HEATH ANNOUNCES: Campaign for CoMo Mayor

Heath

Mayoral candidate's "common sense" platform


COLUMBIA, Mo 09/16/24 (Beat Byte) -- "The continued deterioration of a once-great city" has prompted 2022 CoMo mayoral candidate Tanya Heath to announce a rematch for 2025.

A Columbia native, Hickman High graduate, and Mizzou Journalism School instructor, Heath cited "criminal activity, misplaced priorities and lack of direction from our City leaders on key issues facing Columbia" in an official announcement on her Facebook page.

Best known for her work with at-risk youth through an organization she founded -- Team CoMo -- Heath previously ran on a platform of more affordable housing, a comprehensive homeless crisis response, and increased public safety through police officer hiring, retention, and curtailing the drug sales pipeline that runs through I70 and I63. 

Her 2025 campaign sounds more urgent. 

"Do you feel as safe in your neighborhood or in downtown Columbia as you did five years ago? There are shots fired, cars being broken into at night AND in broad daylight, businesses being vandalized or being set on fire. Every night, it gets earlier and earlier when we hear the first sirens wail," Heath wrote in her campaign declaration. "This is NOT the Columbia we know and love and I’m not willing to let it get any worse."

An "innovative and creative city with good paying jobs for hard working people," Columbia is also expensive, Heath says. "Our biggest challenge: the average nurse, schoolteacher or police officer can’t afford the median home price in Boone County which is $351,505! Unfortunately, they can’t even afford to rent that home in Columbia. That’s unacceptable."

City Hall finances -- a common thread in CoMoBuz coverage of Columbia's city-owned utilities -- are also a Heath priority, she explains. Facing city budgets that have skyrocketed since Mayor Barbara Buffaloe and city manager De'Carlon Seewood took office in 2022, Heath wants a lot more transparency.

"City leaders are spending $47 million more each year," Heath says. "Where does that money go? Who is accountable for the way it is spent? Let’s make sure your city tax dollars are working for you as hard as you worked for them."

What might prioritized, transparent city budgets look like in a Heath administration?

"We need to get back to the basics of funding law enforcement, creating safer streets and sidewalks and stopping nonsense spending on pet projects like pollinator habitats," she explains. "Please join me to fight for reform and common-sense government."

Heath and her husband raised a daughter in Columbia and Columbia Public Schools.

Heath may be reached at
573-808-1053 
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.