The things that truly matter in the communities of Nevada are what voters like me want to know that they can vote for in qualified candidates running for political offices where they will represent Nevadans.
Aside from Blue or Red, aside from Far Left or Far Right, and aside from Conservative or Libertarian. Many people in Nevada are just wanting to vote for candidates that are most equipped to address issues that Nevadans are facing. We want to see resolves and not false empty promises. We want to see all of Nevadans represented and not just big businesses agendas.
It is 2023, in a few short weeks it will be 2024. We need our processes to move forward and not remain stagnant with processes that don't include or fully address the true needs of the people. We need candidates that are in tune with addressing these needs and not just someone running to advance their political or personal agenda. We are over the dog and pony show and circus act that has been playing out daily before our eyes.
I have been meeting and connecting with candidates and parties who share these same concerns and that are equipped and ready to bring about resolves and reforms. And not just resolves and reforms, but new projects and initiatives that are going to revitalize our communities, that are going to ensure inclusiveness, and that are not more of the same that divides Nevadans.
Now, what is most important will vary depending on whom you speak with, however, what can be agreed upon is that we need to make changes that moves everyone forward.
Things that matter or should matter:
- Wages: the cost of living has gone up and the minimum wage has not changed in a way that the average person working for a minimum wage in Nevada can live and support their families without having to obtain a second job. I've met single mothers who work two or more full time and part time jobs.
- Childcare: access to affordable and safe childcare is difficult to navigate. I've meet single mothers who use their immediate communities (neighbors and their older children) to support them by watching their children so that they can work.
- Affordable housing: part of the reason why many that live at or below the poverty line are having to obtain a second or third job is because there is no rent control in Nevada. There are no tenant protections in Nevada. Tenants are at the mercy of the properties that they rent from. Properties that can change the rent amount beyond market rate, mislead, and manipulate processes to have tenants evicted from their properties. To date, over 50,000 families have been evicted from their homes as a result of the governor vetoing protections that would have kept tenants in their homes and allowed for allocated resources from the C.A.R.E.S program to be paid out to the properties.
- Consumer watch dogs have been attending eviction hearings daily where a hearing officer, not the judge, has been granting evictions to the properties and giving tenants no more than 10 days to move. The properties have attorney's that have the hearing officers' ear while tenants stand before the hearing officer unrepresented with only forms in hand that they received assistance to fill out from a volunteer or a representative at a legal aid clinic.
- Hotels like LaQuinta are receiving money from the state to house families as there are not enough shelters to accommodate the families that are becoming unhoused on a daily basis.
- Private investors are buying properties in the valley, partially rehabbing them, and moving black and brown families into these properties with the promise of the apartments being affordable.
- Healthcare: the entire healthcare system in Nevada needs a reform. Nevada healthcare system is difficult to navigate, will exhaust your savings, has a doctor shortage, and if you receive Medicaid you will have to wait 4 or more months for appointments or procedures. Patients aren't seeing doctors on their visits; they are having conversations with Nurse Partitioners because there is a shortage of doctors.
- I've met doctors who have told their patients to find a doctor in California and fly there once a month to see them.
- I've met doctors who have told me that people with chronic conditions should seek healthcare in another state such as Arizona or California.
- I was in the emergency room being treated when a doctor told me that I should find a doctor in California to manage my care. I woke up with discharge papers in my hand at what I now know is a poorly rated hospital.
- The insurance companies are the doctors, they will deny medications and tell the doctors to give their patients something else and take the doctors through red tape when the doctors submit requests for medications that their patients need.
- Education: Clark County School District, well, it's involved, and there is not enough room in this blog post to even begin to have a conversation on how to reform this school district so that it works for all students and not just some students.
- Parks and recreation in the Valley: there are not any safe areas for children to play as there are no parks or family recreation areas in the Valley.
- Small Business: well, it's involved, can we just have a state of the small business townhall? I think that is where local small business owners can express what it is that they would like to see from their elected officials.
- Museums: more, more museums.
I attended the Forward Party Fundraiser & Networking event at #JammyLand where I met
Andrew Yang
(pictured right of Kara Jenkins) former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and listened at his attempts to introduce an election where voters have more options in their choice for candidates. I met Kara Jenkins (pictured center) a nonpartisan mayoral candidate of Las Vegas that is currently running for 2024. And I met Gregg Taylor (not pictured) a former Republican, now Forward Party candidate that is running for Senate seat District 1 in North Las Vegas in 2024. I listened to Gregg Taylor's ideas for an inclusive North Las Vegas that we can all appreciate and live in.
I won't tell you who to vote for, I will only ask that you vote.
#forwardparty #forwardnv #nonpartisan #nevada #lasvegas
