The Capitol Hill Community Council officer elections, held Thursday night at the Cal Anderson Shelterhouse, cycled in six new officers and re-seated President Jennifer Power into an At-Large representative position. CHS previewed the candidates here.
The newly elected officers include President Norma Shaw, Vice President Mike Kent, Secretary Josephine Wong, Treasurer Sean Cory, and At- Large Representatives George Bakan, and Zef Wagner. Although the candidates ran unchallenged for their respective seats, each candidate provided detailed ways they would fulfill their positions.
During the question and answer portion of the meeting, candidates fielded questions regarding how they would ensure policy implementation, increased communication and transparency with the community, and how each of them planned to work with other community organizations.
“We need to focus on interfacing [projects] with the other half-a-dozen community organizations on Capitol Hill, said George Bakan, publisher of Seattle Gay News and long-time Capitol Hill resident.
Major issues currently concerning the council include Transit-oriented Development at the Capitol Hill Link Light rail site, a campaign advocating for the Broadway street car, and coordinating more community outreach to spread the word about CHCC.
“The community council is an advocate for Capitol Hill,” said Mike Kent, Vice President-elect, when asked to describe what the community council does. Residents have the council as a sounding board [where] they can rally support, get advice, and voice their concerns.” Kent writes on CHS as MRK and will continue to cover community real estate and development issues on the site. We’ll make sure to continue to be transparent about his role on the Council when he covers related topics.
“We can really empower people,our meetings are open to anyone on Capitol Hill [and] if there is anything that is concerning them about the neighborhood they can come to us,” added Wagner, newly elected At-Large representative.
Also in attendance were representatives from the newly formed TOD Champions group, Sound Transit, as well as the Department of Neighborhoods.
