Seattle Press on Line - Seattle Press Election Coverage

Seattle Press Election Coverage

By Pat Stambor

Oct 11, 2001 -- Before the primary, we asked candidates to answer some general questions about issues we felt were important. They graciously responded in great detail (see SP, September 13 issue). Leading up to the general election, we will be printing more about the City Council, Mayor, Port Commissioner, City Attorney and perhaps even more races. In this issue, we asked the candidates for City Council Positions 2 and 4 to tell us a little more about themselves, and about their thoughts on race relations, public-private partnerships, and Seattle's endorsement of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

City Council Position 2

Michael Preston

Michael Preston is running for City Council Position 2 because he thinks City Council should stick to the "nuts and bolts" of running a city. As a regular viewer of SeaTV, he says he decided to run because he is "fed up with watching months of debates over whether elephants should be allowed to perform in circus acts." He also thinks that before council decided to support removal of the dams in Eastern Washington it should have at least talked to people who would have been affected by its decision.

Preston says he can bring a new and needed level-headed voice to City Council. He believes that his twenty years of service as a Seattle School Board member have prepared him to be an effective legislator. "This city is facing major budget cuts. I have been through budget cuts with the school district and now it is the best run public institution in the city. In order to restore the confidence in the city, we need to keep the tax-base up and encourage people to keep coming to the city."

On the subject of neighborhood planning, Preston has no problem with the neighborhood process but believes that there are gaping holes in the funding plan. "Neighborhood planning is stuck way out in the margins. City departments must integrate the money for funding plans from the general fund so the neighborhoods don't have to go looking for it." To balance the neighborhoods with downtown interests, Preston is also an advocate for electing City Council the same way the School Board is elected--with seven council members elected by district and two members at-large.

Preston is a big supporter of a monorail in place of light rail. He believes that Sound Transit should not move forward until an analysis is done of the cost to build a monorail on the same route.

Upon hearing rumors that Michael Preston does not live in Seattle, I asked to see his driver's license. He does.

Race Relations:

"Seattle is getting better at handling race relations but race relations have never been good between blacks and the police. We need to put cameras or audio tapes in all police cars so we don't have another Aaron Roberts incident where we are hearing only one side of the story. As far as improving race relations in Seattle, we need to have an ongoing open dialogue to increase trust and decrease fear."

Public-Private Partnerships and stadium funding:

"I would like to see public-private partnerships for funding low-income housing and the monorail. I love the Mariners and am glad they stayed in Seattle. I think the multiplier effect from the stadium created a whole new business district that brings money into the city. As far as funding stadiums with public funds, I think if the private investor has the money then projects like this should be paid for with private money."

Kyoto Protocol and the environment:

"I am in favor of City Council taking a position on certain kinds of foreign policy. The Burmese ordinance made sense to me because it sends a message that we will not do business with countries that do not respect human rights."

Richard Conlin:

Richard Conlin says that he may not be able to solve Seattle's transportation problems but if re-elected, he intends to tackle them. "It will be a slow and gradual process but we need to provide transportation choices for people and we must also ensure freight mobility so goods and services can move in and out of city."

Conlin states he has always been "passionate about community involvement." He says the skills he brings to City Council are his ability to listen to both sides of an issue and then to find reasonable solutions. Mostly recently, he displayed these skills by successfully negotiating a settlement between the proponents and opponents of the controversial "Water for Salmon" Initiative 63.

In his four years on City Council, Conlin is most proud of his efforts to bring all neighborhood plans before council and have them unanimously approved. He also says he worked hard to ensure the plans did not just end up as something to be put on a shelf. "In order to implement them, we needed to make sure that the plans were not separate from the normal operations of the City. We had to coordinate and cooperate with the various city departments, such as the transportation and parks, so we were all working as a team."

Conlin is also committed to getting people of all ages involved in government. He sometimes takes his neighborhood committee meetings out to the communities and encourages young voters to serve on some of the city's advisory boards.

Race Relations:

"On the surface Seattle appears to have a real commitment to being non-racial but sometimes we do not have the depth of understanding to effectively handle racial conflicts. I think we need to secure funding for forums on race relations and make sure people participate in them. It is also important that we all try to experience and understand different cultures because it helps us communicate better."

Public-private partnerships and stadium funding:

"In many cases, public-private partnerships are good way to stretch public money. A good example is the Opera House where the city partnered with a non-profit organization and is paying a third of the costs. Citizens tend to be more critical of public private partnerships when the city partners with private business. There is often the perception that private business is making money off taxpayers. The best way to avoid controversy in these situations is to get everything out on the table. As far as the stadium funding arrangement, I think we could have done a better job."

Kyoto Protocol and the environment:

"As a city, we have achieved the requirements under the Kyoto Protocol. If the agreement does gets ratified [at the national level] everything will have to be done at local level. By supporting it, we are sending the message to Washington D.C. that, if they change their mind, we are prepared."

City Council Position 4

Jan Drago

Jan Drago hopes to continue chairing the City Council Budget and Finance committee in the hard times ahead. She believes that her role on the council will become even important because of recent changes in the world and also because Seattle will have a new mayor and city attorney. With so many changes, Drago says that as an experienced legislative leader, she will be able to provide the needed balance and stability in the Council for the next four years.

During her eight years on City Council, Drago has been most proud of her work in helping to revitalize downtown and neighborhood business districts. She is also quick to point out that while economic development is only a piece of the big picture, it has produced a huge amount of jobs and millions of dollars that the city has used for housing, police, parks, and transportation.

Drago says that economic development is not the only thing she cares about. "I spent ten years dealing with homelessness and housing. In 1984, as a small business owner in the Market, it was difficult to ignore the needs of the homeless. I got involved with public safety and criminal justice, as well as housing and human services.

Another major accomplishment Drago credits herself with is her dog politics. When she decided to take on the issue of off-leash dog runs, then-mayor Norm Rice advised her to stay away from animal issues. In spite of his advice, Drago doggedly spent three years trying to resolve an increasingly hostile off-leash dog situation in the public parks. "By establishing off-leash dog runs, we able to successfully separate people who like dogs from people who don't."

Race Relations:

"I am not one to go out on the picket lines, because I prefer talking and working with people on an individual basis. I have a good working relationship with many different minority groups in Seattle."

Private-public partnerships and stadium funding:

"As far as stadium funding, it is important to remember that City Council never voted on the stadium. It was a state-wide vote. In spite of all the controversy over the Pacific Place garage, it turned out to be a very good deal for the city.

Today almost everything we do is a public-private partnership, whether it is building roads or providing affordable housing. What is difficult about these deals are the complicated negotiations. People tend not to pay attention to the details until it is on their front door step. It is not easy to get people interested in the sometimes complicated and dry negotiations. All we can try to do is bring all the stakeholders to the table."

Kyoto Protocol and the environment:

"We joined many other cities in the U.S. who are committed to this agreement. We were not engaging in foreign policy but were lending our support of this treaty through council resolution."

Curt Firestone

If elected, one of the first things Curt Firestone would do is change the way City Council does business. "No more meetings at two in the afternoon, when people who have regular jobs cannot attend." Firestone would also have council routinely hold town-hall style meetings, so that citizens could freely speak to Councilmembers without being constrained by a pre-set agenda.

Although a relative newcomer to Seattle--he moved here fifteen years ago from southern California--Firestone has proven to be an effective force in the progressive wing of the local Democratic Party. He has been Vice-President and Secretary of the Washington State Rainbow Coalition, co-founder of the Seattle Progressive Coalition, and a Coordinating Council member of Seattle's Green Party for two years. He currently chairs the King County Family Planning Advisory Board and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Downtown Human Services Council.

In 1999 Firestone ran unsuccessfully against City Council President Margaret Pageler, but received an impressive 48,000 votes. More than half the money in his campaign treasure chest came from supporters who contributed less than $25 dollars as opposed to his opponent who raised most of her money from wealthy contributors.

With steely determination, Firestone is once again taking on another experienced and strong opponent. When I asked him why he chose to take on two of the most powerful women in city hall, Firestone's response was, "Government is not in touch with the needs of the residents of this city."

He feels very strongly that the current city leaders place too much emphasis on economic development, ignoring the growing needs for more human services like transportation, public safety, and housing.

Race Relations:

"One of the major things we can do is open the lines of communication by encouraging more dialogue between races and neighborhoods. We need to hold forums on race relations in all neighborhoods, not just the ones where the minority race resides. We also should involve and encourage people of different races to learn and experience cultures that are not their own."

Public-private partnerships and stadium funding:

"I don't have a problem with public-private partnerships when there are clear and balanced benefits to both parties. I think, however, that a professional sports stadium is a private business that should be privately funded. Owners, managers, and players in the sports industry are profiting from taxpayers by such an exaggerated amount of money. I would rather see public-private partnerships used for financing the monorail or something we can all benefit from."

Kyoto Protocol and the environment:

"It is not wrong for City Council to reflect to the outer world the sense of the city. Although foreign policy is not the primary thing city government does, it is important to remember that we are not isolated from the rest of the world."

Reader Comments

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Shannon Goeden	Nov 07, 2002	Ventura, CA	Environmental Program Associat
I am interested in finding out more on Seattle's ensorsement of the Kyoto Protocol. Is this still in effect, if so, are the citizens of the city the voice behind this commitment? Thanks for your time.