenges to get a job done. The thing that I feel has been (and will always be) the greatest accomplishment in my life is to marry a wonderful woman and taking the time, the care, and the attention to supporting my wife and my daughter as we started our journey as a family together. I feel like that period in my life gave me the strength to be not just a better father and husband, but to expand what it means to be a better person every day. A more concrete accomplishment might be when I worked through my former employer to deploy for hurricane relief efforts after Maria in 2017. I was faced with the most heartbreaking circumstances, technically challenging logistics, in an environment that was awash with social and emotional chaos. But what I took away from that month of endless hours, managing amazing staff, and daily challenges of coordination with public and private institutions, is that I can deliver what people need in the toughest of circumstances. The perseverance to do what is needed for those most in nee;, this idea is a cornerstone of who I am and how I will represent District 3.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

A big one was, “Run for City Council in District 3”. But I’d have to say that the best advice beyond that came from a friend citing a great piece of classic literature, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, that in the midst of the crazy churn of life and circumstance, “Don’t Panic”.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

While I hold a lot of strong values that guide the actions of my life, I want voters to know that there is always nuance to the critical decisions made in City Council, and I want to know how people truly feel about the decisions being made. It is in my nature to understand the full context and the history around important topics and let me choices be guided by my values and influenced by those that I represent. This mean taking meaningful steps to fully engage stakeholders and listen to the voices of residents in the choices set before me. Littleton is my home, where my family is planting seeds to bear fruit in the decades to come, and I’m inviting the voters of District 3 to join me in keeping Littleton a fantastic place to live.