Tom Rasmussen
Seattle City Council
Position 5
Tom Rasmussen
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: As the pressure for development continues, many of our unique or historic buildings are at risk of being demolished. We have to educate the people of Seattle to recognize the importance of those buildings.
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: I have been very supportive of providing funding for the revitalization projects for neighborhoods whenever possible particularly when they include historic preservation elements. Those neighborhoods include Georgetown ( Georgetown City hall, specifically), and also supporting development of housing and improving Pioneer Square. Iíd like to work with the residents of Hillman City and other communities to help recognize and save the older buildings.
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?
X High Priority □ Medium □ Low □ No opinion
Statement: The city council will be considering many landmark designations in the next term in office, and I will be a strong advocate for the historic landmark designations.
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?
X High Priority □ Medium □ Low □ No opinion
Statement: I have urged the City Attorney to identify ways of protecting historic landmarks, including ones owed by religious organizations. I will support giving our Hearing Examiner and the City Attorney the resources necessary to meet the caseload requirements of landmark preservation.
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?
□ High Priority □ Medium X Low □ No opinion
Statement: Individuals within the city have been strong advocates for historic preservation (of which I am one), but I don’t think the city, as a general policy, has been very vocal or as effective as I would like it to be about the importance of historic preservation.
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: When the council added in additional money during the downtown upzone, we specifically earmarked $400,000 for a landmark survey for the downtown area.
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: I feel that the department has been historically underfunded, and we can do a lot better in supporting its work.
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?
X High Priority □ Medium □ Low □ No opinion
Statement: Rarely has anyone come to the council to ask for such grants be given. I encourage those who wish to have grants, to come to the council and be stronger advocates for the cause of historic preservation.
