Stanwood Democrats July Meeting

 Senator Mary Margaret Haugen Addresses Residents

As frequently the case, the Stanwood Democrats Monthly Meeting  included an array of Speakers to educate us on issues vital to our town.

The featured speaker - Senator Mary Margaret Haugen (picture standing) - addressed about 20 Stanwood resident after breakfast at the Viking Restaurant.

Senator Mary Margaret Haugen addresses the Stanwood Democrats
during their month meeting at the Viking Restaurant .

Senator Haugen summarized the just completed session of the Washington State legislature.  Like other State governments our Legislature was forced to make brutal cuts to education, social services and government services.   She was relieved that State Democrats and Republicans worked together to make these painful cuts to balance the budget.  Budget cuts reduced but did not eliminate essential services.   She credited Senator Ed Murray for leading the successful Senate negotiation with the House. She was happy to find the WA new young legislators were among our nations increasingly rare moderate Republicans that support Planned Parenthood and reproductive rights.

In spite of the severe reductions in State revenues, Senator Haugen did report some good news for her District.  With the passage of SB 5639 WSU will be establishing a  branch campus  at Everett Community College making higher education more accessible to students in North Puget Sound.   She was also excited that SB 5742 to reform and fund the State ferries passed the Senate by a 34-10 vote. After a tough battle, the  legislation to improve our ferries sponsored by Senator Haugen was signed into Law by Governor Gregoire June 7th. 

Senator Haugen then led a general discussion of the upcoming redistricting of the State legislative districts.  There was some consensus that the 10th legislative district should include Camano Island,  Stanwood and more of Skagit County instead of Whidbey Island.  This would make the district more geographically compact and manageable. 


Candidates for Stanwood City Council

Since Stanwood city council elections are non-partisan, our Chairman Carol Ronken invited all 10 candidates for the 5 open positions on the council to address out meetings.  Three of the candidates attended: Larry Sather and Elizabeth Callaghan are running for position one.  Incumbent William Carlton seeks reelection to position 3.  

From Left: Candidates Elizabeth Callaghan and  William Carlton with wife Eileen at the Viking for the Stanwood Democrats breakfast & monthly meeting.

Eileen and William Carlton moved to Stanwood in 1999.  William was appointed to Stanwood City council in 2007 and was elected in 2008.  He is now seeking re-election. He has served on all standing committees.  His major interest is the finance committee.  He strongly supports Stanwoods   Economic Development plan. Carlton advocates simplifying City Codes and the  review of  zoning issues in preparation for growth that will inevitably ensue when the North Sound area pulls out of recession. 

Candidate Larry Sather addresses Stanwood residents
 at the Viking Restaurant

Candidate  Larry Sather reminded us that Stanwood has spent much on community planning for the future.  To benefit from those plans Sather  vigorously opposes issuing variances from those plans.  Sather recommended that Stanwood align with regional fire authorities but retain Stanwood fire fighters. Since Stanwood is plagued with annual flooding, Sather proposes Stanwood work with regional governments to control flooding.  Having worked with Larry on other committees,   Stanwood Democratic Chairman Carol Ronken endorsed Larry as the voice of reason on contested issues. 

Proposals for Sustainability in Skagit County

Project Manager for Envision Skagit -Kirk Johnson - welcomed about 50 members of the general public to a presentation at the Lincoln Center on April 28th.  This was the latest in over a half dozen community meetings Envision Skagit 2060 Community Outreach has held since the beginning of 2011.
The best attended meeting was held this week in Mt Vernon. The discussions were held in Spanish.  Obviously our Latino neighbors care about the sustainable development of their adopted communities.


Senior Resident Fellow for Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy Urban Land Institute in Washington D.C.    Mr. McMahon inspired the audience with slides of small towns around the country that had made dramatic changes in the visual appeal of their communities and subsequently their town revenues.  He had an impressive array of statistic to illustrate how aesthetic appeal is tied to the revenues of a region.    But lovely and lovable communities don’t just happen.  Town and County governments need a plan.  Without one more of Skagit county will look like Aurora Blvd in North Seattle (pictured )

and less like Fairhaven and La Conner.  Ed McMahon posed the rhetorical question with many slides of similar locals to compare: “Where are people more likely to hang out and spend money”.   He believes that with a development plan we will have the courage to say “no” to what we don’t want because we can simultaneous say “yes” to what we do want as our area expands and redevelops to accommodate a growing population.   McMahon encourages us to not to “let the multinational corporations bully us into letting them construct cheap boxes”.  His slides showed how towns across the country encouraged, cajoled and insisted that famous brands like McDonald, Loews & Target locate in restored historic structures or build smaller places with architectural designs that complimented the town plan.  We need to rethink our zoning and transportation so our lands are not totally paved over.

Ed McMahon spoke  quickly to put forth his many ideas about how to change our approach to zoning and land development.  Fortunately his slides were clear and easier to absorb than a thousand words.