Renton City Council, mayoral candidates discuss public safety and homelessness

On Sept. 19, the Renton Chamber of Commerce hosted a candidates forum at the Carco Theatre in which all the candidates running for Renton City Council positions, as well as the mayoral seat, debated issues facing the community — and gave voters a chance to hear the platform on which they are running for public office.

Public safety

In introductory statements, Kim Monroe Bass, who is running for mayor against incumbent Armondo Pavone, said that as one of the founding members of the Renton group of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, one of her highest prioritized issues is improving community safety.

When asked about police resources being used to curb public drug use, Monroe Bass said she was not opposed, but would rather see improvements to treatment and addiction infrastructure that would be more helpful to those using drugs on the streets.

Monroe Bass also proposed that instead of increasing police funding, that money could go toward community prevention and support programs to address the roots of crime and public safety risks.

Erica J. Conway, who is running for Renton City Council Position No. 3 against incumbent Valerie O’Halloran, said in her introductory statement that she was inspired to run after seeing some of the challenges Renton was facing, including public safety. Conway said she currently sits on the Police Chief Community Council because she wanted a “seat at that table,” so to speak.

“I want to be able to foster a relationship between the community and the police department,” Conway said in her opening statement.

Conway also expressed explicit support for increasing funding for the police department in response to a question about defunding the police.

When asked how she would support public safety needs in the community, O’Halloran pointed to some of the safety initiatives she has previously supported as a council member, including a special police district with units that only respond to calls in the high-need downtown area, and her support for an ordinance that was passed to prevent public drug use. O’Halloran also expressed support for a holistic approach to improving public safety that involves more than just policing.

“Whether that’s a nurse, a crisis interventionalist, whether it’s a warm hand-off to a drug therapy program, whatever the need is, it’s not just about police,” O’Halloran said. “It’s police and the services we need.”

Council Position No. 4 incumbent, Ryan McIrvin, said he has four funding priorities in addressing public safety, including recruiting and attracting police personnel, training for police, police transparency measures such as body cameras, and alternative response personnel units such as mental health specialists.

McIrvin’s opponent, Sanjeev Yonzon, said that there needed to be more trust between police and the community, and added that “strong laws” were needed to deter crime and hold offenders accountable.

Position No. 7 candidate Randy Corman said he believes there needs to be more police and a focus on protecting small businesses from crime such as vandalism. He even suggested better code compliance enforcement. Corman said the city should be budgeting for about ten new police officers a year.

Marvin Rosete, who is running against incumbent Ed Prince for Council Position No. 5, expressed support for modifying police pursuit laws, which many leaders have been critical of as they have been cited as a reason for less vigorous police pursuit and investigation. He also supported a judicial response to penalize open drug use in the community.

Marvin Rosete, left, and Ed Prince are competing for Renton City Council position 5. (Renton Reporter photo)

Homelessness

Some candidates expressed opinions on the housing-first approach associated with King County’s Health Through Housing programs, which has been buying hotels to become permanent supportive housing for unhoused individuals and families.

Randy Corman, who previously served on the Renton City Council and held various leadership positions before retiring in 2021 and deciding to run for council against this year against Position No. 7 incumbent Kim-Khanh Van, said that he was not in support of the Health Through Housing initiative’s hotel-buying approach.

Corman expressed support of treatment service and diversion programs to help rehabilitate individuals in a position of peril.

Van, Corman’s opponent, said she was disappointed with a previous reluctance to invest in human services before she took office, and urged that the community must recognize a need to invest in our own human capital.

Position No. 5 incumbent, Ed Prince, said that while he agrees with the housing-first model, he believes there needs to be more “wrap-around services” for the homeless and supports to help permanently change their situation and not end up right back on the street.

“If all you do is housing-first, then you are not really treating what you need to treat,” Prince said. “I think it needs to be ‘housing plus.’”

Incumbent Mayor Armondo Pavone described the approach of cities in the region against homelessness as “passive,” trusting and depending on the county government and the many funded agencies to chip away at a massive regional problem. Pavone said that he and leaders from other cities in the region were planning to collaborate on a new partnership between themselves to put “boots on the ground” service providers to localize their approach to find direct pathways out of homelessness for individuals.

Pavone’s opponent, Kim Monroe Bass, advocated for more compassion in the way we think about homeless individuals and the help they truly need. She said it is evident that more services are needed than what is available.