VIDEO + AS-IT-HAPPENED COVERAGE: City Council candidates’ forum presented by VIEWS at West Seattle Senior Center
(UPDATE: All video now added – at-large candidates’ pitches plus full District 1 candidates’ forum)
(District 1 participants, post-forum. From left: Helmick, Thomas, Redmond, Tavel, Capestany, Koch, Herbold, Braddock, Goberman)
10:04 AM: We’re at the morning’s second big West Seattle event (first one here) – the VIEWS-presented City Council candidates’ forum at the Senior Center of West Seattle. First, a short segment with at-large candidates before 10 of the 11 District 1 hopefuls are grilled.
(VIDEO CLIP ABOVE: Alex Tsimerman, followed by David Trotter)
At the microphone first, Alex Tsimerman, well-known for his appearances during public-comment periods at City Council meetings. He contends a “mafia” controls government and should be overthrown.
Second, David Trotter (above), who begins by saying the minimum-wage law “codifies poverty … by exempting most of the businesses in the city.” He, like Tsimerman, has filed for at-large Position 8. (Note: Trotter is a West Seattle resident.)
(VIDEO CLIP ABOVE: Jon Grant, followed by John Persak and Tim Burgess)
Up third, Jon Grant (above), who also is running in Position 8. He is a tenants-rights activist who accuses city leadership of giving “utmost deference to developers.” He says candidates need a “level playing field” if democracy is to be preserved.
4th Position 8 candidate, John Persak (above), who also speaks of development concerns, and then goes on to transportation, “a huge issue for West Seattle … we have to figure out ways to give incentives for people to take other means of transportation, not to force them out of their cars, but to give incentives.”
And the 5th candidate for Position 8, current City Council president Tim Burgess (above), says he wants to “keep doing this work” because he wants to “keep getting good things done.” First thing he touts is the transit-funding measure.
(VIDEO CLIP ABOVE: Bill Bradburd, followed by Lorena González)
10:20 AM: On to at-large Position 9. Bill Bradburd, who says he got involved when a “big box shopping mall (was planned) for Little Saigon,” is speaking, and development is his big issue – “I want to bring back a community voice to the neighborhood-planning process.” He draws the first audience applause of the morning by saying that the city should be charging impact fees.
Second and final Position 9 candidate here, also the first woman to speak, Lorena González. She talks about her advocacy background and “progressive values” and commitment to fighting for gender/racial/economic equity. (Note: González is a West Seattle resident.)
(VIDEO ABOVE: ENTIRE HOUR-LONG, NINE-CANDIDATE DISTRICT 1 FORUM)
10:29 AM: Emcee Michael Taylor-Judd from VIEWS says 10 of the 11 District 1 candidates RSVP’d, though one is not here (David Ishii) so far. Pete Spalding from VIEWS reads a brief statement from Dave Montoure, the one candidate who said he couldn’t be here, because of a “long-planned family vacation,” per VIEWS. Taylor-Judd then explains the organization, which has been around to some degree for six years, but is now trying to ramp up into a peninsula-wide community-building group.
Each candidate will be asked for a quick one-minute introduction involving their community work (present/past). First, Amanda Kay Helmick, a Westwood resident, co-chair of WW-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council, co-founder of West Seattle Transportation Coalition. Second, Brianna Thomas, a Junction resident, who lists her boards as Working Washington, Washington Bus, 34th District Democrats, Church Council. Third, Chas Redmond, a Gatewood resident, whose volunteer work includes the Junction Association’s upcoming historical survey, plus producing Alki, Delridge, Morgan festivals. Fourth, George Capestany, who lists his fabled goat feeder on Jacobsen Road as his most-recent community work, as well as work he’s done with children with autism (including one of his own). Fifth, Lisa Herbold, a Highland Park resident, who notes she has worked as assistant to Councilmember Nick Licata for 17+ years and also was on the Neighborhood House board. Sixth, Pavel Goberman, who says he immigrated from the USSR, and is in the health/fitness business. Seventh, Phillip Tavel, a Morgan Junction resident, who says he’s working on the Morgan Junction Community Festival and has long done Wednesday night trivia at Talarico’s, where a fundraiser for the Y is coming up next week. Eighth, Shannon Braddock, an Admiral resident, who is and has been on the WestSide Baby, West Seattle Food Bank, and Lafayette Elementary PTSA boards, and is chief of staff for County Councilmember Joe McDermott. Ninth, Tom Koch, who mentions that he helped with the Admiral District Adopt-A-Street cleanup last weekend.
10:43 AM: Question for each: What form of transportation do you primarily use, and what WS transportation issue would you work on first? The answers:
Thomas – Bus/walk. Increasing access to some of the WS bus routes – like the hourly 22, and Alki, with no service in the evening.
Redmond – Bus/walk. Would work with SDOT to add lane to the offramp to 99 from the West Seattle Bridge.
Tavel – Car. Increasing access to bus routes – mentions the 37 and “other underutilized areas of WS.”
Herbold – Bus (Route 131). Making sure Bridging the Gap renewal has more money for sidewalks, pedestrian improvements, Fauntleroy Boulevard project.
Goberman – Transit because, he says, he can’t get a driver license due to problems in Oregon that affect him here. That seems also to be the problem he’d work on.
Tavel – Car. Increasing bus access to West Seattle so it’s “not 90 minutes to Fremont” – “for our bus system to work, you have to be able to get anywhere.”
Braddock – Car/bus. Renewal and expansion of Bridging the Gap levy and would continue to fight to make sure state is providing viaduct-mitigation money for extra bus service; also mentions expanding Route 120 service.
Koch – Walk/drive. Get development projects to “pay their fair share” so there would be more money for expanding transit. (He says $200 million “left on table” without development fees. Draws applause.)
Helmick – Walk/bus/drive. West Seattle Corridor Project; would like to see a busway to get buses moving from WS to downtown, plus rapid transit for WS.
10:52 AM: First lightning-round question: Are patrol boundaries for SW Precinct too large?
No – Helmick, Redmond, Tavel,
Waffle – Koch, Braddock
Yes – Others (except Goberman, who doesn’t raise his)
Second lightning-round question: Do you support the new homeless encampment ordinance?
Waffle – Helmick
No – Capestany, Tavel
Yes – Everyone else
Ever testified at a City Council meeting?
Thomas Capestany Herbold Goberman Tavel – no
Others – yes
Support city advocating for legislation enabling rent control?
Helmick Capestany Tavel – no
Braddock – waffle
Others – Yes
Do you support renewal of Bridging the Gap levy?
All – Yes
Should Seattle develop its own broadband utility?
Herbold – Waffle
Capestany – No
Other seven – Yes
Non-lightning round, with Dorsol Plants of VIEWS taking the podium: What’s the most common crime in D-1 and what would your priority crime problem to work on be?
Redmond – Property crime; would work with police on Block Watch programs
Capestany – Breaking and entering; agrees with Redmond, and work on community spirit, mentions “diligent” older neighbors
Herbold – Home and car break-ins; restore community-service officer program that SPD had before the recession
Goberman – Break-ins; need more punishment to reduce crime
Tavel – Property crimes but most disturbing thing is rise in robberies; get more police out there, walking, bicycling beats, patroling
Braddock – Property crimes; need more police officers and need officers to be out of their cars, on the streets; also educating neighbors and getting them more involved with each other
Koch – Agrees with Tavel, property crimes BUT robberies most disturbance; applauds increases in police budget but not breakdown in trust between police and community, so will hold SPD accountable
Helmick – Property theft; police-hiring system needs work to screen for people who don’t just look at community as enemy/suspicious/doing something wrong
Thomas – Property crimes; better use of technology to look at what’s happening and who are we stopping/where/why, also wants to look at the concerns about the depolicing of South Park
Next question: How do we protect the history and character of West Seattle while still protecting business and enabling affordable housing for future generations?
Capestany – Fan of development to some degree but keep in mind that what works in other neighborhoods doesn’t necessarily work here.
Herbold – Growth goals have come with an unfulfilled promise; supports impact fees and linkage fees so development pays its fair share; opposes Director’s Rule on redefining parking requirements.
Goberman – Worried about money taken by politicians, has a plan to create jobs but doesn’t want to see environment destroyed.
Tavel – Growth is going to happen, but has to be responsible, intelligent, sensitive to community, whose interests should get more weight in this. Developers can get a weekend retreat with politicians but citizens get 2 minutes’ access only.
Braddock – Supports impact/linkage fees, thinks developers need to be brought to table in community talking about what we want to see, be “cooperative.”
Koch – Wouldn’t be running if city had done decent job on development issue. Has built affordable housing without public subsidy, has built public schools. “We’re doing everything the wrong way here … community is not listened to … the process is broken.” Says city has had right to impose impact fees for 25 years but “hasn’t gotten around to doing it.”
Helmick – Interested in preservation districts like Pike-Pine. Need to build more buildings because if we don’t, prices will keep going up. But doesn’t have to be “canyons,” can be townhomes like in Westwood.
Thomas – Agrees with most of what’s been said. Diversity of housing stock important – needs to be ‘accessible and affordable,’ and while Amazon’s economic engine is important, some cultural challenges are “leaking into our neighborhoods .. that we need to address.” Families need “someplace to grow into.”
Redmond – Transit-Oriented Development doesn’t work, need the transportation to go along with the development. Working directly with developers can make a difference, as has been done in Morgan Junction (where he’s been on the neighborhood council).
11:12 AM: More lightning round. First question – Do you support the current body-cam pilot project with SPD?
Helmick is lone “no”
Would you support allowing police to not carry firearms while patrolling in West Seattle?
Helmick and Thomas are the only “yes”
Do you support construction of third stadium in SODO?
Only yes answers are Capestany and Herbold
Are you capable of communicating with voters in a language other than English?
Goberman, Redmond, Capestany, Koch say yes
Do you support SPD using Guardian One helicopter in WS?
All yes except Thomas says no
Would you work to help make sure dogs could use pools before public pools are closed for cleaning (which has been tried at some)?
All answer yes or waffle, with some quizzicality about the question itself (submitted by community, ViEWS explains)
11:17 AM: Not lightning round. “Inside District 1 is a neighborhood with lowest life-expectancy in the city. Name it and say what you would do to fix it.”
Herbold – South Park, continue fixing Duwamish problems
Goberman – not sure but would do his best for all citizens of West Seattle/South Park
Tavel – South Park, knows the air quality is even worse than the river quality, speeding up Duwamish cleanup and regulating industries would be most important
Braddock – Duwamish Corridor, continuing to restore public-health clinics is important
Koch – same community in his answer, city budget priorities are important, and collecting more money (development fees) could help with this problem too
Helmick – Delridge, because there’s no access to good fresh food; Delridge Grocery will be starting up and trying to bring fresh food to Delridge, also, improving walkability in area, bike lanes, must be done
Thomas – South Park, “children can’t breathe,” and Delridge, “kids can’t eat.” Need to fix those problems, city hasn’t been able to incentivize a grocery store on Delridge; also in SP, air-quality problem
Redmond – Both Delridge & SP have serious health problems. City could help with providing race/social-justice funding for Delridge Grocery as it does for other kinds of enterprises/activities. For SP, stronger pushback against EPA Record of Decision, remove more toxic material from the river before we cover it up.
Capestany – South Delridge. Get healthy food. He thinks the area should have three grocery stores.
(By the way, the correct answer to “lowest life-expectancy in the city” is – North Delridge. In the 60s.)
One more question: What plan do you have for the city’s own Myers wetland (Taylor-Judd mentions the “Save Myers Park” meeting happening simultaneously)?
Goberman – Not familiar with it
Tavel – Does need to be protected
Braddock – Agree with protecting it, but we’re having trouble with maintenance in other parks, need to study more
Koch – Protect it
Helmick – Very familiar with this area, wetlands protection important, once land is gone, it’s gone, for preserving it
Thomas – Not familiar with it
Redmond – Preserving wetlands very important, not much preservation in that area
Capestany – For preserving any wetland
Herbold – To preserve it, the city first has to look at not selling it.
(P.S. Read about the Myers Parcels here.)
11:28 AM: The event is now breaking into “speed-candi-dating” in small groups. We’ve recorded the preceding part of the event on video and will add here when it’s ready, later today/tonight.
11:59 PM: We’ve now added all of our video clips embedded inline above – three clips totaling all of the Position 8/9 candidates’ quick pitches, and the full hourlong unedited District 1 forum. As far as we know, your next chance to see the candidates together will be at the District 1 forum the 34th District Democrats‘ are planning for their next meeting, April 8th.
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