As we did for City Council District 4, we are now quizzing the candidates for City Council District 6. District 6 includes Wallingford north of 50th (Tangletown), Green Lake, Fremont, Phinney and areas to the West. Mike O’Brien, who lives in Fremont and is currently on city council, is looking to hold onto his seat from challengers Catherine Weatbrook and Jon Lisbin.
I have asked the candidates to follow the comments for each post, so hopefully they will will engage with you if you have follow up questions!
The Question: Tangletown and Green Lake have been ignored by city government for years. There have been no neighborhood plan updates to Wallingford since 1998 and none for Green Lake since 1999, plus no regular candidate visits except during election cycles. The perception is that city government planning and investment has swung from a neighborhood driven model to an exclusively downtown driven model, and that the only way to influence government is to have downtown connections or be a crazy person that attends downtown planning meetings during the day.
The results appear in the form of virtually non-existent enforcement of property crimes in our area to weak DPD oversight of new developments to transportation planning with no neighborhood involvement. In terms of funding, District 6 is used as a piggy bank to fund mega projects like light rail stations in other districts, not even paying for infrastructure so our residents can walk or bike across I-5 to access that infrastructure. This has resulted in frustration with government to the point that voters overwhelmingly supported District Council Elections in the last election cycle, with about 2/3rds of the residents of District 6 voting in favor.
As our District 6 representative, how do you plan to change government so that it begins to be responsive to the needs of citizens in Tangletown and Green Lake? What regularly scheduled activities do you plan to engage in so people can be involved in plans for their neighborhoods?
Catherine Weatbrook‘s Answer: I voted for district representation because it’s time for the neighborhoods to be heard and get their fair share of the attention and participation in planning. I plan on holding regular community meetings, including forums and working sessions on specific issues, in our neighborhoods. Every neighborhood is feeling disconnected from city hall, and I want to change that by bringing city hall to you. I hope to move more city council committee meetings into the neighborhoods. We need to get back to the idea of neighborhood plans and neighborhood-specific solutions instead of our current one-size-fits-all centralized planning solutions.
Our city needs to be more responsive. The north end has seen a 35% increase in violent crimes in the first four months of this year and we need to address this with additional policing, and reducing opportunities for crime now, not when it gets even worse.
Jon Lisbin‘s Answer: First of all, it’s an exciting time because voters have recognized the need district representation and change. That is why I am running, to represent the unique needs of our district.
Seattle is the fastest growing major city in the country. We need expanded transit, smaller class sizes, affordable housing, improved social services, police, fire, utility and infrastructure improvements. That’s going to take a much more responsive, efficient and better funded government.
We have been suffering from diminishing per household revenues primarily because property tax increases are capped at 1%. That’s a losing game when inflation has averaged 2.5% per year over the past 10 years. The city’s only choice is to go the property tax levy well again and again and is incented to meet its short term budget goals, through increased development, at the expense of long term deficits. We need tax reform at the state and local level and we need developer impact fees to increase and diversify city revenues.
As an entrepreneur, someone who has built a rapidly growing profitable venture for each of the past 13 years, those will be the areas I will focus on. For improving the lines of communication, I plan to establish a district office and shift the center of gravity of city government. This will ensure that I am in touch with the pulse of our community.
Mike O’Brien‘s Answer: As a councilmember representing the whole city, I have worked hard to make myself available to seeing people from all parts of the city taking meetings at city hall and attending meetings and events in the community. If I have the good fortune to get elected to represent the people of district 6, I will take a similar approach concentrated on the neighborhoods of district 6. As a resident of Fremont I spend a significant amount of time in the Tangletown and Green Lake neighborhoods. I look forward to coordinating with any group or resident who would like me to attend events or meet with them.
Note: Stan Shaufler is also running for the seat in theory but has no contact information on the city registration Web site and has no Web presence, so he is not part of this questionaire or poll.
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I wonder if Wallyhood.org could publish bios on each candidate. (It’s probably in the works.) It seems to me, however, that deeds speak louder than words. What has each candidate done for the neighborhood in the past, say, 5 years?
Thanks,
Sara
Suggest you go to Seattle.gov and look under Elections and you will find the bios.
I agree with Sara.
Who cares what a candidate SAYS, it’s what have they actually DONE in our neighborhood that counts. The voting about who answers the question best is really irrelevant in my opinion.
Even if they have never held elected office but can point to a record of them getting a park fixed, a crossing improved, etc. that shows action. That’s what we need.
Well, I’m not a crazy person and I go to city council meetings a lot because I’m involved in what my representatives do. (I’m a psychotherapist and have my own business). Mike O’Brien is one of 3 council members who are actually representing the interests of the people and neighborhoods and everyday real life concerns (rather than big corporate or good old boy and girl board interests). (the other two are Kshama Sawant and Nick Lacata and Nick isn’t running again) The rest of the council are not representing the interests of the people. Mike O’Brien is totally accessible to meeting and talking with you because he is representing you in a non-hierarchical way. He’s got integrity and the ability to tell it like it is but with a smile; he has a very balanced perspective and knows what really matters. I’ve told him if he weren’t my representative I’d move. He’s got my vote for sure!!!!!
Hi Penny
Can you help provide the specific improvements/changes Mike has made? I don’t know his record. Just because someone is outspoken (Mrs. Sawant for example) doesn’t mean they are effective leaders, bringing all side of issues to the table, and forging solutions.
so basically Catherine wants more meetings about crime, Jon just want to talk about numbers that aren’t even right (seattle hasn’t been fastest growing for a couple of years), and all Mike has to offer is he lives in Fremont. Seems like a bunch of dullards. I wish At least someone I could enjoy looking at like a Pam Anderson would move here and run! This place is going downhill…
I will miss Licata, he sometimes seemed like the only one at the table who wasn’t just polishing his progressive credentials, and (point taken about strident activists) he could get something out of it even if he was outnumbered by the developer-funded “progressives.” I’m not sure about O’Brien, but it isn’t my problem. Anyway, maybe he’s perfect for Fremont.
Every once in a while I wonder if maybe there are two different individuals behind the same comment identity “frankie.” That’s the simplest explanation, anyway.
too bad you weren’t at Kshama’s rally at Town Hall Sat. night, you would have heard all about her accomplishments and how they are spreading nationwide….and the list of speakers supporting her was impressive, from Seattle, from across the country, from Ireland, from Greece…..Also, go into Mike O’Brien’s Facebook page and ask him for a list if you don’t already know, or go talk with him, or get a record of some of the council meetings (you can hear them live if you can’t attend) because the issues and resolutions are much too long for a comment page….also, it’s good to actually attend the council meetings, you learn A LOT abound the council members by watching them in action (or non-action)…
I found it interesting that Councilman O’Brien said he “reaches out” to people. I did not find this the case when I sent an email to all the candidates who had email addresses listed and heard from two of them. I am still waiting to hear from Mr. O’Brien. Because I have heard from two candidates I am in the process of setting up a forum over coffee with my Tangletown neighbors. Our first forum is with Catherine Weatbrook this Thursday.
Candidate coffee forums in the neighborhood sound like a great idea Glenn! Can you share where/when in case others want to come?
Our first forum with Catherine Weatbrook is this Thursday at 7AM at Zoka’s Coffee in Tangletown. Hope to see you there.
Hello – looking forward to seeing Glenn and others Thursday 7am. It’s pretty simple to set up a group coffee or other event with me. If there are things in your neighborhood you want me to see, send me photos, schedule a walk, let’s talk. [email protected]
Regarding some of the things I’ve done:
I just completed work with SPU and my volunteer group got SPU and King County Waste Water working together on a single project (rather than two parallels projects at the same time!). Not only do Fremont and Ballard now have one construction project to contend with rather than two, we figured out a way to do the project with 67,000 fewer truck round trips… Barges! We’ll see environmental benefits, traffic benefits, and savings of wear and tear on the road.
I worked with Crown Hill residents to get the process started to get more Amazon lockers to help with package theft.
Crown Hill Park 14th Ave NW and Holman Rd. I worked on getting that into the comp plan in the ’90s in a way that included the community building, and then when the opportunity came along in 2007, was the volunteer lead in getting the deal done between Seattle Schools, the state, the city leadership, and Seattle Parks.
When SDOT had already contracted a project on Holman Road that removed all the left hand turns except one through the business district, and that one was on a Safe Route to School with no sidewalks, and the construction was going to close that route down during the school year, I’m the one that got the project timing changed, a few more left turns added, and sidewalks on the schedule.
I have been working with neighborhood groups about documenting that DPD be accountable for their own exceptional tree regulations, enforcing their own regulations, and allowing the building of unmaintainable homes.
I want some of the city meetings in the district, and we need more working meetings in the district rather than the crowd of usual participants down town.
Any specific questions?
Penny,
Can you please list a few of those specific accomplishments that you heard about at Mrs. Sawant’s rally? I’m not being condescending, I really don’t know what she has actually done.
I’m not sure that having supporters in another county is meaningful, when we are electing for LOCAL issues. This is a CITY Council.
O’Brian’s answer about being available is bull poop! He has test to return any of my emails!
@11 Glenn – would you be willing to submit a report out on the meeting on thursday to Eric for publication? or post some notes here? I was unable to attend.
thanks.