Shakeel Dalal launched a campaign last month to run for mayor in Longmont, with a focus on supporting local businesses, creating more attainable housing, and fostering safer streets in the city. He had contemplated running for mayor for about six months before deciding to take the plunge and officially enter the race earlier this spring.
“We’re in a particular moment in the city where there is a failure of leadership to take action on the issues that are most important to people who live in the city of Longmont,” Dalal said.
The mayoral seat, which is currently filled by Joan Peck, will be up for reelection in November. Peck has served as the mayor of Longmont since 2021 and is on her second term. A mayoral term in Longmont is two years.
Should Dalal be elected this fall, he said that supporting small and local businesses would be a top priority for him. He cited a Longmont Economic Development Partnership report that listed the cost of living and the availability of affordable housing as two of the biggest disadvantages of doing business in Longmont.
“That escalating cost of living is just laying it on our local businesses,” Dalal said.
While Dalal said enacting a local minimum wage “makes sense,” he did not believe Boulder County’s adopted minimum wage was sensible. Boulder County’s minimum wage, which only applies to unincorporated areas of the county, is currently $16.57 per hour and is scheduled to increase incrementally until reaching $25 per hour beginning in 2030.
“It is important for government to set a minimum wage where a business can’t pay someone an extractive wage and basically build their business on the back of their employees who they mistreat or pay unfairly,” Dalal said.
Dalal, 37, has never pursued public office before. He has, though, advocated for housing affordability at various Longmont City Council meetings.
Dalal is a cofounder of LAUNCH Longmont Housing, a local coalition working to build a Longmont where “the average person can afford the average home.” However, Dalal has stepped away from LAUNCH to focus on his mayoral campaign.
“What we need are naturally affordable homes,” Dalal said. “The best way to make those exist is to add them to our existing neighborhoods by allowing duplex and triplex townhomes in existing neighborhoods.”
Creating safe streets for residents in those neighborhoods and throughout the entire city is also a core concern for Dalal.
“Right now, we design our city streets and our transportation network for people who want to speed through in a car when what we should be doing is designing our streets for the people who live in that neighborhood,” Dalal said.
In addition to supporting small and local businesses and increasing attainable housing stock, Dalal is interested in establishing a new flag for Longmont. While Longmont has a flag, Dalal thinks it is time for a better one.
“It’s about civic pride,” he said. “Longmonters deserve a flag that they feel proud flying and we don’t have that right now, by evidence of the fact that nobody knows that it exists and nobody wants to fly it once they see it.”
Dalal has been endorsed by several people, including former Longmont City Councilmember Marcia Martin, according to his campaign website.
A Longmont resident since 2017, Dalal has a PhD in physical chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and works at a local aerospace company.
The city’s regular municipal election is scheduled for November 4 this year.
