Lauren Briel
Lauren Briel
Seattle City Council
Position 1
2007 CITY OF SEATTLE CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE
1. Building public awareness: What priority do you assign to Seattle's efforts to educate community residents about the importance of historic preservation?
x High Priority □ Medium □ Low □ No opinion
Statement: By building public awareness it is possible to create a greater sense of importance to saving places of historical significance. The involved citizens of Seattle are an important resource in saving historic buildings, and it is through outreach and education that they can have a greater understanding of the value of what is around them.
2. Revitalizing neighborhoods: What priority do you give to assuring that Seattle has the financial resources required to play a significant role in revitalizing historic neighborhoods?
x High Priority □ Medium □ Low □ No opinion
Statement: It is essential that the City Council creates vital and livable neighborhoods, and that includes historic neighborhoods.
3. Preserving designated City landmarks: What priority do you give to sustaining Seattle's designated landmarks and saving other landmark-eligible historic places as properties that enable residents to see history and learn from it?
□ High Priority x Medium □ Low □ No opinion
Statement: While it is important to save landmarks which add to a community's sense of place, it is not always possible to have all places as designated areas open to the public for educational purposes.
4. Protecting Seattle's heritage in court: What priority do you assign to the work of the Hearing Examiner and City Attorney regarding the preservation of designated City landmarks and landmark-eligible properties?
□ High Priority x Medium □ Low □ No opinion
Statement: The Hearing Examiner and City Attorney should fairly look at both sides and determine the most beneficial long-term use that maintains the unique feel of Seattle while still accommodating for new developments.
5. Advocacy for historic homeowners: How do you rate Seattle's efforts to influence public policy and public perceptions around the benefits of preserving significant historic residences?
x High Priority □ Medium □ Low □ No opinion
Statement: As our neighborhoods change, it is important to save historic residences to preserve the distinctive style of each neighborhood, and to remind current residents of that area's past.
6. Influencing public policy: What priority do you place on Seattle's work to foster preservation-friendly policies and funding?
x High Priority □ Medium □ Low □ No opinion
Statement: If we do not make and effort to preserve pieces of our history, the distinctive parts of Seattle neighborhoods will be lost. We do not want to be a purely gentrified city; if we don't preserve our unique characteristics, we become no more distinctive than a very dense suburbia.
7. Supporting historic preservation: What priority do you assign to sustaining and funding Seattle's Historic Preservation Program in the Department of Neighborhoods?
x High Priority □ Medium □ Low □ No opinion
Statement: As the growth rate of Seattle continues, we need to preserve historic buildings and places of significance, while still implementing good growth management to accommodate our growth.
8. Funding for preservation projects: What priority do you assign to the provision of grants and revolving loans for Seattle's private historic preservation projects?
□ High Priority x Medium □ Low □ No opinion
Statement: The City has a finite amount of money to address many different needs and services; while I would like to say all preservation projects would be funded, it is not possible for that to realistically happen, however it is still important that some money is available .
