EDS: Cronkite School journalists profiled candidates for Phoenix City Council and the Maricopa County sheriff race. You can find all the profiles here. 

By Carlos Rene Castro
Special for Cronkite News

• Candidate name: Michael Nowakowski
• Political affiliation: Democrat
• Position sought: Phoenix City Council in District 7
• Career: Vice president of communications for the Cesar Chavez Foundation

In 2016, then-Phoenix Councilman Michael Nowakowski was caught on camera making anti-LGBTQ+ comments while discussing the city’s choice to stop public prayer at council meetings.

Nowakowski’s statements drew criticism from the LGBTQ+ community, leading to calls for his resignation. However, Nowakowski is ready to move ahead and represent the people of Phoenix District 7 as he campaigns for a seat on the City Council.

“I’m running for Phoenix City Council because I want residents of District 7 to receive their fair share,” Nowakowski said in an interview with the Arizona Digital Free Press. “Residents in District 7 deserve safe neighborhoods and parks, more high-wage jobs, increased opportunities for small businesses, more retail options and more affordable housing.”

Nowakowski faces tough competition to win the District 7 City Council seat on Election Day against candidates Martyn Bridgeman, Anna Hernandez and Marcelino Quiñonez. District 7 covers parts of downtown and the southwest areas of Phoenix, including part of Laveen and Estrella Mountain.

“I also decided to run for this position because – although the other candidates are good candidates with good intentions – I am the only candidate with 13 years of experience and a track record of showing that I can advocate and fight for District 7,” Nowakowski said in a statement to KJZZ Phoenix.

The seat was left vacant after former Council member Yassamin Ansari resigned in March to pursue her candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives in District 3. Councilman Carlos Galindo-Elvira, who was appointed to fill the position, is running only for the special election. There will be two separate contests on the ballot for District 7 voters. A special election will determine an interim council member who will serve until April 2025, and a regular election will decide the permanent council member for a four-year term.
Hernandez and Quiñonez are running for a full term while Bridgeman and Nowakowski are running for both full and temporary terms. Carlos Galindo Elvira is running for a temporary term.

If elected, Nowakowski aims to focus on three key priorities to address the challenges facing constituents in District 7: Tackling homelessness, providing affordable housing and
ensuring safe neighborhoods.

Homelessness

Phoenix is facing a serious homelessness crisis, with the number of homeless people rising by 50% over the past five years. According to a report by the Maricopa Association of Governments, more than 13,000 people in Maricopa County experienced homelessness for the first time in the past year, a trend that began in 2022.

Nowakowski plans to address the housing crisis if elected. His campaign is focused on finding solutions like building more affordable housing and making neighborhoods safer to deal with the growing problem.

“When it comes to homelessness, each person’s situation is so different,” Nowakowski told the Arizona Digital Free Press. “We need to get to the root cause before we can help an individual through the problems they are facing at this present moment of their life.”

The Department of Justice recently found that the Phoenix Police Department violated the rights of people experiencing homelessness. Its investigation found officers often arrested or detained homeless individuals without proper reasons. Additionally, the police, along with the city, took and destroyed homeless people’s belongings without giving enough notice.

The Phoenix Police Department is updating its approach to handling calls involving unhoused individuals as part of its revised public safety strategies. The Phoenix City Council has recommended the police department develop a two-year training plan for Crisis Intervention Team officers, explore youth-prevention programs and expand homelessness services that could be provided by civilian staff instead of police officers.

“One of the things that the Department of Justice pointed out was that so many of our calls are related to homelessness,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego told KTAR News. “If there’s a weapon or threat of violence, police officers need to be at the front lines, but when that’s not the case, we ought to focus on (being) more solution-oriented.”

Affordable housing

Phoenix is dealing with a serious shortage of affordable housing, which is part of a larger problem affecting the state of Arizona. As of early 2024, Arizona had a shortfall of about 67,000 housing units, a decrease from about 100,000 in 2020, according to a report from the Common Sense Institute Arizona. Although there are new building projects and permits to help address this gap, the shortage is likely to continue for several years unless construction rates increase.

In Phoenix, the housing crisis is particularly acute, with average home values climbing to around $420,000, according to Zillow.

“District 7 is made up of working families who deserve affordable housing to grow and prosper,” Nowakowski told KJZZ Phoenix. “To tackle this issue, I will support programs and incentives for first-time homeowners and foster relationships with nonprofits to build more affordable housing and workforce housing to address the housing shortages.”

To ease this issue, the Phoenix City Council has approved funding to create or maintain more than 400 affordable housing units. However, many people in the area still find it hard to afford homes due to high mortgage and rental costs, making affordable housing a major concern for city officials​.

Other District 7 candidates, including Hernandez, a state senator with experience in the banking and mortgage sectors, shared the same concern about affordable housing in the district.

“Housing is a significant challenge citywide that is affecting each district in various ways,” Hernandez told KJZZ Phoenix. “I would work with the other council members by building a robust stakeholder group that could identify and prioritize solutions that would be beneficial to the respective districts so that there is an adequate increase in housing in each district.”

Safe neighborhoods

District 7 has faced ongoing crime challenges.

“Every resident deserves to feel safe and secure; in District 7, this is not the case. Residents have to deal with dirty parks, broken streetlights and unsafe neighborhoods,” Nowakowski told KJZZ Phoenix. “I plan on tackling this issue by taking what I like to call the TeamPHX approach – gathering community members with law enforcement and city services to meet about what the community needs from the city and what the city can provide to the community.”

The Phoenix Police Department recently launched a new plan to reduce crime called the 2024 Crime Reduction Plan. This plan focuses on two main issues: juvenile violent crime and the fentanyl crisis.

Interim Police Chief Michael Sullivan has highlighted the urgent need to address these issues. The goal is to lower violent crimes by 5% and property crimes by 8%. This comes after last year’s progress, which saw a 4% drop in violent crime and a 13% drop in property crime.

“We are losing far too many of our young people to gun violence and the effects of the fentanyl epidemic on our community have been immense,” Sullivan said in an announcement of the plan’s release.

Nowakowski is confident his prior experience on the city council can help communities in District 7 feel safe.

“Moving forward, I plan to advocate for increased public safety by concentrating efforts on community involvement, police staffing, retention, response times, training and transparency,” Nowakowski told KJZZ Phoenix.

For more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org.