Sam Fuqua is a former Boulder Valley school board president running for Boulder City Council with a focus on affordable housing for families, transparent government, climate resilience, infrastructure and arts and culture.
Fuqua spent 22 years at KGNU, serving as news director and station manager. He later became executive director of Pop Culture Classroom, a literacy and arts nonprofit. Since 2013, he has worked as a freelance audio reporter and producer, including for NPR and KGNU. He also co-hosts “Well, That Went Sideway,” a podcast about communicating productively across differences, particularly on politics and social justice.
Fuqua served on the Boulder Valley School District Board of Education from 2011 to 2019, including two years as president. He was a Boulder Library commissioner from 2007 to 2012 and served on the Boulder Public Library District Board of Trustees from 2023 to 2025. He also served on the Boulder County Cultural Council from 2021 to 2024, helping review grant proposals and recommend arts funding.
Fuqua said his experience as a journalist and elected official taught him the value of transparent decision-making and hearing multiple perspectives.
Fuqua is endorsed by the Boulder Progressives, which cited his record of public service. His endorsers also include fellow candidates Jill Grano and Councilmember Tina Marquis, state Rep. Lesley Smith and state Board of Education member Kathy Gebhardt. Fuqua describes himself as progressive and pragmatic.
Fuqua moved from Minnesota to Boulder in 1991 to become KGNU’s news director. His family lived for eight years in the Boulder Meadows Mobile Home Park before buying a townhome in North Boulder’s Holiday neighborhood, where he and his wife raised three children and still live.
Fuqua has said access to affordable housing allowed his family to remain in Boulder, build a life and become involved in the community. “It’s at the heart of why affordable housing is my top priority,” he wrote on his website.
Occupation: Audio producer and podcast host
Neighborhood: North Boulder
Rent or own?: Own
Answers to questionnaire:
Affordable housing: Market-rate homes are out of reach for many teachers, nurses, police officers and firefighters. What would you do to create more housing these middle-income residents can afford? What regulations, if any, would you change to lower the cost of building or renovating homes?
Some options I support for creating more middle-income housing include:
- Support gentle in-fill development, especially along transit corridors
- Continue to study the possibility of development in the small portion of the Area III Planning Reserve that adjoins the city (the “urban edge”) for middle income housing.
- Expand and improve affordable mortgage and ownership opportunities, including land trusts and downpayment assistance programs
Given the general concern about the impact of current regulations on affordability and a new Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, this is a good time for a full review of the city’s land use code (Title 9) This will take time and careful study–we shouldn’t rush it. But I don’t want this review process to completely eliminate our ability to be flexible with certain projects while the overall review is underway but not yet completed.
Homelessness: What is one approach Boulder has not tried, or has not tried at scale, to address homelessness that you would bring to the council, and how should the city pay for it?
The city has highlighted a shortfall in the available housing for people transitioning out of shelters. We have tried but we are far short on the number of units we need. To scale up and meet the need, we need to tap available county behavioral health and housing funds and possibly Medicaid funds, if available, for housing navigation.
And is it possible to have a regional approach to this issue where all the cities and towns in our county share the responsibility? Can Boulder County fund shelters throughout the county?
Governance: Boulder is entering its third straight year of budget cuts while facing a roughly $400 million backlog of major facility needs. How do you assess the problem, and what specific spending, revenue or management changes would you support?
We have declining revenue, inflation and a lot of dedicated funds that make budget adjustments less flexible. We have significantly increased city staff–well-intentioned increases that may not be sustainable. The move already underway to tie our spending to outcomes (“outcome-based budgeting”) is an important shift that should lead to savings.
Also underway: hIring freezes, leaving positions unfilled, non-renewal of contract employees and, most painfully, lay-offs. We may need to continue down this difficult path. I support the idea of an independent auditor reporting directly to council, not only as another set of eyes to potentially find savings but also to identify ways to improve our customer service. I have no idea how much additional savings may be identified.
My assessment of the $400 million backlog of major facility needs is that it resulted, in part, from the difficult choices our city councils have had to make over many years that led to chronic underfunding of building maintenance and the simple fact that we have a lot of old city buildings.
If Ballot Issue 2K, the Recreation and Safety bond, passes I will push for a strong oversight panel reporting directly to council and a review of each project to look for savings without compromising core functions of each building. I am pleased to hear the city has identified a possible alternative to the proposed $170 new public safety building (the largest project in the bond package).
Flock: Would you end Boulder’s use of automated license plate readers, yes or no? Why or why not?
Yes. There is too much potential for misuse and abuse of the data collected by ALPR systems. If there is widespread community support for using ALPR’s and a majority of council approves the use of this technology, I will push for very tight restrictions on data access and retention.
Wildfire: Should Boulder adopt an ordinance requiring owners of existing homes and homeowners associations in high-risk areas to harden their properties against wildfire, yes or no? If yes, what should it require?
Yes but as usual the details matter. We will need very strong neighborhood engagement and legal confidence in any ordinance. We will need to provide funds to help income-qualified residents in the high risk zone come into compliance. And we will need to define the zone. I favor starting with the red zones–the highest risk areas of the Class 1 Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). Ideally, homes covered by the ordinance should be required to meet the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) hardening standards for a Wildfire Prepared Home. In order for the city and the impacted residents to know what specifically needs to be done to their property, we need to conduct a Detailed Home Assessment (DHA) for each property, starting with the red zones and ultimately for all properties in the Class 1 WUI.
Is the city doing enough to push Xcel Energy to prevent or limit wildfire-related power shutoffs? What more should it do?
The city has standing to intervene at the Public Utilities Commission and should participate in the current rulemaking around Preemptive Power Shutoffs (PSPs). At the upcoming public hearing (Nov 23) and throughout the rulemaking process the city should advocate for actual penalties when Xcel does not meet their obligations to restore power in a timely fashion and for compensation to their customers for losses suffered during PSPs.
We should also push Xcel to increase the small amount of money put aside to underground powerlines. I’m glad they’ve done some of that work but we need to move faster.
Local businesses and downtown: Many local businesses, especially downtown, are struggling with rising costs and stagnating sales. What city policy would you change to help businesses stay open and reduce commercial vacancies, and what would you do to bring more customers downtown?
My understanding is that there is no standard city process for permitting “pop up” shops and art galleries–temporary uses of vacant retail spaces. These can help small businesses, artists and nonprofits reach new customers and increase variety–something new that brings people downtown. We should create a simple, quick standard permitting process. I would start by reviewing processes in cities that have standardized pop-up permits.
I also suggest building more affordable housing in the downtown area. More people living downtown–including the workers who keep downtown going–means more potential customers for downtown businesses.
City promotion and facilitation of events and festivals should be a priority. As should continuing to make it easier to re-configure retail and office spaces for other uses.
Commercial land trusts may also offer a partial solution. For example, the Denver nonprofit Urban Land Conservancy uses land banking and land trusts to develop and maintain permanently affordable residential and commercial real estate. Could we identify one or two downtown buildings and work with the right partners to create a commercial land trust offering below market office and retail?
Closer: Imagine it is November 2027, one year after your election. What is one specific thing you will have accomplished?
If elected, I will be one vote of nine. A specific policy achievement is never an individual accomplishment. By November, 2027, I think I will have definitely communicated my priorities to my fellow council members, advanced affordable and middle-income housing plans and made difficult budget decisions while protecting core services and public programs.