As she was trying to decide whether to run for re-election to her Position 1 seat, Edmonds City Councilmember Kristiana Johnson said she had a long conversation with several friends.

“It kind of came down to, I really love Edmonds,” Johnson told supporters gathered for her kickoff campaign at Anthony’s Homeport restaurant on the Edmonds waterfront. “This is my hometown. And I like being on the council. Running is difficult but now I’m in it to win it.”

Johnson, who was originally appointed to her Position 1 council seat in 2012 and won election in 2013, will face Josh Thompson in the November 2017 election.

Among those attending the campaign event were Edmonds City Councilmember Dave Teitzel, former Edmonds School Board member and current Port Commission candidate Susan Paine, former Edmonds City Councilmember Joan Bloom, and Susie Schaefer, coordinator of the Edmonds Wildlife Habitat Native Plant Demonstration Garden.

Johnson’s campaign platform of supporting the arts, historic preservation and the environment was woven into personal stories about growing up in Edmonds, where she was born and raised.

She recalled seeing her first pottery demonstration while on a trip to the San Francisco Bay area for her 18th birthday  “I was just mesmerized,” she said. “I’d never seen that before and I thought to myself, ‘I’ve got to do that.'” As a result, while attending Washington State University Johnson took pottery classes throughout college. “It’s a passion of mine,” she said. “I really care about the arts and I’m glad that Edmonds is an arts town.”

Another passion, Johnson said, is historic preservation. “One of the things that really bothers me is seeing all of the houses that are bulldozed and just wiped off the face of Edmonds,” Johnson said. “I think there’s got to be a better way to do that. That’s something else I’d like to work on.”

Johnson, who earned a master’s degree in city and regional planning from Rutgers University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from WSU, listed the environment as her third area of focus.

“In college I took every environmental class they had, even before there was a major,” she said. Her first job was out of graduate school was working an environmental planner and she also served for 10 years on a local community environmental commission in New Jersey. “I was in my 20s and I was determined,” she said. “There was no recycling but I developed a curbside recycling program, which was unheard of at the time.”

What she really cares about, Johnson said, are preserving the city’s natural resources.

“When I go down to the beach, I hear languages from all different nations because people are just drawn to the beach and the ferry. We kind of forget about this natural wonder out here.” Noting that Edmonds streams and creeks flow into the Puget Sound, Johnson said she is committed to protecting those local waterways, as well as the Edmonds Marsh. “The marsh is “really high on my agenda. “I don’t think our work is done there,” she said.

Johnson then thanked supporters for coming, and several of those in the room thanked her in return for running again.

“I really believe I will win in November, with your help,” she said.

— Story and photos by Teresa Wippel