Meet Olympia City Council candidate Corey Gauny
Editor’s note: This is one in a series of interviews with candidates running for Olympia City Council. At the end of each interview, The Olympian asked every candidate two questions: what they pay in rent or mortgage, and if they could correctly state the median home sale price in Olympia, which is $430,000.
Corey Gauny spent 22 years as a firefighter in the U.S. Air Force, where he lived in dozens of countries across Asia and Europe. He returned to Olympia in 2010, finished his bachelor’s degree and MBA at Pacific Lutheran University in Parkland, and now works for the Department of Licensing as a management analyst.
Gauny is running against Dontae Payne and Sarah DeStasio for Olympia City Council Position 6, which is being vacated by Renata Rollins.
In an interview with The Olympian, Gauny said he was motivated to run by seeing a disconnect between how city council talks about homelessness and what he’s personally observed and heard from neighbors.
“What we’re being told the challenge is and the problem is, is ‘Oh they’re marginalized people, we need to give them a break.’ And what we and the community members and constituents I talk to see is an increase in crime, an increase in violence and vandalism in our community, seeing needles in our public spaces, in our parks.”
Gauny, who described himself as a “Kennedy Democrat,” said he believes that Olympia is a “magnet” for people who are struggling with mental health issues or substance abuse disorder because of “strategies of no barriers,” and he is frustrated by council members’ unwillingness to express that sentiment.
Gauny said he believes the root cause of the majority of people experiencing homelessness is mental illness and substance abuse disorder, and he is frustrated by what he called a double standard in which people “rationalize illegal behavior.”
“No, you can’t burn in a burn bin in your yard but these people are allowed to down here,” Gauny said. “No, you can’t steal but these people can.”
Gauny said not all people experiencing homelessness are mentally ill or drug-addicted, just most of them.
“That makes up, according to some of the analysis I’ve seen, about 70-80%,” Gauny said. “We also have about 20-30% that I call marginally displaced, or people who are down on their luck.”
Asked what kind of intervention he would like to see, Gauny said he doesn’t want to see homeless people arrested, but rather issued citations or referred to the community court system to compel them into treatment.
“I would like to see more accountability for the violations of municipal codes, burning, occupation of private property. We’re not bashing people because they’re homeless, we’re forcing them to use the resources that are available to them to get them back on a productive course.”
What do you pay in rent/mortage?
His mortgage is $1,500 per month.
What’s the median home price in Olympia?
$350,000.
This story was originally published May 28, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
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