Council Positions 2, 4, and 6 are up for vote this November.
Position 2
Catherine Stanford
Sitting council member. No response submitted. Contact: CatherineStanford4LFP@gmail.comLorri Bodi
No response submitted. Contact: Bodi4LFP@gmail.com, www.Bodi4LFP.comPosition 4
Brett Newsham
No response submitted. No contact information.Phillippa Kassover
Sitting council member. Contact: phillippa@kassover.com, www.PhillippaForLfp.comDo you have any direct experience with disability?
Yes. I have friends with children with profound autism, one also with unremitting seizures. Our daughter had a now deceased brother-in-law with Down syndrome who we knew well. My father died last year from complications of a progressive dementia.
1. HOUSING: How would you make affordable housing available to people with developmental disabilities?
Non-profit organizations providing housing and other services for these populations must be well-supported by every level of government, including the cities where they are located. I will confess that I have a lot to learn about the funding and cost relief tools available to the city, county and the state but am willing to learn.
2. SHELTER: How would you ensure people with developmental disabilities have a safe place to sleep and stay?
In Lake Forest Park, we have several group homes for persons with disabilities. I believe this may be the best way to provide safe homes along with the case management and other services people need. This seems to me to be the most caring and supportive way to provide shelter.
3. SUPPORTIVE HOUSING: How would you ensure people with developmental disabilities are receiving case management and the support needed to escape homelessness?
This needs to be changed. I will do my best as a city council member and a member of the board of the North Urban Human Services Advocates to research and address this inequity.
4. SAFETY: How would you ensure the safety of people with developmental disabilities in police interactions?
In Lake Forest Park, we are a leader in providing training to our police officers and have incorporated the RADAR program and other supports from counseling and human service professionals into our PD.
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?
Yes. Again, in Lake Forest Park we are fortunate to have an outstanding judge, Linda Portnoy, who has incorporated innovative strategies both for adult and juvenile court.
6. ACCESS & ACCOMMODATIONS: How would you ensure access to straws in public areas?
We have passed a single-use plastic ban ordinance in our city, and I was the council member who proposed an amendment to allow restaurants and other food vendors to provide plastic, bendable straws for those who need them. This passed unanimously.
7. JOBS: What would you do to increase job prospects for people with developmental disabilities?
As a city council member, I do not have the opportunity to make hiring decisions or affect hiring practices. However, I will continue to advocate for all human services in my role as a member of the NUHSA board.
8. SAFETY: How will you ensure your city's streets, sidewalks and intersections are safe and accessible to everyone?
I am a fierce advocate for comprehensive transit services for all residents of my city of Lake Forest Park. As co-chair of the Seashore Transportation Forum, I have the opportunity to comment directly on regional transportation issues to regional transit leaders and do so regularly. Just this month, I challenged Metro Transit with their exclusion of seniors and senior centers in their outreach plan for Metro's next route revision. I have also challenged Metro and Sound Transit to address the difficulties faced by older people, families with strollers, and persons in wheelchairs needing to transition from bus to rail at the UW station and from rail into the airport.
9. TRANSIT: Do you think Lyft, Uber and other ride-share companies should be required to include wheelchair accessible vehicles in their fleets?
This sounds like an obvious and good idea.
10. TRANSIT: What will you do to expand transit service and improve reliability?
Please see my answer to item 8.
Position 6
Tom French |
