MOUNTLAKE TERRACE
In 2005, Kyoko Matsumoto Wright challenged incumbent City Councilman Doug Wittinger for his seat, and lost.
Thursday night, Jan. 3, the council appointed Matsumoto Wright, a member of the Planning Commission, to fill the seat Wittinger vacated in December, when he moved out of the city.
Matsumoto Wright, 57, was one of 11 applicants for the Position 4 seat held by Wittinger since 2001. The council interviewed each candidate during a special 4 ½-hour meeting at which re-elected Councilmembers Laura Sonmore, John Zambrano and Michelle Robles were sworn in. Matsumoto Wright will serve the remaining two years of that seat’s term, which expires at the end of 2009.
“I feel very honored to be chosen to serve on the council and I am looking forward to working with the council and community,” Matsumoto Wright said in a prepared statement. “I hope to bring a fresh perspective to a team of individuals with a unified goal for the city’s future. I feel that my background on the city’s Planning Commission and as a realtor helps me with that goal.”
After the meeting, she said she was encouraged that so many people applied for the seat.
“I hope those people will not give up, that they will run next time,” she said. “It’s one way of finding people who are interested.”
A Realtor with Coldwell Banker Bain, Wright has lived here since 1984. She was appointed to the Planning Commission in July, 2002 and serves as a member of the Housing Authority of Snohomish County’s Board of Commissioners.
The council interviewed applicants by appointment during the special meeting and asked each applicant the same questions.
Applicants included Mitch Birchfield, a member of the city’s Board of Adjustment; Leonard French, who lost a challenge to Councilwoman Laura Sonmore in November; and Patrick McMahan, a former city councilman and planning commission member who helped found the city in 1952.
Applicant Mary Lou Wickre told the council she supports the idea of redevelopment but said if appointed, she’d advocate a more “community oriented” approach to development.
“I think there’s been a little ‘my way or the highway,’” Wickre said, adding that she worries homeowners will get stuck with additional taxes to pay for a new Town Center.
McMahan, who served 12 years as a councilman and six years on the Planning Commission, told the council he’d be a good fit for the position because “I don’t need a learner’s permit to understand what to do.”
“I’ve attended more council meetings than anyone in this room,” he said.
Birchfield, an employee with Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle, said if appointed, he would toot Mountlake Terrace’s horn more outside of the city.
Non-residents, he said, “don’t know enough about us. They think we’re a sleepy-time community.”
French said he would oppose any effort to raise taxes to fund redevelopment. He also said he’d like to see the council establish a neighborhood liaison working with parents and schools.
“Whoever gets this position, I’d like to see the council give more emphasis to the youth in this community,” French said.
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