King County mails ballots for the August 18 primary this week. WSB is offering close-up looks — asking the same few West Seattle-specific questions — at candidates in races including the three Seattle City Council contests you’ll find on the primary ballot. Previous stories are in the WSB Politics archive.

By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

With a sweeping general knowledge of Seattle issues and a good grasp on some of the specifics, it is hard to believe that Dorsol Plants has only lived in the city two years — not to mention that he also is a combat veteran and has led a neighborhood association, all before his 25th birthday.

Plants lives in West Seattle’s Highland Park neighborhood, where he served as chair of the Highland Park Action Committee before resigning to focus on his council campaign. He grew up in West Virginia and served five years in the U.S. Army before landing in Seattle in 2007 and jumping right in as a community volunteer.

He quickly became involved in domestic-violence-protection programs and neighborhood issues. He was elected a Precinct Committee Officer for the 34th District Democrats, who gave a dual endorsement to Plants and Sally Bagshaw in the Position 4 race.

Plants is a case manager at the Family Adult Service Center in downtown Seattle and working toward degrees in Social Science and psychology.

Plants said although he loves to run and swim at Lincoln Park, as other candidates have said, he has two other favorite places in West Seattle: “It would either be Zippy’s in Highland Park or The Celtic Swell on Alki,” he said.

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

PLANTS: Once construction on the potential bored tunnel begins, we will see massive issues develop and then expand once the Viaduct is closed down. That is why it is essential that we address several factors in West Seattle if we are to move forward with the bored tunnel. The first is to address the ever-growing number of people using the Fauntleroy ferry as their means to get downtown. We must begin to advocate very loudly for an additional route.

Secondly, we need to work with King County to fix an over-burdened transit system. If we truly want to encourage people to stop using their cars we need to provide an actual alternative. Thirdly, we need to fix our bike lanes and sidewalks. We need to restore and create sidewalks in the West
Seattle area. An 88-year-old woman should be able to walk down her own block with her head held high without fear of tripping. We have to stop talking about the need for sidewalks and start implementing them.

Q: A massive amount of development is planned in West Seattle. How do we keep West Seattle from losing its hometown feel, but on the other hand, bring some jobs here so everyone doesn’t have to commute?

PLANTS: This has been one of the key talking points of my campaign. We know that density is coming. The question is how best to deal with it while accommodating families that have lived in this area for generations. I believe a good start would be to solidify our Neighborhood Planning process, to allow the document to become more than just paper, but a contract that would enable the neighborhoods to defend themselves from rapid and forced city decisions.

Key to this will be creating a means to outreach to neighborhood leaders that aren’t recognized presently by the Department of Neighborhoods. I also believe that Seattle must move away from its “one size fits all” zoning practices and begin create new zoning laws at the neighborhood or district.

Finally, we need to begin to spur the creation of Urban Villages and small businesses in each neighborhood. One way I believe we can accomplish this would be to create a Small Business Liaison attached to each neighborhood.. The liaison would serve as a guide to help navigate the confusing permitting and taxing process the city has on businesses.

Q: The jail issue touches many neighborhoods. What should we do?

PLANTS: As the former chairman of the Highland Park Action Committee, I have been fighting the Jail issue for over a year. The city has yet to demonstrate any true, solid facts to confirm the honest need for this jail.

Considering the cost and ramifications of building a new jail in a neighborhood, this project should not move forward. The King County Council has mentioned that it would be open to renegotiations with the City about leasing beds from the King County Jail. We have also seen both candidates for Seattle City Attorney speak about the need to expand our alternatives to incarceration.

These are the same ideas that I’ve also spoken about: Ideas I have to expand our drug courts and focus on treatments that work rather than providing an addict with a more readily available supply of drugs that can be found in jail.

Plants’s website is at dorsolplants.com. Kathy Mulady’s candidate reports will continue here on WSB. Find our archived Politics coverage here, newest to oldest. P.S. Plants mentioned the neighborhood-planning process – reminder, a special meeting tomorrow night, 6-8 pm Tuesday at Delridge Community Center, is meant to provide a “status check” for West Seattle’s 5 plans – this has been years in the making and your participation is vital.

Photo courtesy Dina Johnson