| James Randolph |
| James Randolph (he/him) Position 7, Woodinville City Council |
| Jaren Hanson |
| No response |
| James Randolph |
| The Woodinville city council will be working on inclusionary zoning before the end of this year. In addition to the coming inclusionary zoning, I would like to see partnerships between the state, county and municipalities to leverage existing publicly owned land to create additional opportunities for long-term, sustainable affordable housing. The problem is far too large for a single municipality and is a national issue. I doubt we can come up with a national solution given the differences of affordability across states. However it is clear to me that we have a housing problem and our current levels of success dictate that we need to come up with more ways to generate housing than the ones we're currently using. Our state has been a leader in many areas and I think we should come up with solutions in partnership as broadly as possible. |
| Jaren Hanson |
| No response |
| James Randolph |
| I believe that the most important thing we can do differently is to build more housing in ways that sustain affordability in perpetuity. So we should use that frame in any vision to reduce homelessness. While we are working on a long-term solution, there are things we can do. We need to bolster our human services and work with non-profits that can help build bridges that prevent homelessness. I have heard personal stories in which individuals seek services to prevent themselves from falling into homelessness. And they were ineligible or denied services until they were in a worse position. We need to find ways to fill this gap and find ways to support families and individuals who are making efforts to stay housed. |
| Jaren Hanson |
| No response |
| James Randolph |
| One of the first conversations I had with the Woodinville Chief of Police and staff from the King County Sheriff's office was about how mental health and social justice issues don't become police and criminal justice issues if contact with law enforcement is minimized. We should do more to reduce poor interactions with law enforcement by sending the right professional for the job. Law enforcement should not be called on to enforce normative behavior. Unfortunately, this is often what officers are asked to do when called to support issues of mental health or serve as school SROs. Officers can be trained for empathy and deescalation, but their primary training is still in "CRIMINAL" justice and they are not without bias in decision making. Whenever possible we should use the person with the most appropriate training for a specific circumstance. We should work to send mental health experts when there's a suspected mental health break. School counselors and advisors should be used to remove the potential for a school to prison pipeline. And for the last step, our court system, we should support understanding and reform over punishment. The standard system of criminal court creates a adversarial role between the offender and courts. We should do more with community court systems that generate programs of reform and a shared sense of society. People who need support can be far more productive and cost the taxpayer much less than the jail sentence that would usually be given for minor offenses. |
| Jaren Hanson |
| No response |
| James Randolph |
| I feel like Woodinville is doing well in moving towards co-responder models and community courts. We need to continue to move in that direction. One of the places that I think needs more support is funding for human services in the area especially our non-profits that are loosing federal funding. |
| Jaren Hanson |
| No response |
| James Randolph |
| I feel that Woodinville has done very well at growing and sustaining our retail. We are celebrating a Trader Joe's being added downtown. We could use more affordable groceries and we may get that with the coming Green Partners development. We do need to focus on better outcomes for public transportation. I believe that our park and ride is woefully underutilized. During the pandemic Woodinville lost many of our active bus routes and just before the pandemic the 522 bus rapid transit was planned to stop at the junction at 522 and 405 and not terminate in Woodinville. There has been growth in Snohomish County in Snohomish, Monroe, and even Sultan for residents seeking housing affordability. This growth shows up in the 9, 202, 405 and 522 corridors. Until there is proper (read frequent, fast, and reliable) public transit connecting us and areas north to the 522 BRT, Brickyard P&R, and light rail in Redmond I believe commuter traffic will continue to deteriorate. As a representative to Eastside Transportation Partnership, I'm working to explore opportunities to create more public transit opportunities in Woodinville. That includes a local circuit I believe would be very helpful for local tourism and affordable housing. The scope of this issue beyond just Woodinville, so I am acting regionally to advance services. I hope that we be able to put some forward thinking in place for this problem and provide bus services further out with more urgency to connect with affordability, improve public transit utilization, and help climate resiliency by getting more cars off the road. |
| Jaren Hanson |
| No response |
| James Randolph |
| I'm happy to say that Woodinville has not raised taxes on residents during my term. What we've done instead is take what I feel are smart actions to retain grant writers and lobbyist to help the city obtain county, state, and federal grants. This has worked successfully for us over the last four years to the tune of over 20 million dollars for local projects. |
| Jaren Hanson |
| No response |
| James Randolph |
| I am the first person of color to serve on Woodinville's city council. So diversity is a bit new and I know that the city can often be disconnected from its constituents outside of election season. This is why I worked with council members David Edwards and Michelle Evans on an engagement subcommittee to create a framework for a more inclusive Woodinville. I'm happy to say that we have celebrated many firsts driven by our very diverse community. We're just getting started with our regular coffee with a council member to create a faster feedback loop between the council and our constituents. We just need to do more to set the expectation of our residents that they are welcome. |
| Jaren Hanson |
| No response |
| James Randolph |
| Our major issues of environmental justice are centered around the areas left in Woodinville for us to create affordable housing. The area along 522, like all highway corridors, will have air and noise pollution. We should do what's needed to make sure marginalized folks who live in newly created affordable housing do not suffer illness from being in this location. It should be possible to create natural tree screens to help with noise and pollution issues. I am excited to have been part creating Woodinville's first climate action plan. We have been able to start electrifying our fleet, install solar panels, and have funded the removal of a salmon barrier culvert. We are working with pollinator pathways to naturalize our landscaping and will be landscaping our stretch of East rail with largely native plants. I'm excited about what we've done, but there is a potential for much more including making sure we work to find more ways to reduce the city's carbon footprint and implement climate justice. |
| Jaren Hanson |
| No response |
| James Randolph |
| Thanks so much to the Northshore Social Justice Action Group for creating this candidate questionnaire. I appreciate the opportunity to answer. I'll admit my selfish hopes to have opportunities to learn from the people in this group. I love to hear feedback and grow through new information and changes in my understanding. If there is anything within my answers that you feel would benefit from more insight, information, or if you just want to share your personal experiences and commentary. Your feedback and engagement would be greatly appreciated. |
| Jaren Hanson |
| No response |