Meet Steve Dana

Snohomish River and Historic First Street

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to you.

My name is Steve Dana, I own a restaurant in Snohomish called the The HUB in Snohomish www.thehubinsnohomish.com.  My family moved to Snohomish in 1960 to run a small drive in restaurant and we are still at it. Even though my parents retired in 1985, my wife Noreen and I continue the tradition. Like most businesses, ours struggles to stay ahead in a difficult economy.

The reason for my outreach today is to let you know that I have decided to run for the County Council.

Like many of you, I am disappointed with the quality of representation we get with Dave Somers. His stand on most issues is not very supportive of business. In fact, I would characterize him as anti-business. Other than working on environmental issues and fear-mongering about global warming, I cant see that he does too much most of us care about.

He says one of his goals if he is re-elected is to create jobs, but since he rarely supports businesses I cant see how he can accomplish that unless they are government jobs.

Another of his goals is to preserve farm land; but if he doesnt do something to take the regulatory burden off farmers so they can make a profit, what is the point? There wont be any farmers to work the land. If we work to keep farm businesses profitable, preserving the land wont be a problem.

Somers is a big supporter of Rural Cluster Subdivisions. The rules have recently been modified to slightly reduce the density but not very much. (Clustering allows home owners to buy five acres, one acre in a subdivision where their house is built and four acres in a restricted open space tract somewhere else that he cannot use.) Somers has no problem with people buying land they cant use. Personally, that causes me great distress!

Around cities things might be worse. Hes pushed for high density residential developments without coordinating county plans with the neighboring city plans ensuring healthy communities. Instead, we have hundreds upon hundreds of acres of small lot subdivisions and inadequate tax base to support services after they are built.

I mention these issues to offer examples of Somers priorities. I can talk about Paine Field, the Evergreen Fair Grounds and many others, but since he has been elected in the Fifth District twice, you probably already have thoughts about him yourself.

My intent with this letter is to let you know about me and why I am running.

As I said, I am a business owner in Snohomish, but there is more. I have been married to my wife, Noreen for 33 years. We have one daughter and two grandsons.

I was born in Everett to parents that were from Lake Stevens. Even though my folks moved the family to Oregon for a few years in the 1950s, we came back to Snohomish in 1960 and we have been here since. I have been a life-long learner, but I never stayed in college long enough to complete a degree.

In addition to my business, I have been a life-long community service activist. I started with the Jaycees when I was 20 and have been involved with some kind of service ever since. More appropriate to the task at hand is my twenty years of experience in Snohomish City Government.

I volunteered to serve on the Snohomish Board of Adjustment in 1987. I won my first City Council election in 1989 and was re-elected in 1993. In 1991 I was elected for the first time by my council colleagues to be Mayor and served in that position for five years (half of one term and two more full two year terms). I represented Snohomish on the Snohomish County Tomorrow Steering Committee for five years and served on the Executive Committee three years. After I left the City Council at the end of 1997, I volunteered to serve on the Snohomish Planning Commission and I still serve there today.

Since Snohomish is a full service city, I have a working knowledge of 1)our municipal water system, 2)our sewer collection system and treatment facility, 3) Urban Planning principles, 4) Criminal Justice issues from Police services to the Courts and Jail, 5) Government Style accounting and even a smattering of Collective Bargaining negotiations. I have been a steady and vocal advocate for my city for many years. I have also been a steady and vocal critic of Snohomish County government for all those years. Over the past nine months, I have written a blog to document my concerns about Snohomish County government. www.nolossforwords.wordpress.com

After being involved with government at the city level and being critical of sitting elected officials for so long, the logical step would be to put my money where my mouth is and run for the position myself.

If you agree that we need to make a change and I sound like a candidate that can represent your interests and values please feel free to support my campaign. If you want to know more about me, drop into The HUB for a chat (a bite to eat) or email me at sdforscc@live.com  and I will answer any questions you have.

If you think others would benefit from knowing about me, feel free to forward this letter to as many people as you can that might help with the campaign. The network of support may start with you.

Funding a campaign is expensive so a big bunch of small contributors is much more desirable than a small number of big contributors.

If partisan politics is your cup of tea, I am a Republican.

If by chance you want to be involved with my campaign, I would appreciate all the help I can get. Email me and we will figure out how you can be a part of it all.

Thank You,

Steve Dana

Steve Dana for County Council