Rachel Rose
Rachel Rose is making her first run for Boulder City Council, and for elected office in general, in 2025. She’s one of the younger candidates in this race, but has been involved in the political process, and says that’s part of the reason she’s running.
“When I was younger, I was really wanting to make a change in my community, and I did a lot of work from the outside and realized that there’s a lot of impact that you can make from the inside, and the more that I learned, the more that I wanted to be involved. It feels like a duty to be of service, but beyond it just being a duty, I genuinely love this work. I love connecting with people, and I just really want to help us be able to make it through the challenges that we’re seeing,” she said.
Mini-Bio
Rose grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and also lived not far away from Columbus in Yellow Springs, Ohio. At age 17, she began drafting state-level legislation to protect LGBTQ youth in Ohio, and while there were Republican legislative majorities in Ohio and this legislation didn’t pass, she said she also worked to try and “change peoples’ hearts” around LGBTQ issues.
The experience with drafting legislation led her to earn a bachelor’s degree in political economics from Antioch College, and then a master’s degree in public administration and leadership from Ohio State University. During her undergrad years, she worked with others and got the bill that didn’t pass the state legislature passed in the City of Columbus. She also served for two years in AmeriCorps.
She said she “drifted away from politics” for some time in Ohio, working for a time for a nonprofit dedicated to regenerative policy, which in short she described as “ways to scientifically make ourselves and our systems more resilient.” But in 2023, there was a toxic train derailment near East Palestine, Ohio, and she said she was exposed to toxic chemicals while an entire bioregion was poisoned. She traveled to Boulder with 2023 Boulder City Council candidate Aaron Neyer, who used regeneration as a campaign theme and was also from Ohio, and Rose stayed in Boulder to work as his campaign manager. She also worked on Rep. Junie Joseph’s campaign for the state House of Representatives in 2024.
Her campaign website is https://www.rachelrose4boulder.com/
Concerns about Boulder’s economic future?
Like many candidates, Rose is concerned with how federal actions might impact keystones of Boulder’s economy, like the federal labs or the university, and she believes it’s already impacting the city. But she said Boulder is known for being innovative, and wants that to continue.
The “third pillar” of her platform is “community empowerment and localization,” which she believes could help protect the local economy by being less dependent on outside sources like the federal government. She noted that there are lots of office vacancies in Boulder, plus her local hardware store just left, and believes it’s essential for the city to make sure economic resources stay in the city to support local businesses and offices.
She also noted that people in her generation are facing unique economic challenges, but perhaps working toward regeneration might provide benefits. “For a lot of us, the dreams about having a family, the typical things about the American dream, we’re losing. It’s not motivating us to do any kind of job when we don’t even have a lot of faith that we’re going to have an ecologically viable future. So, the better that we can accomplish both things, where we are providing jobs and especially to young people and underemployed folks, while simultaneously tackling regeneration, I think is going to be the way forward,” she said.
Does Boulder spend taxpayers’ money wisely?
Rose said people in Boulder tend to think big, adding “that’s part of why we’re so awesome,” but sometimes smaller-scale concerns like road conditions don’t get the attention they need. She said people most frequently interact with their local governments, whether they’re thinking about that or not, through day-to-day activities and their day-to-day commutes. “They’re noticing that we’re working on these huge projects, huge infrastructural projects, while some of the smaller details seem to be missed,” she said. She has learned more about how cities with budgets smaller than Boulder’s deal with providing services, and said they tend to work innovatively and collaboratively. She would prefer Boulder to take collaborative and innovative approaches to providing services, which might also include digital or technological solutions, as opposed to just “throwing money” at problems.
Crime Concerns?
According to Rose, the city’s role in reducing or managing crime might include making sure that people have access to “what they need to thrive,” such as job opportunities, access to affordable housing, access to nutrient-dense foods, and/or mental health and substance abuse disorder support. She believes it could also help cultivate a stronger culture of community and belonging if representatives of the city represent these values themselves, which she said is also a powerful way the city can deter people from crime. She said research shows that neighborhoods with strong social connections, “often described by sociologists as having high ‘collective efficacy,'” experience lower crime rates.
Homelessness Objectives
Rose believes the recently-released Clutch Report accomplished both “compassion and pragmatism.” On the pragmatism side, she spoke favorably of the report’s recommendations to prioritize longer-term support for unhoused people actually from the area, while looking toward short-term supports for people who are possibly just passing through. She did not speak favorably about enforcing “things like the city’s camping ban” if people tried to seek shelter but were turned away, saying, “That devastates me and I feel like that’s inhumane.”
Core Arterial Network Projects
Rose said she knew a person who was killed while cycling in Boulder, and “we don’t want to see any more of our own community pass away on the road.” While she supports better planning for bike safety in Boulder, she has also heard complaints about some recent proposals and believes it’s creating some divisions in the community. She said the city needs to do better at communicating about new projects, and at acknowledging that some community members “have thoughts that they don’t feel heard about right now.”
Council Meeting Open Comment Period
According to Rose, she “loves” Open Comment and she’s glad it’s staying at the beginning of meetings, as opposed to a recent proposal that might have moved it later in the evening. To her, direct public input is a “critical part of our democracy,” even if it might make some elected officials uncomfortable at times. She mentioned how the city stopped showing video of people speaking in Open Comment, although the audio is still there, but said she’s “proud” of the city for continuing this section of Council meetings since people like to be heard.
Boulder and International Issues
Rose believes Council shouldn’t completely discount international issues, in part because they can impact people in Boulder directly. For example, she said Boulder tax dollars might be used on things that some residents might find disturbing, so it can be relevant for the city to discuss these issues. She added that if international issues are to be addressed at the city level, the city ought to make it clear why the issues are locally relevant.
New Administration in Washington and Boulder Impacts
Rose is concerned about the implications that federal actions might have on the local community. For example, she mentioned that a few days before this interview, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that ICE could detain people using racial profiling whether or not they’re actual U.S. citizens, based on things like skin color or if they spoke Spanish. She believes it’s vitally important for Boulder to protect peoples’ Constitutional rights, including for people of any underprivileged status.
Performance of “Progressive Council”
Rose suggested that some Boulder residents might not have issues with progressive policies per se, but might have concern about whether they’re being “grounded with some level of pragmatism.” But she said progress is important, and that the opposite of progress would be regression.
Climate Action
As an advocate for regenerative practices, Rose said one of the most important things to be done to manage atmospheric carbon is to regenerate the soil, which can sequester carbon as well as help retain water. She mentioned that about 40% of municipal water bills go toward watering grass, so she suggested moving toward more native biodiversity, using plants that aren’t as thirsty as bluegrass.
Need More Housing?
Rose does believe Boulder needs more housing, partially because the city was built on zoning laws that “made it very difficult for us to meet our current needs.” With the price of single-family homes regularly above $1 million, it’s outside many peoples’ financial capacity, but she also called local affordable housing “so-called affordable housing” because it’s not accessible for large numbers of people. Like many candidates, she mentioned the need for middle-income housing, but also for all types of housing, to be implemented neighborhood-by-neighborhood with lots of local input. She added that she recently moved from a lower-density area in south Boulder to higher density in north Boulder, and she’s enjoying seeing and interacting with more people in her new location. “I think that we are social creatures when we live with other people, we tend to be happier and we tend to go out more and that’s the kind of city I think we all want to live in, or at least I would recommend it,” she said.
CCRS Ballot Measures (City of Boulder Issues 2A and 2B)
During this early September interview, Rose said she was “leaning toward” supporting both CCRS measures, noting that the city does have a maintenance backlog that needs to be addressed.
County Mental/Behavioral Health Tax (County Issue 1B)
Rose supports County Issue 1B, saying she hopes anyone who’s struggling with behavioral health issues can get the support they need, but she mentioned wanting to see transparent information about how the funding will be used.
Endorsements
Rose has earned endorsements from New Era Action Fund, Boulder Area Labor Council, and an honorable mention from PLAN-Boulder County.
Follow The Money
As of late October, Rose had received $1,894 in total contributions, including maximum $100 donations from current Council members Nicole Speer and Lauren Folkerts; $50 from current Council member Taishya Adams; and $25 donations from former Council members Jill Grano and Rachel Friend.
