The Kenmore Reporter newspaper conducted a Q&A with all the city council candidates for a story that ran in the newspaper published July 19. Here is the Q&A with Elizabeth Mooney in its entirety:

What do you see as the top three issues facing the city of Kenmore?

1. Health;

2. Changing public policy to emphasize environmental health as our top priority, so we remove heavy industrialization at our shoreline soon and make sure we protect our natural resources;

3. Changing our reputation by promoting environmental health, and rewarding private businesses with incentives to do so, so we bring economic health/wealth to the community and turn ourselves into a tourist destination.

How do you feel the city handled the acquisition and sale of the Kenmore Village property and what more should be done moving forward?

I like the Kenmore Village acquisition actions thus far. Kenmore Camera is a fabulous business and I’m happy they are there. Good begets good and their owners and employees, like so many businesses in Kenmore, are intelligent, friendly experts in their field and they love Kenmore.

I know some people believe the city should have asked for a higher price or kept the parcel intact,  but the city should not be in the business of owning property anyway, so it’s great we’ve moved on to have Kenmore Camera there and to have Benaroya involved in the Kenmore Village development.

I believe that what we might have lost in revenue, we will gain back in great businesses being the springboard for good economic growth in Kenmore. We need to be loyal to our citizens who started healthy businesses in Kenmore. We are lucky to have that character and we should nurture it because the reputations our small Kenmore businesses provide can’t be found everywhere. That is built on integrity, generosity and creativity.

For example, Bob Donovan swims for nonprofits like PAWS. I’m a dog lover myself and I know Kenmore Camera is a good foundation for starting a great Kenmore Village.  It may seem silly to some but I believe sometimes good business decisions are based not just on the money’s bottom line, but also on a gut feeling that people will take great care of a community, put care into a property and build something special that money can’t on its own make happen.

I have confidence in the decision the city made in selling to Kenmore Camera and I have confidence in the city’s decision to sell to Benaroya. They are good people and care about a healthy Kenmore. As a community, we need to make sure new public policies shape it to become the healthiest in the nation.

We can do that only if we make sure we put good policy in place. That’s what I aim to do.

For example, my belief is that as the new developers choose tenants for Kenmore Village, we must persuade them that, despite the existing conditions at our shoreline, we must change our reputation so that health is our primary focus.

Enough is enough. Kenmore has been courteous and allowed itself to be a place to help build bridges for the state, but now it’s time to spruce itself up and become a destination spot, the crown of Lake Washington, instead of a drive-by area. Will the shoreline stay industrial or can Benaroya provide an incentive for the industrial companies to do the right thing for the environment? Can we be a Tree City USA instead of a concrete community? I hope so and I believe a new environmental policy will change us for the best.

But to do good, I feel the developers need to know what we, the people, want and that we, who live and breathe in north Kenmore, don’t want a community that accepts asphalt fumes as a given. We have higher expectations for our future and that’s what we want the developers to help us create – a thriving, healthy, innovative, fun Kenmore.

In your opinion, what is the best way to spur growth in the city and build a sense of community between businesses and the local government?

Make good public policy that promotes health because right now we have pollution at our shoreline and we depend on getting our shoreline to be healthy, not industrial. Reward the businesses by letting them thrive, providing incentives, and not bombarding them with city taxes.

Since we built a fancy City Hall, make it work for the citizens more. Let the citizens use it more to create prosperity. It’s for the citizens more than for the staff. Make the city council meetings easy to watch from people’s homes. Videotape all meetings so people in Kenmore have an easy time knowing what’s going on. Make as much of city business transparent as possible.

I would emphasize the need to make health the priority. Don’t elect me unless you want me to vote for environmental health. I have chosen to stay in Kenmore and make it healthier but we need to vote for new public policy for that to happen. The businesses will benefit if they are given the direction to be healthy and the freedom to do what they need to do without unnecessary governmental taxation.

I am more in favor of businesses thriving if they are utilizing a public policy focused on environmental health, than I am on increasing our staff. My feeling is that so far our city staff has not been working for our environmental health. Our businesses are affected by asphalt fumes and industrialized shoreline, so my feeling is that the policy has to change first so our staff is directed to work with environmental health as its No. 1 priority. If health is not the priority in Kenmore now, then its wealth of opportunity will diminish as it has been doing, in my opinion, for the past 18 years I’ve lived here.

My motto might be: “Until there’s good health, we’re not going to realize our best wealth.”

If you have an issue that is important to you please tell our readers about it and what you would like to do about it as a council member?

The top issues facing the city of Kenmore include health, who controls the city and what the character/reputation is that we seek for our community.

a. Environmental health replacing industrialization at our shoreline;

b. Caliber of retail tenants at Kenmore Village should promote healthy community character;

c. We need attractive places for people to have fun and communicate regularly in Kenmore’s healthy community.

We need change in a city that presently allows increased industrialization of Lake Washington and our shoreline. The top issue, in my opinion, facing the city is what to do to change what is unhealthy into what is healthy. We can’t have asphalt fumes spewing out toward our bikers, walkers and runners on the Burke Gilman Trail. Without health, there will be no wealth in our community.

We want to change our reputation. We want to represent the epitome of healthy water, healthy air, and healthy ecology, not only for the salmon and eagles, but also for the people.

The only way I could think of to try to achieve that end was to run for council. It’s better than moving away to a different community. I like the people here and want to make it a better place for families to thrive long into the future.

What is your campaign website address for residents to learn more about you?

My website is under construction, but you can contact me via Mooney4Kenmore@yahoo.com, which I check every day. Contact me for a chat. We’ve been meeting at local businesses for conversations these past couple weeks. I welcome a conversation and a walk/talk/meal to share.