Fort Collins mayoral candidate Elizabeth Hudetz shared her ideas and asked for support at a meet and greet at Avogadro’s Number Sunday night.

During the event, Hudetz played the guitar, including two songs that she wrote about her desire to become politically active and run for office. 

Hudetz’s goals focus on transportation, housing and sustainable living as a community. Hudetz emphasized problem-solving within the community by bringing people with differing ideas together to come up with solutions.

Hudetz said she wants Fort Collins to become a futuristic city.

“We’re going to look a lot more like a city from the future and that’s exactly what we need to do,” Hudetz said.

Hudetz was on the transportation board for four years and wants to upgrade the public transportation system in Fort Collins so that it is more accessible to more people. Hudetz said she also wants to reduce the amount of traffic in the city.

Hudetz said that if the city invests early in transportation, it can put in place something that is good enough for a big city.

Hudetz said she is concerned about the future; she is running for office because of the threat of climate change and her interest in investing in sustainability. Improving air quality in Fort Collins is one of Hudetz’s major goals and she said reducing car traffic is her method of choice.

Hudetz emphasized the use of solar panels throughout the city to boost the solar industry in Fort Collins and provide more jobs that way. She hopes to bring in good jobs that will allow people to live and work in Fort Collins.

She showed interest in improving housing so that people can afford to live in the city they work in, emphasizing goals addressing homelessness, disabilities and eco-living communities.

She wants to address these issues in a way that will bring neighbors together with the students.

Hudetz wants to create a pilot program to expand the “U+2” rule to “Me+3” where everyone inside the house is responsible. Hudetz said students could sign up and pay a small fee to be a part of the project. The program would have a strike citation system. Strikes might include trash in yards, indoor furniture left outdoors and excessive cars on the street.

“I’ve visited with ASCSU and we came up with some very interesting ideas,” Hudetz said. “It had to do with trash outside the house, cars, indoor furniture outdoors, parties, slamming doors at night, smoking with their windows open.”

Hudetz said she believes she can create a city that is independent and modern.

“If we can bring in some good jobs, be careful with our financing and give preferential treatment to our locals, we can basically take care of ourselves and take care of each other,” Hudetz said.

Collegian reporter Jym Cox can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @jym2233.