There’s a big, ugly hole in the center of University Place, potentially big enough to bury the political careers of City Council members who helped dig it.
But it would be unfortunate if voters took out their frustration over the slow progress of Town Center on Linda Bird, a fine incumbent who is on the Aug. 18 primary ballot.
Two other council incumbents also are running for re-election, but their races will be decided in the Nov. 3 general election because they each have only one opponent. An open seat will also be decided in November.
If anybody on the University Place City Council embodies the spirit of the city, it is Bird.
She was the campaign manager for UP’s cityhood effort in 1994, and was called “the mother of incorporation” in tribute to her leadership. She is one of five remaining members of University Place’s first City Council who took office in May 1995, and now she is seeking another term.
Voters should give it to her – not just as payback for the hard work she has put into the city but also because she’s the best of the three candidates running for Position 1.
Bird – who is currently serving as mayor – has been a champion for parks, sidewalks and expanding the city’s tax base. Although the council has hit repeated obstacles on the Town Center project – most notably the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression – the original plan was a courageous gamble to better fund city services and improvements.
Bird has two challengers, real estate consultant Javier Figueroa and Daniel O. Carnrite, a retired Army recruiter and member of the city’s Planning Commission since 2004.
For University Place voters who are intent on change in Position 1, Carnrite is the better choice due to his background in planning in Edgewood, Pacific and Tenino. The first-time candidate also has some good ideas about bringing sewers to those parts of University Place that still lack them.
Figueroa, who ran unsuccessfully against Jean Brooks in 2003, has tied up a lot of impressive endorsements. But City Council members must be able to work together respectfully, and he’s not shown a proclivity for that on other boards he has served on.
To read earlier election endorsements in the Aug. 18 primary, go online to: www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/endorsements
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