Here’s a transcript of the three-minute statements from Edmonds City Council Position 7 candidates Laura Johnson and Nathan Monroe, made during a candidate Meet and Greet event last month at Edmonds Center for the Arts. And a reminder that we will be interviewing both candidates live via Facebook Monday night, Oct. 14.

You can also see video of the candidates speaking here.

My Edmonds News Publisher Teresa Wippel will be hosting both Johnson and Monroe for a Facebook Live interview starting at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 14. You can watch the interview live at Facebook.com/MyEdmondsNews or watch the archived video later, either via Facebook or on My Edmonds News.

Have questions for the candidates? Submit them to myedmondsnews@gmail.com or ask them via Facebook during the interview.

Laura Johnson
www.votelaurajohnson.com/about

Hi, thank you all for coming tonight, thank you to ENAC, Indivisible Edmonds and the Sierra Club for organizing, and to the Edmonds Center for the Arts for hosting. My name is Laura Johnson and I am running for Edmonds City Council Position number 7.

I feel fortunate to call Edmonds my home, and as a mom of three teens including Cade, who’s helping me out on the back table, I am ready to make it an even better place for generations to come.

Since moving to Edmonds seven years ago, I have deeply invested myself in my community. I’m a founding member of Edmonds Neighborhood Action Coalition (ENAC), I recently served over a year on the Edmond School District 2020 Facilities Bond Committee, I am chair of the Edmonds Historic Preservation Commission and I’m legislative lead for the Edmonds group of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. As such I was a vocal advocate for a firearm safe storage ordinance, a proven method to reduce unintentional shootings especially among children. I have joined community members to advocate for the protection and restoration of the Edmonds Marsh, one of the last remaining urban saltwater estuaries in the region. Recently I joined with the community in opposing a $30 million overpass built on a protected wildlife marine sanctuary.

I know that local politics really do matter. The city council is our first line of government; it is where the decisions that affect our day-to-day lives are made, from police and fire services to land use regulations and stormwater management to services for our youth and seniors. These decisions are made by the people elected to represent us on city council.

My intent is to bring community engagement to the forefront and to respond to the needs of the whole community. I am committed to growing a resilient economy by enhancing the livability and economic vitality of the Highway 99 Corridor through improving auto and pedestrian safety, promoting transit accessible housing, and increasing desirability so that new businesses will locate to our main thoroughfare. I am committed to leading on environmental stewardship by growing our sustainable practices to further decrease our carbon footprint, and by ensuring the preservation and protection of our streams, marsh and sound.

I’m committed to promoting public safety by fully supporting our first responders, enforcing our current gun safety laws, and joining with our community partners to increase educational outreach on firearm safety, suicide prevention and opioid addiction. Most important of all, I am committed to providing inclusive leadership across Edmonds so that our communities will have a voice in studying the priorities for our city. I want to be your city council voice of that commitment to the community.

I appreciate your taking the time to learn about my candidacy. My name is Laura Johnson. I’m running for Edmonds City Council Position 7.  Thank you.

Nathan Monroe
monroe4edmonds.com

Hi there. My name’s Nathan Monroe and I’m running for Edmonds City Council Position 7. I’ll tell you a little about myself as well as why I think I’m a good fit for the council.

I was born and raised in Edmonds. I’ve lived in neighborhoods all over town. I was raised up in Five Corners, I’ve lived in Seaview, Perrinville, Yost and downtown.  I have also served the last four and a half years on the Planning Board, and on the Economic Development Commission for a year where we work with city council, do citizen engagement, and work with city staff. I have a demonstrated record of solving problems for Edmonds.

It’s important to understand that I love this town. I know we all do. We all love Edmonds and we’re all very passionate about it. I think that’s an important thing for you all to remember.

As to why I’d be a good fit for council, Edmonds is facing in the next five or 10 years several tough choices about how we’re going to fund and build our infrastructure. Most of this was built about 56 years ago. As our assets start to decay, we need to figure out how we’re going to replace them and make the important choices about which projects we’re going to fund.

As a civil engineer, I spend my career doing exactly these things for communities throughout our region. The choices are not easy, but it’s a skill set that I’m proud to bring to the council. It’s a matter of not only what we fund but how we fund it.  There are two reasons why it’s important to make the right decisions. First, we want to ensure the quality of life that we enjoy in Edmonds remains here. Second is for the future generations to ensure generational equity by funding in the right way to ensure fiscal responsibility.

Again, I want to thank you all for being here today. I’m very proud to live in Edmonds and I’m very proud of all of you. I’d appreciate your vote in November.  Thank you very much.