Pete Kinch, former Everett mayor and advocate for poor, dies at 80

Photographer, politician and nonprofit administrator Pete Kinch died Aug. 18. “I don’t know where he got the energy,” his daughter said.

Pete Kinch circa 1972 (Photo provided)

Pete Kinch circa 1972 (Photo provided)

EVERETT — In his book, Pete Kinch called himself a “person of action.”

Friends and family say he was the kind of man who made things happen. It was a level of determination that in 1967 led him to help deliver a garbage can filled with petitions to Everett City Hall in protest of a new ordinance. Decades later, the activist was elected mayor.

His four-year tenure in the early 1990s saw further investment downtown and an increase in citizen involvement in local government, according to The Daily Herald’s archive. He was a well-liked man, but an unpopular administrator who was criticized for increasing city spending that contributed to a budget crisis. In recent years, Kinch was better known for his nonprofit work aiding the impoverished in Guatemala.

Kinch died Aug. 18 in East Wenatchee. He was 80. His daughter Alanna Kinch remembers him in the evening always putting together a to-do list for the next day, something he called his “action steps for the day.”

“He’s just an amazing man,” she said. “I look back and I’m like, ‘Oh my.’ I don’t know where he got the energy for all the stuff that he’s done.”

Pete Kinch was born on May 15, 1943, in Longview. He grew up on Whidbey Island and graduated from Oak Harbor High School in 1961. Five years later, he met his wife Diane at a dance and they married after dating three months. That same year the couple moved to Everett where the future mayor worked as a photographer at The Herald for a few years before opening his own photography studio and advertising agency called Kinch & Associates.

Kinch got involved in city affairs after taking on a leadership role with Everett Jaycees, a community service group for young adults. He led the group’s campaign against a city attempt to make garbage pickup compulsory. Kinch took to the streets for another petition drive to lobby the city to adopt an executive mayor and City Council system. The effort proved successful in 1968, according to the Snohomish County Tribune.

The Everett Jaycees went on to start the Salty Sea Days waterfront carnival, which Kinch wrote was first held six weeks after he proposed the idea. The event ran annually from 1970 to 2004.

“He was a real forward thinker. He came up with a lot of good ideas,” said Kinch’s friend Steve Breeden, of Everett. “He was just a straight shooting, hard working guy, and he just gave and gave and gave.”

In 1972, Kinch was elected to the Everett City Council. He called the move into government “a logical step as a community activist.” At 29, he was the youngest person to hold that position, according to a 54-page book then-candidate Kinch wrote years later for his mayoral campaign. For his work in the community, the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce named him “Distinguished Citizen of the Year” in 1982.

In 1987, Kinch was a founding member of the Rotary Club of Everett Port Gardner and twice served as its president. Club president Ann Anderst, of Snohomish, said Kinch was an active member and was instrumental in the group’s annual car raffle fundraiser. She said Kinch would be there for you in an emergency. She recalled how after getting a flat tire on her way to a club meeting, Kinch, unprompted, got to work on changing it.

“He’s the kind of guy that would just do things like that,” Anderst said. “If you needed anything, he would be there for you.”

In 1990, Kinch was elected Everett mayor in his second attempt by about 250 votes. He ran on a promise to provide a way for residents to have more say in local government through a policy called “neighborhood mobilization.” This involved the creation of what became the Council of Neighborhoods, an advisory group composed of volunteer representatives from Everett’s neighborhoods who offer feedback to elected officials. The Herald, at the time, called it possibly his greatest achievement as mayor. He also had the city logo redesigned and opened an extension office at a shopping center in an initiative called “City Hall at the Mall.”

Kinch called himself “pro-growth” and believed revitalizing Everett’s downtown was key to the city’s future. To that end, he supported a number of private and municipal developments including the restoration of the historic Monte Cristo Hotel and construction of the Everett Performing Arts Center. Despite the $11 million price tag, Kinch said the theater was worth it.

Pete Kinch circa 1990 (Photo provided)

Pete Kinch circa 1990 (Photo provided)

“This is a very key catalyst in creating the kind of change in this community that people from all over Everett have been seeking,” Kinch told The Herald in 1992. “You don’t accomplish results without taking risks.”

In less than two years, the city spent more than $17 million on city expansion, mostly downtown. Among the purchases was the Wall Street Building, which was turned into what is known today as the Everett Municipal Building.

As mayor, Kinch had a running feud with several City Council members, with the majority criticizing him for not sharing information on city activities. The Snohomish County Deputy Sheriff’s Association also condemned him for forcing the Everett police chief to resign in July 1992, following a vote of no-confidence on the chief’s ability to lead from the Everett Police Officers Association. Kinch called it “the toughest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life.” Regardless of criticism, Kinch was undeterred.

“Any good leader will be challenged,” Kinch said in August 1992. “If you’re going to go out and lead, if you’re going to go out and provide some results, you’re going to have to take the tough stands.”

The second half of Kinch’s mayorship was largely marred by budget issues. The amount spent on staff salaries and benefits rose by 30% over his first two years in office, and he continued a hiring surge started under his predecessor. From 1987 to 1992, the general government budget increased by 42%.

In response to a potential shortfall, Kinch proposed a “bare-bones” budget in 1993. He expected the following year would also be tight, but believed better times were ahead in 1995 with the completion of a Boeing Co. expansion and the Everett Navy station. Things took a turn from bad to worse when Boeing announced mass layoffs due to a slump in orders in early 1993.

So Kinch cut spending, which resulted in the Everett Public Library closing for two weeks, along with a city hiring freeze and the slashing of benefits for city employees.

Kinch’s handling of the crisis was a major factor in him losing his bid for reelection. Ed Hansen won 72% of the vote, and went on to create a balanced budget through layoffs and other cuts, avoiding a projected 1995 budget deficit of more than $9 million.

Later in life, Kinch devoted himself to helping the poor in Santa Cruz Barillas, Guatemala. For 22 years, he served as executive director of the Hands for Peacemaking Foundation, an Everett-based nonprofit that sends volunteers and donations to build schools, water collection systems and latrines.

Pete Kinch (Herald archive)

Pete Kinch (Herald archive)

Jeffrey Hager, of Everett, is Kinch’s successor at Hands for Peacemaking. He cited the construction of the Aller Skill Center as one of Kinch’s major accomplishments with the nonprofit. The manufacturing facility teaches skills like welding and employs about a dozen people to build stoves, school desks, wash stations and other supplies. Hager said Kinch put the puzzle pieces together to make that project a reality in 2010.

“Watching his tenacity when he wanted to get something accomplished was inspiring,” Hager said, adding that Kinch left a “pretty big legacy to follow.”

In June, the former mayor and his wife moved to East Wenatchee to live with their daughter.

Kinch is survived by his wife Diane, a sister, two daughters and two grandsons. A memorial service is planned for 11 a.m. Sept. 30 at Our Saviors Lutheran Church at 215 Mukilteo Boulevard in Everett.

Eric Schucht: 425-339-3477; eric.schucht@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @EricSchucht.

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