In the Nov. 8 general election a longtime Renton City Council member is facing a challenge from a first-time candidate, motivated initially by her opposition to relocate the downtown Renton Library.
Don Persson will face off with library activist Phyllis Forister to retain his Position 7 seat on the City Council. Although the library issue sets them at odds with each other, the two do agree on certain issues.
Persson hasn’t faced a challenger in the last two elections, and Forister, although she champions concern for the library, says she’s not a one-issue candidate.
In an interview with the Renton Reporter Editorial Board, Forister said she has the skills required to make Renton city government responsive to citizens and to reduce costs.
She’s drawn this experience from 23 years working for King’s Schools as the assistant to the school superintendent. King’s School is a private Christian school in North Seattle.
She also worked for eight years as a property manager for an Edmonds apartment complex.
Forister and her husband Carl founded the web-based information retrieval business Factfinder.com in 1996, in addition to selling security products.
She feels she can bring new ideas to the council, she said.
Persson served 33 1/2 years with the Renton Police Department, first as a patrol officer working his way up to deputy chief.
In 1999 he ran for the City Council, taking office in 2000. He is a past president of the Renton Rotary Club, one of the founders of the Renton Communities in Schools and the Neighborhood Program. He’s been a member of City Council for 12 years.
Persson and Forister are at odds over the decision of the City Council to relocate and rebuild the downtown library on the former site of Big 5 Sporting Goods on South Third Street.
Persson believes the question of where the library should go is now “moot.” For the city it was a matter of being able to afford a state-of-the-art library and maintain service hours in the future, he said. That’s what ultimately led him to the decision to put the King County Library System annexation to a vote of the people.
“It’s not an easy issue, it’s complicated,” he said. “But our costs of running the city go up about 6 percent a year – wages, costs of goods, everything. But, we can only raise our property taxes by 1 percent,” Persson said about his reasons for not being able to afford the libraries in Renton.
Forister said the library annexation vote wasn’t clearly explained. She said it wasn’t clear from the voters pamphlet that the downtown library would be moved. Forister wants to see the library remain over the Cedar River. She helped gather 900 signatures in May of residents that opposed the relocation. She is also supporting an initiative that directs funding to keep the library at its current location.
Forister said elected Renton officials should not have agreed to build two new libraries for KCLS ownership at the expense of Renton taxpayers and a $19 million bond.
The city has already issued bonds to build the downtown library and a new Highlands library. It will pay back those bonds using tax dollars that would have supported a city library system. However, some Renton residents, including many on Benson Hill and the East Renton Plateau, are paying for the 2004 KCLS bonds, which they approved before they annexed to the city.
Only the residents who annexed into Renton after 2004 are paying for the bond, said Alex Pietsch, administrator for the city’s Department of Community and Economic Development.
Forister said the library relocation was not her most important issue. Also important to her are the effects of school budget cuts and downtown Renton. She wants to see a basic clean-up of the streets and storefronts and even pass ordinances to keep downtown looking good.
“To expend a lot more kneejerk reactions to save, to renovate downtown is not a good use of money, tax dollars,” Forister said about current revitalization plans for downtown Renton, which include moving the Liberty Park library closer to the core of the city.
Later in a phone interview, Forister said that transparency of government and fiscal responsibility were also among her big issues.
Persson offered that “the financial welfare of the city” was his priority.
Both candidates have drawn similar conclusions about the possibility of annexing the West Hill community.
“To take Skyway in without having the money and the dollars to properly take care of it would mean we would give less service to our current residents,” Persson said.
Forister faulted King County government for putting an unfair burden on the City of Renton to take in West Hill.
It’s a big area to take on with a lot of problems, she said, and, “the numbers would not translate into anything that would benefit Renton.”
Both Persson and Forister offered different examples of how they would engage and respond to the diversity in the city.
Forister called connecting with ethnic groups like those responsible for the International Festival in the Highlands a “golden opportunity” to support and reach out to diverse residents.
Persson cited the work the council has done to partner with schools and police liaisons, a mayor’s committee of diverse community leaders and printing informational materials in different languages as examples of activities he’s supported on the council.
DON PERSSON
AGE: 69
FAMILY: wife, Vicky; daughter and son-in-law, Lisa and Jim Berreth; granddaughter, Alexis Berreth
HOMETOWN: Tukwila
EDUCATION: Associate degree from Green River Community College, graduate of FBI National Academy
COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES: Founding member of Renton River Days, Communities in Schools in Renton and Renton Community Foundation; member and past president of Renton Rotary; started Thanksgiving Day Dinner at the Renton Senior Center. Charity BBQ’s for numerous organizations.
POLITICAL ACTIVITIES: member of Renton City Council, 12 years
MUNICIPAL LEAGUE RATING: Good
TOP THREE ISSUES: 1) Economic development to promote more local jobs, 2) Revitalization of the Highlands, 3) Public safety and financial stability
PHYLLIS FORISTER
AGE: none given
FAMILY: husband Carl, two children, one grandchild
HOMETOWN: Wichita, Kan.
EDUCATION: Friends University, Wichita, Kan.
COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES: Community-based environmental projects
POLITICAL ACTIVITIES: She says that she’s politically astute and regularly writes her representatives and senators
MUNICIPAL LEAGUE RATING: Good
TOP THREE ISSUES: 1) Transparency of government, 2) Fiscal responsibility, 3) Cuts to Education
