2005 Seattle Elections

Primary Elections Voters' Guide

Al Runte

117 East Louisa Street, Box 2006
Seattle, WA 98102
Tel: (206) 325-5185
Fax: (206) 325-5185 (call)
Email: runte4mayor@earthlink.net

Video Voters Guide Statement of Candidate

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Statement of Al Runte

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Written Voters' Pamphlet Statement Submitted by Candidate

It is time to try something different to get this great City of Seattle moving again.

Al Runte, your neighbor, is running for mayor. He's a professor - not a career politician who will evade and duck your questions. Years of teaching Pacific Northwest and environmental history at the UW have made him a relentless pursuer of facts and truth. He is an expert on things that matter - our environment and transportation.

Al Runte believes it is your turn to be heard. For too long, City Hall has pandered to selfish developers who care nothing about your neighborhood streets and parks. In Seattle's progressive tradition, Al will lead a user-friendly city government dedicated to making Seattle a better place for all of us to live, work, and enjoy our urban environment.

"We must protect and nurture our beautiful neighborhoods - not dream up ways to make them more congested. Parks are not wasted space. Parks are a community's greatest asset - its legacy for the next generation. We must face our $500 million public works backlog by fixing neighborhood streets and repairing existing infrastructure. Seattle needs an integrated, citywide mass transit rail system that keeps faith with voters. Big-money egos and big-ticket projects sap the city of its unique strength and vitality."

If elected, Al Runte will:

• Terminate plans for an extravagant $50-100 million South Lake Union streetcar.
• Attractively replace the Alaska Way viaduct within available revenues NOW.
• Reopen the downtown bus tunnel.
• Add more neighborhood buses, and especially increase their frequencies.
• Restore the First Hill light-rail station.
• Appoint a gifted, visionary engineer to supervise all rail development within Seattle's boundaries and insist that all promises made to voters be kept.
• Make City Light a leader again in energy conservation and renewable resources.

Al is 58. He and his wife of 21 years, Christine, have lived in the same home in North Seattle since 1984. After his father died when Al was eleven, he was raised by his single mom but put himself through school earning three degrees in history and government, including a Ph.D. Author of six books, Professor Runte is currently an advisor to Ken Burns for an upcoming PBS series on the national parks. Al is an internationally recognized environmentalist. Last year, he was keynote speaker at the Fourth Brazilian Congress on Parks and Protected Areas.

The above statement was written by the candidate, who is solely responsible for the contents therein.