Sammamish City Council Race: Karen Howe Vs. Karen Moran

SAMMAMISH, WA - Sammamish voters have a real choice to make for the position 3 seat on the City Council. Karen Howe and Karen Moran are competing for the seat being vacated by Mayor Bob Keller, whose first term ends in December.

Moran serves on the Sammamish Plateau Water & Sewer board, which she touts as valuable experience for serving on the Council. This is Howe's first campaign, but she says her years of experience in business and marketing will give her an advantage on the Council.

In late September, Patch sent local candidates questionnaires to help voters decide who they want to pick. We did not edit the answers and allowed candidates to write as much or as little as they wanted. Here are the answers from Howe and Moran:

Karen Howe

Why did you decide to run for this seat?

The short answer is that I was in my car in Sammamish sitting in heavy traffic staring at a new treeless development and knew we could do better. Having lived and volunteered in Sammamish for 25 years, I am passionate about our community and feel a responsibility to make a positive difference here. I want to apply my executive management and fiscal experience to improve how we manage growth and mobility, and do a better job bringing neighbors together to solve challenges.

If you could snap your fingers and have it done, what’s one thing you would fix or change about your city?

Here’s two things I’d do if I had a magic wand: The Sammamish loop shuttle would be in place, delivering residents efficiently around the city, connecting them to transit, and getting more cars off the streets and out of traffic; The Eastlake Sammamish Trail would be completed with no lawsuits, no wetlands destruction, the new fish culverts were attracting hoards of fertile kokanee salmon and everyone was thrilled with the outcome.

What’s the most prominent issue facing your city right now and what can you do about it?

Growth management. We can use language within the Growth Management Act itself to help slow and regulate growth. Section 12 of RCW 36.70A.020 "Ensure that those public facilities and services necessary to support development shall be adequate to serve the development at the time the development is available for occupancy and use without decreasing current service levels below locally established minimum standards."

Basically this is means that the city has to maintain certain standards of service, and when we fall below those standards, we have the ability to halt further development. In effect, that’s how the city is able to enact an emergency 6 month moratorium.

Regional and State agencies (METRO and PSRC) have not met their commitments to Sammamish in relation to transit or Park and Ride lots. We can use the language in the GMA to push Regional government, METRO as well as King County to meet their commitments before we consider further density.

As an example the Gray Barn property is outside the Urban Growth Boundary and does not qualify as a site for a Park and Ride lot. So until King County supports changing their own land use plan and the Regional government, PSRC, actually funds, designs and starts construction of the promised Park & Ride, and Sammamish catches up with its own project list, there is no reason to have a land use plan that increases density.

Assuming the city you live in is your favorite in the state, what’s your second favorite city in Washington state and why?

Edmonds – it’s on the water too and is a walkable city with some great restaurants. I just got certified as a diver and I’d love to explore their undersea dive park. (But only in a dry suit – that water is freezing!)

Do you think the city budget is in decent shape? Why or why not?

Yes. The City’s finances are solid and balanced today. In the future, there’s projected to be a budget “cross-over” when expenditures exceed revenue. I’m a business person so this is not an unusual circumstance. Prudent planning and accelerating other revenue sources should mitigate any shortfalls. Although currently there is no significant provision to pay for accelerating road, transit, or stormwater management improvements. The City has been fiscally prudent by outsourcing major services such as fire, emergency, and police. It also carries no debt and has a high bond rating.

If you could pick one thing for the city to stop spending money on, what would it be?

Lawsuits or other legal action. We can do better to address conflict and resolve issues before they get this far along – delaying action and wasting tax dollars.

If you could increase spending on one thing, what would it be?

Infrastructure – Our investments in infrastructure are not keeping up with our City’s growth. We need to do a better job balancing the two, or our traffic, affordability, and livability challenges will only grow.

King County is planning to open a safe-injection site somewhere in the county. Do you think providing a safe-injection site will help reduce overdose deaths? Do you support one in your city? Why or why not?

This is a moot point as the City Council has already voted on this. Sammamish does not have the requisite at-risk population, transit, accommodation, or the health and social service functions to support such a service. I view drug addiction or any substance abuse as a health issue. Harm reduction strategies are typically not well understood by most people. After spending time with families in crisis due to the grip of addiction, I’ve seen them fight their way through their addiction and get their families back. There are several peer-reviewed studies available online. Here’s just one relevant example: Buchner, C., Kerr, T. Lloyd Smith E. et al. “Findings from The Evaluation of Vancouver’s Pilot Medically Supervised Safer Injection Facility Insite (UHRI Report).”

In your free time, what’s your favorite thing to do locally?

Besides walking the dogs in one of our many great parks or taking a run in the neighborhood, I’d have to say meeting friends at The Ale House, Lakeside Lounge or HopJacks.

When you go to a coffee shop, what drink do you usually get?

I always get a large non-fat latte. Even when I think I’m going to order something else. It’s a little boring but I consider it a treat.

Karen Moran

Why did you decide to run for this seat? For incumbent candidates, what made you decide to run for reelection?

It was an open seat with only one person signed up to run. I have been a citizen advocate in Sammamish for 30 years. We became a city to spend our money as we needed not the county. The main issues were building roads, decide our own land use and control our own Finances. I am running as there appears to be a disconnect between city hall and our citizens. We need to build roads with concurrency, we need to get a handle on the building that is currently happening and we need to control our appending rather than just increase taxes.

If you could snap your fingers and have it done, what’s one thing you would fix or change about your city

How our road system is built

What’s the most prominent issue facing your city right now and what can you do about it?

The number one complaint with our citizens is our roads. Though the city has extended a few roads, they have not build anything new nor have they built/ redesigned roads to capacity. I would make this a number one priority along with working on projects with our neighboring jurisdictions and provide more multimodal transportation.

Assuming the city you live in is your favorite in the state, what’s your second favorite city in Washington state and why?

Did not answer

Do you think the city budget is in decent shape? Why or why not?

Though the city did a "budget review", it did not look into the meat of any department budget. There is no way at this time to even know the details of what is being spent. This must stop !! The city needs to be transparent on its spending BEFORE even thinking about new fees and taxes.

If you could pick one thing for the city to stop spending money on, what would it be?

spending millions of dollars on road projects that are more for beautification than capacity.

If you could increase spending on one thing, what would it be?

ROADS

King County is planning to open a safe-injection site somewhere in the county. Do you think providing a safe-injection site will help reduce overdose deaths? Do you support one in your city? Why or why not?

I DO NOT support safe-injection sites. Studies have not shown that these sites actually help people STOP using these types of drugs. I would supports programs that would actually work to help people beat this addiction. As a person with a family member (back in the Midwest) that would probably use this type of site, I would ask that she not be given a place to get "her fix" but rather a place to help her deal with getting clean !!

In your free time, what’s your favorite thing to do locally?

I love to visit local Farmers Markets

When you go to a coffee shop, what drink do you usually get?

Regular black coffee

Image via Patch.com