Tara Winer

Tara Winer, the current Mayor Pro Tem of Boulder, is running for another term on City Council in 2026. She was first elected to Council in 2021, finishing fifth in a race for five seats and earning a two-year term, then re-elected in 2023, earning a three-year term after winning the most popular votes in that race. It is not guaranteed that Winer would remain Mayor Pro Tem even if she’s re-elected to Council, since the Mayor Pro Tem is selected by a vote of Council members after elections.

Winer said during a late August 2026 interview that she’s running again in part because she “loves her job” and enjoys trying to fix problems when they’re possible to fix at the Council level. However, at times she’ll find that issues pertain more to other levels of government, like the state, federal, or county levels. She said she often learns that there are problems or issues directly from City of Boulder residents, and her next steps often include working with city staff or other Council members to see if they can find collaborative adjustments or solutions.

“If you feel strongly about something, then your goal is to get four other people to agree with you. If you’re not sure how you feel about something, then you get to hear from a lot of people – not only the smart people on Council, but also the smart constituents give you their opinion, and it helps you to figure out how you feel about something,” said Winer.

Mini-Bio

Winer was born in Brooklyn and graduated from high school there. She went on to college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, majoring in economics. After leaving Wisconsin she moved to Philadelphia and lived there for roughly 37 years, meeting her husband and raising three daughters.

Her sister had lived in Boulder for decades, and Winer said she visited her often and loved it, which made her wonder why she was living on the East Coast. She said the economic troubles from the Great Recession made it easier to buy a house in Boulder, and she and her husband bought a house in 2009 and settled in by 2011.

Professionally, she has been an independent contractor since the age of 23, in the world of branded merchandise manufacturing, and currently works as a contractor for a company called ePromos Promotional Products.

She lives reasonably close to Chautauqua, and her first direct experience with the City of Boulder was being appointed to the Chautauqua Access Management Plan Working Group. To address the well-known Chautauqua parking problems, the Working Group created a pilot program to run a free Park-to-Park Shuttle. Later, she served on a city Capital Tax Working Group.

She became a member of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board (PRAB) in 2020, and served as a member of the Boulder Community Initiatives Board, which engaged in pursuits such as bringing events back to Downtown Boulder that were curtailed during the pandemic.
During her second term on Council, she became Mayor Pro Tem, and noted that the experience has been quite beneficial because she’s learned how to run a Council meeting, learned Robert’s Rules of Order, and learned more about dealing with the myriad issues and personalities that come with running a Council meeting.

Her campaign website is: https://www.taraforboulder.com/

Q – Support Directly Elected Mayor?

Winer said she “loves” both having a directly elected Mayor and the ranked-choice voting system that was used in 2023 and will be used in 2026.

Q – Boulder’s Economic Status and Solutions?

Like many candidates, Winer noted that Boulder’s sales and use tax revenue has been declining or flat, and said “we need to stop that decline.” Since so many city programs she believes are vital need adequate funding – like transportation, bike lanes, Open Space, and more – she said it is to some extent up to Council to address the issue. This interview was held shortly after a decision to sell a surface parking lot at Broadway and Spruce, which will be the home of a new hotel, and while it wasn’t a completely popular decision, Winer said it will bring tax revenue and economic activity to the city. She is displeased about the Trump administration’s attacks on sectors that are important for Boulder’s economy, including the federal labs and the sciences, but said Boulder still needs to work to make itself a hub in scientific areas including quantum computing and biotech.

Q – Downtown Development Authority?

Winer did vote to put the DDA on a 2026 ballot issue for about 2,500 potential voters connected to the DDA area, but it failed on a 4-4 vote. This means University Hill and the Downtown business districts won’t have the revenue for improvements that a DDA vote might have provided, but Winer said it’s still important to try moving forward on projects if funds or financing are available. The city is working toward a permanent Farmer’s Market, and she said she wants to work on transportation improvements between the new hotels near the Hill and the Farmer’s Market. Since many City of Boulder employees will be transitioning from offices in or near downtown to new spaces at Alpine-Balsam, she added that it will be key to find ways to attract more people and activities to the downtown area. Without DDA revenue, she said it might be possible to improve the business environment by reforming the city’s “Title 9” land use code so people can start businesses faster and with less administrative hassle. She would also support public-private partnerships where practical.

Q – Status of Boulder’s Public Safety and Solutions?

To Winer, public safety is a top-level concern, and she said she has taken individual initiative to work on issues including bike path or underpass safety. She said people will send her pictures of areas of concern, and she’ll work with people including the city’s Safe and Managed Public Spaces (SAMPS) team to try rectifying problems. She noted that peoples’ rights to feel safe on paths or public safety should definitely be a priority, mentioning that some areas could certainly be dangerous for, say, “a woman on a dark bike underpass.” Winer said there are still some areas of concern, including near the Municipal Building and spots along the Goose Creek path, but she believes things have gotten better recently. She said some difficulties with public safety might be because the jails are full or because state law limits what law enforcement agencies can do, but concluded by saying, “I will never give up trying to work behind the scenes to figure out ways to fix these problems.”

Q – Contentious 2025 Council Meetings?

In 2025, some City Council meetings were disrupted or had to be called into recess over demonstrative Gaza protests. Winer said there was a “hard needle to thread” at the time between ensuring peoples’ First Amendment rights and the need to conduct city business. She said she had to “develop a thick skin” during that time period, but did not feel unsafe in part thanks to support from staff and fellow Council members. The Council ultimately made policy changes to try diffusing the situation, and Winer said the changes were effective and that Mayor Brockett did a good job handling some difficult meetings.

Q – Should Boulder Engage in International Affairs on City Time?

Winer said the Council already does not have enough time to deal with issues specific to Boulder, let alone to put international affairs into the workload. She added that there are many areas in the world that have serious issues such as violence or human rights violations, and believes it would be inconsistent to formally weigh in on some of these hot spots without weighing in on others.

Q – Ready for Sundance?

While she expects the likelihood of the need for future adjustment, Winer said she believes the city is actually ready for Sundance. “We should not be afraid to embark on new things. I feel strongly about that. You see how it goes and then you fix the problems,” said Winer. She added that given certain challenges with state and local economies, she’s happy that Sundance will be coming here along with its expected economic impact.

Q – Does Boulder Need More Housing?

According to Winer, Boulder does need more housing that families and “the missing middle” will actually want to live in, as opposed to seeking housing outside of Boulder because available housing stock isn’t a good fit for them. She noted that the Holiday Neighborhood is a good example of an area with some housing that will work for families, and said the Area III parcel near 28th and Jay could provide space to eventually build developments that might be along the lines of what Holiday provides. She added that the State of Colorado has passed laws around adding housing along transit corridors, and said Boulder is currently working to add housing along these corridors.

Q – What’s Next in Managing Homelessness?

Winer said homelessness is a multifaceted issue, and the city should be aware of possibilities for unintended consequences of given proposals. She believes it’s essential to make sure that people experiencing homelessness have access to services, including availability of behavioral health professionals. Winer mentioned that she’s heard from people, such as single mothers, who live in affordable housing complexes but may suffer when a formerly unhoused person moves in and still hasn’t rectified their behavioral health issues. While the Bluebird supportive housing development along 30th Street does get a number of police calls, Winer said she supports this type of model in part because there are services available on-site. She noted that there are current funding challenges regarding managing homelessness, and added that Bridge House recently closed due to lack of funding.

(Editor’s note: A reader pointed out that Bridge House did not close completely, but some of its programs did close. Winer spoke about lots of things over the course of an hour and I did not ask for specifics about Bridge House, but this interview did take place shortly after this story about the program closures ran in the Daily Camera: https://www.dailycamera.com/2026/08/19/bridge-house-programs-closing/)

Q – Should the City Move Away from Sales Tax, Toward Property Tax or Fees?

According to Winer, sales tax collections have been flat or declining recently, but her favored approach is to work toward finding ways to increase sales tax activities. She said she voted “no” on the recent Transportation Maintenance Fee, in part because it would impact local nonprofits and businesses. She also noted that commercial property owners pay about 4 times the property tax rate that residential owners pay, which means a property tax might either hit a business’ bottom line or force them to increase prices. “Every time you add either a property tax or a fee, it gets passed down to our beloved small businesses who are barely making it, a lot of them,” she said.

Q – Use of Automated License Plate Readers?

Winer said she knows people in the tech world who are “afraid of privacy loss,” but added that ALPRs can help law enforcement solve crimes. She said she has serious concerns about who might wind up with sensitive data, and how the federal government might use that data. In a late August interview, she mentioned that the city had recently pulled back on moving forward with Flock cameras and ALPRs, and said there would be discussions within the city on next steps. “It is a more complicated problem than it seems…And I understand both sides,” she said.

Q – Deferred Maintenance?

The condition of certain Boulder recreation centers has been a major topic of local discussion, and Winer acknowledged that deferring maintenance has been a problem. However, she said Boulder isn’t the only city that hasn’t fully taken care of facilities maintenance, and in many cities issues like large needs for maintenance expenses might get pushed on to the next Council if there are competing needs for funds. Winer took a leadership role in getting a new lap pool for the South Boulder Rec Center into ballot measure language for the city’s upcoming bond measure, in part because a group of citizens asked for it, noting “That’s what citizens need to do. They need to get involved in the government’s decisions. And they did that.”

Q – Climate: Let’s say, for example, that this writer might have done a long interview with Winer but neglected to ask about climate. Readers can learn much more about her positions at this link: https://www.taraforboulder.com/issues/content/climate/

Qs – 2026 Ballot Measures

  • City of Boulder Bond Measure: Winer voted to put the city’s $400 million bond on the 2026 ballot, but not until having made comments at Council about preferring to look toward a smaller bond measure, although no other Council members joined her in that opinion. As far as providing an opinion on the bond measure, she said, “I actually feel uncomfortable weighing in, because I feel like it’s the people’s decision to do what they want to do.”
  • City of Boulder Residential Vacancy Tax: Winer said “I do like the concept of it,” but added that she felt it was “to be determined” if the measure would make a big difference after considering overhead costs.
  • Boulder County Childcare Tax: According to Winer, she will vote for the measure, but if it passes she would consider looking into whether the city should continue funding childcare assistance. “There’s a lot of redundancy in the health and human services world between what the county does and what the city does. So, the county needs to do its job and do it well,” she said.
  • Boulder County Increase from 3 Commissioners to 5: Winer said she’s “100%” in support of this measure
  • City of Boulder Firefighter Collective Bargaining:Winer supports this measure, saying “Good for them.”
  • City of Boulder Debt Limit Increase: In a late August interview, Winer said she had not yet taken a position and was working toward learning more about it.

Endorsements: Winer has received organizational endorsements from Open Boulder, PLAN-Boulder County, Sierra Club Indian Peaks Group, Daily Camera, Better Boulder, and Reimagine South Boulder Recreation.

Follow the Money: As of mid-September 2026, Winer had received maximum $100 donations from current Council members Aaron Brockett, Rob Kaplan, and Matt Benjamin; former Council members Rachel Friend, Leslie Durgin, George Karakehian, Sam Weaver, Mark Wallach, Jan Burton, and Susan Osborne; County Commissioner Ashley Stolzmann; former District Attorney Stan Garnett; current District Attorney Michael Dougherty; current state Senator Judy Amabile; current state Rep. Lesley Smith, former state Rep. Edie Hooton, and CU Regent Elliott Hood.