Editor:

It is now up to you.

In a few days your ballot will arrive. Among your decisions will be selecting who you want for three city council positions.

Personally, I have not heard or read anyone say, “I love the way our city council is operating and I love the decisions they are making.”  Nope, not one person. However, I have heard and read a lot of good things, and even more bad things, about each individual candidate in each of those council races.

Personally, I pay attention to those things that are based on facts that I have experienced myself, can validate through links and research, or heard directly from people who observed them. The rest is just noise.

This is not a small decision. The people we each select will be empowered to preserve or change this city, forever.

I offer for your consideration how I approach my decision process. I believe the best way to predict future behavior is to look at past behavior. I give more weight to a candidate’s previous actions than I do their words. I want someone who has experience in things that are relevant to running a city. And, I mostly look at their core values and how they align with mine. Here is my list of what I look for; Honesty, respect, integrity, transparency, accessibility, deferential to others, humility, collaborative, picks people over party, chooses bridges over fences, is willing to be wrong.

Edmonds is so much more than the air, water and views. This is a place where those who live here choose to create their homes, their families, their careers and their lives.

We won’t always get the outcomes we want regardless of who we elect. But we sure won’t get anything we want if we don’t show up and make informed, fact-based, choices of who we will entrust as stewards of this rare and precious upper left corner of the country.

Mike Rosen
Edmonds