66 Replies to "2015 Election: Dave Montoure becomes 8th candidate to announce for West Seattle/South Park's City Council District 1 seat"

• R Sarkees February 17, 2015 (4:58 pm)

  Finally, a District 1 front-runner I can promote that knows how to lead through example, prioritize through necessity and get things done. Thanks Dave.

• John February 17, 2015 (5:00 pm)

  This is fantastic news! Dave really gets what makes this a great place to live. His business is one of the reasons I love living here.

• kj February 17, 2015 (5:08 pm)

  Yay! Great addition to the race.

  Owner of successful WS business; past Pres. of WS Chamber of Commerce; definitely cares about this community, as evidenced by his longevity in the area; super good person; obviously smart, etc. etc.

  Awesome resume!

• K A February 17, 2015 (5:11 pm)

  Finally a candidate that has the potential to really make a change! I for one am fed up with the status quo. Our city needs someone like Dave. You have my vote.

• The Truth February 17, 2015 (5:22 pm)

  Finally a candidate that has a business background and a heart!!! Dave is a great leader and a man who truly understands WS as both an active community member and a owner of a small business in the heart of our business core. I love that we have a candidate who has the proven experience of being a leader and who is outside of city hall. Dave has never been about himself, he has always been about his community! I am so excited to read this!!!!

• west side babe February 17, 2015 (5:23 pm)

  Woo hoo! I was less than impressed with the other line up. Dave threw a charity gig I attended and he is totally awesome! Time for a change. …and some mac n cheese at West 5.

• Born on Alki 59 February 17, 2015 (5:54 pm)

  Most excellent news!

• rocky raccoon February 17, 2015 (5:56 pm)

  Great guy, great business. He has my vote.

• Anonymous February 17, 2015 (6:06 pm)

  Yes yes yes!!!! So happy to see a familiar face on the list!!! I have no doubts that Dave would be amazing for this position! This just made my day :)

• sam February 17, 2015 (6:27 pm)

  Finally a reason to care about local politics! Finally a person I can trust to get the job done with the best interest of WS at heart.

  Thank you!

• JayDee February 17, 2015 (6:49 pm)

  Thanks for a little variety in the Race. I love West 5 and I love that West 5 cares about West Seattle through their brand, their support of the community and well, the good atmosphere of the bar itself.

• Kim February 17, 2015 (6:50 pm)

  Hurrah! Love to see all the support for Dave, he would be an amazing advocate for West Seattle.

• Sage February 17, 2015 (6:51 pm)

  Note that last year, Montoure gave $1,000 to the misleading effort to try and repeal the $15 minimum wage:

  http://web6.seattle.gov/ethics/elections/poplist.aspx?cid=383&listtype=contributors

  He was one of the 20 or so largest contributors to that effort.

• Craig February 17, 2015 (6:53 pm)

  I’m liking this guy. Sounds like he can be a representative for WS. There are several good candidates in the race so I’m going to be reading the blog to learn more about each and make the most informed vote I can.
  *
  I really also want a 24/7 ER here.

• Seattlite February 17, 2015 (6:54 pm)

  “We need to end the cycle of career politicians….” YES!!! This guy sounds interesting. Dare I say there may be hope for West Seattle and not the same ol, same ol.

• JTJ February 17, 2015 (6:59 pm)

  Finally, a true local, who understands and puts our community before politics. Dave is one of the most well liked, intelligent, approachable people in all of WS. I can’t say that about any of the other candidates because in my almost 50 years in West Seattle ive never met or so much as even seen them around. guess I should get out more. Go Dave

• KT February 17, 2015 (7:08 pm)

  Here is who gets my vote … willing to stress the delivery of basic city services; realization that continuing to turn to property tax levies is hurting the middle class property owners of Seattle as assessments continue to scream upwards; willing to take on department heads and hold them accountable for failures; and finally someone who will make a decision without turning to five different studies or three different task forces.

• Q Up February 17, 2015 (7:52 pm)

  I wonder if Mr. Montoure would embrace tourism enterprises and full-on eco-tourism projects here in West Seattle. Such ecotourism jobs – more biking, boating and scuba interests – would provide a continual source of revenue without parking needed for the customer! Whooah! Would Mr. Montoure support food truck rodeos? A little bird told me he worked hard to keep food trucks away from California Ave. near his restaurant.

  What would he say to a larger hotels (or two or five) with towering views of the city and mountains? Jobs.

  Is this what you’re envisioning?

  I need mac n. cheese.

• C February 17, 2015 (8:08 pm)

  Naive question: how is King County Mr. Montoure’s adversary in his fight to preserve free parking in the Junction? I would have thought the City of Seattle to be the jurisdiction.

• WS gal February 17, 2015 (8:23 pm)

  I know thru the chamber he tried hard to push for Eco tourism. Would ask him directly but remember it coming up all too often- imo.

• Ivan February 17, 2015 (8:25 pm)

  I like Dave’s quote here: “It’s time to end the cycle of career politicians.” Problem with it is, everyone else in this race is a first-time candidate. There are no career politicians in it.

• JayDee February 17, 2015 (8:28 pm)

  @Sage: It is not unimaginable that a business owner would object to a unilateral Seattle-specific $15/hour wage. The City just lost jobs to Reno Nevada because of it. More manufacturing jobs may follow.
  –
  I cannot speak for Mr. Montoure but let him make his case why he was against it in the campaign. Maybe you would agree with him?

• DAN February 17, 2015 (8:38 pm)

  Q Up,

  as a restaurant owner there was a lot of concern about food trucks parking on city streets serving in front of our locations. Most of us are good with food trucks on private lots. Hell, I eat an amazing amount of tacos out of trucks. We pay lease for location and for someone to be able to pull in front on a city street and block a storefront was a major concern and something many of us worked against. I don’t know Dave’s stance on this but it was a major concern a few years ago. The city has since put down rules that I think both fixed space and trucks believe is fair.

• The Truth February 17, 2015 (8:47 pm)

  Sage: Many people feel that the council painted the $15 wage with a VERY large brush. Most every position in a restaurant gets tipped out as part of there wage. I used to be a server and made WELL over $2500 in tips and many of them may or may not have been fully taxed :-) To consider those employees min wage is insane!!! Restaurants are thin profit margin businesses for the most part and I would not fault a business owner for feeling left out of the conversation and wanting to see the wage structured differently. I also don’t know Dave’s thoughts on this but isn’t it possible his donation doesn’t mean he is against 15 min wage??? Possible just the version that passed??? Food for thought before you tar and feather a man before he as even addressed the issue……….

• The Truth February 17, 2015 (8:50 pm)

  Ivan,

  Several of the candidates are people who worked for current politicians and are very tied to city hall or political campaigns and it is what they do for a living. His statement is not far off, if at all.

• wscommuter February 17, 2015 (9:15 pm)

  Don’t know anything about Mr. Mounture; who knows, I might end up voting for him. Seems to have some good ideas.
  .
  But I am shaking my head at the derogatory anti-“career politician” comments … such knee-jerk ignorance. As though if we vote the bums out, suddenly, the “non-career politicians” will save us from potholes and congestion and crime and Chipotle. And as if people who have made a … dare I say it … career … out of public service are the root of our problems.
  .
  The truth is messy – life presents complicated problems and these have always existed/always will exist. But doesn’t it feel good to offer that talk-radio/FoxNews sort of in-depth analysis by blaming it on the “career politicians”? Yup …

• Elise February 17, 2015 (9:41 pm)

  I love that Dave is running. He was one of our first customers when we started our small business 15 years ago in West Seattle. He understands small business and the hurdles we face everyday. I am glad he contributed to the NO $15 minimum wage efforts (we did too). This $15 minimum wage law was just rammed down small business throats. The council did not want to listen to any small business owners. Unfortunately only one person on the current City Council has ever owned a small business and the person who did run a small business did so in the 70s. This current City Council is so out of touch they are shooting themselves in the foot by putting more financial burden on small business owners. “Over half of private sector jobs in the U.S. are with small businesses” SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet. That is half of all private sector jobs and the current City Council could care less. Just tax us more with no understanding of how to run a business.

  Dave is more than not supporting $15 minimum wage increase.I love his platform and what he stands for – creating more jobs, less career out of touch politicians, a 24-7 medical facility in West Seattle, better transportation and free parking in the junction! He is THE candidate to vote for. He is real people. Honest. West Seattle real.

• Peter February 17, 2015 (10:53 pm)

  Well said, Wscommuter. I would also point out that all of them became politicians the moment they filed to run for office.

• Diane February 17, 2015 (11:44 pm)

  THE most critical issue is housing crisis; renters in WS being displaced by new development, with rents 2 to 3 times higher; the low & mid income are getting forced out of WS; where is solution for this in Dave’s statement? and btw, new min wage law, small biz min is only $10 starting in April; that’s only 53 cents over state min; people in WS are still struggling to pay the rent with poverty wages, and rents are going up way faster than the 7yr phase-in min wage

• WS gal February 17, 2015 (11:47 pm)

  Peter, career….Isn’t that the key word? To me meaning if you are working in politics or any other position for more than something like 8-10 years that’s a career and one you probably plan to stick with? That’s my problem with all of council and the mayor except sawant (for now), they want to do this long term and are making most decisions so they can keep doing this or to move up even further in the political chain. You need to get done in 4-8 years and move on… For better and bigger ideas.

• acemotel February 18, 2015 (1:35 am)

  Is he going to represent small business, or is he going to represent the citizens of West Seattle? Frankly, I would rather have someone in that position who has a LOT of experience balancing the needs of a wide range of constituents (business owners/workers; pedestrians/drivers; active park users / naturalists; homeowners / renters; prosperous/homeless, etc) and it’s not the business owners or the community activists who can do that. Campaigning against the $15 minimum wage is a big liability, in my book. But we’ve come to the point in our society where capital and governance are virtually indistinguishable.

• JD February 18, 2015 (5:57 am)

  Thanks for running Dave, I look forward to voting for you.

• CandrewB February 18, 2015 (6:01 am)

  “Such ecotourism jobs – more biking, boating and scuba interests – would provide a continual source of revenue without parking needed for the customer!”

  Wha? Have you seen the rigs pulling boats? Ever share a bus with folks and their scuba gear? I haven’t. But I have seen their giant vehicles parked outside of the Water Taxi dock.

• Chris February 18, 2015 (6:27 am)

  Thank you wscommuter. As someone who has made a career out of public service both in the public and the non-profit sector through jobs in state government and policy advocacy organizations – it’s disheartening when folks blindly disparage public service. Like most Democrats, I believe in the power of government to have a positive influence on people’s lives. I have to believe that most of these candidates do too – otherwise, why would they run? Dave’s resume is nice, but, his cheap shot at folks who have made a career of public service really turns me off. How does one expect to relate to city employees with that attitude, much less your own staff?

• Joe Szilagyi February 18, 2015 (6:59 am)

  Montoure opposing the $15 minimum wage so forcefully is a troubling thing to a lot of us — he donated $1000 to the opposition campaign as well. For many of us to be willing to consider him he will need to be willing to state unequivocally on the record his complete unwillingness to challenge the increase, and to in fact defend it, in the face of it’s overwhelming public support. Yes, that public support does not extend to the business owning class that he is a member of. That’s irrelevant. He’s applying to work for us now as an EMPLOYEE.
  .
  As for the 24×7 medical facility in West Seattle, many of have been making substantial noise about this for years. Some longer than others. A proper facility like this would be expensive, and if we want a satellite hospital type facility it will need to be A) centrally located – think the Junction area, B) tall – no complaining about height, full stop, C) easily accessible to the bridge, and D) WILL generate lots of traffic and activity and noise. If you’re not OK with A-D you’re not getting a 24×7 medical facility.

• JoB February 18, 2015 (7:08 am)

  WEll.. one thing is clear.. this candidate is not like the others

• Sage February 18, 2015 (7:12 am)

  @JayDee and @The Truth – just think its worth knowing he was one of the couple dozen largest contributors to the misleading min wage repeal effort. He didn’t just have an opinion, he spent $1000 trying to repeal the law after it passed.

• WS gal February 18, 2015 (7:20 am)

  Joe- business owning class?!? You think we are all rich? What do you mean by that? I own a small biz have 1 employee and net about 56k a year that’s me most of my business class owning friends in the junction btw. Stop lumping us with the rich cause if I knew how to do that- I would not be a small business owner.

• Joe Szilagyi February 18, 2015 (7:52 am)

  I’m not saying you or Montoure are wealthy; I’m saying that politically by virtue of business ownership and having employees you have literally a different additional set of political needs, as a separate class, and you do.
  .
  Every polling I’ve seen shows broad general population support for $15, while most — but not all surveys of the business owner class — do not support it. Montoure’s role as our civic employee would be to defend our views and interests while putting his personal needs aside. If he were unable to stand by the $15 law on the record many of us cannot vote for him, any other issues aside.

• Ivan February 18, 2015 (8:03 am)

  The notion that West Seattleites are “tired of career politicians” is pretty silly really, when you look at the election results. Tom Rasmussen ran up big majorities in West Seattle in his three election campaigns, and if he had wanted a fourth, it was his for the taking. Dow Constantine, Joe McDermott, and our three legislators sure seem pretty popular to me. It wasn’t West Seattle voters who denied Greg Nickels a third term, either.
  –
  The numbers don’t lie, folks. Maybe *some* people are “tired of career politicians,” but it sure looks like a minority position to me.
  –
  The vote totals in each election show me that West Seattle values experience. West Seattle demands competence in office — and gets it.

• Militant Moderate February 18, 2015 (8:17 am)

  Another “business owner” who thinks $15/hr is too much to pay an employee? And who fought potential competition for his restaurant? Montoure sounds like a typical Republican.

  I’ll pass.

• Peter February 18, 2015 (9:35 am)

  The notion that these politicians will all only serve “4-8 years and move on,” as WS Gal wrote, is simply naive. Once people get an influential position like this, they want to keep it, and so they run for reelection again and again. Most of these politicians will tell you they’ll only serve one or two terms, and they’ll be lying when they say it. And that is just fine with me; we need experienced people in office to be effective leaders for the city.
  –
  My biggest fear is that the next four years are going to be a horrendous mess with the city being run by inexperienced neighborhood-centric politicians all opposing anything that doesn’t specifically benefit their district, and thus getting nothing done at all. I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but I’m probably right.

• CandrewB February 18, 2015 (9:38 am)

  “Montoure sounds like a typical Republican.” Thanks, I was waiting for that. The R Word. Seattle politics has been dominated by politicians of the exact same mold for thirty years, yet here we are. I know, lets elect some more of the same. Moderate?

• Ivan February 18, 2015 (9:57 am)

  No, Peter, you’re probably wrong — at least for this year’s election. Seven of the nine incumbent Council members are running, and all are likely to be elected. Only in Districts 1 and 5 are there “open” seats.

  • WSB February 18, 2015 (10:11 am)

    Now it’s down to six incumbents running. Sally Clark just announced within the past hour that she will not run. – TR

• alkiobserver February 18, 2015 (9:59 am)

  Right on Dave! Great guy. Smart, informed and a genuine good person. Glad to have you in the race. Far and away the best candidate. You can count on my vote. I support and salute you. Your efforts to fight the minimum wage sham job is commendable. I work for a very small company on Alki and dread how the current socialist bully is running roughshod over the city council with an anti-business agenda. Keep up the good work Dave. Your calm, rational approach will be a welcome antidote. Love love love the support for a 24/7 medical facility in WS.

• alkiobserver February 18, 2015 (10:28 am)

  As much as “Militant Moderate” seems to want to paint him a Republican from their high horse, I believe Dave is an enlightened Democrat. All capitalism in our democracy and free market involves opposing potential business competition. Working honestly, and openly as Dave has done, to keep his business successful, is a good thing.

• Q Up February 18, 2015 (10:34 am)

  I was talking about downtown tourists taking the water taxi or private water taxis’ (! HA ! Free Enterprise Parners for Economic Development!) to either

  a) a newly developed complex south of Seacrest with marina/docks and retail. NO CONDO’s. Hotels in there? Yeah, sure.

  OOOOOOR….

  b) private water taxi’s shooting down the river to a new Environmental Learning Center on a New Multi-Tiered Complex in SOUTH PARK. If South Park can appreciate the vision, then who are the non-resident Partners?: Audobon, Parks District (let’s build South Park a NEW Community Center in there on the river why don’t we, eh?, Seattle Public Schools, private outdoors/sports industries.

  JOBS JOBS JOBS JOBS JOBS
  ECOTOURISM and EDUCATION for SOUTH PARK!

  :) You heard it here first. Well, maybe I’ve mentioned this a time or two over the last few years as a big fat dream.

  But dream big or go home.

  :)

• Diane February 18, 2015 (12:06 pm)

  Joe said; “public support does not extend to the business owning class that he is a member of”
  ~
  WS gal responds; “You think we are all rich?” “Stop lumping us with the rich”
  ~
  Joe said nothing about biz owners being rich or wealthy; defensive much?
  ~
  though I would say, at the current min wage, a person working full time would net about $15k/yr; so if you net $56k/yr, that’s 3 to 4 times the net income of a min wage worker; so $56k seems rich to the working poor who often need to work 2-3 jobs just to get by and pay the rent; no doubt, most min wage workers would be thrilled, and feel wealthy, to net half of your $56k/yr
  ~
  with the new Seattle min wage law, small biz is only required to pay min $10/hr in April, which equates to net $16k/yr for full time (still less than a 1/3 of your $56k); if only; most low wage workers have to work 2-3 PT jobs just to pay basic bills & rent; and since many small biz are not providing health care, low wage workers also are now required by federal law to buy their own health insurance (out of their low wages) or face severe financial penalties with the IRS next year (yep, fined for being too poor to buy health insurance)

• G February 18, 2015 (12:42 pm)

  There is considerable risk and financial uncertainty running a small business.
  The net profit doesn’t begin to compensate for the long hours and stress. There is no unemployment for small business owners. Small business owners are often paying off loans and yes, owners do sometimes have to take 2nd jobs to make ends meet. As far as health insurance, the vast majority of working poor are eligible for free insurance or at a very substantial discount.

  Everyone works hard. Let’s quit dividing people into classes.

• Q Up February 18, 2015 (1:32 pm)

  Oh drat. My bad. I somehow forgot to include in that very important list of potential partners for my favorite Visioning scheme the most honorable Duwamish Tribe. My sincerest apologies.

• supernova72 February 18, 2015 (2:09 pm)

  Go Dave!!

• CanDo February 18, 2015 (3:11 pm)

  If there was such broad public support for the $15 per hour proposal, then why wouldn’t the council put it to a public vote? Too costly they say? But it’s not too costly to dig a tunnel through downtown Seattle with the same company that cost Boston millions of extra dollars because of their boondoggles. It’s not too costly to support the chance of another sports arena and tie up traffic in the SoDo area. And it’s also apparently not too costly to give the businesses on the waterfront millions of dollars to survive (and thrive) while the sea wall is being redone, just to name a few costly projects for the City. No wonder current council members are beating it out the back door.

  I don’t mind the back and forth on the $15 an hour and wouldn’t mind at all if the will of the people had been heard. I REALLY REALLY mind that we weren’t given a chance to vote on it!!! I will support Dave. I think our councils could use a little business sense from a local small business owner. Just look at what a lack of business sense has done to our city and county so far.

• Pete February 18, 2015 (3:30 pm)

  Love this guy. Yes. Yes. Yes.

  We need, absolutely need, more opposition to the Sawant types.

  None of us benefit from the communist party.

• Militant Moderate February 18, 2015 (5:33 pm)

  “Seattle politics has been dominated by politicians of the exact same mold for thirty years, yet here we are. I know, lets elect some more of the same.”

  I appreciate the fact that Seattle is NOT like Alabama, Oklahoma, or other places where the GOP reigns supreme.

  So, yes, I strongly support “more of the same.”

• Worksmarternotharder February 18, 2015 (5:51 pm)

  I’m so happy to see Mr. montoure running for city council. I agree with his choices during the $15 an hour debate and appreciate all the work he’s done for his community. I will be at Easy Street Records on Tuesday the 24th in full support.

• The Truth February 18, 2015 (6:09 pm)

  Diane,

  What you continue to not take into account is that most servers make well over 15 per hour. As a former server, manager and restaurant owner I can tell you most of my servers made WELL over 20-35k in tips that I am sure they didn’t all claim the full extent of. I am in favor of $15 per hour for anyone who doesn’t make over $15 when tips are included but the fact that tips were not included in the total pay calculation is insane!!!! My wife is a RN who make 28 per hour. A server would only have to average $13 per hour in tips to make the same as an RN who went to school for four years and works a full 40+ hrs per week. I worked dinner rush back in the day and at most worked 6 hr days and still pulled over 30k per year at a crappy chain restaurant.

  I paid over 16k per month in labor, add in (and don’t point out Aprils number for your argument because any business that isn’t looking 5 years down the road shouldn’t be a business) a 15.8% labor increase that takes that number to $18,528. Add to that $2,528 increase payroll taxes and you’re looking at even more money. Back in the day I was taking in about 4k per month. Since I was the last to get paid that would leave me with around $1,500 per month, not enough to pay my mortgage. Also think about the 60-80 hours I worked, the 120k in loans I took out to open the place, I didn’t have insurance and never saw m family. In this story I would make 18k with everything on the line and my servers would make 30-40k with nothing to risk. Again, not against $15 per as a wage unless total pay makes 15 an unneeded risk to a local business guy try to be part of the community. What I love about WS is all of the smaller business and the owners who live hear in the community, I would hate to see that go. You want to have servers make $15 at Red Robin and PF Changs, fine but don’t put the small guys in a jam because the law was painted with a wide brush.

• kj February 18, 2015 (9:20 pm)

  The Truth: Excellent argument. Thank you for some clarity here.

• CandrewB February 19, 2015 (5:53 am)

  Great, than there are no problems then for any Council members to fix. What is Diane complaining about?

• Sue February 19, 2015 (11:29 pm)

  http://www.thestranger.com/blogs/slog/2015/02/19/21738986/this-city-council-candidate-didnt-like-15-and-now-he-doesnt-want-to-talk-about-it

• Pete February 20, 2015 (7:08 am)

  The fact that the Stranger did a hack piece on Dave makes him the clear candidate to support for the rational west seattleite.

  If your a dolt, read the Stranger and support whomever they recommend.

• Worksmarternotharder February 20, 2015 (10:23 am)

  The stranger article is truly a horrible one sided hack piece. The truth is, it is a law and he is following it. The slow in phase was the best we could ask for, for small businesses. If Dave helped in anyway to decrease the burden on small businesses by donating a thousand dollars, than GOOD! I will be happy to help in anyway I can to get him elected to city council for our district. I will be in FULL support this Tuesday and the entire race.

• Elise February 20, 2015 (5:35 pm)

  The wide $15 an hour brush is what upsets me and most small business owners. It especially upsets me that only one person on our current City Council has ever run a business (and that was 20+ years ago).They did not even listen to us. Also upsetting was the pro-$15 an hour proponents setting up a “Boycott these businesses for opposing the $15 minimum wage website” after the council voted. Most of the businesses on this website are small local businesses. http://www.supportseattleworkers.com/list.html

  I know some of the pro $15 an hour people and if I ever see them in any of the listed establishments I will personally ask them to leave.

  Rather than focus on Dave donating $1000 dollars to a cause he believed in (and $1000 is not a lot) why not ask him about all of the in kind, and monetary donations he has made to the West Seattle Community?

• Worksmarternotharder February 20, 2015 (7:48 pm)

  http://daveforcitycouncil.com
  Well said Elise, here is a link to Dave’s city council page. If you scroll down you can see and read about all the wonderful things he’s done for this community and around the world.

• captainDave February 21, 2015 (12:43 pm)

  The more I read about the opposition to Dave Montoure, the more I like him. Maybe someday Seattle will again become a place that embraces the things that built this city in the first place. Our current leadership has Seattle on the same course as Detroit some 50 years ago when labor and special interest groups ruled the city into an impoverished third-world war zone. Dave seems to realize the economic long-term value of fostering independent local businesses that serve the interests of ALL community members with jobs and prosperity. I hope he can help reverse the stupidity of Seattle’s current leadership that puts so much dependance on Amazon to be the dominant private sector employer for the City. Seattle needs to embrace, foster and allow entrepreneurial activity or else this city will become a very miserable place when Amazon chokes. No one company goes up forever–especially one that can be carried away on laptops!

• Jeffco March 1, 2015 (2:35 pm)

  It is great that WS can be represented by a true WS lifer. Dave will be a honest, intelligent, thoughtful politician without all the smoke & mirror rhetoric.

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