Northshore Social Justice Action Group

03/14/2026

Yes - let’s celebrate!

Sadly Kenmore is still connected with this bill (and opposition to it) but there are many in Kenmore and elsewhere in Northshore who will celebrate its passing.

There is still very little STEP housing provision in the Northshore area.

With cost of living continually rising, those on fixed incomes (including many seniors) need better from their communities in terms of a housing safety net.

This bill will help stop some of the more egregious actions by local governments to deny that. Putting an air-gap between malicious misinformation campaigns and local legislation.

Local politicians may still think they can score points with reactionary talking points that have little basis in reality. But this legislation stops them from carrying that into blocking much needed housing in their communities.

Let's celebrate passage of House Bill 2266, which removes barriers to housing and shelter. Big thanks to State Representative Strom Peterson (LD21) for pressing this forward for 3 years, to State Senator Emily Alvarado (LD34). Let's hear it for the folks who work to site and open apartment buildings, transitional housing, and shelters in communities across Washington! Hope to see some of you at the bill signing!

"Advocates who support expanding homelessness services statewide praised the bill’s passage, saying it would allow providers to focus their resources on housing, rather than permitting, which would pave the way for more shelter and homes.

"Alison Eisinger, executive director of the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness, said the legislation was, at its core, an “antidiscrimination bill.”

“It says you cannot discriminate against certain people’s homes,” she said. “You have to use good judgment, really, and say if this proposed project meets the basic requirements, it can move forward.” https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/wa-bill-to-remove-barriers-to-homeless-shelters-housing-heads-to-ferguson/

12/12/2025

All our covered local election races are now complete after a recount has been conducted.

Well done to all candidates. The personal attacks make it hard for people to want to run - either personally or due to family concerns.

We don’t want to be part of that - but we do need to be able to continue to speak truth to power.

Where winning candidates represent wealthy interests, it is our responsibility to make sure they hear the voices of the less wealthy. Where they represent traditional power structures, it is our responsibility to make sure they hear voices outside of those.

Our candidate survey is a great way to hold candidates accountable to what they said on the campaign trail. We’ll keep it live for reference.

But whether they said they would support social justice or not - it’s our job to make sure they serve all residents during their terms - not just powerful interests.

http://northshoresocialjustice.org/candidate-survey-responses/ud s

Responses from city council candidates in Bothell, Kenmore, Lake Forest Park and Woodinville to a Social Justice survey

11/25/2025

If you are a Democrat but you only won your race because you picked up the Republican vote locally - including extreme MAGA vote to get you over the line in a race determined by less than 100 votes - do you really still see that as a victory?

Isn’t that more a chastening lesson to take a deep look in the mirror?

11/16/2025

Shouldn’t a “Super Signer” event have a lot of people attending it?

The one today at Northshore Middle had virtually no one.

I guess folks don’t show up for (or put up with) Heywood sponsored discriminatory nonsense here.

Maybe a more honest rebrand as a “Low attendance autograph” event from Let’s Go Backwards WA?

11/08/2025

An event to sign discriminatory initiatives is scheduled for next weekend in a Northshore school.

Aside from being discriminatory to at-risk students, these initiatives are poorly written and would have unintended consequences (see images).

DECLINE TO SIGN IL26-638 and IL26-001.

Email the school board and superintendent with your concerns about school facilities being authorized for use to promote a ballot proposition (under WA law) that promotes discrimination.

Look for information about ways to support students these initiatives target - both intentionally and unintentionally.

More information at this link:
https://wafamiliesforfreedom.org/about-the-ballot-initiatives

11/05/2025

A great night nationally for social justice values also gave us a great night locally.

- in Kenmore, Mayor Herbig looks to have handily beaten a conservative-backed candidate; and is on track for a greater margin of victory than other council members achieved against conservative-backed candidates in the 2023 election. Banaszynski is also in a strong position only 88 votes behind, clearly having gained most of the progressive and left-leaning vote. For context, in 2023 the progressive candidate came back from 115 votes down on election night.

- in Bothell, both Alderks and Al-Kabra are winning their races comfortably. In context of the video that emerged last week it is disappointing that Swanson has gained 40% of the vote while losing - but he is still losing.

- In Woodinville the “Democratic Woodinville” aligned candidates are all losing by a landslide - with the progressive candidates uniformly taking around 70% of the vote.

- LFP has some tighter races, but those look winnable at this point. Local wedge issues seem to have had an impact with voters.

- Northshore School District voters also gave a resounding “no” to MAGA candidates; each thus far achieving less than 30% of the vote - much less than the more Centrist challenger achieved in 2023. Any day that voters deliver that strong a rebuke to the far right is a good day for social justice!

*although we don’t cover Kirkland - Kirkland mostly did not have a good night for social justice values. It shows how fragile our democracy is to influence by conservative fundings sources and misinformation around wedge issues. Happy for Northshore. Sad for Kirkland.

11/03/2025

If knowing how local strong conservatives will be voting will help you in decision making - especially when campaigns have claimed to be moderate or even progressive - pastors picks tend to be pretty far to the right.

Also not every race has a pick - so that also tells you something.

11/02/2025

You can now interact with city council candidate responses to our survey via a website experience.

If the PDF was a little too hard to navigate - this is for you!

This should also be more accessible for translation and web resources like “listen to page”

https://northshoresocialjustice.org/candidate-survey-responses/

11/02/2025

This year for the first time we have created a website that contains candidates’ responses to our survey of Bothell, Kenmore, Lake Forest Park and Woodinville city council candidates.

Definitely just a soft launch on the design!

But we hope voters find this information (candidates in their own words) useful as they decide who will earn their vote.

Remember to vote by Tuesday November 4th!

Responses from city council candidates in Bothell, Kenmore, Lake Forest Park and Woodinville to a Social Justice survey

11/01/2025

A riddle:

If someone claims they want more budget management experience on a council but then endorses the incumbent with no professional budget management experience over the candidate who does have professional accountability for budget management…

Is it really about budget management?

Or is it really about conservative principles of small government?

Actually - that’s not that hard a riddle.

10/31/2025

Agree with the Seattle Times here.

Also - no candidate aligned with “Democratic Woodinville” responded to our survey about housing, public safety, human services, transportation, taxation, representation, and the environment.

Why spend that much money and then not share policies and perspectives with voters?

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1B1Gs4yomT/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Jeff Lyon's spending is extraordinary, especially in a city of less than 10,000 voters where the biggest news in recent years was the closure of a garden store.

10/31/2025

Highlights of the Inglemoor High School and League of Women Voters of the US Kenmore City Council candidate forum:

- Great work by the students and Ms Baker!
- Mayor Herbig telling a room full of students that Kenmore built “6-7” miles of sidewalk during his time on council
- The synergies between Herbig, Adman and Banaszynski. Those 3 have similar visions and would get important things done!

Lowlights:
- Conservative propaganda that there are no business owners on Kenmore council (eg Valerie Sasson ran 3 businesses in Kirkland for 24 years)
- Some misrepresentation of middle housing and what the new middle housing ordinance enables.

Overall though - great event!