Reynolds, Cartwright vying for city’s Position 5 seat

Mercer Island City Council candidates vying for Position 5 are Craig Reynolds and Heather Cartwright.

Cartwright, who is a 13-year Mercer Island resident now raising a family here, has 26 years of experience in innovation, technology and budget accountability at Ford Motor Company, Amazon and currently as a partner and general manager at Microsoft developing incubation technology in health care. She serves as co-vice president of operations in the Island Middle School Parent Teacher Student Association and has spent more than a decade volunteering in local schools, engaging in community events, and has participated in the city’s community advisory group on financial sustainability in 2017-2018.

Reynolds has 34 years of experience as an actuary, business leader and innovative problem solver for Fortune 500 companies addressing financial and risk management issues. His community volunteer work includes serving as vice-chair of the Mercer Island planning commission, president of the 25,000-member Society of Actuaries with four years on its leadership team, member of the city’s community advisory group where he co-authored the consensus group recommendation, and director of a volunteer mathematics tutoring program at a local high school that has become a national model.

How would you look to preserve or enhance Mercerdale Park?

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Cartwright: Green space. Once it’s gone, it’s hard to recover. Islanders value our parks, and I want to ensure the precious green space we do have is protected. Many current issues impacting our parks and community areas stem from decisions in the city’s planning committee that prioritize density or development over green space. City parkland should be viewed as a valued asset in our community, not an asset we can trade for development revenue. The diversity of our parks — whether we design it for sports, cultural events, play or just enjoying nature — is what makes our island special. Citizen input matters on how we enhance our parks and transparency matters so we can make educated decisions and continue to keep our parks special.

Reynolds: Mercer Island’s 475 acres of parkland are a community treasure and I am absolutely committed to preserving Mercerdale and other Island parks. Mercer Island is constrained geographically by the lake and mostly built out. If lost, parkland cannot be replaced. In my service on the planning commission, I have consistently heard from residents who agree with me that preserving our parkland is a community core value. Ensuring that public lands are protected and preserved for future generations is a central responsibility of the city government. Our park system should support a variety of public uses, including children’s play areas, sports and recreation facilities, native plant and wildlife habitat, carbon sequestration, and community music and theater. Park design must reflect the needs and interests of many users with different priorities. Recently Mercer Island has gone through a master plan development process for a refresh of Aubrey Davis Park. Such a process incorporates community input to develop park features and access that are compatible with a diversity of uses that are consistent with our values. I will encourage Mercer Island to undergo a similar process for Mercerdale to help ensure that our park meets the needs of Islanders.

What would be your budget priorities and why?

Cartwright: Prioritization, data-driven decisions and fiscal efficiency are key for the future success of our Island. The recent Proposition 1 election highlighted an Island united in support for our community values – parks, schools, community events and services. But it also highlighted that citizens want to prioritize efficiency with our current tax dollars, not just default to increasing taxes. This is increasingly important as the city will need large infrastructure improvements to our water and sewer system in the future. Islanders expect and deserve a city council that prioritizes smart spending. In my career, I’ve successfully managed organizations with budgets from $10,000 to $5 billion. No matter what your budget, there is never “enough” money for everything you want; the answer is prioritizing and looking for improved ways to deliver those priorities. We can run more efficiently, improve our city and still ensure we deliver the services that are important to Islanders. When we look to reduce expenditures it shouldn’t be through elimination of services – particularly those the community has voiced as a priority like mental health counselors or Summer Celebration. Let’s restore them, find efficiency in our operations and innovate on processes instead, to ensure a sustainable future for Mercer Island.

Reynolds: Budget priorities must reflect community values. Input should be gathered through town halls, surveys, one-on-one resident interaction and engagement of council members with local organizations. In my campaign I have knocked on more than 1,000 Islander doors. I have consistently heard that public safety, including police and fire services, as well as safe drinking water and sewage services, come first. After that, values vary. Some residents place high value on mental health counselors, while for others, geriatric services, the community center, the arts, or the marine patrol matter more. Islanders recognize that not every service needs to be a top priority for every individual to be important. My priorities need to reflect yours. I believe that maintaining a full-service city benefits us all. It improves quality of life and increases property values. I will draw on my private sector business experience to push for city efficiencies and a diverse revenue basis that can support services that Islanders want. As a consultant to financial services firms on long-term financial issues, I am used to viewing finances over a 50-year time horizon. I will bring those skills to bear in developing a long-term financial plan for the city.

How do you balance development and growth against maintaining the town’s current character?

Cartwright: With regional changes in the last several years and the onset of light rail, ensuring our city is proactively planning for risks to public safety and changes that could impact the character of our suburban community is an issue that has many Islanders concerned. I’ll be the voice and influencer on city council that understands the unique fabric of our schools and suburban community and is committed to preserving it. Increasing revenue from new development and creating more density in our town center has been the focus from both our planning committee and current council. Improved retail development in our downtown can bring benefits to the city but becomes an issue when we don’t proactively plan or manage the impact to our schools, utilities and traffic. Mercer Island has already added significant density — enough to meet our regional growth management targets through 2035. I believe our priority now should not be encouraging more density but managing what we’ve already created and evaluating what is (or isn’t) working for the island community first.

Reynolds: Mercer Island will always be a town of primarily single-family residences with wide green spaces, quiet and safe neighborhoods, little traffic and beautiful natural habitat. I recently participated in a joint city council and planning commission discussion about the Puget Sound Regional Council’s recently released draft “Vision 2050” document. This forecast suggests that the region must plan for 1.8 million new residents by 2050. We will need to work effectively with neighboring communities to determine how much of this growth will come to the Island. While we all worry about the impacts of additional housing density, refusing to consider any more growth is not an effective negotiating strategy. We are connected to our neighbors. We depend on them for water, sewer, power, hospitals, shopping, dining, food, recreation and employment. A strategy of isolationism is not in our interests. We must engage with the broader community to develop a win-win plan that results in accepting a modest amount of additional growth concentrated in town center. This will take advantage of light rail and it will provide density to support restaurants and shops that will improve Island quality of life and diversify our tax base.

How would you support transit developments, and how/when would you push back?

Cartwright: Islanders are concerned about increased congestion with light rail, the proposed bus intercept, tolling and the loss of HOV lanes. As someone who has commuted to Seattle and now to the Eastside, I understand the impact even small transportation conflicts have on your daily life, and that will influence how I lead on city council. Mercer Island is in the heart of King County, and we’ll continue experiencing changes to our commutes, but Interstate 90 access is essential for residents to access services that don’t exist on the island. We don’t have alternate roadway options and need to prioritize mobility to I-90. When regional planning proposals don’t make sense for our community or our public safety, our city council must not accept them as status quo. The bus intercept was not part of our 2017 settlement agreement. The approach now to accept an intercept and mitigate the number of buses is not a solution. When King County traffic increases, we’ll inevitably need to accommodate more buses, risking congestion to one of only three access points on and off our island. On council I’ll be vocal, represent Mercer Island and push back on proposals that restrict mobility and put our public safety at risk.

Reynolds: The city council’s primary duty is to protect the interests of Islanders. In considering transit options, we must consider congestion, safety and mobility. As someone who has commuted by bus and train for virtually my entire adult life, I believe transit access is critical to the Island and a sustainable future. With proper planning and good design, light rail and bus service will be a tremendous benefit for Islanders. However, none of the proposed bus intercept options are consistent with the 2017 settlement agreement between Sound Transit and the city, and none are acceptable. In particular, drop offs on the north side of North Mercer Way would create unacceptable congestion and safety concerns. That said, all proposed intercept options bring fewer buses than currently traverse the Island. This means that, with good design, we can have a solution with negligible impacts to Island congestion and safety while preserving Eastside commuting options for Island residents. We need to work with Sound Transit and Metro to find a win-win solution that meets the needs of all parties while preserving mobility and safety for Island residents. I have the vision, the skills, the patience and the will to find just such a solution.

General election day is Nov. 5