Issaquah attorney and City Council President Stacy Goodman announced today her candidacy to seek re-election to the Issaquah City Council for Position 5.

Goodman initially was appointed to a vacant seat in March 2011. She was elected the next November to serve out the remaining two-year term and then re-elected for a full term in 2013. She is currently in her second year of serving as council president.

“Serving my community is a labor of love,” Goodman stated in a press release. “I work hard every day to make Issaquah even better.”

During the appointment process and subsequent campaigns, Goodman spoke about the need to revitalize Lake Sammamish State Park. Her passion renewed interest in revitalizing the park and led to millions of dollars from the state Legislature, as well as the formation of Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park.

“The park truly is becoming the jewel I envisioned it to be,” Goodman said. “The Friends group and our state Sen. Mark Mullet are to be credited.”

Goodman’s current passions are transportation and pace-of- growth issues; she said she will continue to ensure that the community’s concerns are heard and respected on those and all issues.

She promptly proposed the current moratorium after learning that visions for the city were not being realized, led the effort to ban pass-through truck traffic and worked with fellow council members to raise the profile of transportation issues.

Goodman chairs the Council Land and Shore Committee; the committee’s key work this year involves revising policies so the moratorium can be lifted. She was chair of the same committee when the Central Issaquah Plan was adopted four years ago. Goodman said that while the heart of the plan is in the right place, implementation was off the mark.

“Central Issaquah growth in particular continues to be an active issue,” Goodman said. “A moratorium is always a last resort. But it was critical in this case in order to give us time to correct policies so that we get what we envision, not simply what we allow.”

Goodman also pledged to make sure the city becomes much more proactive about transportation and traffic issues. Although Issaquah has become a regional intersection for pass-through traffic due to the proximity of I-90, the city needs to take charge of its own streets as well as work on regional solutions, she said.

“Our traffic problems cannot all be solved by regional solutions, or waiting for them,” Goodman said. “We need to take responsibility for our own contribution to traffic congestion, improve our own degraded streets and sidewalks, and be extremely cognizant of how and where we accommodate regional traffic.”

“We need to be proactive, not reactive,” she added.

Goodman also said the city is struggling with community engagement at a time when residents are frustrated and feeling not heard.

“I was frustrated myself, which is one reason I proposed the moratorium,” Goodman said. “We simply have to do better to engage the citizenry. It’s not an option.”

Goodman has lived in the Issaquah area since 1989. Before joining local firm Carson & Noel, PLLC, she was a reporter and editor at the Issaquah Press for nine years. She and her husband, Tim, live in the Issaquah Highlands. They have two sons and one grandson.