Seattle District 6 candidate ratings
District 6 is Northwest Seattle. Besides the coming light rail station in Ballard, the Burke-Gillman Missing Link looms large over this election. Read Seattle Bike Blog for a deeper discussion of these candidates and the Missing Link.
Excellent
Dan StraussDan Strauss is a cyclist who wants to create a network of bus lanes and protected bike lanes. He is more moderate on opening up more housing options, but better than most of the rest in this NIMBY-leaning field. He has worked in politics for a decade (most recently as an aide to Sally Bagshaw) and therefore understands the system. He prefers to build the Missing Link on Leary Way (see above).
Melissa Hall is another density advocate who defines livability through a walkability and equity lens. She wants to apply that equity lens to how public space is divvied up among transit modes. She cites STB's David Lawson as an influence on transportation issues, which is a very good sign. She's worked as both a land use attorney and a planner, which is great preparation for issues facing the council. Hall opposes congestion pricing, but she is one of the few candidates who wants to stop talking and build the missing link.
GoodJay Fathi is a physician who wants to build Ballard Link faster, invest more in public transit, build more housing so people don't have to commute as far, and decarbonize our transportation system. He's in favor of congestion pricing and wants to convert single family zones to "residential zones" to allow more housing types. He's noncommittal on the Missing Link and is light on political experience.
Terry Rice is a manager at a small tourism company and a critic of NIMBYism and Seattle's racist land-use history. He has the right ideas (aside from opposition to congestion pricing), but is short on specifics and experience.
FairHeidi Wills is a former councilmember who lost her re-election bid after her involvement in a campaign money-laundering scandal. She helped pass the UW's U-Pass program while serving as Student Body President. She has good policies on transit (congestion pricing, dedicated bus lanes) but wants to defer to neighborhoods on density (spoiler: they'll be against it). Willis also wants to build an "elevated" Missing Link, which seems problematic.
Ed Pottharst is a bicyclist and long-time City employee who advocates for congestion pricing and offers the idea of free transit passes and income-basing the congestion charges as mitigation. He supports the Shilshole Ave option for the Missing Link, more bike lanes including on 8th Ave NW, and restructuring bus routes to better feed light rail and connect urban villages to each other more frequently. We have concerns about his work on the Phinney Neighborhood Association during its fight to stop more apartments from being built in the neighborhood.
PoorSergio Garcia is a police officer who complains about pedestrians crossing intersections at the wrong time, causing car traffic to not be able to move. That is the entirety of his transportation platform.
Joey Mazza wants to "expand the water taxi system on Lage[sic] Washington and the Puget Sound". And secondly, he wants to "stop dysfunctional transportation projects in their tracks." Hmmm.
Kate Martin calls herself an "old-school urbanist", and is literate enough on transit to quote Jarrett Walker before twisting his words into a justification for mandatory parking minima (albeit at a lower level than current city law). She doesn't hide her feelings when she goes on a screed against developers and those who support densification. She opposes both HALA and the current ADU legislation.
Jeremy Cook wants more parking availability, and cheaper parking. Pick one or the other, please.
Jon Lisbin is a former president of the anti-densification group Seattle Fair Growth.
John Peeples is open-minded on the hypothesis of global cooling, and wants to open up all bus and bike lanes to general traffic.
The Seattle Transit Blog Editorial Board currently consists of Martin Duke, Frank Chiachiere, and Brent White.