Meet the Candidate: Justin Walsh Position Three Contender
By Kaely Lawler
Justin Walsh is running for Issaquah City Council Position Number Three. He has always lived in this region. Walsh was born and raised in Renton. He spent his law school days living in Seattle, although he said he missed the feeling of a close-knit town and didn’t feel like the city was a good fit for him. After graduating he found a place to live in Issaquah’s Old Town. He enjoyed being close to the Village Theater, shops and restaurants, as well as being able to attend community events like Salmon Days and Wine Walk. He says he has enjoyed living in Issaquah because “it is a big small town where you can truly get to know the members of the community.”
Walsh explained the role of the city council is to set the priorities and policies for the city, while the Mayor and city administrators are responsible for implementing the city councils’ decisions and policies. He said that the city council is “ultimately responsible for shaping Issaquah, and that involves all aspects of a healthy community — development, budgeting, sewage capacity, roads, the economy, housing, human services, recreation, and any other aspect of our city you can think of are all shaped by the council.”
Walsh said, “my main priority on counsel would be to work at the local, state, and federal level to make sure the major infrastructure changes we so desperately need can come to fruition.” He stated his main focus is on traffic and growth in Issaquah. He explained how he thinks Issaquah should be thinking of new ways to manage the traffic flow because traffic is one of the biggest problems that Issaquah is facing today. One of the causes of this is the economic boom throughout our region causing housing prices in Seattle and Bellevue rise, thereby pushing people to Sammamish, Fall City, North Bend and Maple Valley. Issaquah is a pass thru people use to get between these places causing Issaquah’s residents to be stuck in traffic pile ups of people who are destined for other cities.
Walsh said that Issaquah needs “to undertake major projects to fix choke points, move forward on projects that improve flow at troubled intersections, and we need to find ways to get our residents in and out of their neighborhoods more effectively.” When looking at the bigger picture he explained the traffic issue is bigger than simply residents being stuck sitting in their car for a while. “Our traffic, our lack of transportation infrastructure, and regional traffic as a whole have led to companies shying away from Issaquah as a place to locate” said Walsh. He explained how this causes much of the knowledge and talent in the Issaquah community to commute to Seattle for jobs. He said he believes that taking “people out of their community and placing them in cars for two to three hours a day will lower the quality of life for that person.”
Walsh said he thinks that jobs need to be brought to Issaquah. He said “We can capitalize on that if we can attract the businesses. We need to create affordable housing in a way that maintains the community we love. If our teachers and small business owners cannot afford to be community members, they will move elsewhere and we will lose their stewardship over the community.”
Walsh stated that “We live in a big small town, and we need to ensure this growth is managed in a way which maintains the character of our neighborhoods and which does not detract from the quality of life we have here.” He said that be believes the infrastructure must be in place to support the rapid growth. To ensure this Walsh said he thinks that the town needs to make sure that the transportation regarding roads, public transportation and multi-modal options are adequate. Walsh said, “we need to make sure our economic growth keeps up with our residential growth, and that we are creating affordable spaces for people to live within the city; we need to ensure our human services comes along with that growth.” Walsh expressed that Issaquah needs to have adequate public facilities. Walsh said, “Our growth and congestion presents a wonderful opportunity, and I am excited to help work on impactful solutions with my future colleagues on the council.”
Walsh expressed that he believes throughout Issaquah’s transitional period there has been great overall leadership. He said “unfortunately, some of the methods they have tried to deal with the problems of growth and traffic just have not worked.” Issaquah has been designated a regional growth center and Walsh said he thinks traffic is only one issue affected by the growth. He said that, “We need to lead the conversation as to the growth impacts, so that the decisions of Seattle and Bellevue are not forced upon us.” He expressed that he believes Issaquah needs to work with regional partners. Walsh stated that his “work in law, as well as my previous policy work chairing the King County Civil Rights Commission and as a member of the Planning Policy Commission have prepared me well for guiding Issaquah through these opportunities.”
Walsh has also made protecting Issaquah’s incredible natural resources a part of his campaign. He said that he thinks Issaquah’s community values its access to nature. He stated this can be seen through the community’s celebration of the Issaquah Creek and the salmon spawn annually and how the city has a policy in place to protect its tree canopy. Walsh stated that he believes the city can do better than this. As Issaquah grows new development can be properly integrated with the environment he explained. “As we grow, new development can integrate the pristine environment with the project. The goals of development and the environment are not mutually exclusive.”
Justin Walsh: Meet The Candidate Video Interviews
- Walsh believes that the city needs to provide stronger leadership for its residents. Click on the following Link, and watch the video to listen to Walsh explain why specifically he is running for Position Number Three on the Issaquah City Council. https://www.facebook.com/issaquahdaily/videos/915573498585429/
- Watch this video to find out what Walsh believes to be the two most pressing issues affecting the Issaquah community today. As well as how these issues impact the Issaquah community. https://www.facebook.com/issaquahdaily/videos/915578961918216/
- in this video Walsh discusses what he thinks should be done to address the issues in the issues from the prior video. He also talks about what he would like to do if elected to make a difference related to what he believes to be the most pressing issues Issaquah is facing today. https://www.facebook.com/issaquahdaily/
- Walsh talks about the closed store fronts in Issaquah and what he thinks should be done about them. Watch this video to hear him talk about his opinions. https://www.facebook.com/issaquahdaily/
- Get to know Walsh a little better by watching this video and listening to a fun and unique fact about himself that he shared. https://www.facebook.com/issaquahdaily/
