Langley City Council

Langley City Council

Bruce Allen allenrb40@gmail.com said he would, but then did not respond

I was not able to find a website or public statement by Mr Allen, although he did speak at the League of Women Voters’ (many thanks for organizing these events) candidates’ night. 

Craig Cyr electcraigcyr@gmail.com responded

   1. Why are you running for this particular position?

My run for Langley City Council centers on a desire to see our community move forward sustainably, inclusively, and compassionately. Langley must continue to lead on local and regional issues affecting our community. Current troubling times in our nation beg for a progressive voice on Langley City Council, Position 4. I am that progressive voice.

2.       What do you hope to accomplish in this position?

 During my campaign for Langley City Council, I have heard from many Langley citizens with ideas for the Langley community. Among them are:

        Work to reduce the City of Langley’s carbon footprint - Establish a city board staffed by citizen volunteers and by “Greater Langley” residents which would:

o   Determine the baseline carbon footprint of each Langley department

o   Recommend an aggressive and achievable 3 year carbon footprint reduction goal

o   Identify specific actions each department could take towards the carbon footprint reduction goal. For example:

        Hybrid & and all electric vehicles should be considered for future vehicle acquisitions (including the police department – there are pursuit rated hybrid & Electric police vehicles in use around the country).

        Investigate feasibility of a Langley based community solar project of some significant size to generate power locally

         Ensure that future developments within Langley have dwellings that are truly affordable. The Memoranda of Understanding must have teeth in them so that upon initial purchase and into perpetuity, it is a requirement that the dwellings are affordable.

         Establish a fireworks-free zone year-round.

o    Fireworks are bad for the environment, unsafe, extremely disruptive for humans and pets, trigger PTSD among some of our fellow citizens, etc.

o    Langley could create an alternative model for celebrating July 4^th without fireworks. It might draw people to Langley from around Whidbey who want to avoid the noise and disruption of fireworks

         Locate a dog park that is located within Langley 

o    Langley residents should be able to walk to a local dog park thereby avoiding burning fossil fuels to transport the pooch to Bayview or beyond. There are surely sites within Langley where a dog park could be established.

3.       What problems do you see that you expect to correct or alleviate?

         If elected into Position 4 on the Langley City Council, I will act as a check on the mayor when appropriate. That is not happening now from council position 4 and that will immediately change when I am elected.

         Transparency: I will encourage public input at critical times, such as at the outset of a major project like the Coles Valley development presentation. For example, the Langley City Council acted to deny the public an opportunity to comment at the time of the South Whidbey Partners presentation on Coles Valley on August 19^th, 2019. I would have insisted on hearing from the public.

4.       What relevant experience do you have?

               Langley Emergency Response District 5 co-chair

         King County Fire District 5 Commissioner

         Lake Forest Park Library Commissioner

         Langley precinct committee officer (PCO) for Democrats

         Poor People’s Campaign Local Organizer (Edmonds)

5.       What will be your operating philosophy in office?

  As a progressive/liberal, I want to represent the citizens of Langley with an eye towards creating safe places for community to thrive. And community can only thrive when public policy is sensitive to and addresses economic inequality, systemic discrimination, and environmental degradation which is so prolific in our society. I believe Langley’s elected representatives can and should address these issues.

Also, our public policy debates must always keep in mind that we are a small coastal community

with special responsibility to the environment as well as those residents who are not sitting in the City of Langley Council chambers when decisions are made.

6.       What message would you like to convey to voters?

  As I said above in my answer to the first question, I want to see a sustainable, inclusive, compassionate Langley. I am dedicated to Social Justice. In these troubling times nationally, I believe my local progressive voice in Position 4 will better reflect the will of Langley citizens. 

In my campaign for City Council, Langley citizens have informed me of their future desires for our community (e.g., fireworks free zone, dog park, affordable housing, city hall transparency, etc.). I have heard these requests and will act on them to the extent that I can build a coalition that will support them. It is obvious that Langley will face future challenges and it is important that voters know I will listen with keen interest through a progressive lens to make the best decision for the common good.

Also:

• All campaign signs, flyers, food, beverages, are purchased from local family owned Langley businesses. I pay a premium but the benefit to my campaign and its donors far exceeds the expenditure.
• I am running a zero-emission campaign meaning I walk to and from all campaign events. I am not burning any fossil fuels transporting me around Langley.
• I use 100% renewable power for my campaign computers, printers, lights, etc. because all power is generated from the 37 solar panels installed on my garage. 
• I was honored to have received the endorsement of the Sierra Club.

I ask for your vote.

~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~

I attended the League of Women Voters’ (many thanks to them for organizing these events) candidates’ and issues night in Langley on October 8, and because Bruce Allen had not responded to the questions, I took particularly careful notes. In general I found that for a sitting city councilman, Mr Allen’s responses reflected a vagueness and lack of depth. In response to a question about how much growth/development was appropriate in the city, Mr Allen said that he was not familiar with the proposal to site 112 housing units on Coles Road. Which causes me to ask just where he has been for the last six months or so. This has been one of the two most hotly debated issues in the city. In response to the question of a vision for the city in 5 years or 20 years, Mr Allen responded that he had been here for 80 years and he wanted to “keep it going.”

I have to confess that I have known Craig Cyr for some time and in the last months have been working with him on what I consider important environmental issues. So of course I’m biased. Craig is a data analyst. I hand him heavy duty reports and swamp him with information (those who work with me know what I’m talking about) and he comes up for air having absorbed it, drawn conclusions, and ready to discuss actions in response. My kind of guy. That’s the kind of brain I want to see on the Langley city council. If I could vote in Langley, I would most definitely vote for Craig Cyr.