Peter is a fiscal conservative.

Labels mean different things to different people.  What Peter means by fiscal conservative is to get a majority of folks together to agree on the top 3 or 5 issues and allocate adequate resources to resolve those issues.  No one (except Bill Gates and Warren Buffet) live in a world with unlimited resources, so we must prioritize our issues and allocate our limited resources in an effective manner.  We must use the resources that the taxpayers have given us, with the utmost care.

For Metro, this means we need to control our spending, which starts with the Metro Budget which comes for annual approval each Spring from the Mayor.  The council then has the months of May and June to review, revise, and approve a budget.

The budget should reflect priorities and choices made for the community.  The budget also provides accountability to the citizens and taxpayers as results can be measured and compared to the original plan.  The budget process also reflects the differences in power between individuals and organizations in influencing outcomes.  We must strive to have a budget that reflects our community priorities.

Peter's views on specific future issues will be influenced by input from District 4 residents, property owners, businesses, and voters.  He will strive to maintain a communication system (likely e-mail or web based, but always with a telephone as back-up for those who prefer or do not use the web) to allow District 4 voters to express their views on on-going issues, issues that need to be addressed, as well as city-wide issues.

Peter's philosophy is based on the premise that we should make the best use of existing Metro resources, to benefit the community at large.  These include not only our physical assets (such as buildings, land, and systems), but our employees and management team, revenue streams, and tax base.

Peter's top priorities are Education and Public Safety.  Excellent public schools and libraries encourage families with school age children to stay in Nashville, rather than relocate to neighboring counties.  Demand by families for housing within Davidson County, helps maintain housing values and creates demand for businesses in Metro, further maintaining our tax base and enhancing our revenue streams.  Public safety requires that we pay attention to the needs of our police, fire, emergency, and public health systems.  An unsung part of government is our infrastructure - be it good roads, street lighting, adequate storm sewers, public water supply, and public utilities.  Quality of life would not be complete without attention paid to parks and recreation.  To do all this, we must encourage business investment in our city that will help grow our city and give our residents a place to earn a living.  Metro Council must require that we hire the best leaders for all of Metro's Departments, so every aspect of Metro is under capable and visionary leadership.  If we don't hire well in leadership positions, we can't expect good people to stay and work for Metro.

If you have issues you would like addressed, please use the contact information under the "Contact Peter" tab above.