Candidate Q&A: Ben Pearlman > Candidate questionnaires > Stories > Boulder

RECENT STORIES

NASA awards CU $2 million for rocket program ( CU News Services )
Police blotter:Bullet found in wall ( YourHub.com )
Invitation to an afternoon with Judy Collins ( Jeffrey Neuman )
Bring your family to NOAA's Celebration Nov. 25 ( X Anatta )
Tips to prevent childhood diabetes ( Tammy Stratton )

share a story | more postings »

YourHub.com \\ Boulder \\ Stories \\ Elections \\ Candidate questionnaires

Candidate Q&A: Ben Pearlman

e-mail to a friend | print this | link to this

NEXT › ‹ PREVIOUS

Contributed by: Ben Pearlman on 10/9/2008

Name: Ben Pearlman

Seat you are seeking: Boulder County Commissioner, District 2

Age: 41

Family: Parents Althea and Elihu Pearlman and grandmother Anne Goss
in Boulder; sister Eve Pearlman in California; brother Nathaniel
Pearlman in Washington, DC; three nieces and nephews

Occupation: Boulder County Commissioner; formerly lawyer and manager
for Boulder County's open space program

Hometown: Boulder

Your Web site: www.benforbouldercounty.org

Favorite local place to hang out: Oskar Blues in Lyons

What do you like most about living here?: Friendly, open people who
are concerned about their neighbors and their environment; easy
access to some of the most beautiful land in the country

Interests & hobbies: Soccer, racquetball, biking, the outdoors, clay
sculpture.

Favorite TV show: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart; The Office

Favorite Web site: www.fivethirtyeight.com for all the polling
information on political races around the country

People who inspired you (and how): Robin Hood, as a boy, followed by people like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Cesar Chavez. I have always been inspired by people who dedicate their lives to making sure that everyone, regardless of how or where they were raised, has an equal chance at success. Equality of opportunity is what defines us as a people, and it takes a lot of work from a lot of people to get there.

How you have contributed to the community: I've spent most of my working life working on public issues. I've been a teacher, worked on political campaigns, for environmental organizations, and for our open space program. I think I understand what makes Boulder County a community that works. Here, the health of our local economy and our high quality of life are bound up with the beautiful natural setting we've been able to preserve and the open, tolerant society we've built. I've spent the last four years working to guide growth into cities to keep them strong, protect rural land and wildlife habitat, and add recreational trails. I've helped shore up our safety net by investing in local non-profits and programs that provide services to residents in their times of need. And I've worked to make county government more open, more able to respond to the good ideas of the public, and more focused on service to the public.

What are the biggest issues facing your constituency now:
We face many pressing issues - the tremendous increases in the cost
of energy, fuel, food, asphalt and other raw materials, the downturn in the economy, meeting our greenhouse gas reduction goals, and the mountain pine beetle epidemic, just to name a few.

We can't solve all of the problems at the local level, but there are many sensible steps we can take. For instance, we can't protect every tree from the pine beetle, but we can help landowners defend themselves against wildfire and dispose of infected trees. We can find places to accept and process slash and infected logs - and we can work to find end markets for logs, lumber, and wood chips so there is some financial gain to landowners. We may not be able to sidestep all of the impacts of the economic downturn, but we can recognize that good regional planning and less sprawl and less overbuilding has made our property values and our local economy much more stable than our neighbors. We can continue these efforts, and we can continue to steer urban growth into our cities and towns so they can remain the economic engines of the area and are better able to stay fiscally strong.

[Report this as objectionable content.]

SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above story

Talk Back : submit comments to the story

*Note: you need to log-in to add a comment or rating.

Thank you! Your comment has been updated.

SAVE AND SHARE THIS STORY

digg	Google
del.icio.us	Yahoo!
reddit	newsvine

What is this?

STORY RSS FEEDS

All stories

All stories in Boulder

All stories by Kristin Morin

WANT TO WRITE FOR YOURHUB.COM?

Want to see the stories you write and the photos you shoot featured in the YourHub.com Thursday print section available all over the Front Range and with home subscriptions of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post? All you have to do is register, then post a story or column, start a blog or tell everyone what events are happening in town. We will print the best stories, columns, event listings, photos and blog entries in our print sections.

Loading Ad