Neil Bradshaw marks nearly one year in office and is proud of advances
By Emilee Mae Struss
Ketchum Mayor Neil Bradshaw’s vision when he entered office in January was to grow a vibrant community, maintain connectedness, increase sustainability and ensure safety.
Bradshaw brought with him a detailed action plan, relying on his 13 years of experience as the founder and president of the Ketchum Community Development Corporation to create it.
“This first year in office has been more fun than I even imagined it would be,” Bradshaw said. “And I’m really happy with how far we’ve come already.”
Like other Valley cities, affordable housing is the main initiative on Bradshaw’s to-do list. But Bradshaw said his approach is unique.
In his office located on the second floor of the Ketchum City Hall building, Bradshaw has a poster pinned to the wall reminding himself and his team about their core values: respect, honesty/integrity, empathy, stewardship, teamwork, friendliness/courtesy, innovation, fiscal responsibility, professionalism and good citizenship.
“We need all of these core values first before we tackle any other initiatives,” Bradshaw said. “Empathy is a big one, and that’s very important in making decisions with a diverse group of people.”
Affordable housing initiatives were kicked into gear this year with 10 different actions implemented by Bradshaw.
They include several public/private partnerships with smaller, affordable apartment complexes, including the KETCH complex with its 500-square-foot housing units, and a Northwood II plan, with 28 units.
The city plans to rezone the light industrial area by changing the building codes and allowing housing to go above those buildings. Housing is also in order for first responders in conjunction with the public safety facility, and development of the Trail Creek LLC workforce housing with 18 beds on First Avenue and Fourth Street.
“We’ve got a number of balls in the air in terms of housing,” Bradshaw said. “And they may not all stick. But if we get 50 percent of those, we’ll be heroes.
“You don’t find out unless you try, and this is our number one priority.”
The smaller apartment complex proposals will be more affordable without needing to provide parking, which automatically increases the cost to build them.
“We’ve got an affordable housing problem,” Bradshaw said, “not a parking problem. At the busiest hour of the busiest season, only about 76 percent of our parking spots get used up; that’s still 24 percent available.”
Bradshaw has been a longtime cheerleader for the concepts developed by Roger Brooks, keynote speaker at the Sun Valley Economic Development Summit this year.
Brooks shared 20 imperative ingredients for an outstanding downtown and Bradshaw lives by them faithfully. One of the ingredients is wider sidewalks and improved lighting. Another topic covered at the SVED Summit involved making Ketchum a more livable place for young people.
“What we have in the Valley is incredible, but what we don’t have is the full ladder of life,” Bradshaw said. “We’re missing the lower two rungs—the rungs of affordable housing and entry-level jobs.”
Bradshaw believes if Ketchum doesn’t have those two basic rungs in the metaphorical ladder of life, diversity will cease to exist and the community will lack vibrancy and connection, both of which are pillars outlined in his vision for Ketchum.
In regards to the other two pillars—sustainability and safety—Bradshaw believes that the city needs to first fix the close-at-hand issues. Under Bradshaw’s leadership, the City of Ketchum completed the first conversion phase of a leaking pipeline in the water system that was wasting around 100 gallons of water per minute. Bradshaw recognizes this act as furthering the city’s commitment to protecting and preserving precious natural resources.
As for safety, Bradshaw recounts that the City of Ketchum needs only to be able to gather in a room, share ideas and hear one another’s opinions.
“I am proud of the amount of empathy I’ve seen in my first year in office,” Bradshaw said. “It’s really important that people who may hold opposite opinions can meet, be respectful and listen to each other.”
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