We endorse: Norman and Franich for City Council Position 3

With Gig Harbor entering a crucial time marked by a rising population, expanding commercial and residential developments, and a contentious debate over the future of the downtown corridor, it’s important to have an experienced and well informed City Council.

Council members need to be cognizant of the gradual change in the city’s demographics, the overcrowding in some Peninsula School District elementary schools, and the fact that Gig Harbor is no longer a quiet fishing village that can only be home to a select few.

Since 2010, according to 2016 estimates from the U.S. Census, Gig Harbor’s population has grown to 9,110 from 7,126. While that is not a huge jump, (the population nearly doubled from 1990 to 2000) the numbers say there is a trend of people moving here.

Since two candidates move on to the general election, we typically pick two people per race. In the open Position 3 on the Gig Harbor City Council, The Peninsula Gateway Editorial Board endorses Peter Norman and Jim Franich to move on to the general election. The other positions, as well as the race for mayor of Gig Harbor, have two candidates.

Norman, who has lived in Gig Harbor for 30 years, has a background in real estate sales, development and management, which gives him a solid base on one of the city’s biggest issues. He also has experience on local community boards — which will serve him well on the Council — having been a board member of the YMCA of Pierce/Kitsap at Camp Seymour as well as stints on the parks board in Tacoma and Multicare Health Foundation.

Norman has done his homework, taking time to talk with heads of the city’s engineering and public works departments and current Council members. With a long career in real estate development all over the county, he also has worked with opposition factions and listening to members’ concerns.

Franich is a third-generation resident who served on the City Council from 2000 to 2010. Although a lot has changed in the last seven years, he will likely have no problem re-acclimating to the new climate.

Although he does not approve of some decisions the Council has made in recent years — mainly allowing specific restaurant zoning in the Millville section of downtown and letting the local canoe and kayak team build a structure at Ancich Park — Franich sees and understands both sides of the issue. He has set goal of protecting the view basin along Harborview Drive, but understands that the Council still needs to have a forward-thinking perspective when it comes to growth.

Dave Christian, a two-year transplant to the Harbor from Issaquah, has little experience on elected boards outside of a homeowner association but has a solid grasp of the issues facing the community. His perspective of someone who came to Gig Harbor on a weekend getaway and fell in love with its charm so much that he moved here years later is a plus, but when faced with a pressure-cooker atmosphere that routinely fills the Council Chambers on Monday nights, Norman and Franich are the wise choices to move on to the general election in November.

This story was originally published July 18, 2017 at 11:31 PM with the headline "We endorse: Norman and Franich for City Council Position 3."