1. Name as it will appear on the ballot
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2. Office sought (include office, jurisdiction, position/district number):
3. Are you the incumbent? Yes
4. How long have you resided in this district/city?
5. How long have you
resided in
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6. Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan? Partisan
CAMPAIGN CONTACTS
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1. Beginning with the most recent position, please list public offices which you have held. Include positions on appointive Boards or Commissions.
2. If you ran for public office but were not elected, please list those races below:
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In this section, we are seeking responses that reflect the four ratings criteria: involvement, effectiveness, character, and knowledge. These are defined as follows:
1. In a page or less, why are you running for this office? (Note: the interview committee will be given a copy of this statement before your interview; at the beginning of your interview you will have the opportunity to expand on this statement in any way you wish.)
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I am running for reelection to the Metropolitan King County Council because I have the expertise and experience to get King County and Sound Transit through this critical crossroads.
The most serious task that I face is the need to put King County on sound financial footing. The last few years have seen a "perfect storm" of factors reducing revenues and increasing expenditures. Much of King County has incorporated into new cities or been annexed by existing cities. Cities tend to annex and incorporate the most revenue-rich areas first (such as commercial zones and mid-to-high end residential areas), leaving "islands" of urban neighborhoods that require substantial social service and public safety resources, but in turn bring in relatively little tax revenue to the County. That phenomenon combined with several revenue-reducing intitiatives and a severe economic recession, along with the spiraling costs of criminal justice, have severely stressed King County's budget.
As Chair of the Metropolitan King County Council, I reduced our own council budget by 14% in 2002/2003 before we reduced expenditures and sought effeciencies in other areas of the government to match the County's shrinking revenue base. Following that, the council made substantive changes to the single largest cost center in the county's general budget - Adult Dentention. We invested in the future by cutting costs in the jail, reinvesting those dollars into intervention and preventative programs that have proven to reduce recidivism, thus further lowering our criminal justice costs in the future, while maintaining a high level of public safety.
While circumstances have required me to strive for a leaner, "meaner" county government, I will continue to advocate for dedicated funding sources to maintain the high quality of service that King County residents have come to expect - parks and open space, human and social services.
For my northeast Seattle district, nothing is more important than transportation alternatives. My district needs light rail to reach the University of Washington and Northgate, connecting two major transit and employment hubs to downtown and beyond. It is critical that my district have a representative who understands that despite the increased cost and timeline for light rail, the need for a right of way dedicated to transit has not diminshed. |
2. Describe your most important personal characteristics or traits as they relate to the office you seek.
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Without a doubt, my most important characteristic is tenacity. Some of the best ideas require many years of persistence to be realized. I do not abandon a good idea when faced with opposition.
I was first elected to the Council on a platform of growth management -- the people of my district were tired of sprawl that ruined rural land and drained resources from urban neighborhoods. I relentlessly pursued stronger growth management laws, resulting in the passing of the statewide Growth Management Act in 1991. I continued to fight by writing King County's first and second comprehensive plans in following years. Our work on growth management has succeeded in preserving rural land; the most recent census revealed that the vast majority of population growth has occurred in urban centers.
Another prime example of how my tenacity yields long-term results is my fifteen-year fight to build light rail in our community. There is no doubt that we need light rail to provide alternative transportation options, and we have the example of many other cities similar in size and density to Seattle where light rail has proven a huge success. But the effort to build light rail here has stalled at several points. Instead of taking the easy way out, I worked to find constructive solutions to Sound Transit's problems. The result is that we are on the verge of receiving the $500 million full funding grant agreement from the Federal Government that will allow us to break ground on construction. |
3. Please describe in sufficient detail, one to three accomplishments or contributions of which you are most proud. These examples should illustrate effective skills and capabilities you think apply to the office you are seeking. These accomplishments may have occurred at any time in your personal, professional, or public life.
4. Please list or describe your current and past activities in the community in which you have acquired skills that relate to the office you seek. Include your role in the activity and the year(s) in which you were involved. Involvement consists of many areas such as family, neighborhood, community, employment, or public life.
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The most rewarding aspect of public service is my work with the many community councils and community-based organizations in North Seattle. My district is endowed with numerous close-knit neighborhoods and highly motivated volunteers determined to serve and improve their local communities. As a regional leader, I work hard to balance the needs of a large metropolitan region with the values and sensibilities of the individual neighborhoods I represent. It is not my place to dictate to our neighborhoods what they ought to do; rather, it is my charge to support local leaders and local initiatives that strengthen our neighborhoods and our region.
One example is North LINK planning for Sound Transit's future light rail line to Northgate. I work closely with with North Seattle community councils - which spent years establishing their neighborhood plans - to incorporate those blueprints with station area planning efforts and alignment issues as Sound Transit's EIS process moves forward. In fact, it was out of these discussions that a neighborhood representative suggested the potential for a shallow tunnel crossing at Montlake. This suggestion was included in the Supplemental EIS, and is now being studied.
I am very proud of the diverse set of improvement projects that have come up from the neighborhoods, and I am pleased to have shepherded them with technical expertise, political support, and funding. The daylighting of Ravenna Creek is now in the permitting process, and soon the highly impacted University Village neighborhoods will benefit from the first major daylighting project in many years inside Ravenna Park; additionally, this project will move hundreds of thousands of gallons of clean water from the West Point treatment plant, and will improve the stagnant waters of University Slough.
Other community-based projects in recent years include the acquisition and redevelopment of nearly a dozen urban playfields, natural areas, playgrounds, gardens, and parks. As well, I appropriated capital funds for pedstrian and transit "speed and reliability" projects in the congested neighborhoods of Northgate, Aurora, Wallingford and the University District. These include: wider sidewalks and curb bulbs, safer bus stops, signal prioritization for heavily travelled bus routes, Bus Rapid Transit lanes and new stops on the lower Aurora corridor, and a number of smaller scale projects to enhance the pedestrian and transit rider experience in our urban areas.
Current civic or community organizations I belong to, or work closely with:
Belvedere Terrace Community Council View Ridge Community Council Green Lake Community Council Wallingford Community Council Haller Lake Community Council Wedgwood Community Council Hawthorne Hills Community Council Windermere North Community Council Inverness Community Club 43rd District Democrats Laurelhurst Community Club 46th District Democrats Maple Leaf Community Council Matthews Beach Community Club Portage Bay/Roanoke Park Community Council Ravenna Bryant Community Association Ravenna Springs Community Group Roosevelt Neighbors Alliance Roosevelt Neighborhood Association University District Community Council University Park Community Club
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The central duty of the King County Council is oversight of the Executive and Judicial branches of King County government. We assure that the government is being run as efficiently and effectively as possible, we act to provide proactive, far-sighted policymaking, and we intervene to provide leadership when problems arise. For example, King County recently experienced lapses in the elections department, resulting in the late disbursement of ballots. Under my leadership, the Council now requires oversight of Executive appointments for positions in that department. Over the years, the Council has also passed key policy and budget initiatives, saving tax payers millions of dollars through intensive staff oversight and scrutiny.
Every year the Council examines and approves the King County budget. As the current "perfect storm" and structural fiscal challenges continue, this role is more important than ever. Now that the King County Council has reduced its own budget, and institiuted critical spending cuts and programmatic efficiencies, the Council is also examining the revenue side of the equation. In a bi-partisan manner, we are working hard to identify the most fair and balanced revenue options to maintain our commitment to the regional social service network in this time of economic dislocation - and preserve the county's role in public safety, parks, and open space.
And finally, a critical role of the legislative branch is to advocate for the constituents of each of the thirteen Councilmatic districts, the neighborhoods within those districts, and the district as a whole. There has never been a shortage of work associated with this important responsibility. Every week I receive numerous constituent emails, letters or phone calls from constituents worried about their bus stop being consolidated, their neighbor's trash bin attracting rats, the rising assessed value of their home, or the latest regional mega-project encroaching on their neighborhood streets. As we face many changes and challenges in the future, the legislative branch of King County must continue to advocate for - and passionately represent - the individual needs of our constituents. |
EDUCATION BACKGROUND SUMMARY
The Municipal League’s Candidate Evaluation Report is distributed to voters in print and/or on our website. It includes a summary of the candidate’s education. Please summarize your education in 120 characters (letters, punctuation, and space all combined). The League will delete material that exceeds the space limit by beginning with the last entry. Suggested order is (degree) (subject) (school) (year, if desired).
Note: If this question is left blank the League will not include education information in your candidate profile.
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Work toward Masters in Public Policy at the University of Washington; Bachelors in Urban Planning at the University of Washington, 1972; Snohomish High School, 1968. |
FOR PUBLICATION IN CANDIDATE EVALUATION REPORT
The Municipal League’s Candidate Evaluation Report also includes a summary of each candidate’s civic involvement. Please summarize your civic involvement in the space below. We will make every attempt to include the information in the Candidate Evaluation Report as submitted. Due to space restrictions in the Report, your response is limited to 500 characters (letters, punctuation, and spaces all combined). It is important that you list your involvement beginning with the most important and ending with the least important. If you exceed the length of response permitted, or if the League should find it necessary to shorten responses for publication purposes, deletions will be made beginning with the last item listed.
Note: This information will appear verbatim on the League’s Candidate Evaluation Report. If this question is left blank, the Municipal League will not include information on your civic involvement in the Report.
Check here if you would like the Municipal League to copy the first 500 characters from Question 4 to paste into this section.
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The most rewarding aspect of public service is my work with the many community councils and community-based organizations in North Seattle. My district is endowed with numerous close-knit neighborhoods and highly motivated volunteers determined to serve and improve their local communities. As a regional leader, I work hard to balance the needs of a large metropolitan region with the values and sensibilities of the individual neighborhoods I represent.
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Finished!
If at all possible, send your response to the Municipal League electronically as an attachment, or insert it into an e-mail message (rebecca@munileague.org). Mail and fax numbers are listed below. If the League has not contacted you to schedule an interview, please call the League office at your earliest convenience.
Don’t forget to send the following to the Municipal League: a resume, a photo, campaign literature, and, if you are an incumbent, constituent newsletters and other materials. Please use the check-off list on the cover sheet of this packet to indicate which items you have sent.
Candidate Evaluation Coordinator: Rebecca Cooper
Seattle, WA 98104-1614 Fax: 425-671-0506 Website: www.munileague.org