Election 2009 close-up coverage: Council candidate Sally Bagshaw

Primary Election Day is coming up on August 18; your ballot will arrive in less than two weeks. WSB is offering close-up looks — with West Seattle-specific questions — at hot races including the three Seattle City Council contests you’ll find on the primary ballot. So far in the past week, we’ve looked at three of the Position 8 candidates; now we’re jumping over to Position 4, the seat being given up by Jan Drago for her mayoral run, and starting with one of the 2 candidates dual-endorsed by the 34th District Democrats: Sally Bagshaw.

By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

City Council candidate Sally Bagshaw was at the Luna Park Café for breakfast Saturday, working on a plate of eggs, a fruit bowl and bottomless cups of decaf coffee.

Breakfast could be her only meal of the day as she dashes to neighborhood events, meetings, interviews and fundraisers.

“The single most exciting thing about this campaign is what I have learned,” she said.

That’s saying a lot coming from an attorney who earned her pilot’s license when she was 47 and recently returned from an adventure to Bora Bora aboard a 39-foot sailboat that she called “eight months of the hardest work I ever did.”

Bagshaw, a 58-year-old downtown resident, says she was urged by Councilmember Jan Drago to run for her city council seat. She said she would bring deep experience and unique skills to the city council.

“We need someone who can read contracts and hold people accountable for getting the work done,” she said.

She describes herself as a collaborative problem solver, experienced in dealing with complex issues. She said city departments have to work more closely with the council.

Bagshaw served for two terms on the Lake Forest Park city council in the 1980s (she was Sally Tenney then) before moving to Seattle. For nearly a decade, she was in charge of the civil division of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

Bagshaw said she has been surprised and impressed by the deep devotion Seattle residents have for their neighborhoods. She said she is very familiar with the charms of West Seattle. Her favorite place in the neighborhood is visiting with her friends who live here.

“Some live on Alki, some in the Admiral District, some near Fauntleroy. All areas are uniquely delightful in West Seattle,” she said. “Wherever I am, so long as I’m with my friends, it’s a good day.”

Q: How do you perceive West Seattle’s transportation challenges, and what can be done to solve them?

BAGSHAW: My goal is to develop a fast, frequent and reliable transit system that connects West Seattle to downtown and to our regional transit network including the new light rail! Since the demise of the monorail, this means we need more buses and more walk on ferry service to downtown. The Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement project, Bridging the Gap, and Transit Now have dedicated additional $$ for West Seattle Rapid Ride. West Seattle leaders have the opportunity and leverage to get the additional transit needed for West Seattle residents and businesses. Increased service to the West Seattle to Downtown walk-on ferry is critical. The number of foot passengers and frequency of travel must be increased and it looks like it may happen.

Q: A massive amount of development is planned in West Seattle. How do we keep West Seattle’s hometown feel, while bringing some jobs here so everyone doesn’t have to commute?

BAGSHAW: The key here is to build on the West Seattle Neighborhood Plans, by being inclusive with all who are interested in participating in the decision making approach and insisting that the character of West Seattle (however this is defined) is retained by each neighborhood. We cannot let West Seattle be taken over by big boxed stores or by chains; we need to do what we can to support local businesses through incentives, Chamber of Commerce support, and Buy Local campaigns. West Seattle has the leverage to work with Metro and WSDOT to add to the planned transportation system, and to insist that the City’s Department of Neighborhoods, and Department of Planning and Development provide grant funds and planning tools to provide good designs and affordable housing.

Q: The jail issue touches many neighborhoods. What should we do? Continue to study the plan? Forget it? Something else?

BAGSHAW: See my blog. http://sallybagshaw.com/?page_id=600 The County should be responsible for a new jail, not the City. In no way should a jail be built in West Seattle; anything new must be constructed near the courts.

Bagshaw’s website is at sallybagshaw.com. Kathy Mulady’s candidate reports will continue here on WSB. Find our archived coverage of all political races and issues here, newest to oldest. P.S. Bagshaw mentioned the Neighborhood Plans – a special meeting one week from tonight, 6-8 pm Tuesday 7/28 at Delridge Community Center, is meant to provide a “status check” for West Seattle’s plans – this has been years in the making and participation is vital.

J July 21, 2009 (9:03 am)

Aha! Here’s another candidate who ‘gets’ transit.

Sage July 21, 2009 (12:27 pm)

I love the idea of these candidate profiles, and appreciate the effort to do political reporting on a neighborhood based site… but they read to me as essentially puff-pieces. Where are the questions about the candidate’s records & whether that contrasts with their sentiments? Where’s the info on how the candidate is being funded & what their base of support is? Where are the questions about what the city can do about our gigantic hole in the ground? And in genearl, where’s the follow-up questions? (i.e., how does Bagshaw want to fund West Seattle transit? Does she have any plans to address the current Metro funding crisis? And what does this even mean: “West Seattle leaders have the opportunity and leverage to get the additional transit needed for West Seattle residents and businesses” Etc. Etc.)
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I know a lot of this info can be found elsewhere, but this reads more like an advertisement than a profile. You even let her get away with saying her favorite place in West Seattle was her friends. I bet she says that to all the neighborhoods!

WSB July 21, 2009 (12:40 pm)

Sage, there’s always more that can be done.
This is the most we can do right now.
And I hate to use the phrase “better than nothing” but we wanted to do something rather than say OMG, we can’t do detailed, indepth, massive long stories so let’s not do anything. (I am an “all or nothing” personality type at heart so the temptation to do – not do – that was great. I am hopeful that for the general, when we have two candidates per race for 4 council races, 1 mayoral race and 1 county exec race, we will be able to do even better.)

I highly urge people, for example, to come to the candidates’ forum tonight at ArtsWest – and I hope they went to all the others – to ask even more questions.

We have settled on three questions we are asking each of these folks for consistency’s sake, and I am glad to have a veteran journalist working with us to interview what will add up to something close to 20 candidates. The old saying goes “tis better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness” and while I wish we could throw up a 2K blazer on this, at the moment, we’re at least lighting a candle, and I am still working on a page with RSS for other coverage to be up in time for the ballots’ arrival – TR

Sage July 21, 2009 (1:03 pm)

I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sounds harsh, and I do truly appreciate the effort. For me, maybe it’s the questions — I want something a little bit harder-hitting, something that gets at the issues of priorities & compromises and such.
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In the spirit of not-just-criticizing, I’d offer that in future versions of these, question #1 should ask specifically about revenue sources for transit and where to direct those $, since that’s at the heart of what happens in the near future, especially given the Metro funding crisis. (Declarations about transit you want to see don’t matter much if you’re not willing to go after the revenue it takes to build out the system.) #2 should ask about stronger regulation of design & land use, especially with regard to townhomes. (a key concrete issue in how development is experienced in our community). #3 I think is peachy-keen!
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Anyway, what I want to see is questions that get at the actual distinctions between candidates — & I think those distinctions lie in what kinds of priorities they’re willing to set & what interests they’re willing to take on.
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But just to repeat, I 100% appreciate the effort behind this. You’ve just left me hungry for more!

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