Montserrat Palacios Rodarte, 30, works at an art auction house and says she will bring a fresh perspective to the Boulder City Council. She holds a bachelor of arts in art history from the Catholic University of America. She has lived in Boulder for the past decade and is not seeking endorsements or donations. Instead, she said she is focusing on connecting directly with residents and listening to their concerns.
Answers to questionnaire:
Perspective and experience: What perspective or lived experience would you bring to city council, and how would it shape your approach to policy?
While I haven’t lived in Boulder for 30 years, I want to be here for the next 70. I have lived in D.C./Northern Virginia, Palo Alto, New York City, and Madrid but I have chosen Boulder as my home. Having seen how other cities approach growth, culture, sustainability, and community, I bring both perspective and fresh ideas about what works, and what doesn’t. As a young professional committed to Boulder’s future, I see value in being independent and finding the middle ground where real solutions are possible. My goal is not to push an agenda but to advocate for the community, listen to a wide range of voices, and help shape policies that ensure Boulder remains a thriving and welcoming city for generations to come.
Camping ban: Should Boulder enforce its camping ban when the All Roads shelter is full? Please answer yes or no and explain.
Yes. We should continue to enforce our laws at all times. The City does not have enough resources to house everyone that decides to stop here. We cannot run the shelters at full capacity; There needs to be space ready and available for members of our community who require it because of immediate and unforeseen circumstances (i.e. domestic violence, evictions, etc.). Boulder is a very small city and we need to work with surrounding counties and the City of Denver to redirect transient people to locations that have resources and available beds.
Wildfire mitigation/home hardening: Should the city require wildfire mitigation and home hardening — such as a five-foot buffer of noncombustible material around the home, or banning wood fences and gates within eight feet of a home — for existing homes?
We should have minimum standards that make sense and can be implemented. For example, the five-foot buffer of noncombustible material is simple and quite impactful. At the same time, we should not be banning wood fences and gates as that can create a hard financial burden for residents and these structures are already part of the functionality of their home (i.e. protect pets and provide privacy). There is no single silver bullet to prevent wild fires from spreading, we need to have a vast tool-kit and work together with Boulder’s fire-department, experts and State Officials.
Housing supply: Boulder needs thousands of new homes by 2032 to meet demand and keep rents and home prices from rising further out of reach. Yet projects often face cost overruns, community pushback or zoning hurdles. What specific steps would you take to address the city’s housing shortage?
First, we have to be realistic that there is always going to be a shortage of housing in a city like Boulder as it has national and international demand. We must have clear priorities and then legislate around them. As an example, we should avoid sprawl, we must protect our green-belt and maintain strict regulations on height restrictions because we all want to enjoy and be energized by the foothills. We can and should increase density (smartly) by allowing projects that provide much needed homes for families and middle-income service personnel (teachers, health care, city workers, professors, etc.). We have a fair amount of homes in large lots, if the city does not allow duplexes, triplexes or more-than-one single-family-home per lot, investors will continue to build ultra-luxury extra-large-homes to be able to recoup their investment. A community of smaller homes, like ‘Holiday’ in North Boulder, can host more families in the same area, which leads to higher school enrollment and a significant boost to the local economy (restaurants, stores, after-school classes, churches, charities, retail, etc).
Council’s role on foreign affairs (and Gaza): Should the Boulder City Council take positions on foreign affairs? Regardless of your answer, what actions, if any, should the city council take in response to Israel’s war in Gaza and the related disruptions and demonstrations in council chambers (e.g., open comment rules, safety, hate speech, First Amendment considerations)?
No. Boulder City Council should not take positions on foreign affairs. We have very capable legislators that represent 100% of Colorado’s constituents with the Federal Government. The Congress, Senate and State Government are the right mechanisms to voice opinions and concerns about foreign affairs. City Council is frequently disrupted by out-of-topic issues, one idea that we could investigate is to have a special session once a quarter for the community to voice opinions about any topics (ie, International wars, attacks on free speech, the stock market), this measure would allow us to streamline regular sessions that are scheduled with a specific agenda in mind, and still allow the public to have a voice be heard.
Budget priorities: With sales tax growth slowing, the city manager imposed a hiring freeze this year and the city council faces tough trade-offs. The city also has an estimated $380 million capital maintenance backlog and uncertain federal funding. With limited dollars, what are your top priorities, and what would you cut or delay?
The budget should not be a checklist, it needs to be revisited constantly and focus our attention on outcomes and impact more than on initial investments. The best way to have healthy accounts is with increased revenue through commercial activities. I am not proposing more taxes, I am proposing the activation of all the vacant commercial properties like store-fronts and office-space as those locales would bring much needed revenue. The city needs to work with the major landlords and investors and find ways to incentivize them to adopt more reasonable rent structures, acting as an important catalyst that benefits small businesses, entrepreneurs and the community at large.