We are hours from finishing up our general election endorsements. If there are races other than I-976, King County, and Seattle Council with strongly pro-transit candidates we should be paying attention to, please mention it in the comments.
6 Replies to “Call for Endorsements”
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I wish I had some North by Northwest candidates to tell you about, but I almost don’t. One candidate with an R by her name I’ve begged, cajoled even offered a helicopter overhead with a knotted rope to my endorsement called “Missing Link”. Nope.
After some thought however, I think Stephanie Wright is worth another four years on Snohomish County Council. Is currently lobbying Community Transit to look into electric buses & more park and rides due to the nature of things in Snohomish County.
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Finally, I am going to give my closing argument why I back Heidi Wills for Seattle City Council. Not just the voice and the good mental + physical health but the soul. Heidi has had some rough times, but pulled through. Heidi is a good communicator. Heidi deserves this with a past record of victories; her opponent is part of a status quo as City Council Staff that has failed to deliver key transit & cycling investments.
Meanwhile Heidi has earned the nickname “Sidewalk Wills” for advocating for pedestrian safety. Same Heidi Wills who won UPass at UofW and got Sound Move on the ballot for Sound Transit to be started. Big huge game-winning accomplishments setting the stage for arguably any Seattle transit successes today.
The Wills plan for an elevated bike lane is a cunning plan. A smart plan to restart the conversation and to move the Overton Window to get a missing link bike lane done. Same Heidi Wills that wants to try to – despite the best efforts of some mudslingers – restore civility to our politics which is a heavy, heavy lift.
Same Heidi Wills that helped, “Create the Green Power Program and led the effort to sign our first wind contract at Seattle City Light. We were the largest public utility in the country to invest in wind power, and our power portfolio is among the cleanest in the country. Since our energy sources are green, the next area for major improvements is the transportation sector.” With more and more buses and trains and yes, cars being electrified this was a key Wills win for our environment. Where’s the opponent’s?
Also Heidi Wills if 976 passes will be trusted hands to help clean up the mess. We need that right now, and frankly I am scared not just for Seattle but the region if the Sound Transit Board is in the hands of weak sauce, not proven winners. We don’t need on the job training of a man with a habit of mushy unclear communication supporting polarizing non-transit ideas. Frankly the status quo that the opponent – a council staffer – is an architect of is activating more transit activists by the week.
Finally, I’m just going to say this and I’m going to say it as nicely as I can: I am not shilling for dollars, not attacking & demoralizing fellow transit advocates, and very interested in backing a trustworthy redemptive leader. The post 976 era is going to require leaders who can deliver from the heart, from an ideological place of conviction. Heidi Wills is that leader who has that track record of delivering wins for our cause.
For Seattle. For Sound Transit. For transit advocacy that wins. Heidi Wills. Please.
I know this is Seattle Transit Blog, but for cross-state solidarity, and given the stakes for Spokane Transit’s BRT projects, I think you should endorse Ben Stuckart for Mayor of Spokane. He’s running against a car-focused, anti-transit, sprawl-centric ideologue in Nadine Woodward, a former TV news anchor.
Angela Birney seems to be the pro-housing, pro-transit candidate in the Redmond race for mayor. From her web site: “We need to have a strong housing supply, with affordable housing options… We also need to expand our transit options.”
Her opponent, Steve Fields, says this on his web site: “We can change the focus, from making development quick and easy for developers, to creating fantastic outcomes for people.” And also: “The results of our past decade of growth tell the tale of a city that did not plan our downtown development well. Design standards were not updated before many unattractive buildings were placed right in the middle of downtown.”
Sorry I don’t have anything more concrete to say about this; I live in Redmond but I don’t totally know what’s going on in politics here. I do see a lot of apartment buildings going up, and I hope that continues…
For Bothell City Council, Mason Thompson is pro-upzoning, pro-biking, and pro-transit. He has clear ideas on how to build walkable communities and wants to limit other development. He might not be quite Seattle-level in his advocacy for such ideas, but that’s in large part due to the reality of winning an election in the suburbs. For the suburbs though, this is the type of candidate that people need to support.
A good comparison between him and his opponent is in this Q&A: http://www.bothell-reporter.com/news/pos-2-candidates-continue-campaign-for-bothell-city-council/
In the other two Bothell council races, the incumbents are basically guaranteed to win and both are decently strong on transit and housing.
On Bainbridge Island, Anthony Oddo is the urbanist candidate running against an anti-growth opponent in his city council race. Anthony is a strong advocate for not just better multi-modal transportation, but also ADUs, smart growth, and affordable housing.
More info about his qualifications and priorities is available here: https://www.anthonyoddo.org/
I would suggest an endorsement for Takele Gobena, Senayet Negusse, Damiana Merryweather, and Mohamed Egal for Seatac City Council.
Because Seatac already has what it will get from Sound Transit, with Angle Lake and Seatac Airport within city limits and TIBS just outside, the most important thing about transit in this race is access to what already exists.
These candidates are supporters of safe streets, basics like sidewalks, and most importantly, keeping Seatac affordable. This is one of the few places that already has good access to Link, and is still affordable, as the Rainier Valley gets increasingly gentrified. Unfortunately, the current Seatac council wants to move in that direction, as well, as seen by their recent action evicting dozens of immigrant-owned businesses from city owned land adjacent to TIBS for the purpose of “redevelopment.”
Gobena, Negusse, Merryweather, and Egal are the candidates for keeping Seatac affordable, and deserve an endorsement.