Letter to the Editor: Vote for Jesse Salomon to restore the Council balance

To the Editor:

With Jesse Salomon on the Shoreline City Council, we would be sure to have a strong neighborhood defender, one who puts people first. Jesse's temperate manner, people-helping skills, courage and experience in working for fair solutions to knotty problems would be a welcome and valuable addition.

As a 45-year resident of Shoreline, I treasure Jesse’s fresh, energetic volunteer community activism that has already contributed so much to improving the lives of our residents.

For example, Jesse knows that there is no way to sufficiently mitigate the impact of the Point Wells project that could make it acceptable because it would mean thousands of additional cars funneling through our neighborhoods at least twice a day onto a two-lane road in Richmond Beach. It would stress Shoreline’s city services without benefit to us. Jesse foresees the negative consequences for the people who would have to endure them, and refuses to compromise their well-being for the developer’s private profit.

Not so for Robin McClelland, whose basic approach to land-use favors the developer over the public if so-called “mitigation” can be agreed upon, as she originally did on the Point Wells project. Her major campaign contributors include realtors, developers, and anti-environmentalists.

Despite the laughable claims to the contrary by Doris McConnell, who is running for re-election to the council and supports McClelland, there has been a negative climate change on the Shoreline City Council since the last city election that diminishes Shoreline’s future livability.

Jesse’s immediate and ongoing concern in every council decision will be how the outcome will affect his constituents, namely, the people who live in Shoreline, just as his professional responsibility as a public defender is to do his best for his legal clients.

Vote for Jesse Salomon, Position 6, to restore the council balance in favor of people-centered government.

Elaine Phelps

Shoreline