The City Council is the legislative branch of Newcastle city government and is the chief policy-making body. The role of the City Council is to establish policies and to enact ordinances and resolutions that are deemed to be in the best interest of the City.
Four of the seven Newcastle City Council seats are up for grabs which is obvious in the streets of Newcastle where campaign signs can be found on every corner. These signs give us an idea of the names we can expect to see on the ballot but do little in the way of helping us understand who is running against who and where each candidate stands on the issues.
To address this problem, the Newcastle Chamber of Commerce hosted a candidate's forum on September 20th. The Newcastle Candidates Forum was hosted by the Newcastle Golf & Country Club.
The event was attended by about 50 citizens. All eight candidates were present. Becky Hill from the Chamber served as the Master of Ceremonies. Becky randomly drew the number of an available council position from a bucket to determine which set of candidates would be called up to the podium first. It just so happened that position 1 was called first, followed by position 2, 3 and then 4. Each candidate spoke for 3 minutes. A series of questions were submitted in advance by the citizens of Newcastle. They were rolled up in a scroll-like fashion and randomly drawn from a flower pot with holes on the top used to arrange flowers. Becky described the pot as her "brain child" and I must admit that it did make the questions more attractive to look at.
I have listed each contested council position below. Beneath each position is the contact information for each candidate and a paragraph summarizing the notes I took during the forum. Please contact the candidates directly to verify their positions.
Council Position No. 1
Lisa Jensen
8555 135TH AVE SE
NEWCASTLE WA, 98059
lisa@jensenforcouncil.com
www.jensenforcouncil.com
(425) 269-3201
Lisa had a well prepared presentation. Her number one issue was ensuring Newcastle remains financially healthy. She would bring 20 years of business experience to the council and has been involved in the community as a volunteer for groups such as CASA and YMCA. Lisa is endorsed by the Seattle King County Association of REALTORS. She supports a vibrant pedestrian friendly core business district. She supports the completion of the Coal Creek Parkway project.
Chris Nielsen
13301 SE 79TH PL A405
NEWCASTLE WA, 98059
cmnielse@aol.com
(425) 681-1674
Chris was born and raised in Renton in a 1,000 square foot home. His mother grew up on an 80 acre cattle farm and gave birth to him at the age of 15. He was the 1st member of his family to graduate from college. He has a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington and a graduate degree from Syracuse. He describes his upbringing as "deeply humble." His is the President of his homeowners association in ParTerra and would bring his experience from a career in law enforcement to the council. He would be "the only person on the council with experience breaking up meth labs." He also supports completion of the Coal Creek Parkway project. His number one issue is ensuring Newcastle remains safe and clean.
Council Position No. 2
Carol Simpson
12641 SE 81ST PL
NEWCASTLE WA, 98056
simpson4newcastle@comcast.net
simpson4newcastle.com
(425) 793-9430
Carol has served on the Planning Commission for the last eight years. She was formerly an architect. She supports improving the fire and police departments as well as the parks and trails system. She explained that "the city services are at the same levels as they were 13 years ago." She believes the city suffers from poor reporting and wants to see them improve their website. She does not support making the gievances of city employees public. Instead, she suggests that "employees should be asked if they would like to provide an exit interview with the city council because the council is sometimes in the dark about why city employees are leaving and if it is OK with the employee, they should be informed."
Andrew Shelton
7916 119TH CT SE
NEWCASTLE WA, 98056
shelton4newcastle@yahoo.com
http://www.shelton4newcastle.com
(206) 579-3301
Andrew has served as the Vice Chair of the Parks Commission since 2002. He grew up in Kirkland. Andrew graduated from Western Washington University with a Bachelor's Degree. He also has a Masters Degree in Human Resources from Michigan State University and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Maryland. He is a human resources executive for the largest road builder in the world. He explained that he has experience negotiating union contracts which requires an ability to bring two opposing sides together. He is supported by Position 2 Councilwoman Pam Lee who has decided not to seek reelection. He is also recommended by The Women's Political Caucus.
Council Position No. 3
Steve Buri
6947 COAL CREEK PKWY SE #139
NEWCASTLE WA, 98059
buri4newcastle@comcast.net
www.buri4newcastle.com
(425) 736-8975
Steve is a nine year resident of Newcastle and a member of the Chamber of Commerce. He has 12 years of public policy experience and existing relationships that put him in a position to help the city secure funding for Coal Creek Parkway. He would like to see one additional police officer added to the police force. He is in favor of a multi-use facility that would hold a new city hall. He is endorsed by the former Newcastle Police Chief.
Paul Glasser
11305 SE 86TH PL
NEWCASTLE WA, 98056
pklglasser@comcast.net
(425) 204-8676
Paul would like to "maintain the Newcastle Vision." He explained that he has lived in Newcastle for only two years but his wife is a twin and her sister has lived in Seattle since the 70's "so that counts." He has experience serving as the Vice President of Support Services at a major hospital with a 30,000 person campus. He explained that he has literally had to make life and death decisions in the past and that experience has prepared him for the challenges of being a council member. He would "rather have been playing golf than attending the forum". He is in favor of building a rainy day fund, an emergency plan and he believes "every citizen wants a blue uniform on every street corner." He is recommended by the women's political caucus and the 41st District Democratic Committee.
Council Position No. 4
Russ Segner
6947 COAL CREEK PKWY SE #411
NEWCASTLE WA, 98059
rsegner@qwest.net
www.votesegner.com
(425) 228-7327
Russ has lived in Newcastle since 2001. His real estate career would bring planning and development skills to the council. He describes Newcastle as a "small community between two major urban centers." He believes the city council has "shown no interest in working with developers, in fact, they have antagonized them." He explained that "Sonny doesn't hold the staff and city accountable." He went on to say that he "intends to win by a substantial majority."
Sonny Putter
14701 SE 80TH CT
NEWCASTLE WA, 98059
sonny_putter@prodigy.net
(425) 226-2626
Sonny is endorsed by the Seattle King County Association of Realtors. He has been on the council since its inception 14 years ago. He explains that because so many sitting councilmen and councilwomen are not seeking reelection this term, the council will lose 34 years of collective experience. This number would go up to 48 years of collective experience if Sonny were to lose. He also explained that seven of the eight candidates have no public service experience. He is in favor of a pedestrian friendly, mixed use facility in the city's core. He explained that he has strong relationships with key regional and state decision makers.
David Edwards
REALTOR®
Keller Williams Realty Southeast Sound
Phone: 425-890-8045
E-Mail: david@davidjedwards.com
Website: http://www.davidjedwards.com
Blogsite: http://www.davidjedwards.com/renton-info-blog.asp
David J Edwards is a full time real estate agent and REALTOR® with Keller Williams Realty specializing in Residential Real Estate for buyers and sellers in Washington's Renton Highlands, Newcastle and South Bellevue.
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