After the Aug. 16 primary, there will be two.
The candidates met individually with an Olympian reporter to talk about the issues facing the city over the next four years, the length of the mayor’s term. The job pays $19,968 a year.
DICK PUST
What is the biggest issue facing Olympia?
The economy. “There are a lot of people without work, and they’ve lost not only their job but their self-esteem. … We need to be on the forefront of finding jobs for people.” Pust said the city needs a better tax base, by improving the perception of Olympia. He said that he’s heard “from more people than I would like” that Olympia is a bad place to do business.
“I think it’s an attitudinal thing.” Pust suggested tax incentives “as additional encouragement.”
Pust said that he’s not against all taxes, but doesn’t favor a proposed one-tenth of a cent sales tax increase to fund social services and police. “I just feel that now is not the time to raise taxes,” Pust said.
“The economy’s not going to stay in the tank forever,” he said. “Some day, we’ll have money again. But I just don’t know when. In the meantime, we have to tighten our belts and live within our budget.”
What would you accomplish in the next four years?
Making downtown Olympia a place where people want to go. “I believe at this point that Olympia doesn’t really have a vision … as to what it wants to be,” he said. He suggests attracting more retail downtown such as department and grocery stores. “Ironically, the new City Hall replaced a grocery store.” (The former downtown Safeway store had already closed when the city chose it as the site for City Hall.)
Pust said that downtown Olympia is “alive and well, as is; it just needs … more.” He said he would have to study what the city’s role is in attracting retailers. “You need to make downtown Olympia more attractive to more people,” he said. “I’ve talked to too many people who say they just drive through Olympia. They never stop. They never shop. Downtown is just a place they have to drive through. I want to change that concept.”
Pust suggested free parking, perhaps in new parking garages. “It should be as friendly and as easy to shop downtown as it is to shop at the mall.” Pust said he enjoyed the city’s former 90-minute free parking zone downtown and was sorry to see it go. It was discontinued last year in favor of new pay stations charging $1 an hour.
How are you different from the other candidates for mayor?
Pust declined to discuss differences and said that he would like to work with his two opponents, noting that both are on the council now and have time left in their terms.
“The big difference is that the other two candidates are going to remain on the council whether I’m elected or not,” he said. He said he agrees with Karen Rogers on her stance on fiscal responsibility and that Stephen Buxbaum “has a very sharp mind and has the ability to grasp complex issues better than most people.”
Asked if he differed with them on issues, he demurred, saying, “I usually like to stick with the positive.”
He said he agreed with the council’s recent 4-3 decision to approve paying $300,000 for land off Harrison Avenue west of Cooper Point Road for a park tentatively known as the West Side Plaza.
“I think the current council members all … are working for what they believe is the best for the city,” he said.
ABOUT DICK PUST
Age: 71.
Occupation: Retired KGY radio host.
Political experience: Olympia Planning Commission.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science from Saint Martin’s College (now University).
Contact information: 360-292-5991, drpust@comcast.net, www.dickpust4mayor.com.
Endorsements: Secretary of State Sam Reed, Thurston County Auditor Kim Wyman, Thurston County Sheriff John Snaza, former Olympia mayors Stan Biles and Mark Foutch.
Campaign contributions: $17,188.
Top donors: Harold Marcus ($800), Inge Marcus ($800), Laurie Berryman ($500), Maryanne Hanson ($500), Steven Hanson ($500).
Contribution figures from state Public Disclosure Commission.
STEPHEN BUXBAUM
What is the biggest issue facing Olympia?
“Positioning ourselves the best we possibly can given our current economic downturn,” Buxbaum said, including protecting community assets, attending to public health and safety needs, and positioning the city to increase commerce in downtown and throughout Olympia.
Buxbaum said that he would consider raising taxes to maintain city services, but that it would come after a public process about options, what taxpayers would get as a result of higher taxes and how to measure performance as a result. “I’m not going to surprise anybody with tax increases,” he said.
Two options for raising taxes have been discussed at the council: a one-tenth-of-one-cent sales tax increase for social services and police and a potential property tax increase. Both would require voter approval.
Buxbaum said he’s not in favor of putting a tax increase on the November ballot, which has an Aug. 16 deadline.
What would you accomplish in the next four years?
Buxbaum said he would like to continue to build on projects he has already started. He takes credit for resolving concerns about the downtown isthmus by supporting reduction in building height limits there to 35 feet. He said he accomplished better local and regional coordination on the homeless issue. Buxbaum championed a $170,000 homeless prevention program that funds three agencies – $108,000 to Interfaith Works for a central intake center for homeless singles and childless couples, $30,000 for homeless prevention at the Family Support Center, which offers services to homeless families, and $30,000 to Community Youth Services to expand hours at Rosie’s Place, a drop-in center for street youths.
Buxbaum worked to restructure the city’s Community Development Block Grant program to offer a $2 million low-interest loan pool for community development.
He also cited “bringing people together around a vision for downtown and the entire community,” working with neighborhood leaders on code enforcement issues, and working with the local historic commission on naming downtown alleys.
Buxbaum also wants to complete the city’s comprehensive plan.
“What I most want is a well-working council,” he said. “We don’t have to agree all the time. I think that it’s very important, though, that we have a council that works well together, makes decisions based on fact, that listens carefully to the public and doesn’t get stuck but really moves toward things where there’s strong agreement, that we move towards action. I think I have the skills necessary to accomplish all these things.”
How are you different from the other candidates for mayor?
“Three things: experience, accomplishments and my very strong endorsements,” he said. He touted more than 30 years of experience “working with cities and counties on sustainable community development” and “working on capital budgets larger than Olympia’s.” He spent years working for the former Community Trade and Economic Development Department and is now a private consultant. One of his current projects is starting a credit union in Eastern Washington.
He notes that his fellow council members elected him mayor pro team, or deputy mayor. He also chairs the city’s finance committee.
Buxbaum favors the city’s public art program. “Even though times are hard, I don’t think we should give in to false trade-offs,” he said. “For example, it’s not a matter of trading off service to the homeless for investment in public art. Art in public places … is good for commerce, and what’s good for commerce is good for our revenue base, and what’s good for our revenue base helps us do a better job for social services like (for the) homeless.”
ABOUT STEPHEN BUXBAUM
Age: 56.
Occupation: Consultant; adjunct faculty member, The Evergreen State College.
Political experience: Olympia City Council member (2010-present), member of the Thurston County Agriculture Committee, chairman and board member of the Pacific Mountain Private Industry Council, commissioner designee for the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, chairman of the Governor’s Interagency Council on Homelessness.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in political economy, master’s degree in public administration, Evergreen.
Contact information: 360-918-1745, stephen@stephenbuxbaum.org, www.stephenbuxbaum.org.
Endorsements: Olympia City Councilman Steve Langer, former Olympia Mayor Bob Jacobs, Thurston County Commissioners Sandra Romero and Karen Valenzuela, Thurston County Treasurer Shawn Myers.
Campaign contributions: $15,563.
Top donors: Sarah B. Segall ($800), Thurston Conservation Voters ($800), Kristine Goddard ($800), Joyce Kilmer ($500), Mary E. Langley ($500).
Contribution figures from state Public Disclosure Commission.
KAREN ROGERS
What is the biggest issue facing Olympia?
The city’s budget. Rogers expects the city to face a $10 million revenue shortfall in the 2012 budget. The city’s current budget is $107 million.
She suggested the city buy less and get more use out of its vehicles and other equipment. She proposes reviewing all city salaries, possibly reducing them. She also questioned whether the city had too many employees, at more than 500. “For a city the size of Olympia to have over 500, yes, I think it is.”
(Olympia has 543 full-time equivalent employees, City Manager Steve Hall said.)
Rogers said she does not favor a tax increase. Two options for raising taxes have been discussed by the council – a one-tenth-of-a-cent sales tax increase for social services and police and a potential property tax increase. Both of those would require voter approval.
She suggests that the Fire Department be turned into a separate fire district and taken out of the city’s budget and that the city consider merging some departments with those in Lacey and Tumwater.
She said the city should look at the properties it owns to determine which ones it needs and which ones it isn’t using and should be sold.
What would you accomplish in the next four years?
“I want a City Council that’s more responsive,” she said, “that there’s no question in anyone’s mind who we work for.”
She suggests having each council member cover neighborhood associations in a particular part of the city.
She also says as mayor she would be more fiscally responsible. She suggests holding budget meetings with the public. And she wants information to be more easily accessible to the public through an email update, and putting major print documents such as the city budget at the Olympia library.
Rogers also calls for an independent review of the city’s spending.
Rogers objects to a recent contract with city workers, saying the overtime allowed is too generous.
“I consider it time theft,” she said, adding that she is a union member as a state employee. She said all negotiating sessions with unions should be held in public.
How are you different from the other candidates for mayor?
Rogers initially demurred on this question, but she then highlighted differences between her and Councilman Stephen Buxbaum.
“One thing is judgment,” she said. “Stephen Buxbaum and I have voted differently on a number of issues.”
One of her key differences is funding for public art. A city ordinance requires 1 percent of major capital projects to be spent on art. Rogers has been the lone vote against public art projects in several cases, including the decision to buy art for inside the new City Hall.
Rogers said she is not opposed to public art, but recommends suspending the policy a few years to let the economy recover. She has said other priorities are more important than art, such as homeless funding.
Another difference is her stance on the Parking and Business Improvement Area, an organization created by the city that charges businesses in the downtown core a yearly assessment to beautify the area. Last year, the council voted to remove a “sunset clause” that would have eliminated the agency.
“I was the only no vote,” she said.
Rogers said she favored extending the sunset clause and looking at whether the amount charged to businesses should change.
“I’ve gotten comments from several downtown business owners saying that they’re barely hanging on,” she said.
ABOUT KAREN ROGERS
Age: 38.
Occupation: Policy specialist, state Liquor Control Board.
Political experience: Olympia City Council member, 2010-present; Thurston County Planning Commission; Olympia Utility Advisory Committee.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science, University of Florida; master’s degree in wetland ecology, University of Florida.
Contact information: 360-628-7052, campaign@citizensforkarenrogers.org, www.citizensforkarenrogers.org.
Endorsements: Janine Gates, Joanne McCaughan, David Castillo, Cheryl Crist, Jamie Kurz.
Campaign contributions: $13,477.
Top donors: John Bates ($800), Chris Rogers ($800), Deenie Dudley ($800), Maria Rogers ($760), Therezinha Jacobs ($650).
Contribution figures from state Public Disclosure Commission.
Matt Batcheldor: 360-704-6869
mbatcheldor@theolympian.com
