Indy is running to help define the Park District’s next chapter: protecting the land, connecting more people to the health and belonging parks provide, and making public systems deliver.
Healthy land. Healthy people. Public money that works.
The District has spent generations protecting land. Indy’s campaign asks how that protected land can more fully sustain the people and communities around it.
Keep land, water, roads, trails and fire-prone landscapes healthy and safe — with maintenance and ecological stewardship matched to the places the District manages.
Treat parks as public-health and belonging infrastructure, with better access, locally relevant programming and meaningful ways for residents to participate.
Modernize field systems, publish priorities and costs, and make it easier to see what is being fixed, restored and improved.
Doughnut Economics asks how we meet more human needs without damaging the living systems we depend on. Indy’s 2036 vision applies that question to Ward 7’s parks and communities.
Each story starts with a real place and a real condition, asks what nearby communities need, then connects the future vision to a practical policy, partnership or funding pathway.
Cleaner water, healthier wetlands and safer access — using proven treatment and restoration approaches where they fit.
Current condition → practical response → healthier shorelineExplore nature-prescription and public-health partnerships that make “parks are health infrastructure” literal.
Nature access → wellbeing → preventionExplore food forests, edible corridors and community stewardship on appropriate park edges and buffer zones.
Park edge → stewardship → local nourishmentCreate paid stewardship pathways so young people can learn ecological skills while improving the places they use.
Learning → paid work → local stewardshipMake priorities, costs, timelines and outcomes easier for residents to understand and follow.
Public data → accountability → trustShift from reactive emergency response toward proactive vegetation, soil, wetland and habitat management.
Prevention → resilience → regenerationThe argument is not that every public dollar is discretionary. It is that a large public institution should make its priorities, costs and results understandable.
Specific budget figures remain subject to reconciliation against the District’s adopted budget before publication. The campaign’s standard should be simple: verified facts are labeled as facts; proposals are labeled as proposals; future concepts are labeled as future concepts.
Indy is a regenerative farmer, community organizer and systems thinker running for the East Bay Regional Park District Board in Ward 7.
His work focuses on the relationship between personal health, community wellbeing and the health of the land. He is running because he believes the Park District can build on its legacy of land protection and become a more active partner in public health, climate resilience, ecological restoration and community stewardship.
His question is straightforward: How can the land we have already protected do more good for the people and places around it?
Most public engagement begins with a survey. Heartstorming begins with a place, a conversation and a practical question: What would help your community thrive here?
The doughnut is a simple model: make sure people can thrive while keeping ecological systems healthy. The campaign uses it as a long-horizon method, not as a prerequisite for understanding the platform.
No. The site distinguishes campaign proposals and future concepts from existing District programs. Partnerships are not implied until they are actually established.
One director does not control the District alone. Indy would need to build public support and Board support for pilots, policies and investments.
Maintenance, ecological care, field data and capital decisions are connected. Better information and clearer priorities can help staff, the Board and residents understand what needs attention and what progress looks like.
Vote. Volunteer. Share a park story. Come to a Heartstorming event. Help turn a long-horizon vision into practical work.