Campaign Corner: Burien City Council -Position 5

Sarah Moore, Burien City Council Candidate, (Incumbent) -Position 5

"...I am sharing with you my response to the related question asked by the B-Town blog and published July 24th. I would request that you share a link to the original so that readers may see the quoted response in its entirety. https://b-townblog.com/voters-guide-11-questions-for-burien-city-council-position-no-5-candidate-sarah-moore/

"More housing at all price points will be the main ingredient to ending homelessness. I have and will support proactive programs that encourage and incentivize middle housing, multifamily housing along transit corridors, and access to services citywide. I would specifically point to the programs proposed by our city planners and planning commission when we considered improvements to the Affordable Housing Demonstration Program at the end of 2022. I was in support of not only continuing this program, but strengthening it based on the feedback of smaller housing developers who wanted to bring creative housing options to Burien but couldn’t quite make it work. Additionally, we can and should partner with other cities to create some standard middle housing designs that will streamline the permitting process, saving time and money for affordable housing developers. 

State law clearly requires cities to allow religious organizations to use their space as temporary shelter for unhoused individuals, for overnight vehicle sheltering, tent or tiny house dwelling, or temporary shelter inside a place of worship. I support the state’s goal of allowing religious groups to exercise their rights and act according to their principles in this regard. I was strongly in favor of an ordinance that organizations could use as a guideline if they wanted to use their space in this way. However when I reviewed Burien’s proposed ordinance, and asked shelter providers for input, I learned that some of the restrictions would make it functionally impossible for certain types of shelter to be put in place. For that reason I could not vote yes on the ordinance."

Gabriel Fernandez, Burien City Council Candidate, Position 5

"This is an important question which is at the forefront of my drive to run for this position. 

I support the work that the council has done in the last two years. The progress they’ve made in Burien so far is seen and felt throughout the entire city. I want to continue to help support that momentum. My opponent was not in favor of these policies and I feel has contributed to the continued problems we are seeing with open drug use and widespread homelessness. 

Recently, the council implemented a camping ban, hired a new outreach provider who has bridged the gap with co-response, and hired a new police chief. With these changes, the tent encampments in our city are now gone, the number of deaths from overdoses on public property has come down dramatically, and the city feels safer than it did a few years ago. I want to expand on that. 

I support keeping the camping ordinance, hiring more police officers, and adding more co-response. DESC was intended to help individuals in crisis, but has instead contributed to the problems by allowing substance abuse. If they refuse to prohibit this abuse, I would advocate for the removal of DESC altogether. The number of overdose deaths happening in DESC needs to stop. We must hold DESC accountable for the lives that have been lost. My question is, if not now, how many more lives have to be lost before DESC changes?"

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