ELECTION 2023: Stephen Brown announces Seattle City Council District 1 campaign

Another candidate has just joined the race for Seattle City Council District 1. Stephen Brown is a West Seattle resident and entrepreneur. He is founder and president of Eltana Bagels, which has cafés on Capitol Hill and in North Seattle. In his announcement – which you can read in full here – Brown vows “to bring a pragmatic approach on issues such as urban vitality, small business support, and transit” and says, “I began to seriously consider running a few years ago when I decided to keep Eltana Bagels open and un-boarded during the height of the Black Lives Matter, George Floyd protests, and ensuing CHOP occupancy. I could have followed many businesses at the time and closed my doors or joined some of my neighboring businesses in their lawsuit against the city. Instead, I listened to the community and to my employees. We worked to keep people employed and keep our doors open for our customers. I think that kind of collaborative leadership is desperately needed on the Council right now.” Brown’s announcement also notes that his background includes serving as “Lead Entrepreneur of the Seattle Monorail Project” from 2003-2007, during which time “he participated on the task force that created the ORCA card.” Brown’s announcement for the seat Lisa Herbold is leaving follows the declarations of Preston Anderson, Maren Costa, Rob Saka, and Phil Tavel; as we’ve been doing with all the announced candidates, we’ll be seeking a sit-down video interview with Brown shortly. So far, though the recent remapping process has expanded D-1 outside West Seattle/South Park, everyone running lives in WS. The field for the August 1st primary won’t be final until after King County Elections filing week in mid-May.

19 Replies to "ELECTION 2023: Stephen Brown announces Seattle City Council District 1 campaign"

  • WS4life March 7, 2023 (12:27 pm)

    If he cared about business in WS he would have brought us a bagel shop!  JK but also not K.

    • Carson March 7, 2023 (2:56 pm)

      My thought was exactly the same. A bagel shop owner that lives in west Seattle but doesn’t have a store here? Open a shop here, then we can talk about city council 

  • Peter March 7, 2023 (2:19 pm)

    I just love it when politicians say things like “pragmatic” and “common sense” and “listen to the community,” without ever explaining what they mean or what their actual policies are. 

    • Ivan Weiss March 7, 2023 (4:23 pm)

      Right you are Peter. We can add “laser focus,” “unique perspective,” and all permutations of “vibrant.”

  • Jeepney March 7, 2023 (3:02 pm)

    Willing to listen to what more he has to say.  Nowhere in the article did I see the word “activist”, so I am optimistic he could be a good candidate.

  • anonyme March 7, 2023 (3:15 pm)

    A lot of Capital Hill businesses closed in order to keep their employees out of harm’s way.  Staying open could just as easily have been an act of greed, but citing this as an example of “collaborative leadership” is laughable. This sounds like an appeal to the ‘defund’ crowd. No thanks.

  • bill March 7, 2023 (3:46 pm)

    I can’t find a definition of “Lead Entrepreneur of the Seattle Monorail Project,” but to the extent Brown was one of leading misguiding lights of the project I don’t think this is something he should brag about.

    • Mike March 7, 2023 (6:32 pm)

      Finally.  A candidate.

  • Jeremy Cauchon Hulley March 7, 2023 (5:58 pm)

    I knew Stephen a bit years ago. I fully support his candidacy.

  • ws veteran March 7, 2023 (6:19 pm)

    I’m listening. I’m firmly in “anyone but Tavel” camp so he has my ears…

  • Scubafrog March 7, 2023 (7:07 pm)

    Seattle’s seeing the highest crime rate in 15 years (as of  2023, and 55 people murdered).  Young men and women are dying.  Sadly, some don’t see crime as  the emergency it needs to be – no mention of crime nor safety.

  • WSEnvironmentalist March 7, 2023 (7:40 pm)

    I agree with Bill.  Why would a candidate taut participating on the Monorail Project?  Maybe he thinks there are so many young or new WS voters that they are unfamiliar with Monorail – a financial disaster that is still reverberating through downtown Seattle.  Ask Mr Brown how much money was spent and lost by the Monorail Project board or how much each taxpayer ponied up for Monorail.  Re-play the tape of then Mayor Nickels when he fired the Monorail Project team.

  • wssz March 8, 2023 (5:31 am)

    I strongly agree with everything  WSENVIRONMENTALIST says in their post. 

    Stephen Brown’s association with the Seattle Monorail Project is a huge red flag.  The Seattle Monorail Project was an exceptionally poorly planned and poorly managed boondoggle. It ultimately cost Seattle taxpayers almost $125 million, with absolutely nothing to show for it. But it did result in many small business owners who would have been in its path being forced to sell their properties to the City for a pittance.    “From 1997 to 2005 the monorail project was a highly contentious political issue in the Seattle area. In November 2005, following the fifth voter initiative on the monorail in eight years, the monorail authority agreed to dissolve itself[2] after having spent $124.7 million in taxpayer funds without beginning any monorail construction.”   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Monorail_Project

    Mr. Brown is an absolute NO for City Council. So far, no one has come forward who is even remotely up to the task. 

  • cjboffoli March 8, 2023 (7:43 am)

    “A bagel in every toaster!” is a campaign slogan I can get behind.

    • Lucy March 8, 2023 (8:45 am)

      That’s actually pretty good.

  • Marcus March 8, 2023 (8:41 am)

    The monorail to WS was poorly thought out and impacted many land owners and then poof, we found out it was mismanaged and the the leaders left town the next day.  This is what happens when a small group of citizens push a project that sounds good, but they do not have the experience to make it happen like the fairy tale they advertise.  I will not consider Stephen Brown for City Council.   

  • Scarlett March 9, 2023 (8:12 am)

    Everyone blaming politicians for their perceived failures or vague campaign promises, but no one looking at themselves in the mirror to examine their own culpability.   The human mind is extremely  adept at self-deception, and neatly partitioning the world into the  “others” who are, of course, the bad actors, and ourselves whose intentions and actions are pure as the driven snow.  There is no better example of this then the people who will angrily decry corporations and then become a different person, almost literally, when they check their portfolio balance, comprised of those same corporations.

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