Josh Denton

RE-ELECTED

I fell in love with Portsmouth as a UNH undergrad, thought about the city often while I was in the Army, and moved here upon returning from Baghdad, where as a twenty-five-year-old Captain, I served as a combat adviser to an Iraqi infantry battalion. I lived our affordable housing crisis as I waited tables while earning my Masters of Public Administration and again as I returned to waiting tables as I successfully studied for the Bar Exam to become an attorney, after using the GI Bill to graduate law school.

I lost my first bid for City Council after working my heart out knocking on every voter’s door in 2013, knocked on every voters’ door again in 2015 to defeat incumbent Esther Kennedy by just twelve votes despite not being on any Political Action Committee candidate slate, and was easily reelected in 2017. During those two terms, I led numerous successful individual initiatives such as creating the “All Veterans” tax credit, banning Styrofoam containers, and conceiving, recruiting, and chairing the Renewable Energy Committee that created Portsmouth’s Net Zero Energy Policy along with the framework to achieve it.

Even after my 2019 reelection defeat, I continued to better Portsmouth by leading the 501(c)(3) PopUp in the Bridge Street Parking Lot to keep residents employed during the first summer of covid and then as Commander of VFW Post #168, a position which I still hold today. Since being sent back to the City Council in 2021, I have helped restore competency to the policy board, continued to push Portsmouth forward, and used my duel positions to vocally stand-up for democracy in the face of growing extremism.  Unfortunately, I will not be able to knock every door this year due to recent knee surgeries that became necessary after successfully backpacking the Pemi Loop.
Seacoastonline candidate profile
Portsmouth Patch

I am asking you to vote for me on November 7^th, the last name on the ballot, to keep Portsmouth moving forward.

The next City Council must be bold, take the initiative, and lead the state to make a meaningful difference against climate change. Both our Net Zero Energy Policy and the framework to achieve it that I referenced above are cornerstones of our pending Climate Action Plan. I also previously led numerous initiatives from renewable energy tax credits, to a very successful curbside compost rebate program, to enacting the flood plain district zoning ordinance. However, some of my early efforts were too ahead of their time, like a Market Square Electric Vehicle (EV) DC Fast Charger, citywide curbside composting, and an anaerobic digester. Since returning to the City Council, I drafted an ordinance to increase private EV charging stations, allocated $150,000 annually over the next five years towards public EV chargers, and vocally supported Portsmouth Community Power.

I can strongly relate to the need to address our affordable housing crisis, because as I paid back my students loans, over half my remaining income went towards paying rent. While Portsmouth should continue encouraging developers to create affordable housing with building incentives, we should deed City property to the Portsmouth Housing Authority to replicate their success creating the single largest increase in affordable housing stock as they did by building Ruth Griffin Place on Court Street. Out of the three top properties identified by the Land Use Committee, my strong preference is for their next project to be at City Hall’s lower parking lot. Not only is it a short walk from downtown, the library, and many recreational amenities, studies show that communities with mixed affordable housing alongside affluent housing prosper the best together.

 Since my first unsuccessful bid for City Council in 2013, Portsmouth has gone through many changes. While our arts, outdoor dining, and fun things for families have undoubtedly expanded, that success has led to more people wanting to live here, the hot housing market pricing residents out, and now our affordable housing crisis. Covid’s stratification exasperated the situation and has had lasting impacts like highly paid remote workers moving to our city, as beloved establishments close because their workforce cannot afford to stay. I am incredibly proud of the outsized impact I have had as a City Councilor in the daily lives of many residents with my successful tax credit initiatives. This past year alone, 695 Portsmouth households benefited by my creation of the All Veterans Tax Credit in 2017, doubling the Disabled Veterans Tax Credit in 2019 to now $4,000, and soon the increasing from $500 to $750 the tax credits for non-100% disabled veterans in 2023.

Many of my initiatives were ahead of their times, so there should be no doubt with voters that I will always go bold to do what is best for Portsmouth, and am asking you to vote for me, the last name on the ballot, on November 7th.

HOUSING: HALF OF PORTSMOUTH RENTS
A comprehensive housing market study for the Portsmouth Housing Authority identified unmet demand for more than 3,000 additional housing units in our city, mostly for rental units. The study also pointed out that almost 50% of Portsmouth residents live in rented homes. Renters effectively pay a share of the owner’s property taxes. But while property owners, especially those in desirable parts of the city, have benefitted from astonishing and unprecedented increases in their home equity, renters — through no fault of their own — have not shared in the wealth creation. Just the opposite, in fact: as rents and the cost of living rise steadily, renters are more cost-burdened every year. You aspire to represent this huge constituency.

Question #1: How should the city address the specific needs of renters?
I have been the only renter that does not also own property on the City Council since I was first elected in 2015. Again, one of the reasons why I am running to is address our affordable housing crisis. I strongly relate to the need to address our affordable housing crisis, because as I paid back my students loans, over half my remaining income went towards paying rent. While Portsmouth should continue encouraging developers to create affordable housing with building incentives, the single largest recent increase in affordable housing stock came from the Portsmouth Housing Authority (PHA) building Ruth Griffin Place on Court Street.

I am proud to be the only City Council candidate running out of the current and former City Councilors in the race to have voted to waive some $100,000 in building permit fees for the $16 million project during my previous term and am still confounded that then Councilor Becksted voted against it. To meet our proportional share of New Hampshire’s affordable housing demand, Portsmouth would need to create some four hundred units and the most effective way to begin doing that without becoming a landlord is deeding City property to the PHA with affordable housing covenants. However, the PHA only has the bandwidth to develop one property at a time. Out of the three top properties identified by the Land Use Committee, my strong preference is for their first project on City property to be at City Hall’s lower parking lot. Not only is it a short walk from downtown, the library, and many recreational amenities, studies show that communities with mixed affordable housing alongside affluent housing prosper the best together.

Deeding property to the PHA will help both renters and property owners alike. The PHA building and administering affordable housing does not cost residents money, it will help our beloved establishments stay open if their workforce can afford to stay, and will keep property values from plummeting as a downtown without a workforce would otherwise do.

SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
The next generations will either benefit or suffer from the policies we enact today regarding climate change, sustainable practices, and the move away from fossil fuels to clean energy.

Question #2: Do you accept that urgent measures are required and, if so, how aggressive should the city be in addressing the crisis?
I was the only City Council candidate to respond that climate change is the biggest problem Portsmouth faces in the Portsmouth Herald’s city council candidate questionnaire. Combating climate change and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels is not just something I campaign on, but I am a proven leader who sought to do this even before I returned from Iraq.

My undergraduate capstone was on Climate Change back in 2003, I joined the Sustainability Committee to get Portsmouth to do something about it after losing my first campaign in 2013, and I got the City Council to pass my Renewable Energy Committee’s Net Zero Energy Policy in 2018. While I am better known for getting Portsmouth to enact New Hampshire’s first citywide Styrofoam ban and enact a single-use disposables ordinance for city property, I am very proud that our Net Zero Energy Policy and the framework to achieve it will be cornerstones of Portsmouth’s pending Climate Action Plan (CAP), that I anticipate will set firm deadlines for Portsmouth to achieve net zero energy. I also previously led numerous past initiatives from renewable energy tax credits, to a very successful curbside compost rebate program, to enacting the flood plain district zoning ordinance. However, some of my early efforts were too ahead of their time, like a Market Square Electric Vehicle (EV) DC Fast Charger, citywide curbside composting, and an anaerobic digester.

Since returning to the City Council this past election, I drafted an ordinance to increase the installation of private EV charging stations, allocated $150,000 annually over the next five years towards public EV chargers like the DC Fast Charger I am pushing for at the library, and will push enforcement of our hard fought 2019 ordinance requiring businesses on public property that use single-use containers to compost, because food waste is the world’s third largest greenhouse gas emitter. Restaurants that lack composting capacity should enroll in the reusable container test pilot now allowed by our updated health code. Portsmouth was the original capitol of New Hampshire and the next City Council must be bold, take the initiative, and lead the state to make a meaningful difference against climate change and to fund every CAP recommendation.

WALKERS, CYCLISTS, SPEEDING CARS
Records show that the top complaint from Portsmouth neighborhoods for decades has been drivers speeding on their streets. The city has begun implementing traffic calming measures. Changes to infrastructure are the single most effective way to address the issue. Drivers often object at first, but the measures have proven effective. At the same time, the city is doing more to accommodate residents who would rather walk or bike.

Question #3: What kinds of initiatives would you support that further calm traffic and make more of Portsmouth safer for residents on foot or bike?
I am well known to have rode my bicycle year-round to the Shipyard for work for years and the primary use of my car remains taking my dog’s places for us to remain grounded in the outdoors. I know better than any other candidate running how touchy a subject traffic calming measures that make Portsmouth safer for residents on foot or bicycle are to voters, having potentially been voted out over bicycle lanes in 2019. That said, I will continue to support measures that makes all of Portsmouth safer. When it comes to our downtown, vehicular traffic would ideally be limited as much as possible in Market Square, however there will always remain a need for buildings access by business delivery trucks, people with disabilities, and emergency vehicles. The first major steps would be converting the AM speedway to the Shipyard that is State Street into a two-way street if possible.

In the meantime, the sidewalk widths on Daniel and Congress Street should gradually be expanded to improve pedestrian walkability, serve as traffic calming measures, and for the planting of many more trees. Likewise, side streets like High and Ladd should be activated for pedestrians like Chestnut, being one uniform level with the sidewalk with the added benefit of being wider for emergency vehicles. Fleet Street would also greatly benefit from activation by becoming one-way and its sidewalks being greatly widened. The 2019 plans to rehabilitate the Vaughn Mall, convert the Worth Lot into a plaza, and the Bridge Street Lot into a park should also be dusted off. However, like I said this would be the ideal, but there are many other areas of Portsmouth in need of more trees, let alone sidewalk improvements. Further, Portsmouth should continue to take advantage of opportunities to make these improvements as they arise, whether it be coinciding with infrastructure projects like on Fleet Street, in-kind donations from abutting property owners like on High and Ladd, or as concessions from the potential private redevelopment of McIntyre. T

he additional benefit of widening the sidewalks downtown is making outdoor dining that much safer in addition to being a traffic calming measure. It should surprise no one that I am a big support outdoor dining, having successfully led the 501(c)(3) PopUp in the Bridge Street Parking Lot to keep residents employed during the first summer of covid, despite the efforts of then City Councilor Kennedy, who voted to overturn her ethics violation with the four other former City Councilors running. For the 2023 season, I motioned to allow outdoor dining at all the 2022 locations and return the all-way crosswalk at the intersection of Congress and Middle Street. However, to get the votes needed, it was amended to not include the crosswalk reconfiguration or allow outdoor dining to completely stop a direction of travel. I am excited the Legal Department will produce an ordinance codifying outdoor dining based on the Economic Development Commission’s recommendations that make it safer and ADA compliant.