Auburn City Council Position #6 – Larry Brown

Municipal/Other Questionnaire

Candidate Information

  • Candidate Name: Larry Brown
  • Position Sought: Auburn City Council Position #6 (Incumbent)
  • Home Legislative District: 31st LD
  • Democrat: Yes

Campaign Information

Part I – Candidate Background

1. Please briefly describe your qualifications, education, employment, community and civic activity, union affiliation, prior political activity, and other relevant experience.

I have served most of 1 term on the Auburn City Council. I have been envolved in Democratic Party politics since the 1980’s. I have a BA in Labor Studies at the National Labor College. I serve on the Board of Trustees for Green River College from 1998-2011. I am currenty on the Valley Regional Fire Authority governing board. I am a 40 year member of the Machinists Union 751 and currently serving in my 3rd year of a 4 year term as president of the Washington State Labor Council.

2. What prompted you to run for this office? What are your campaign’s most important themes, issues, or priorities (three to five)?

I believe we all have an obligation to serve at whatever capacity we can contribute. I am at a place in my life where I can give back to a community that has been so good to me. In my job as the leader of the labor movement in Washington, I work on social and economic justice issues. These are the areas that interest me as a city councilmember. I support hazard pay for retail grociery workers for example. As a city we must work to provide services for resident experiencing homelessness and I want to work on policing issues.

3. What steps are you taking to run a successful campaign?

I am working on endorsement and have met with my consultant. I will be raising funds for my campaign.

Part II – Local Issues

1. Would you support the establishment of a safe injection site in your district?

No

I believe we should be providing medical and recovery services for those addicted to drugs.

2. Would you support the administration and police force in your jurisdiction adopting a sanctuary policy, forbidding the sharing of local resources and labor with ICE?

Yes

We must protect residents who have not yet been afforded the opportunity to become naturalized citizens including the Dreamers.

3. Do you support raising revenue at the city level to expand transit service?

Yes

Auburn is relatively underserved by transit services. That needs to change.

4. Should transportation policy discourage the use of private automobiles and encourage the use of public-transit?

Yes

But before we can incentivise and incourage the use of transit and discourage the use of private vehicles, we must ensure South King County and Northeast Pierce County is adequately served by transit.

5. Do you support building a municipally owned and operated broadband system in your city or jurisdiction?

Yes

In the last year we have experienced the lack of affordable and effective broadband for all residents.

6. Do you support requiring police officers in your jurisdiction to wear body cameras?

Yes

Body cameras are a cornerstone of police accountability.

7. Do you support repealing Tim Eyman’s I-747, which artificially limits property tax increases to 1% per year, regardless of population growth, inflation, and need?

Yes

The 1% limitiation in the growth of property taxes has created a continually growing shortfall in the needed revenue for our cities and counties. For example, the City of Auburn has not added a single additional city employee since the Great Recession of 2009 while our city has grown substantially in that same time.

8. Should government assist individuals, and families who are without sufficient food, shelter, or basic necessities through no fault of their own?

Yes

Absolutely the city should help with the basic needs for families.

9. Should the wages paid to workers in Washington State be raised incrementally towards the goal of living wages?

Yes

Workers have been increasingly disadvantaged by the economy. While the economy has grown at a very health rate since 2014, 90% of that growth has gone to the top 1% of income earners. Income inequality is worse than it has been since the1930’s.

10. Will you seek opportunities to mitigate the human activities that are contributing to disastrous climate change?

Yes

As a City Councilmember in Auburn, I will (and have) encourage the city to operate EV’s and Hybrids.

Part III – Free Response

1. Why are you requesting Democratic endorsement? What aspects of the Democratic platform most resonate with you?

I am a lifelong Democrat. I believe in the policies advocated by the Democratic Party. This includes fair housing, economic policies that focuses on workers as well as business. I believe we need to change policing culture to rectify the disproportionate outcomes for BIPOC individual in their encounters with police. We must also work to create a more just and less less racist society.

2. What important local issues have you worked on (or taken an interest in) that you feel aren’t getting enough attention from elected leaders and the media?

The city has been working on many policies that I support, housing and policing are policy areas of interest to me.

3. Please list up to three specific, concrete actions you would support to ease the homelessness crisis.

Building transitional housing, purchase of hotels for that purpose and expand the budget to help hire more people to work with Kent Hay, Auburn’s homeless outreach coordinator.

4. What are the barriers to economic prosperity faced by residents in your jurisdiction, and how do you plan to address them?

I support growing the manufacturing sector, investing in the airport for tourism activities and encouraging unionization for workers.

5. What are the transportation/transit challenges which face this jurisdiction and how would you address them? What role does rail play in your proposed solutions?

Rail is definately part of the solution but we also need more rapid transit such as more frequent bus service. We must also provide a 2nd transit garage in Auburn.

6. What are your jurisdiction’s environmental issues, which ones are urgent and what will you do to address them?

There is not enough access to public transit. I want to encourage clean-up of our wetlands and help get the homeless move out of our undeveloped parks and into transitional housing.

7. Does your district have a taxing authority or propose levies and what changes, if any, would you seek?

To backfill for the growing gap between the city revenue and the need for services, I support a moderate B&O tax.

By typing my name below, I declare under penalty of perjury the foregoing is true and correct.

Printed Name: Larry Brown

Date: 04/28/2021

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