People say Michael Plunkett and Lora Petso are cut from the same cloth, which could be true if it’s woven of stuff prickly on some and comfortable on others.
Plunkett, the incumbent who finished ahead of Petso and third-place finisher Strom Peterson in the primary election, is running to retain the seat he’s warmed on the Edmonds City Council since 1998. The 53-year-old real-estate agent who works at Windermere Real Estate in Lynnwood lives in the Five Corners neighborhood. Single, with a daughter in graduate school in Boston, he has called Edmonds home for 30 years.
Plunkett’s resume lists a bachelor of arts degree in history from Western Washington University and a bachelor of arts degree in education from University of Alaska.
When it comes to candidacy issues, Plunkett said he has two: he’s against taller buildings and casino gambling in Edmonds.
When asked during an endorsement interview at The Enterprise if he thinks he’s guilty of pandering to those too disinterested to investigate the pros and cons of building-height restrictions and gambling – the latter neither allowed in Edmonds nor up for discussion in the foreseeable future – Plunkett answered the question with “I have consistently voted against taller buildings. I am against casino gambling. Period. That’s why I say it.”
Plunkett points to design guidelines – which the City is developing now as it wrestles with a future vision of Edmonds and updates its Comprehensive Plan – as a budget priority for Edmonds. A public-safety element in the Comprehensive Plan and greater attention to transportation – specifically, maintenance of streets and sidewalks – will loom large for him, he said, if granted another term of office.
On the City’s role in economic development, Plunkett observed “I think the City would benefit from adhering to many of the good ideas …that come from our…Edmonds Chamber of Commerce. As an example, I was the only member of the council to support the Chamber’s idea of a parking garage downtown.”
As for the most important regional issue for Edmonds, Plunkett identifies “…the potential to increase commercial airplane landings at Paine Field.” He noted he “proposed the first and strongest resolution to the city council in opposition to the Paine Field flyovers and landings.”
Plunkett has served on the council’s public safety, finance and community service committees as well as the outside committees of Medic 7/SNOCOM, downtown parking and the Edmonds Historic Preservation Commission.
Petso, 43, hopes to return to the council after losing her seat to political neophyte Peggy Pritchard Olson in November 2003.
She is co-owner with her husband, Colin Southcote-Want, of a pension-consulting company in Edmonds for which she serves as attorney. The couple have three children.
Since 1995 Petso has served as a commissioner on the Olympic View Water District board and was on the Edmonds City Council from 2000-2003.
Among her educational credentials are a bachelor of arts degree in economics from Whitman College and a law degree from University of Washington School of Law.
In her Enterprise endorsement interview, Petso, who lives in the Sherwood Park area, made a point of saying “there’s more to Edmonds than downtown.” She said she backs preservation of the “small-town character of Edmonds.” Specifically, she favors “25 plus 5, no exceptions” (25-foot-high buildings with 5 extra feet for specific modulation) when it comes to downtown building heights, parks (she backs the City buying the old Woodway Elementary School site for park land) and the “recruitment of retail to complement existing businesses.”
Although she points to her council votes against campaign “hot-button” issues of gambling and higher buildings, Petso said she owes it to residents who bring issues — albeit controversial — before the council.
Planned residential development (PRD) is an issue Petso said is important and overlooked. She admits to being troubled by the impact – from virtually scalping the landscape to leaving stands of trees as buffers — PRDs have on neighborhoods.
Referring to a very controversial issue she faced during her stint on the city council that gave the hearing examiner and Snohomish County Superior Court PRD approval and appeal powers, respectively, Petso said “taking council out of the PRD process was wrong.”
Like her opponent, Petso opposes expansion of Paine Field.
She said while she was a council member she voted against a contract rezone for the controversial mixed-use building developer Bob Gregg is building at Walnut Street and Fifth Avenue.
When asked if she thinks the reputation some believe she earned for being contentious while on the council is valid, Petso, referencing Gregg’s building, said “what I was trying to do in opposing projects like that was not obstruction, but public service.”
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