Takeaways from the Environmental Candidate Forum
The primary elections for Issaquah City Council and King County Council are coming up on August 3rd! Be sure to vote before then to make sure your voice is heard.
The Issaquah Alps Trails Club, in partnership with People for Climate Action and Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery, hosted a forum last week to ask City of Issaquah Position 5 candidates, and King County Council Position 3 candidates about their positions on key environmental issues. Below are some key takeaways from that event. Please watch the full recording below to see the entirety of candidates' answers.
Candidates at the forum included:
Issaquah City Council Position 5 candidates-
Jason Voiss- Jason is an avid volunteer. He currently serves as the Planning Policy Commissioner for the City of Issaquah and on the mayor’s recovery task force. He says that “Public service, at the heart of it, is volunteerism” and aims to continue his work as a volunteer in this new role.
Rose Zibrat- Rose has a background in Geology, and is working to bring a scientific, data-driven lens to policy. “I became the change I want to see, we need more scientists in government, so this is the year I’m going to do it.”
Russell Joe - Russell has previously served on the Issaquah City Council. He enjoys working on public policy and is looking to return to this role, using his experience as a lawyer to “carefully analyze questions and issues before the council, an ability that will be very important as we weigh the important issues impacting Issaquah in the years to come.”
King County Council Position 3 candidates-
Sarah Perry- Sarah calls herself an “enthusiastic coalition builder” and seeks to bring our communities back together using new skills and strategies. Her campaign priorities are protecting our open spaces, forests, farms, and finding transit connections.
Joe Cohen- Joe grew up near Lake Sammamish and now aims to apply his 20 years of experience in law and policy that he earned working everywhere from the Obama White House to the US Department of Justice, at home in King County.
Kathy Lambert- Kathy is our current King County Councilmember and looks to our continued success in conservation and environmental policy as evidence of her ability to work towards a greener future. She says “It isn’t making promises, it's doing and delivering.”
Question 1- What is your campaign’s platform and commitment to advance Issaquah’s/King County’s Climate Action so that Issaquah/King County achieves its GHG reduction targets (e.g., 50% reduction by 2030)? Please explain specifically how you would accomplish this in concert with your Council members, with City/County Staff, and with volunteer organizations such as People for Climate Action.
City of Issaquah candidates each highlighted a different aspect of climate goals they’d like to reach. Jason focused on coalition building opportunities with local organizations, including the city’s own Environmental Board, and looking to the experts guide policy. Rose emphasized the importance of education in wildfire safety for residents as climate change impacts grow. Russell looked at areas where we can improve sustainability in transportation, such as increasing electric vehicle use in city fleets and better transportation options.
King County candidates all recognized that the county is currently struggling to meet its emission reduction goals. Sarah emphasized our need to gather more data about how we can meet our goals, before partnering with cities. All the candidates agreed that King County should be a leader in sustainability, and both Kathy and Joe mentioned transportation as a sector that could be improved with electric vehicles, bus charging stations and better public transit to help us achieve that.
Question 2- With unusually hot and dry weather and a major increase in outdoor recreation over the past year, wildfire risk is on everyone’s mind. How do you plan to support healthy and resilient forests and the mitigation of wildfire risks in King County/Issaquah?
All City of Issaquah candidates agreed that educating the public on wildfire safety around their homes is crucial to mitigating wildfire risk. Rose discussed the need for a broader community wildfire protection plan, and Jason emphasized the need for collaboration between the city and partners to make this happen using the recent effort to get a mass vaccination site to the Eastside as evidence of the power of working together. Russell affirmed his support for Eastside Fire and recommended everyone come learn more about wildfire safety on National Night Out, August 3rd.
King County Candidates focused more on the importance of healthy forests in keeping wildlife risk at a minimum. Kathy emphasized the county’s responsibility to promote healthy forests on their own open spaces and brought up the Firewise program as an example of key public education. Both Sarah and Joe focused on the need for collaboration in making sure our forests are healthy. Sarah mentioned partnering with organizations who know best, and Joe looked to the latest science practices for guidance.
Question 3- Issaquah’s Utility Company, Puget Sound Energy (PSE), has increased its coal and natural gas use, according to the city’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory. They also burn these fossil fuels to produce electricity. These trends have caused an increase in Issaquah’s GHG emissions.
How can the City/County work with PSE and promote cleaner energy sources such as wind and solar, to help our climate?
Have you, or will you, accept campaign contributions from PSE?
Do you support the establishment of a Public Utility District (PUD) in NE King County (including Issaquah) to replace PSE as the District’s electrical power provider?
No candidates from either the city or county have accepted donations from Puget Sound Energy, nor do they plan to. Rose fully supported the establishment of a Public Utility District while the other City of Issaquah candidates expressed some hesitation. Jason hoped for more information on the issue and public input before making a decision that big, while Russell expressed concerns over the financial investment and potential cost to the community associated with creating a PUD.
All King County Council candidates expressed hesitation over the formation of a PUD and focused rather on utilizing new technology to make bigger changes to our energy consumption. Kathy specifically called out methane capture at landfills as an option to decrease our emissions.
Question 4- How do you plan to collaborate with Tribal governments while balancing the priorities of the outdoor recreation community and the healthy stewardship of our public lands?
City of Issaquah candidates all agreed that there’s opportunity to listen to concerns Tribal governments have about land use and development, collaborate, and look at long-term solutions. Russell specifically called out his expertise in tribal law and government relations, while Rose and Jason focused on listening to, and supporting Tribal initiatives.
County Council candidates Kathy and Joe also emphasized the importance of collaboration with Tribal governments and discussed past initiatives such as the removal of fish culverts as examples of success to build on. Sarah mentioned her support of the Snoqualmie Tribe Ancestral Lands Movement and hopes to continue the ongoing conversation about finding ways to not “love our public lands to death.”
Question 5- Fast sprawling land use is a significant and well-documented contributor to greenhouse gas emissions whereas compact 15-minute communities reduce emissions.
What policies or reforms will your campaign put forward as priorities for land-use planning?
Do you support significant changes to the City/ County land use code to require reducing the negative environmental impacts of all new Commercial and Governmental construction projects within the city/county?
King County council candidates generally support land and building code use changes, but all recognize that there must be a balance. Sarah specifically mentioned labor considerations and supports the “Just transition” movement. Joe focused more on densification and promoting better transit options. Kathy brought up the growth management act as an example of success in balancing growth and development and emphasized the need for housing that supports future jobs.
City Council candidates each focused on a different aspect of land-use planning. Rose and Jason both support densification, but Rose feels that densification is not helpful without transit options to support it. She wants Eastsiders to get more out of what they are putting into Metro. Jason and Russell both cautioned that we should be careful about balancing land and building code changes with their impacts on people, especially those who own older homes, and making sure to listen to the community as these changes are made. Russell specifically mentioned the importance of embracing new technology in deciding how these changes should be made.
Audience Question 1- Besides climate change, warmer conditions and non-native predators in our waters, new discoveries identify more hazards that the salmon face including loss of canopy that shades any and all waterways, tire residue runoff, light pollution at night on bridges and docks, and eliminating safe fish passage in the dark.
What policies or reforms will your campaign put forward as priorities mitigating these impacts?
Do you support significant changes to the City/ County land use code to mitigate these impacts?
County council candidates focused on collaboration with local organizations, and deferring to their expertise. Joe brought up Trout Unlimited and their efforts to support Salmon, while Kathy brought up the existing grants for organizations and offered her continued support of these. Sarah added that this problem needs to be addressed with more urgency.
Audience Question 2- What will you do about traffic problems through downtown Issaquah? What plan do you have to get commuters out of cars or at least help the flow of traffic?
Rose has already brought us a few transit solutions, and continued to emphasize the importance of public transit across the region. She added that supporting telecommuting options for commuters is going to be crucial. Russell wants to start planning for future light rail options. Even though it’s a long way off, it will be important to start creating a vision for that option now and include green energy considerations in that vision. Jason empathized with the problem on Front Street as he lives there as well. He emphasized that mitigation is key- he wants to increase multi-modal transportation by applying funding to the problem using federal funding and taxes.
We want to thank all of our candidates for joining us, and our partner organizations for supporting this forum. We were happy to have the opportunity to learn more about our candidates positions. Keep an eye out for your ballots in the mail this week and remember to vote on or before August 3rd.
Watch the full recording below.