A column from the City is back

Edmonds Mayor Mike Rosen (Courtesy City of Edmonds)

Editor’s note: Longtime Beacon readers may recall that former Mayor Dave Earling and City directors provided a monthly column informing citizens of news in an attempt to provide more transparency on events and ideas from City Hall.

The column went on hiatus during Mayor Mike Nelson’s four-year term. But we’re pleased to present it again, and appreciate the City responding to the Beacon’s (many) requests to provide a regular column.

Here is Mayor Mike Rosen's debut.

Greetings, Edmonds residents. We have a lot to talk about. Starting today, we are launching a periodic column we are calling City Chat. We are grateful to The Beacon for providing this space.

The plan is to submit a column at least once each month (give or take). Sometimes, like today, the column will address broad topics and others will delve into details. This column won’t always be me. It may be a member of the City Council or staff, depending on the topic.

The City of Edmonds is having a pretty rough year. We are not alone. Many other cities are having a rough time, and I would argue that our country is also having a rough year.

Edmonds is facing some big issues, and as a community, we have some big decisions ahead of us. We will decide how we want to receive our fire and EMS services. We will decide the core services we want the government to provide and what we are willing to pay for them.

We will create a comprehensive plan to inform our future. We must also take steps to be better equipped for catastrophic events, protect our precious environment, address an aging infrastructure, and prepare for the challenges of growth. Edmonds and the region are experiencing too much drug abuse, too much crime, and too many people struggling to make ends meet. All this at the same time we are tackling a fiscal emergency that will take years to resolve.

There is a term called “bipartisan pessimism,” which refers to the common stress we are feeling in our country regardless of where we stand on the political spectrum. For each of the issues we face as a city, there will be strong opinions and strong emotions.

Sadly, I fear that in this environment of pessimism we will see more and more people throughout the country trying to divide us further apart. Even locally, we have experienced individuals who rely on attacks and divisiveness to advance their personal opinions. However, I believe most individuals in Edmonds reject this approach.

Here in Edmonds, that is not who we are and not how we address our issues. I believe we choose hope over hate. I believe we want issues resolved through the exploration of facts and by sharing and discussing ideas, with respect and empathy. I believe our residents do not want our differences to prevent us from leveraging what we agree on and what we can do.

Since becoming a city, we have faced many problems. There have been two major fires, several economic panics, maybe 20 recessions, the Great Depression, polio, measles, and COVID, to name a few. None of those had easy solutions or quick fixes.

Time and again, our resilient community came together with the courage to use our heads, our hearts, and our hands to solve problems and to make tomorrow better than today – and we never stopped believing that we can do better.

Government isn’t what it used to be. And it isn’t what it needs to be. The world is changing. We have new technologies and new problems, and we as a city must change to adapt to our future. I think we each might love change and hate change at the same time.

I think we want things to stay as they are, but also to get better. To borrow from Nelson Mandela, I hope we can make changes that reflect our hopes and not our fears.

What is ahead of us will be hard, way too slow, sometimes frustrating, but very vital. Our corner of the universe is a very special place worth protecting. Each of us serves as a temporary steward of it. I am honored to serve as your mayor, to work for you and by your side as we navigate this time in our Edmonds history together.