EVERETT — Two candidates are seeking the District 2 seat on the Everett City Council in the August primary election, while a third has dropped out of the race.
Incumbent Paula Rhyne is looking to earn a second term on the dais and faces a challenger in Ryan Crowther, a former public relations professional. The third candidate, Jonathan Shapiro, said he no longer intends to run, but his name will still appear on the ballot.
The City Council is Everett’s governing body. Council members earn $33,372 per year and serve four-year terms. It is a part-time position.
Primary day is Aug. 5. The top two candidates will advance to the November general election.
Ryan Crowther
Crowther, 41, is the president of the Edmonds Chamber of Commerce and founder of the Everett Music Initiative, the organization that runs local concert events like Music at the Marina and Fisherman’s Village. He also serves as the president of the Everett Public Facilities District’s board of directors.
His top priority is public safety, but he also hopes to focus on downtown revitalization and “bringing civility back to our council,” he said in a June 25 interview.
Crowther said the biggest challenge to retaining businesses and attracting businesses to downtown is public safety issues.
Everett has “two populations” in regards to the city’s public safety challenges, Crowther said. One population is residents who have fallen on hard times and need a leg up with additional services, he said.
“But I think there’s another population of individuals that likely struggle with addiction, homelessness, who aren’t necessarily residents or citizens, that have found themselves in Everett through circumstance but aren’t necessarily looking to lead a productive life, who need measures of accountability,” Crowther said. “And the first step to our city helping create policy and accountability for that population is a council aligned around acknowledging the public safety challenges we have.”
Crowther said he supports enhancing the city’s “no sit, no lie” buffer zones, which make sitting or lying down on city property in certain areas of Everett punishable by fines or jail time. It also prohibits people from giving food, supplies or water to someone on city property inside the zones.
In 2023, Rhyne voted against expanding the mayor’s authority to create new buffer zones, saying the zones pushed homeless people away from needed services.
The “no sit, no lie” zones are controversial. Civil rights organizations and homeless advocates have spoken out against the measure while some business groups have backed it.
Crowther also said he would like to expand the city’s mandatory minimum sentencing laws, which require 30-day jail sentences for some repeat offenders. He cited the city of Marysville as an example, which recently strengthened its mandatory minimum laws.
In 2023, Rhyne voted against that law, which is also controversial. The American Civil Liberties Union has repeatedly argued against the practice, saying it removes judicial discretion.
To improve Everett’s ongoing budget difficulties, Crowther said “We are not going to be able to cut ourselves out of budget challenges.” He said he would focus on marketing the city to attract new businesses and boost tourism in an attempt to drive up sales tax revenue.
Any further asks of taxpayers “need to be much better outlined with the clear services you receive by voting yes, and the clear things you lose by voting no, so that no one’s surprised,” he said.
On housing, Crowther said steps to improve homeownership opportunities like first-time buyer programs and allowing for more condominiums and accessory dwelling units are important steps to take.
He also said the city needs more housing stock available for residents who earn at or above the median income to attract “residents with disposable income who can invest in their homes, but are also interested in fueling our city’s culture, business, recreation and schools,” Crowther said.
“If we direct all of our planning resources to affordable housing, I think our economic development will continue to lag,” he said.
Crowther has been endorsed by State Rep. Julio Cortes, Snohomish County Council member Jared Mead, Everett City Council members Judy Tuohy, Scott Bader and Ben Zarlingo, as well as former Everett City Council members Brenda Stonecipher, Paul Roberts and Jeff Moore, among others. He has also been endorsed by the local longshore and warehouse union.
Crowther has raised nearly $36,000 in campaign contributions as of Friday, state filings show.
Paula Rhyne
Rhyne, 44, is a legislative aide to Snohomish County Council member Megan Dunn. She was elected to the City Council in 2021.
Her top issues are affordability, livability and public safety.
In a June 2 interview, she touted votes to amend zoning to allow for more housing throughout the city, implement new police department technology and increase penalties for wage theft as successes from her first term.
In regards to public safety, Rhyne said she takes a “holistic” approach to public safety, with a focus on crime prevention and criminal restoration.
“If a person does commit a crime, they should be held accountable for it,” she said. “But if there’s jail time involved, ensure that when they exit jail, they have an exit path that leads them to a more stable path in life.”
She said the city has been working hard to address public safety concerns, citing her support for alternative response teams and new mobile opioid treatment units. She’s also voted in favor of Everett’s Flock Safety camera system and its new drones as first responders program.
Flock Safety cameras are controversial, having drawn rebuke from some civil rights groups due to concerns over privacy and data sharing with outside agencies.
Crime in Everett is down compared to recent years. It began to decline starting in 2022 after an increase beginning in 2020, according to FBI statistics. FBI data from 2024 and 2025 is not yet available, but this year, Everett is expected to see its lowest crime rates since 2018, police have said in recent city committee meetings. Police cited Flock Safety cameras and increased staffing as possible reasons for the drop in crime.
Rhyne hopes to implement measures to prevent crime through environmental design, like brightening streetlights and cleaning streets.
She also wants to improve access to behavioral health care and treatment facilities. She hopes to work with the county, state and federal government — bodies with “deeper pockets,” she said — to increase the availability of social services.
“I would like to see a city and a community and a state that is willing to take care of the least, the last and the lost,” Rhyne said. “And make sure that they have what they need to live a safe and stable life.”
On housing, Rhyne celebrated the city’s work on its comprehensive plan periodic update, known as Everett 2044, which allowed denser housing across most of the city.
She said she was also proud to have included policies like inclusionary zoning in an attempt to prevent displacement in the Casino Road neighborhood in south Everett.
Rhyne also said she hopes to encourage more condominium development within the city to increase home ownership opportunities. She acknowledged most of the issues surrounding condos — seen as risky by developers because of insurance issues — need to be fixed at the state level.
“It’s not necessarily something we can take on as a city council or as a city, but we can advocate to our state partners to work on addressing that,” she said.
Regarding the city budget, Rhyne said she was disappointed to see Proposition 1, a proposed property tax levy lid lift, fail in 2024. As expenses grow faster than revenues, partially due to a 1% annual cap on property tax levies, she said there is not much left to cut from the budget.
“The city’s been trimming fat for 10 years now, and there’s nothing left to trim,” Rhyne said. “Now we’re getting into the muscle.”
She said the city needs new revenue and a targeted levy lid lift toward parks could be a potential solution. Rhyne also said she’d like to hear from residents as to what areas of the city they’d like to invest in or potentially regionalize to save general fund dollars.
Rhyne has been endorsed by Gov. Bob Ferguson, Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers, Snohomish County Sheriff Susanna Johnson, State Sens. Marko Liias and John Lovick, Snohomish County Council members Strom Peterson and Megan Dunn, and Everett City Council member Mary Fosse, among others. She has also been endorsed by Everett’s municipal employees union, firefighter union, machinists union and the Snohomish County Labor Council.
Rhyne has raised nearly $30,000 in campaign contributions as of Friday, state filings show.
Jonathan Shapiro
Shapiro ended his campaign after he realized he did not meet the residency requirements to run for council in the district. His name will still appear on the Aug. 5 ballot.
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.
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