Four candidates are seeking election to Position No. 1 on the Burien City Council in 2025, offering voters a range of backgrounds and perspectives in one of the city’s most closely watched local races.
Ballots began arriving July 18 for the upcoming Aug. 5 primary election, where all four candidates for Burien City Council Position No. 1 will appear on the ballot. The top two vote-getters will advance to the Nov. 8 general election.
Jessica Ivey, a working mom and marketing professional who raised her family in South King County, is challenging incumbent Hugo Garcia, who was first elected in 2021 and is seeking a second term. As Vice Chair of the Planning Commission, she has supported policies that promote affordable housing, sustainable development, and equitable investment across neighborhoods. Ivey, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, says she is committed to building an inclusive, vibrant Burien through strong support for parks, small businesses, and co-responder mental health programs.
Also in the race are:
- Cameron Boosman, a longtime Burien resident and former Planning Commission member. EDITOR’S NOTE: Boosman did not respond to our two inquiries for this series.
- Hugo Garcia, incumbent
- Claudio Fernandez, a regional labor organizer;
To help inform voters ahead of the primary, The B-Town Blog invited each candidate to respond to a standardized set of 11 questions covering topics such as public safety, housing, homelessness, economic development, climate policy, and their vision for Burien’s future.
NOTE: NOTE: Photos and links are from the King County Elections website. We do not correct punctuation, grammar, or fact check candidate statements.
Jessica Ivey
1. Why are you running for Burien City Council? What are your top three reasons and issues you want to address?
As a working mom who raised my kids in South King County, I understand the real pressures families face—rising costs and the need for safe, welcoming neighborhoods. As Vice Chair of Burien’s Planning Commission, I’ve helped shape a vision that addresses housing affordability, invests equitably across neighborhoods, defines policy to revitalize our urban core and creative art district, and invests in our parks and small business economy. With a professional background as a marketing leader, I bring experience building strong communities and uniting people around common goals.
I’m running for City Council to move beyond division and deliver real results. I’ll champion affordability and new paths to home ownership, support economic growth by attracting jobs and backing small businesses, and work to keep Burien safe, walkable, and vibrant.
As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I’m committed to building a thriving, inclusive Burien for everyone through:
Public Safety: Investment in proactive, co-responder services that work to connect our homeless population to housing, wrap around resources, mental health and substance abuse treatment.
Build a thriving local economy: Working to move Burien forward with a focus on attracting the industries to grow foot traffic so that we can raise our profile as a beacon and destination of international cuisine, art, and culture.
Enhance our Parks: 70% of our parks are in fair or poor condition and I will work to invest in our parks and recreation programs with upgrades to amenities in all neighborhoods. I will also prioritize a safe walkable, bikeable city through environmental design upgrades to sidewalks, street lights, and bike paths and amenities.
Fiscal Responsibility: My experience in the business sector has given me the tools to work to promote fiscal responsibility while balancing the budget.
2. Minimum Wage and Small Business: Burien recently passed a minimum wage initiative, while voters approved another. What are your thoughts on this and which version do you think should be enforced? Also, what are your thoughts on the lawsuit/countersuit over the initiative that was passed in February?
I understand the challenges families face with rising costs from child care to groceries. It’s becoming harder to make ends meet, and I believe workers deserve a livable wage. Burien’s economy is a diverse fabric of minority owned small business, and I support a minimum wage that also supports small businesses. While we should be competitive with the region, we are very different from Tukwila’s big box retail, and our laws should carve out exemptions for small businesses, particularly struggling minority-owned businesses.
3. Affordable Housing and Homelessness: What specific strategies do you support for increasing affordable housing and addressing homelessness in Burien? What is your stance on the recently proposed ordinance regarding homeless encampments at churches/religious organizations?
We all want compassionate solutions to address our most vulnerable populations. I support investment in proactive, co-responder services that work to connect our homeless population to housing, wrap-around resources, mental health, and substance abuse treatment. On the Planning Commission, we worked on the temporary use ordinance to comply with state and federal law to offer a structured, compassionate, and pragmatic framework to address the needs of our homeless population while upholding community safety and public health.
The solution to housing affordability is more housing inventory, and in my role on the planning commission, we have laid a road map for affordable housing along our transit-oriented corridors and urban core to provide more housing diversity that is scaled appropriately for a suburban city of our size.
4. Public Safety and Policing: How would you approach public safety concerns in Burien, including police funding, alternative response programs, and community trust?
I support our police officers through our contract with King County Sheriff’s Department as well as community policing and co-responder efforts to build trust and connection in our community. We have a range of public safety concerns that I consistently hear from residents, including property theft, domestic violence, and human and drug trafficking. I also support transparency and equity in policing and am committed to seeking fiscal transparency to ensure that Burien’s contract works efficiently to serve all residents, while reducing theft and violent crime.
5. Airport Impacts: Burien continues to experience environmental and quality-of-life impacts from Sea-Tac Airport. Noise pollution, air quality, and land-use conflicts remain major concerns, particularly for residents in North Burien. What is your stand on this issue?
According to the Port of Seattle’s Sustainable Airport Master Plan, there are plans to build an additional terminal and increase aircraft capacity by 43%. As a city neighboring a growing international airport and widening 509 arterial, I will fight for more seats at the table with regional stakeholders on long range projects that ultimately impact our city’s noise, air, and water quality. Adapting and mitigating to a changing environment will be a priority on council to be more strategic with our long range planning and budgeting to discover revenue sources to protect and preserve our green spaces, and livability in Burien. Thoughtful consideration relative to land use to address public health, noise abatement, and carbon emissions will be key in North Burien and the new land use designations reflect those sensitivities to build more equitably in our more marginalized communities.
6. Downtown Revitalization and Economic Development: What is your vision for revitalizing Burien’s downtown core and attracting new businesses, jobs, and community spaces?
The creative economy is the largest growing sector in the state, and attracting and growing an arts economy in our downtown creative district will stimulate job creation and growth. I’ll work on council to drive economic development initiatives to build a downtown Burien that is truly welcoming for all by:
- Strengthening our communications plan regionally to promote cultural highlights, events and businesses to build Burien’s identity as a thriving destination and place to discover.
- Developing live-work space for artists being priced out of urban centers will enrich our community with galleries and performance space.
- Bringing a boutique hotel to grow foot traffic to support local cafes, coffee shops, services, and retailers.
- Incentivizing more variety of programming for families and youth
- Developing in key neighborhood nodes with gathering spaces to build neighborhood identity and connectivity.
7. Public Transit and Traffic: How can the city improve public transit options, address traffic congestion, ensure safe streets for all users, including pedestrians and cyclists?
I support initiatives for increasing transit ridership and making our transit center a safe and viable commuter node for workers. Our transportation plan identifies improvements to connect bike paths to encourage alternative transportation, and I support public works to identify ways to mediate congestion including along Ambaum, where bus lanes could function during peak hours and still provide lane access. In addition, to become a more walkable city, we need to streamline the speed bump application process in neighborhood arterials, to improve sidewalks on 1st Avenue and 153rd, and to update intersections with stop signs and safer pedestrian crossings.
8. Environment and Climate Resilience: What steps (if any) should Burien take to address climate change, protect green spaces, and improve urban tree canopy in light of funding challenges?
I support Burien’s Climate Action Plan and its goals to reduce emissions and carbon footprint, as updated in the new Comprehensive Plan relative to impacts of climate change exposure. It details actionable steps to protect and enhance our tree canopy, preserve our delicate ecosystems, implement renewable energy programs, and invest in green building upgrades.
9. DEI & Sanctuary City Status: What is your stand on Burien’s policies that protect the needs of its diverse population? Also, the city voted to become a “Sanctuary City” in 2017. What are your thoughts on this?
I support sanctuary city policies to protect our immigrant communities. The Trump administration’s policies to arbitrarily weaponize law enforcement and punitively attack cities is horrific and should be condemned. It’s scary and alarming to hear about neighbors being pulled off the streets by unidentified armed ICE agents in White Center recently.
Because the 2025 version of this administration is not tethered to the US Constitution in what it deems a lawful resident, that makes the situation even more dire and concerning. What experts have advised in this current situation is for cities to go through the steps to bolster protections for immigrants in their communities without fanfare and grand gesture that would bring attention to them. Adding to that, with Washington State, King County, and the City of Burien facing serious budget shortfalls, we can’t afford any more funding to disappear, so protecting its citizens means low profile, but protective actions, and I believe that is what all cities in our region should be doing.
I think residents need to hear from the City that they have their backs, and what measures they are taking to protect them and how to report suspicious activity.
10. Transparency and Community Engagement: What new approaches would you take to increase transparency and improve communication between City Hall and the public?
I am deeply committed to bridging divides and bringing our community together—because I believe that when we work together, we are stronger. We can continue to make Burien a place where our kids grow up safe, where our businesses prosper, with a strong sense of community.
In my experience, that starts with leading by example, by being a council that communicates, collaborates, and chooses to work together to solve problems. Too often we see obstructionist attitudes and activist grandstanding on council, and I think it’s not constructive to run government effectively. I will work to unite and find common ground and serve the people, not platitudes. I also think that social media plays a role in dividing our community, and I think we could do better to encourage participation in community building and information sharing between city staff and residents.
11. Budget Priorities and Tough Choices: Given ongoing budget constraints, what would be your top funding priorities, and what tradeoffs would you consider balancing essential services with new initiatives?
Burien is a small town, and we need experienced leaders to balance the budget with realistic solutions, with a focus on fiscal responsibility. On Council, I bring my extensive business experience to work on initiatives to drive top-line revenue through county, state, and federal grant funding, and am committed to outreach and strengthen regional partnerships to assist with funding future projects.
CORRECTION, JULY 20, 2025: Ivey’s additional response has been revised (using
strikethroughand bold on the text), based on an error we made in our original reporting that she cited – that Councilmember Jimmy Matta voted against and Councilmember Hugo Garcia voted for the contract with Recology. The contract was approved in a 4–3 vote, but Councilmember Matta voted in favor. The actual no votes were Councilmember Hugo Garcia, Deputy Mayor Stephanie Mora, and Mayor Kevin Schilling. We apologize for the error.I also think council members should be more diligent in scrutinizing utility contracts,
like the most recent increase to Recology which has almost doubled household bills this month, and was supported by my opponent.With record inflation, I want to know that the City understands that every dollar counts for households on a budget.
These excellent answers show how she is not beholden to special interests and not running to be a puppet of the establishment like Hugo.
I want to thank Scott and the B-Town Blog for proving candidates with the opportunity to let their positions be known on these important issues. This is a great community service.
Hugo was a no vote on the recology contract and spoke specifically about the rate increase as his reason to vote no. I think that the blog needs to print a correction and Ivey needs to apologize for lying. It’s on record and easy to verify.
Jessica Ivey is exactly the kind of bold, capable leadership Burien needs. Her answers, clear vision, and practical experience are rattling the progressive political machine — and it shows.
The reaction from the usual activist crowd proves she’s hitting a nerve. They’re scrambling to protect the status quo and undermine real change, just like they’ve tried to do with Mayor Schilling. Voters are tired of performative politics and failed policies. Jessica Ivey represents common-sense leadership, accountability, and a forward-looking approach that puts Burien residents first. Can’t wait to see her elected. It’s time for results — not rhetoric or more failed progressive ideals.
The current council is 5 conservative/centrists and 2 progressives so if any side is trying to protect the status quo it isn’t ours. I don’t know how asking for a factual correction about an objectively untrue statement is scrambling but if it’s a progressive value to want facts presented accurately to the voting public I guess I’m guilty as charged!
I would consider the 5 to be Moderates and those other 2 Leftist, what this election is about is moving forward on the continued path of success, not returning back to failed ideology of the past.
Bye bye Hugo! Activists swarming, connection identified
Thanks J Ivey!
This is Vanhee’s hold-onto-Hugo moment, let it pro-gress. Just like the lawsuit with Burien and minimum wage debacle.
Thanks for the note Kelsey – that story has been corrected, and Ivey’s statement based on it has been adjusted. We apologize for the error.
Thanks Scott- mistakes happen and I appreciate the correction especially while the issue is so top of mind for folks.
She seemed vague about Burien’s shameless failure to address homelessness – which made national news. Saying the Planning Commission “addressed zoning issues” says nothing about her values or the seriousness or importance of addressing homelessness in ways similar to our neighbor communities have. Head in the sand.
Burien made the news because of the KC Sheriff refusing to enforce the laws in place, downtown was a hot mess and it was all because of Dow Constantine and his woke policies.
Interesting that Jessica didn’t directly answer question 2, and instead offered a vague statement. Almost like she is hiding her real response.
The truth is, she supports the council’s version, which is an immediate disqualification for me.
To me, this is a simple litmus test, Jessica. Either you support the voters version and workers rights, or you support neither.
Yes random member of btown blog, Tell us your truth for her!
What she did describe, is the same description supporters of the council version use. The logical and rational read on her response would be that she supported the council version.
But of course, she didn’t outright say that she supports one or the other. Why do YOU think that is?