"I won’t let you down. I’m ready to go to work."
A newly elected Ed Hansen spoke those very words more than eight years ago to a packed crowd at the Everett Community Theater in his first public speech as mayor of Everett. He certainly did go to work and, indeed, he did not let us down. He inherited a financially troubled city and just two terms later left it an All-America City.
Looking back at Herald newspaper accounts, it was just a couple of days after his speech at the theater that he had to announce layoffs among city workers — not exactly the way any new boss wants to make a good first impression. But the city’s budget needed to be balanced and Hansen kept his promises to the citizens. Not only did he balance the budget, he established a rainy-day fund.
Of course, he didn’t do the work alone. He surrounded himself with smart, equally hard-working people who gave him wise counsel and he followed it.
Those tough decisions paved the way for the legacies Hansen leaves behind as he takes the helm of the beleaguered Snohomish County PUD. And they suggest that he is the right person to lead the PUD to better times, as he did with Everett.
Hansen deserves to be remembered as a mayor who helped bring the city’s downtown to the point of a major, and long overdue, revitalization. He also deserves praise for the Everett Station (a project Hansen was talking about less than three weeks after he took office and one he saw through to the end), the highly anticipated Everett Regional Special Event Center, the Pacific Overpass and many park improvements that make the city a more attractive place to live.
Hansen left the city in solid shape for the staff, council and his successor, former council president Frank Anderson. Continued cooperation and efforts to keep the city financially sound while pursuing new projects will allow the city to build upon that legacy.
Everett owes Mr. Hansen a thank you. And if his success managing the PUD is anywhere near his success as Everett’s mayor, the entire county will be thanking him in the future.
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