Park City entrepreneur and investment banker David Dobkin filed official paperwork with the city to run for mayor this week.
Although Dobkin only became a full-time Parkite just over a year ago, the 42-year-old has a long history in Park City, with regular visits during his childhood and extended family currently living in the Wasatch Back.
He said he’s considered himself a part-time resident for the past 10 years and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last spring was the final push he needed to make the permanent move. He lives in the Deer Valley area.
Dobkin has previously lived and worked in New York, Los Angeles, as well as overseas, and is a partner at investment banking firm LifeSci Capital.
He said he was motivated to run for office after seeing the need for responsible development in Park City and smart solutions to increasing traffic problems. Dobkin is also raising a young son and wants to make a positive impact for his future.
“You know, having a child, an 11-year-old, really brought that to the forefront,” said Dobkin. “I can see what’s going on with regard to global warming out in the west, as well as the need to protect him and make sure that the world in which I grew up in and really love still exists for him. That was really pushing it forward for me, saying, ‘hey, I’m lucky enough to have the time to dedicate to something like this and I care about it enough to want to make a change.’”
Although this is Dobkin’s first push into local politics, he worked for five years as an investment manager with the New Zealand Government and helped supervise relationships with businesses in the United States and other countries.
He said although he may not have the same extensive network of local connections as an incumbent, he believes his past government work and the network he has developed in Park City over the last decade would be an asset to city hall.
“I have a fairly deep network already from having come to the town for over a decade on a fairly regular basis,” Dobkin said. “Interacting with both the ski teams, the different programs in town, the business associations and those types of things. I think I do have those connections, they might not be as strong as an incumbent just because I’m not on a daily basis talking with the planning commission or one of those other groups, but I’ve done this for my entire career.”
If elected, Dobkin said he would prioritize affordable housing in his first term. He sees other community priorities like climate change and transportation as more long-term projects but believes significant progress can be made in those areas in four years.
“I think that the lowest hanging fruit is trying to facilitate some of the affordable housing that can happen,” he said. “I think that can happen within a four year period of time. I think some of these other plans on the traffic and the sustainable development, these are longer term projects, so it might not come to fruition in a four-year cycle, but you could lay the groundwork for them to start those processes.”
More information on Dobkin’s campaign can be found here.
Park City Mayor Andy Beerman and Councilor Nann Worel have also officially entered the mayoral race.
