Issue statements from Mountlake Terrace candidates Sonmore and Barnes

Published 10:18 am Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Mountlake Terrace City Council incumbent Laura Sonmore faces challenger Stephen Barnes in the Nov. 3 general election. It is one of three Mountlake Terrace Council positions on the ballot.

Barnes and Sonmore recently sent statements about what they think are the most important issues in this year’s election. Here are the statements, in the order that the candidates’ names will appear on the primary ballot and in the voters’ pamphlet:

City of Mountlake Terrace Council Position 6

Stephen Barnes: Mountlake Terrace has been granting reductions to parking for any builder who will listen and that will impact your neighborhood and our future downtown if within a half mile of our Mountlake Terrace “downtown” and will severely impact your parking if you are within 1/3 mile of the transit hub. The hub is soon to be joined by a light rail station and over 650 apartments.

You probably remember the old story about a frog in a tepid pot where the temperature rises and rises until the frog is cooked? That frog is us and the cook is the current Terrace City Council, including my opponent. In 2006 they came up with a plan to get a new city hall. By 2009, they imagined small 10 story skyscrapers and underground utilities, and infrastructure to match. That vision’s cost to us spiraled from eleven million to as much as 25 million today. They agreed to seven stories max and then proceeded to push out the boundaries of height like the new building on 244th that is four and five stories in an area they agreed to have three stories. They changed the parking required at least twice: Arbor Village should have 174 parking spaces based on their 2009 agreement with you. It has just 125! See www.BetterMLT.com.

Laura Sonmore: Mountlake Terrace has been recognized by independent financial experts for financial integrity; Standard &Poor’s has assigned the city a AA bond rating, extremely rare for a city our size, reflecting our excellent financial stewardship.

We have been very successful in partnering with our state and federal delegations to obtain a number of grants for a number of road, sidewalk and park improvements. In just the past few years, we have been successful in obtaining more than $12 million for a number of these projects. One under construction is the Lakeview Trail (you have to see it!); I’ve been an ardent supporter. This project is funded mostly with state and federal monies with but a small contribution from the city.

We have successfully worked with our state delegation this past year to secure $1.5 million to help finance improvements in our Town center, specifically 236th and 56th. While we have some way to go to obtain full funding, this is a significant achievement for our City and a reflection of how we are able to leverage our limited resources to accomplish great things for Mountlake Terrace.

I will continue to focus on maintaining strong city finances as I have during my tenure in office; public safety; economic development; jobs; safe neighborhoods; and the protection of our environment such as the new 42-acre Lake Ballinger Park.

Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com.