Mr. Shutz's and Mr. Fields' "Vision Statements" were harvested from their Candidate Websites and City Candidate videos.
Byron Shutz's Vision: "Redmond's Mayor and City Council continue to lay the ground work for Redmond's next 100 years, and beyond. My email byline reads:
Redmond -- a great place to live, work, and play for over 10,000 years -- all true, and keeping the long view in mind --the archaeological site on Bear Creek dates to over 10,000 years ago."
As your Council member, I'll continue to work City aims to:
- Serve each resident and visitor with respect, dignity, and trust.
- Collaborate regionally on all municipal issues, and continue my focus on strengthening ongoing human service infrastructures for every resident.
- Improve connections to area transportation and transit infrastructures - lightrail arrives in Overlake 2023 and Downtown in 2024.
- Connect our residents and businesses with regional aspirations and expectations.
- Facilitate transparency and continual improvement in collaboration among city, county and state services.
-- Byron Shutz's Candidate Website
Steve Fields' Vision: "Build Community, not Just Buildings."
Promote a Smart and Sharing City
Our quality of life is good, but as we’ve grown, we’ve been steadily losing ground. We can choose to be smarter and do a better job of managing our growth. This begins with reevaluating how we make our decisions and improve our current approaches and methods to be more inclusive and more comprehensive. Our best city planning resources are the people who live and work in Redmond. If elected, I will be an advocate for community involvement in determining what our city will look like and what amenities we will insist on.
Plan Growth with Innovative Ideas
Our buildings, streets, public gathering places should be placed to enhance our everyday lives and the beauty of our built and natural environment. We should not be stuck in traffic congestion every time we want to get somewhere. Our city government should be innovative, creative and thoughtful. We need to take the time to plan and understand what is best not just do what is quick and easy. I will ensure that Redmond uses the most advanced analytical tools and information to plan our growth with innovative ideas.
Cities are for People
Our urban centers should make people feel invited, safe and secure. Our public spaces should be fun and convenient for people to gather and strengthen and express our values of diversity and a sense of belonging. Our streets, sidewalks, parking areas, and curb space should be built for people to easily get around town, whether they are drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, or users of public or hired transportation. Innovative design is needed as new travel modes and technologies change. This did not happen in Redmond during our recent chaotic and very rapid growth and that is a clear, missed opportunity. But with new leadership we can begin to fix the problems that have been created. It is not too late to make Redmond a City for People. Let’s not miss any more opportunities!
Make it Easy for all to Participate
We must make it easy for people to participate with city government decisions. I will encourage frequent community outreach meetings where key city staff can join council to listen to citizens in their neighborhoods. I will encourage an increase in community matching grants and encourage neighborhood groups to write and submit budget proposals for consideration. I firmly believe the wisdom of the many is greater than the knowledge of the few.
Earn Trust Through Accountability
People deserve to know how things are going and why changes are being made. I will insist that comprehensive and genuine community indicators measure results, not just activities. And that this information is continuously provided to citizens in a format that can be understood and trusted.
Thanks for this informative and helpful post, Bob.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome. John. It's so hard to understand who these candidates are and become educated about them before we vote. The Voter's pamphlet can only go so far.
ReplyDeleteI find Steve Fields courageous and very giving to run for office not just once but twice. The fact that he won ~45% of the vote in the Mayoral election demonstrates our city and neighborhoods need his voice and the active participation in City Hall.