Meadowood resident Christian Albouras hopes to secure the District 20 Alder seat today and advance his agenda for public safety, family engagement, and economic development on the Common Council.
“I just want the residents to know I’m a bridge builder, collaborator and someone who’s been in the community,” he tells Madison365.
Christian and Miriah Albouras are homeowners in the Meadowood Neighborhood and have roots on Madison’s west side. Their daughter, Nathalia, attends Huegel Elementary like her mother who also grew up in District 20. Christian Albouras said he wants to strengthen the neighborhoods within the district and has received the support of Alderman Matt Phair who has served the district for the past eight years.
“I also love that Madison just has some really strong neighborhoods,” Albouras says.
He explained how his involvement within his own community drove him to have a greater appreciation for public policy. Albouras served on Meadowood Neighborhood Committee and Mayor Paul Soglin appointed him to serve on the Madison Police Department Policy and Procedure Review ad-hoc Committee in 2015.
He also co-chaired the committee for the first two years. Albouras still serves on the committee to this day. Through serving on the committee, he learned how city committees can positively shape policy.
“After we heard from members of the community, we talked about what we wanted the RFP to look like,” Albouras said.
He said the committee has looked into various recommendations by community members for the past year, adding that there needs to be transparency and open communication with the public.
In District 20, however, he has a number of concerns he would love to tackle as alderman. Some of these issues like public safety require maintaining a collaborative relationship with law enforcement.
Albouras also discussed his position on having educational resource officers (EROs) in schools. He said law enforcement should work on building good relationships in school and the surrounding neighborhood.
“I think there’s a number of issues that come to the top. One of them is public safety,” he said.
Albouras said when having conversations with his neighbors a lot of them have shared concerns about break-ins or their cars being stolen. As an alder, he would like to promote safe neighborhoods, support law enforcement, and enhance community building. Albouras views violence from a public health lens and believes public safety is important to sustaining healthy neighborhoods.
In addition to public safety, he would like to focus on youth and family engagement. This vision includes increased collaboration with community-based organizations. Albouras said children need more extracurricular programs to help them discover new interests like in art or debate.
“I think that youth and family engagement looks like helping youth identify talents they aren’t even aware of,” he said.
Albouras would like to see more opportunities for development within the city which includes economic development and job creation. He said career fairs should be held in different spaces like the library to make resources more accessible. Albouras said these are issues the Common Council will have to work together on to achieve success.
“I’m excited about continuing to build the trajectory of economic development that Madison has been building. I’m excited about bringing those opportunities to every resident in Madison,” he said.
