With more than 80 percent of the primary-election ballots yet to be returned, per King County’s daily updates, it looks like many voters are going down to the wire. WSB candidate-closeup coverage is concluding with last looks at the Seattle mayoral challengers (we interviewed the incumbent earlier in the campaign). We sent them five questions, 4 geared to West Seattle.

By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Magnolia neighborhood activist Elizabeth Campbell knows she is a long shot for the mayor job. She entered the race late, hoping that a lawsuit she won against the city in the spring in connection with the Fort Lawton Army Reserve property would infuse her campaign with some momentum.

A King County Superior Court judge decided the city, which wants to put 80 units of housing for homeless people on the land connected to Discovery Park, failed to consider alternate uses for the property.

Campbell’s campaign struggled to raise money and get attention. A friend’s illness took her away from campaign appearances. She also tried to get a “no tunnel” initiative on the ballot, and she is working on her master’s degree in Public Administration at the University of Washington.

Still, Campbell is fired up over the issues and was eager to answer our questions.

Here are Campbell’s responses:

1. West Seattle residents are concerned about shootings, youth violence and gang activity in the area. Do you have a plan to tackle the issue, and what will you do to keep our neighborhoods safe?

CAMPBELL: The Municipal League had a question to mayoral candidates – what is the mayor’s job? Thinking it was really about the literal job of the mayor, I looked up the city executive’s duties in the Seattle City Charter. I answered and then expounded upon the fact that the paramount job of the mayor is maintaining the peace and quiet in the city. Silly me, it turned out the rest of the candidates spoke about liking people and wanting to work with people, and all received better Muni League ratings.

However, crime, youth violence, gangs, those are not about being a civic cheerleader and friend, they are about disrupting people’s peace, quiet, and safety in their homes and in their city, and in order to address those, you have to be firm, determined, and not necessarily doing this paternal, “it takes a village” love thing, which is what essentially came out of the Youth Violence initiative confab a month or so ago.

“Youth” need boundaries, guidance, and consequences for good or bad behavior, “gangs” aren’t your nice neighborhood child gone bad, they are about criminals disrupting society and destroying property and lives. Drug use – of every type – lies at the bottom of most of this criminal and aberrant behavior, and there needs to be a city hall and public recognition that it isn’t just a “South Seattle” problem, it is a West Seattle and citywide problem.

Speaking truthfully and plainly is the half the battle at this point. We need to be honest that we have been too permissive, we have looked the other way when politicians and officials have failed to keep us safe, and we need to have leadership that is tough minded about clamping down on crime, that demands even more from the police force even.

2. A full-block grocery store and housing project in West Seattle has been nicknamed “Hole Foods” after the vast pit that replaced some popular businesses more nearly a year ago. There are concerns about the safety and the stability of the surrounding roads at Fauntleroy Way and SW Alaska Street. West Seattle is anticipating a deluge of development; what can be done to make sure we don’t end up with more pits?

CAMPBELL: Two things can be done, and I am adamant about this – it is time we stop mollycoddling developers and others, acting like we need to host the blight they create, and these holes in the ground, the vacant, rubble and brush strewn lots, the graffiti’d buildings, it is blight, and by extension a nuisance – which by further extension means it should be abated.

As a mayor, I would encourage citizens to carry on with this even after the election, we need to demand that the Municipal Code be revised to address both developer- and private property owner-induced nuisances such as the holes in the ground. Too bad if they don’t get their financing and they have to shut the project down part way – if the financing is not forthcoming in say two years’ time – they need to fill in the holes. This idea that the people of any community have to play host to developers and their land speculation dreams, and pay the cost of these people’s financial speculations gone wrong is baloney!

3. West Seattle often feels like an island, residents risk messy commutes and difficult downtown shopping expeditions under almost any plan for the Alaskan Way Viaduct. What ideas do you have for keeping West Seattle connected during and after construction?

CAMPBELL: Why accept the tunnel? That’s what the question ultimately assumes — that the tunnel is accepted. I say don’t accept it! Fight back!

West Seattle’s population (according to the figures I could find) is some 82,000 people. If there is a majority against the tunnel, and even if there isn’t, there are enough people to mount a legal and administrative challenge to this project, even as we speak. For the six months Initiative 99, the “no tunnel” initiative circulated, very few people from West Seattle got involved and provided signatures to get it on the ballot.

It’s pretty basic, either actively and publicly oppose the tunnel, coalesce around something or someone, or plan on being manipulated and managed by the City and WSDOT. They are making plans for your future.

My idea to keep West Seattle connected – well, don’t get disconnected in the first place.

4. What is the biggest issue facing Seattle and how will you deal with it?

CAMPBELL: The biggest problem in Seattle is this adherence to the theories of urban planning and New Urbanism visions, that dictate urban growth and density of tremendous proportions and over the shortest periods. “Growth” is not in the end going to save the planet, fewer people, more judicious use of resources, less consumption of mostly extraneous goods and services, and alternative energy usages for heating, cooling, and transportation is what we need. Realistically, growth is for government. More people, more tax revenue, more money to spend on government initiatives

Rather than growing Seattle to the max, I would promote limits on growth with the intention of foregoing growth in order to ensure that the people we have here now, and the moderate amount that will be here in the future have exceptional lives, rather than this thing that is coming where we collectively end up sacrificing in order to sustain ever greater numbers of people.

5. What is your favorite place in West Seattle, and why?

I know this will sound terrible coming from the “chubby” candidate, but my favorite place in West Seattle is going to the Spud on Alki. As a little girl growing up in Seattle my mom took my siblings and I to the Spud, and to this day I love their fish and chips, and compare every other place’s fish and chips to the Spud.

Campbell’s website is at c4seattlemayor.com. Your ballot must be postmarked by Tuesday, or dropped off in one of the dropboxes around the county (no postage needed if you choose that option – the nearest ones are in North Delridge and White Center) by 8 pm Tuesday night. To see previous WSB candidate/politics reports, check this newest-to-oldest archive.