My Answers.

Thurston Conservation Voters
2007 Candidate Questionnaire
[City Council]

Thurston Conservation Voters (TCV), a local chapter of Washington Conservation Voters, acts in the public interest to elect, support and hold accountable state and local public officials to achieve responsible environmental policies in Thurston County.

TCV thanks you for taking time out of your busy campaign schedule to complete this questionnaire. Your responses will be an important factor in our endorsement consideration.

As a city council member, you will consider numerous environmental issues and have an opportunity to lead on important initiatives. The following questionnaire is designed to provide us with an understanding of your approach to these aspects of leadership on environmental issues.

Instructions: Please prepare and attach your answers as a separate document_ Return the completed questionnaire to TCV by Friday, June 1. If we do not receive a timely submission, we may not be able to consider you for an endorsement

I. Your experience

a. Please briefly describe something from your past experience, either professionally or personal, that demonstrates your commitment to environmental protection, conservation, and/or sustainability.

I've always been an advocate of recycling. In fact, I feel bad if for some reason I am unable to do so. I've quit smoking, but when I did smoke, I never threw my butt onto the ground. I would always carry it to a recepticle.


b. Please attach a copy of your resume or a list of professional and civic experience that provides an understanding of your qualifications to serve on the city council.

Like the Founders of this great nation, I will state that I have no prior experience. I do, however, have a vision, and my vision is to serve the people who elected me to serve.

II. City environmental issues

a. ENVIRONMENTAL DECISION MAKING (current or former office holders only): Describe a situation where you had to make a decision about an environmental issue: how did you obtain the information needed and who/what were your resources?
N/A


b. TRANSPORTATION: What transportation problems do you think we have in this city and what are your ideas for solutions?

There are many points facing the future of Olympia where transportation is concerned. For example: Intercity Transit is in dire need of an overhaul; the traffic at Black Lake Blvd. and Cooper Point Rd. has gotten out of hand; downtown would benefit greatly from adding just one parking structure.

One way to solve the congestion problem is to add another avenue linking the West side to the rest of Olympia (perhaps by extending Decatur to meet Auto Mall Drive).

I have several ideas regarding IT, however they are too cumbersome to be placed here.

c. ENERGY: What would you like to see the city do to address energy/ global warming issues?

People who choose to ride a bike rather than drive are often frustrated by the lack of bike lanes downtown, an insufficient number (and disbursement) of racks on which to secure them, and the limited number of bicycles which an IT bus can carry. Improvements in these areas would encourage people to ride more, and by riding bikes rather than driving, we will help reduce the amount of fossil fuel being used.


d. GROWTH MANAGEMENT/ LAND USE:
1. What are the most important land use policies to put in place or goals to achieve for the City?

There are many people who like to see the reduction or elimination of impact fees and growth studies. This would be a grave mistake, as it would give developers the incentive to pave on without end, without responsibility to the environment or accountability the people who live in Olympia.

2. As a city council member what can you do to promote more low impact development projects?

As I am not in the pocket of big developers, I will encourage the Council to be friendlier to citizens' groups who are more interested in promoting a more sustainable future.

I have lived in Olympia for eight years, and in that time I have seen development go on unchecked, and I have seen acre after acre of forest clear-cut for housing developments or strip-malls.

We need to live more in sync with our environment, and this includes a reinvention of the way Olympia does its recycling. I will do what I can to promote a more symbiotic relationship with our environment.

3. Do you think this city has sufficient parks and open space? If not, how do you plan to address this?

The parks we have seem to be on the edges of Olympia, rather than near the neighborhoods. This is something that should change, however, I have no idea how to implement it.

III. Your campaign

1. Do you have a campaign plan? Yes. A campaign manager? Yes.

2. Who has endorsed you and are you pursuing endorsements?
I am currently pursuing endorsements from WFSE Local 443 and TCV. Currently, no one has endorsed me.

3. How many votes do you need to win? About 21,000.
How are you contacting voters? At this moment, I am still soliciting initial campaign funds and recruiting volunteers. I'm talking with people whenever possible to listen to their concerns and promote myself as the person who will represent them on the Council.

4. How much money have you raised? How much do you need to raise in order to win?
I currently have raised nothing at all. I'd like to get about $150,000, but I'm running to win, and will run with or without money. I'd like to see a political system in place where this question is irrelevant, where people are elected on the strength of their positions not on the strength of their bankbooks.

Thank you.
--- Toren Wilder-Valimir

Their questions. My Answers.

WFSE Local 443 - 2007 Candidate Questionnaire

1. Please describe why you are seeking our endorsement, and why you think we should endorse you.
I am not a political insider and as such, I will represent those people who put me on the Council.

Unions are people who pull together for a common cause. Governments should work in a similar fashion: working together for the benefit of the governed, not just for a privileged few.

2. What is your position on contracting out public services?
Citizens pay taxes to help pay for services that benefit all of us (roads, electrical infrastructure, sewage, etc). When the government subcontracts work like that out, a private company benefits, and the public runs the risk of having substandard work performed.

In short, since the public pays the state for services, then the state workers should perform the work. To do otherwise is for the State to avoid accountability in the event something goes wrong.

3. How will you support the development of family wage jobs in your community?
This is a great question, and it brings up the crux of my campaign. Right now, the City Council has been making decisions which demonstrate that the majority of its members are less interested in truly representing the people of Olympia, and more interested in pleasing the advocates of unrestrained growth and expansion (such as the Building Industry Association of Washington).

On the surface, we receive the lip-service of buzz words such as "job creation" from the political supporters of BIAW and other such groups, but the fact remains that very little (if any) of those workers are local. Obviously, bowing to corporations such as the BIAW does nothing to help job security in the Olympia area.

My election to the City Council will ensure that the people of Olympia will actually have a voice which is heard. I will work for the people of Olympia, and not be a yes-man for the corporate machine.

A buddy who I met on a cross-country train trek a few years ago sent me a note today. His question is relevant to everyone, everywhere. Hence, I have decided to post his letter, and the great majority of my response, here.

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Billium
Date: Apr 26, 2007 6:10 AM


You make me want to move out to Olympia to vote you into office, and at some point obtain office myself. I think I'd like to be sheriff. If you need any east coast help getting elected, I don't know how you could, but if you do, I'm here for you. Lord knows we need a change. -Bill

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Hey Bill... Good to hear from you. :)

What I'm doing here in Oly can (and should) be done everywhere. Voting my be a Constitutionally protected right, but that right didn't exist before people fought and died for it. Hence, it is honestly a coveted privilidge.

People are under the impression that we elect leaders to office. This is somewhat true when voting for the President, but more correctly, we vote for people to represent us. When was the last time your Senator or Representative came back from Washington DC and said: "Ok people... bill HR-432a has come up for a vote, and it's a bit tricky. Voting yes will do (a) and voting no will do (b). How do you want me to vote?"

Better yet, when was the last time a City Council person asked a similar question? Here in Oly the Council has held meetings and listened to people say (with amazing popularity) "Vote NO!" and the Council has gone ahead and voted "Yes" anyway.

This is not a textbook example of representative government, as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

I'm trying to encourage people to vote in their local elections (which currently have about a 20% turn out) and vote for the person (*not* the party - but the PERSON) who you feel will actually listen to the People who put them in power.

If you want to help me, get involved and run with this responsive democracy as part of your platform. If that isn't your bag (but it could be... you do have "those eyes") then try reposting my Ballot Box Revolution piece (currently on this page, and in my blog on the other page) everywhere.

The People have the power in this nation. Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to take away your Divinely-given control over your own destiny.

If we all act locally we can effect the nation, and from there, the world.