Early filings mean Shoreline pos. 2 seat will face primary

Published 5:56 am Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Three candidates filed early to run for the Position 2 seat on the Shoreline City Council: incumbent Rich Gustafson, community activist George Daher and political newcomer Cindy Ryu. All three candidates showed up to file at the same time – at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, July 28. The filing period ends Friday, Aug. 1.

The candidates face a Sept. 16 primary and the two candidates with the most votes will face each other in the Nov. 4 general election.

“I’m not surprised at the filings. I know a group out there is organizing candidates to run, so I am pleased that citizens in the community are taking an interest in the city,” Gustafson said.

Gustafson, 63, is the assistant principal in charge of athletics at Shorewood High School, and is former director of athletics for the school district. He has served on the Shoreline City Council since 1998.

“I have been a resident in this community over 30 years and I’ve been with the school district for over 30 years and in the community as a volunteer and I feel I am the qualified and viable candidate to continue to help operate the future of Shoreline,” Gustafson said.

Of his challengers, Gustafson said “I do know both candidates are business people on Aurora so I can assume that will be a major issue in our race.”

The city of Shoreline has plans to widen and renovate Aurora Avenue N. as it passes through Shoreline as a part of a regional effort to widen Highway 99 from Seattle to Everett. Businesses with the Shoreline Merchants Association have appealed in King County Superior Court the design the council approved in Dec. 2002 for the first mile of the project.

“I have voted all along to go with the citizen’s advisory task force recommendations, the Planning Commission and the City Council’s work on the ‘32 points’ and to compromise where we can on that project,” Gustafson said. “I do business up and down Aurora and I certainly don’t want to hurt the small businesses. I want to develop a road that is safe, attractive and will allow for buses to run up and down Aurora at a better clip.”

Gustafson said he is proud of the work he has done and that the city is operating on a balanced budget.

“There are many more issues in the city that are important,” he said. “I am really interested in connecting the Interurban Trail from Seattle to Everett as well as to Lake Forest Park. I am also interested in partnerships with the schools and other community organizations, in getting a city hall and in maintaining a strong parks and rec. department.”

Community activist George Daher, 35, threw his hat into the ring for Shoreline City Council this week.

Daher owns City Vacuum on Aurora Avenue N. and is the director of the Green Elephants Society, a group that does park clean ups and advocates for pedestrian safety. He is past chair of the 32nd District Republicans.

“I’m running to make sure we have a lot more voices on a lot of issues that have been ignored,” Daher said.

Daher said he would like to see the city’s utility tax changed to being based on per-unit usage rather than a percentage of the bill.

“We would have a more stable flow of income to our treasury rather than having it go up or down based on the bill. There is also less incentive for the government to have a high utility rate,” he said.

Daher said he would advocate for changing Shoreline’s system of government to a strong mayor form of government. Currently, the city council elects a council member to serve as mayor for two years. A strong mayor would be elected by the voters.

“We need a true executive branch to maintain power and communication in the community. Right now we have a hired gun – a city manager, hired behind closed doors,” Daher said.

Daher said he also wants the city to reinstall the hearing examiner’s right to subpoena and brought up questions about light rail.

“Why don’t we have light rail coming up here? I pay (business and occupation) taxes, $100 a month, for light rail and I don’t see a penny of it coming this way,” Daher said.

One issue that has really divided this city is the Aurora Corridor Project, said Daher. Daher is a member of the Shoreline Merchants Association, which is appealing in King County Superior Court the Shoreline City Council’s approval of the design for the first mile of the project.

“Aurora is not the disease; it is the symptom of the disease,” he said. “The disease that is pandemic in our city is horrible communication and rampant mistrust, and Aurora is a symptom of that. It has consumed our city, divided our city and it is bringing us to the brink of destroying our city.

“I would love to see an improvement of Aurora, but without committing so much resources to something that might become outdated. It should be scaled back.”

The Aurora Corridor Project is a personal issue for political newcomer Cindy Ryu.

Ryu, 45, is an All-State insurance agent and owns property in the first mile of Aurora Avenue North in Shoreline. She is a member of the Shoreline Merchants Association and is serving on the city’s Bond Advisory Board.

“The Aurora project affects me directly, and there are so many questions and so many that protest it with differences of opinions, I want to know how did it get this way,” Ryu said.

Ryu questioned the Council’s recent approval of right-of-way lines on Aurora and its approval of a capital improvement plan.

“There were major questions I think didn’t get answered like, when you drop lines on property, how will the values of buildings be affected? But when it got to Council, they approved the (right-of-way) lines and said it was ‘for certainty’ and the City Council, including Gustafson, seemed satisfied with that.”

Ryu said she could be called a one-issue candidate, but for her it’s broader than just the Aurora Corridor Project – it’s the budget.

“If we pour all that money into Aurora, what will happen to the rest of the city?” she said.

“My issue is the budget. I am a tax payer and in my opinion there is a finite amount of money that businesses and residents can be taxed on, and it’s not bottomless.”

Ryu questions a state law that allows cities to use “municipal funding” – borrowing a percentage without the necessity of voter approval – for projects such as building a city hall.

“As a voter, it is scary that they can use that, and borrow $10 to $12 million for a city hall,” Ryu said.

Ryu volunteered to serve on the Citizen’s Bond Advisory Board this past year, along with Council members Gustafson and Bob Ransom, but said she has become disillusioned.

“They said it was a parks bond board, and I questioned why it was only for parks. We are educated that there are more grants available for streets and sidewalks, not parks, and because interest rates are so low, this is a good time to go into debt — but going into debt doesn’t make sense.

“I fear they already have a menu of items they want us to be shepherded to and we are asked to rubber stamp it. Savings were done in the middle of good times, but right now, we are not in good times,” she said.

“In my opinion we need stronger leadership. Gustafson is saying he is looking to the future and if it costs some now, it’s okay. But in my opinion, the short term does matter.”