- About Shoreline City Council
Positions 2, 4, and 6 are up for a vote this November.
Position 2
Keith Scully
Current council member. Contact: keithscully2001@yahoo.com, keithscully.netDo you have any direct experience with disability?
Yes. I am an insulin-dependent diabetic and have been for 42 years. It doesn’t affect mobility, but I am well-familiar with needing accommodations for work, school, and other activities.
1 - HOUSING: How would you make affordable housing available to people with developmental disabilities?
Housing affordable to 30% AMI and below has to be built with tax money or developed by nonprofit organizations with funding sources other than sales or rentals. We can—and Shoreline does—mandate affordable housing construction of 80% AMI as a condition of developing large market-rate projects, and I believe the market will bear required or incentivized construction of 50% AMI housing, too. But the market just won’t support 30% AMI; the units cost more to construct and maintain, even with tax exemptions. So government has to build housing for very low income individuals. Shoreline donated land to the King County Housing Authority, who then partnered with Community Psychiatric Clinic and Catholic Housing Services to construct about 100 units of 30% AMI housing with supportive services on Aurora. We need many more projects like that; as you’ve accurately noted, the waitlist of Section 8 is 3-4 years long. We need to pressure the federal and state governments to come up with more funding for housing, and continue to look for those opportunities like we had on Aurora to develop housing locally.
In terms of making those units accessible to persons with disabilities, that has to be the target population, because as you’ve noted, many homeless or VLI persons have disability issues as well. ADA compliance is just the start; many facilities also need to be supportive housing, with services on-site or nearby.
2 - SHELTER: How would you ensure people with developmental disabilities have a safe place to sleep and stay?
I’m on the Continuum of Care Board for All Home, and this is an issue we struggle with constantly. We’re trying to prioritize services that provide shelter to the most vulnerable populations and I’ll continue to work to do so. We also require, as part of contracts, that providers not discriminate. Oversight is a problem, though, and we’re working on ways to make the system more accountable and responsive.
3 - SUPPORTIVE HOUSING: How would you ensure people with developmental disabilities are receiving case management and the support needed to escape homelessness?
The VI-SPDAT works well for men with criminal records and substance abuse issues. It doesn’t do well for many of other populations, including youth, disabled, single women, and immigrants. We need a new tool.
4 - SAFETY: How would you ensure the safety of people with developmental disabilities in police interactions?
Shoreline participates in King County’s RADAR program, which includes a mental health professional as part of our police force. We also train our offices in de-escalation strategies.
5 - SAFETY & JUSTICE: Would you support cross-training among professionals in the courtroom, police departments, victim assistance agencies and schools to prepare the justice community for situations involving people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities so they can receive equal justice?
Absolutely. I’ve been a pro tem commissioner in Superior Court for over ten years, and am fully aware of how challenging it can be to find appropriate placements and services. And how likely it is for incidents to occur when appropriate de-escalation strategies aren’t followed.
6 - ACCESS & ACCOMMODATIONS: How would you ensure access to straws in public areas?
I support making plastic straws available on demand and making sure we adequately train business owners not to shame or question when they are requested. But I encourage us to find common ground on this; while it is true that fishing nets cause far more plastic pollution, that, to me, isn’t an excuse for doing other environmentally-destructive things like handing out and then throwing away straws that most people don’t need.
7 - JOBS: What would you do to increase job prospects for people with developmental disabilities?
I don’t have a ready answer for this. The city employs about a hundred people directly; we’ll continue to make sure our jobs are open to all and that we make every possible accommodation. But we don’t have the capacity to do much with private employers. I welcome suggestions on how we can do better.
8 - SAFETY: How will you ensure your city's streets, sidewalks and intersections are safe and accessible to everyone?
Shoreline’s sidewalk network is incomplete and antiquated. It’s a top priority for me. Shoreline is implementing an ADA transition plan and is prioritizing ADA sidewalk and other infrastructure improvements. We passed a complete streets ordinance, and I also fought hard for and obtained increased sidewalk funding for both repairs and new construction. And our code requires adequate-width sidewalks in our multifamily areas to ensure that all users can access them.
9 - TRANSIT: Do you think Lyft, Uber and other ride-share companies should be required to include wheelchair accessible vehicles in their fleets?
We’re in the midst of an ADA-compliance review. I also fought hard to get increased funding for both sidewalk repair and new construction, and am delighted we managed to approve a $20 VLF for repair and a voter-approved sales tax measure for 20 new sidewalk projects. To make sure we put them in the most-needed places, we convened a citizen’s advisory committee to come up with a tool for prioritizing projects and a rank order. The committee included a blind woman and a woman dependent on an electric wheelchair for mobility, as well as others with mobility challenges.
10 - TRANSIT: What will you do to expand transit service and improve reliability?
Light rail is coming to Shoreline, and I’m working with other electeds to get Metro to transition its bus lines that currently go north-south to local routes that move people to the transit station.
Vivian Collica
No response submitted. Contact: vivianforshoreline@hotmail.com
Position 4
David Chen
Came in first in the August primary. No response submitted. Contact: david@electdavidchen.com, http://www.electdavidchen.com/
Doris McConnell
Sitting deputy mayor. Came in second in the August primary. No response submitted. Contact: Doris@reelectdorismcconnell.com, http://www.reelectdorismcconnell.com
Position 6
Betsy Robertson
Current city council member. No response submitted. Contact: Betsy@ElectBetsyRobertson.com, http://www.electbetsyrobertson.com
Luis Berbesi
No response submitted. Contact: berbesi4shoreline@gmail.com, www.caringforshoreline.com
