(Image: Andres Salomon for Mayor)

At least one person in Seattle will pose a challenge to the incumbent.

Mayor Ed Murray is, of course, running to keep his office in City Hall and already has $100,000 in funding on hand. So far his only real challenger out of the four candidates who have declared so far seems to be Andres Salomon, an Ecuadorian immigrant whose family gets around the city by biking, walking, taking public transit — they don’t own a car.

The 36 year old has been working on safe streets advocacy for about five years. He first got into it because he wants his son, Atom, to be able to walk and bike safely.

“I’d hoped we’d make better progress by now and yet every week it seems somebody’s hit crossing 65th,” Salomon told CHS. “… We’re not there yet. I think that becoming mayor is the quickest path to getting the safe streets that I would really like for myself and my family.”

Salomon’s wife, Anna, came to the U.S. at age five as a refugee from the former Soviet Union. The couple met at MIT and have lived in northeast Seattle since 2010. Atom was born in 2012.

Salomon is a tech guy.

“I’ve worked on many Free Software projects, including the Linux kernel,” his website says. “If you have an Android phone, it’s likely running code that I’ve written.”

He’s also busy volunteering and working for nonprofits including One Laptop Per Child, Debian, and Seattle Neighborhood Greenways. He started NE Greenways in 2011 and helped to found the #Fix65th Coalition.

Salomon said as a safe streets advocate, he wants to make the city safer not only traffic-wise but also from being targeted by police and by criminals.

“You have to be comfortable on the street,” he said.

This is Salomon’s first bid for an elected position, even though people have previously suggested he run for City Council.

Having President Donald Trump in office has only motivated Salomon more.

Salomon announced his campaign at UW Station

“I think (the election) made a lot of people realize that we really need more activists to be involved in legislation and policy. We really need people to stand up and run for local office,” Salomon said.

He’s focused on four issues: transportation, housing, municipal internet and open data, and police.

“We have to improve the safety of our roads and we have to allow people to have choices,” Salomon said. “Lots of people right now don’t feel comfortable walking and biking because they don’t feel safe.”

Salomon wants to get transportation costs under control and focus on fast, smart and low-cost projects instead of mega-projects. He also stop pitting pedestrian and bike projects against transit, and bring street improvements to underserved neighborhoods. He also wants to ensure safety is a part of every project.

When it comes to housing, Salomon says zoning laws and multi-unit codes need to be modernized.

“There’s a simple lack of supply and we just basically need to build more,” he said.

The value of his own house rises about 20% annually.

“I don’t see my kids being able to live here,” he said.

For affordable housing requirements, Salomon said as long as studies consider each neighborhood to determine the percentage of affordable housing needed, he is comfortable with that.

Salomon wants to bring municipal wi-fi and broadband to residents and make free and open source software and data part of the city’s policy.

“Internet right now is pretty much a requirement for kids studying in school,” Salomon said. “It’s a requirement for applying for jobs … it’s a requirement for all kinds of research. You really need good internet access to survive these days.”

Access and provider options are lacking, he said. Municipal internet would give people another option for faster internet and, if done right, it should be cheaper than what current provider charge.

Salomon points the city’s service request website and app, Find It, Fix It, as an area where the city lacks transparency. Salomon has been denied requests for data. Because the data isn’t open, citizens can’t see whether an issue has been submitted or hold the city accountable for fixing problems submitted. He wants to replace the app with an open system.

The candidate also wants to ensure police force is used to support peaceful protests, scrap plans for the North Precinct, and modify the proposed youth jail.

“I was really disappointed to see what happened at Sea-Tac with the protest and the police arresting and pepper-spraying people,” Salomon said.

While the Seattle Police Department says its officers didn’t make any arrests or deploy pepper spray at the protest against Trump’s immigration ban, Salomon said SPD was there helping out.

Instead of building the North Precinct, Salomon would rather seeing the funding directed toward social programs.

“Where we can actually reach out and help people and support people as opposed to thinking we can just lock everybody up and that will be the solution to all of our problems,” he said.

The proposed youth jail is a bit more complex, Salomon supports some aspects, such as the courtrooms, but doesn’t think “locking kids up” is the answer.

While Seattle City Council and City Attorney candidates can make use of the new Democracy Voucher program this year, mayoral candidates can’t until the seat is next up for election.

Also running for mayor is Mary Juanita Martin, who ran for the seat in 2013 and 2009 representing the Socialist Workers party. Alex Tsimerman, president of Stand-UP America, who fled the former Soviet Union as a refugee and shouts profanities at city council members whenever he can, has filed to run. Musician Keith Whiteman, is also vying for the seat. He’s listed his party as “Common Sense.”

You can learn more about the Salomon campaign at andres4mayor.com.