by Kirby Lindsay Laney, posted 10 June 2015
Please read the June 9th overview column before reading this candidate profile, and consider also reading profiles of the other two candidates for Seattle District #6 – Councilmember Mike O’Brien and Catherine Weatbrook. (The fourth registered candidate, Stan Shaufler, could not be reached for an interview.)
Among the 2015 Seattle City Council candidates for District #6, Jon Lisbin has the least experience in city politics – and possibly the most in common with his constituents.
A businessperson, familiar with working in the private sector, Lisbin has entered the race for City Council as a chance to make needed changes to our city. “I have an interest in government management,” he said, “It needs to be run more efficiently. It’s more important than ever.” With experience in successfully starting and operating a fast growing company, Lisbin’s skills could benefit our city in managing its growth and creating sustainable, and effective, systems.
Issues That Matter
As something of an internet pioneer, Lisbin has worked on a few different internet businesses before founding Point It, an on-line marketing company that regularly appears on lists of the 500 fastest growing companies. After 13 years running businesses, Lisbin decided to follow-up on his interest in the public sector. “Not having public sector experience,” he observed, “I thought an education would help.”
After he developed a great leadership team for Point It, Lisbin enrolled in the University of Washington – Evans School of Public Affairs two years ago, and has now earned an Executive Masters in Public Affairs.
For the last 17 years, Lisbin has lived in western Ballard, near the Nordic Heritage Museum. He has watched as traffic on the arterial there, “has gotten busier and busier,” he observed. When a neighbors’ dog was killed, “it motivated me to do something,” he said, “from the inside rather than the outside.”
He and his neighbors did talk to city representatives about their traffic concerns, but he found the answers, and lack of solutions, dissatisfying. “The city is growing very fast,” Lisbin said, “with a lot of profit being made, but it’s not supporting the infrastructure.” He specifically looked at the development around Ballard and Fremont, and how it could better benefit the city rather than draining the resources of residents already living here.
Transportation plays a big part in Lisbin’s vision. “I mean all of it,” he answered when asked which part. “I need reliable options,” he said about going to work, taking his son to school and other activities, and going out with his wife, “you have to accommodate everyone. I’m a very pragmatic guy, a very common sense person, and we need to make sure the city moves people much easier and much more safely.”
Lisbin wants more accountability given to voters before the City asks for more money, and proof that the City can spend the money effectively, “instead of tearing up concrete,” he said. “At the end of the day it comes down to money, it comes down to efficiency,” he observed.
Lisbin also advocates for tax reform, at state and city levels. “We have a regressive tax system,” he said, “We have a sales tax which burdens the poor more than anyone.” He sees income tax as a possible solution, and impact fees for developers. He wants to see city taxing and revenue overhauled. At UW, Lisbin did a policy paper on taxing, and he found that a 10.2% income tax rather than Business & Opportunity (B&O) tax and sales tax, at the state level, would result in far more revenue.
The Call To Serve
When he considered entering the public sector, Lisbin wasn’t thinking of running for election. “I was more thinking of a government role,” he said. He’s been involved in schools and coaching, and he thought of doing something similar, professionally, in government. “After graduating, I heard about the district elections happening now,” he explained, and he thought, “if I didn’t do it now, it’s another four years.”
Lisbin hasn’t spent his years developing a platform, or tied up in local politics, but he has spent years living in District #6. “My platform is evolving,” he acknowledged, “its evolved as I’ve gotten into the race.” He does know what he has seen. “I think the Growth Management [Act],” he said about the state and city plan for controlled development, “has been an unmitigated disaster. The whole place is for sale,” he observed on the housing and commercial developments, “it can be done so much better.”
Parking – Where He Stands
“I’m not an expert in parking specifically,” Lisbin acknowledged. Yet, he noted that either the new buildings need to provide parking – or the city and the county need to provide much more transit service. “We’ve got this growth, yet we haven’t supported the needs of transportation and education,” he said.
“Personally, I think the property tax cap is deceptive,” Lisbin said. The cap is at 1% but inflation is 2 ½% per year. “As more and more development is built, the City gets more revenue,” he observed, which gives the city an incentive for development, “but revenues are eroding,” due to the cap.
“It comes down to money,” Lisbin said, with our citizens in need of reliable transportation options, education, public safety, etc. “There needs to be tax reform. As a business person, it all comes down to efficiencies and revenue,” he said.
Lisbin wants to make our city more effective, to help District #6 and all of Seattle. To find out more about him, visit his Facebook page or his campaign website.
Also, consider meeting him at the Fremont Chamber Picnic-In-The Park on June 17th at Noon, at Gas Works Park, and asking him your own questions about what he can do, as a Seattle City Councilmember and the District #6 representative. RSVP to the Picnic on-line or at director@fremont.com
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©2015 Kirby Lindsay. This column is protected by intellectual property laws, including U.S. copyright laws. Reproduction, adaptation or distribution without permission is prohibited.