PLATFORM
We can build a future rooted in sustainability, justice, and care.
🏡 That means housing that’s affordable, efficient, and dignified
🧠 Accessible mental health services
⚡ Green energy projects that benefit the people who live here
🌳 Smart land use that protects open space, wetlands, and our health
👷♀️ Local jobs that pay well and respect labor
💧 Infrastructure that’s climate-resilient and community-focused
🗳️ I’m running because I believe in a vision for Ulster County that puts people over profit, sustainability over sprawl, and community over corporations.
Mental Health
🤝Now More Than Ever, We Need Mental Health Experts in Leadership
As our world continues to navigate unprecedented stress, collective trauma, and systemic challenges, one truth is becoming more and more clear:
🧠 We need leaders who understand healing.
💬 We need voices trained in listening.
❤️ We need changemakers rooted in compassion.
We need therapists shaping policy.
We need social workers building systems of care.
We need trauma-informed practitioners advising our schools, hospitals, and governments.
We need relational leadership — the kind that knows how to slow down, feel, repair, and rebuild.
Action
Just like roads and schools, mental health care must be considered core infrastructure. That means:
Free or low-cost access to care through local clinics, mobile units, and community partnerships
Wellness centers embedded in neighborhoods, not just hospitals or institutions
Trauma-informed design in public housing, schools, and community spaces — environments that soothe the nervous system, not overstimulate it
Green space, quiet zones, and public art as daily tools for reflection, peace, and belonging
Economic Development
🏞️ Balanced Growth - I believe in a vision for development that’s not rushed or reckless, but slow, intentional, and rooted in care — for the land, for our mental health, and for every member of our community.
Too often, “development” means:
🚧 Clear-cut forests
🏘️ Luxury housing we can’t afford
🚗 More traffic, fewer quiet spaces
💔 And residents — especially working-class, families, and elder neighbors — pushed out of the place they call home.
We need people-driven planning — where long-time residents, renters, young people, and elders all have a say in what gets built and why.
Because how we build reflects who we value.
And I believe Ulster County should value all of us.
We need a different approach. One that prioritizes:
🌱 Open space and green buffers — because nature is not a development opportunity
🏡 Affordable housing for all income levels — so teachers, artists, healers, elders, and young families aren’t priced out
🧠 Mental health and well-being — by designing walkable, connected, and safe neighborhoods
🕊️ A slower pace of development — so change doesn’t come at the cost of community
We don’t need more profit-driven sprawl. People love Saugerties and Ulster County for its natural beauty, quiet roads, spacious yards, clean air, and sense of community.
ART
🎨 Art is how we build the future we deserve.
In Ulster County, the arts generate over $100 million in economic activity each year, supporting thousands of jobs, drawing visitors, and sustaining small businesses from cafés to galleries to hardware stores.
As Chair of the Saugerties Arts Commission and a contributor to the IMAGINE Ulster Arts & Culture Master Plan, I’ve been advocating for the fact that investing in artists isn’t just good for the soul — it’s smart economic policy.
But for too long, artists and cultural workers have been asked to “beautify” communities they can no longer afford to live in. That’s not equity — that’s extraction.
I believe in a future that:
✅ Supports affordable live/work housing for artists
✅ Funds local arts through public investment and partnerships
✅ Protects creative spaces from displacement
✅ Integrates arts into development and planning
This isn’t just my platform — it’s my practice.
Leadership isn’t a title. It’s showing up. And I’ve been showing up — for years.
🖌️ As Chair of the Saugerties Arts Commission, I’ve worked to uplift creativity and the amazing volunteers that run our Arts Organizations.
🖌️ As a member of the Arts & Culture Master Plan, now IMAGINE Ulster, I’ve helped shape a county-wide vision where culture is central to equity and community building.
🖌️ Our communities deserve to thrive, not survive.
ENVIRONMENT
🌱 Protecting our environment is protecting our future.
In Saugerties and across Ulster County, we know that clean air, safe water, and thriving ecosystems aren’t luxuries — they’re rights. We all deserve air that’s safe to breathe, water that’s clean to drink, and energy that doesn’t poison the land or the people.
But too often, decisions are made that put profit over people — leaving our wetlands drained, our forests threatened, and our most vulnerable communities paying the price.
💧 Clean water is a public health issue.
🌾 Land preservation is a housing justice issue.
🔥 Climate action is a labor, health, and racial justice issue.
We must move beyond performative greenwashing and take bold, local action. That means:
✅ Protecting our watershed and opposing harmful development
✅Creating policy that prioritizes our health and future
✅ Supporting green jobs
✅ Investing in regenerative agriculture
✅ Holding polluters accountable
✅ Investing in climate-resilient infrastructure
⚡️ Clean energy is a matter of health.
It’s a matter of justice.
And it’s a matter of protecting our future.
Fiscal Responsibility
Nina owns two small businesses and has experience with book keeping. Additionally, she has served on the Library Board for four years managing a budget of $600,000 / year. These experiences contribute to her qualifications to manage a budget of the scale of Ulster County. As a taxpayer herself, she is invested in making sure you are proud of the investment of your taxes!
Well being of all residents
Nina has your well-being in mind. As a mental health expert within Ulster County for over a dedicate she knows that mental health includes:
Knowing you have enough food (Access to healthy meals)
Stable and affordable housing
High quality healthcare coverage and access
Free and accessible transportation (maintaining services such as UCAT)
Access to education, including workforce training (such as BOCES, SUNY Ulster)
High paying jobs
Accessible and affordable childcare
Elder support
Sustainable Economic Development
We want to support sustainable economic impact that increases opportunities for affordable housing and high paying jobs, while ensuring that development happens at a pace that supports the longevity of families who have built their lives here in Ulster County.
