| Sarah Arndt |
| Sarah Arndt, Woodinville City Council Pos. 5 |
| Bobby Amiri |
| No response |
| Sarah Arndt |
| I think there are two things that the city can do to better enable more production of affordable housing for our community. The first, is really getting a successful inclusionary zoning ordinance in place. The city has hired a consultant to help find the right balance between requiring affordable and helping projects pencil out for developers. In theory the right balance will help us secure affordable units without putting a damper on development in the city. It will be very important that we as a city get this right, learn from nearby jurisdictions, and be practical about the give and take necessary to enable more affordable units to be built. The second this, would be to have Woodinville’s permitting department create a more streamlined process for development approvals for affordable units. This would help reduce the timeline and risk to affordable housing projects, but would require the city to give up some levels of control of development, which is often politically hard to sell to communities. |
| Bobby Amiri |
| No response |
| Sarah Arndt |
| Woodinville was one of the original cities to sign an ILA with the King County Regional Homelessness Authority. This was done with a belief that by working together we could more effectively provide resources for those experiencing homelessness in our communities. I think that the city needs to re-examine the efficacy of this ILA and push for more shelter beds, and a seasonal shelter in North King County. |
| Bobby Amiri |
| No response |
| Sarah Arndt |
| I believe that the city has been taking some great steps in this direction with the addition of Community Court services, and the CORES program to our city. Both use alternate models to respond to people in crisis and help individuals to avoid recidivism. However there is always more that can be done to build a positive relationship between the community members and local law enforcement and ensure that we are responding effectively to community concerns. |
| Bobby Amiri |
| No response |
| Sarah Arndt |
| I know that there have been some fantastic additions to our human service, behavioral health and crisis response networks in the last few years. However, I know more residents and even city staff and law enforcement are not always aware of these resources. Woodinville needs to be more active in educating our community about where they can go and who they can call in times of emergency so that we are fully utilizing available services. I am also proposing that the city starts an emergency assistance fund for residents, to help support them with one-time funds, to better ensure that people are able to stay in their homes even when faced with a financial emergency. |
| Bobby Amiri |
| No response |
| Sarah Arndt |
| One thing I have been working on for the last four years is advocating for more transit in the city. It is frustrating that the city doesn’t have more say in transit services throughout the area. However the city needs to be prioritizing multimodal and pedestrian connects between our neighborhoods and downtown to help our residents access existing transit and retail services. |
| Bobby Amiri |
| No response |
| Sarah Arndt |
| Woodinville is very fortunate that our city revenue has a very strong retail sales base which helps make our property taxes one of the lowest in the area. The city’s ability to collect revenue is limited to property taxes, which makes it difficult to constantly rely on the same pot of money for any municipal or regional needs. I think that statewide we need to consider more progressive revenue models to help spread the cost of supporting services. |
| Bobby Amiri |
| No response |
| Sarah Arndt |
| During my first term the city council took the important step of creating the Community Engagement staff position whose duties included DEI activities. Part of their work was to ensure not only that we as a city were engaging with all parts of our community but that our internal practices met the same standards of equitability and non-discrimination. Over the last couple of years the city has hired and promoted women and diverse candidates and increased our engagement with underrepresented segments of our community. There is also a need to ensure better access to our city website, and council videos to increase access and transparency. The initial steps of this project are underway, but that only represents an initial step. |
| Bobby Amiri |
| No response |
| Sarah Arndt |
| The city took some big steps towards environmental protection with our first ever climate action plan, but as we look to implementing more of the recommendations from this work, we need to prioritize items that impact disadvantaged populations over items that target wealthier residents. This means addition greenspace and heat syncs downtown instead of in neighborhoods, and helping to offset the effects of traffic pollution on our residents along the state routes. |
| Bobby Amiri |
| No response |
| Sarah Arndt |
| I will share that there is a concerted effort in Woodinville by one political action committee to swing the council toward more conservative policies using the blue washed name ‘Democratic Woodinville’. I would encourage you all to learn more about Jeff Lyon and the candidates he supports in an effort to be well-informed and combat misinformation regarding their stance on issue, past social media statements, and voting records. |
| Bobby Amiri |
| No response |