Most attention in the Mountlake Terrace election is on the Council contest between two-term incumbent Councilman John Zambrano and local restaurant owner Seaun Richards, but the two differ little on issues.
The race dominates this year’s City election because the two represent two sides of a long simmering feud.
Zambrano is a polarizing figure with many supporters who subscribe to his “Z-man Community News” and many detractors.
Two years ago, in the middle of his four-year term, he ran against fellow Councilman Jerry Smith, whom the Council has continued to elect as mayor. Smith won with 60 percent of the vote despite doing little campaigning.
Zambrano says the 2009 challenge is why he was the only Terrace Council member with two challengers this year — Richards and primary opponent Kim Michel.
Richards led the primary with 42 percent of the vote to 37 percent for Zambrano and 20 percent for Michel.
Smith and some other Council members are backing Richards, but Richards says that his current challenge to Zambrano has nothing to do with the 2009 election. However, he says that he wanted to run against Zambrano and waited until the end of the June filing period to be sure Zambrano didn’t file for a different position.
The campaign has featured a mysterious flier pointing out a Richards bankruptcy and saying that Richards’ claim of a police endorsement is deceptive.
Richards calls it negative campaigning from a desperate incumbent who ran five percentage points behind in the primary and points to an endorsement from a chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police.
Zambrano said Thursday that his accomplishments include recruiting much-admired City Manager John Caulfield, bringing a transit station to Mountlake Terrace and fighting the Brightwater sewer development from King County.
He called Richards a newcomer to Mountlake Terrace with no record of City involvement.
Richards points to his neighborhood organizing and to his work for underprivileged children.
Richards said Friday that his civic involvement includes bringing neighborhoods together and “creating a voice that is heard.”
“I have created CheeseBurger Babies Foundation and with the help of volunteers, host the Mountlake Terrace Easter Egg Hunt, Mountlake Terrace Trunk ‘r Treat and Car Shows,” he said.
He added that CheeseBurger Babies was part of the “Shop with a Cop” program, through which police in Mountlake Terrace, Brier and Edmonds take almost 100 children that have been involved in a domestic violence situation shopping.
“During the Christmas season, we provide each child with a gift card and with the help of police and first responders, turn a negative situation into a positive,” he said.
He added that his restaurant offers “Terrific Tuesday FundRai$ers,” where non-profit organizations raise money for their organizations.
“In 2011 we will be giving almost $20,000 back to our neighborhoods.”
He noted that he is on the board of directors of both Tour de Terrace and the Mountlake Terrace Senior Center.
Richards says he would be a council member who would listen to citizens with all points of view.
“Being in the Council chambers and a microphone in hand can be a little intimidating,” he said. “I have recently scheduled four ice cream socials in various neighborhoods and found that the neighbors were much more relaxed and comfortable. The neighbors asked great questions and offered some good suggestions. If I am elected I will continue to offer the Ice cream socials and bring the feedback to the council.”
Zambrano said that the choice is between his record on the Council and someone who sounds and looks good.
Both candidates talk about downtown development, keeping sound finances and a new civic campus.
Voters last year turned down a bond issue for a civic campus. The City has used rented space for a city hall and police station. Both candidates support developing a scaled-back proposal.
Zambrano said Thursday that the Council would soon consider a proposal to present to voters in the spring, for a bond measure with about two-thirds the price tag of the 2010 measure,
He said that he wants to save money by putting the measure on the ballot at the same time as the School District presents a levy to voters so the two entities can share the cost of the election.
Richards said that the City needs to do a better job of marketing the levy.
“Last year’s ballot failure included me saying the council and city did a bad job of marketing the project,” he said. “As I understand it, the City Council is in the process of cutting project costs from $37 million to $25 million, offering the same services and has a plan to offset the cost to taxpayers until the project is near completion.
“Currently the City and its taxpayers are paying rent for the interim City Hall. The City owns the property where the development is to be built. Once the project is built, the equity is a win-win.
“I would like to be on the council to help work on Financial 101, where the city and the council is talking with different boards and groups in Mountlake Terrace and working on a “Yes” Campaign with a target date for a vote of the people around April 2012.”
Both want encourage downtown business development.
Zambrano said that the City has developed the infrastructure to attract clean economic development, including medical facilities and other professional offices.
Richards said that he supports the kinds of incentives that the Council has recently passed that would delay taxes and work with current and future developers with the reduction of impact fees.
“It gives cities great tools to work outside of our community and encourage outside developers to consider Mountlake Terrace for their projects,” he said. “There are a few projects in the downtown corridor that have been put on hold and with the new incentives on the table are considering moving ahead.”
Mountlake Terrace City Council Position 7
Name: Seaun Richards
Age: 54
Occupation: Restaurateur
Website: seaunrichardscampaign.weebly.com
Priorities:
1) Ask for better communication between the council and it’s neighborhoods. It is in our neighborhoods that we raise our families and meet our friends.
2) Financially I support the Councils lead of being one of 12 cities in the state that is in the black, aggressive budgeting and creating working tools for new businesses to consider Mountlake Terrace for their businesses.
3) Support and participate in the revitalization of the downtown corridor
Name: John Zambrano
Age: 70
Occupation: Retired Military
Website: jzambo@seanet.com
Priorities:
• Proactive approach to obtain and leverage $6.5 million in state and federal funding in support of city infrastructure improvements.
• New development codes and streamlined permitting process.
• Downtown “Main Street” Revitalization Project
• Efficiency Development District
• Collaboration and partnership with Sound Transit to bring light rail to Mountlake Terrace as adopted by voters
Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com
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