Burien City Council candidates tackle taxes, transparency and tacos at Oct. 7 forum

EDITOR’S NOTE: This post has been updated with a few minor corrections.

The League of Women Voters is a national nonpartisan non-profit organization whose purpose is to promote the informed and active participation of citizens in government. On Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, the League held their annual Burien City Council Candidate Forum at the Burien Public Library from 6–7:30 p.m.

The Burien City Council consists of seven members elected in staggered years for four-year terms. Burien City Councilmembers establish city policies and laws, adopt an annual budget, approve appropriations and contracts for services and grant franchises. All councilmembers are at-large, meaning that they serve the city as a whole as opposed to a specific district. Four seats are up for election this year. 

The eight candidates running for Burien City Council in the Nov. 4 General Election are:

• Hugo Garcia and Jessica Ivey for Position #1
• Maria Barbon and Sam Mendez for Position #3
• Sarah Moore and Gabriel Fernandez for Position #5
• Stephanie Mora and Rocco DeVito for Position #7

“We invited all eight candidates to participate in this forum,” moderator Vicci Rudin said. “However, only the five you see seated before you could commit to be here. We asked the three who are not here if they would send their representative to read a statement on their behalf, but apparently they did not opt to do that. I’m assuming that’s the case because no representative has been in touch with us.”

The five candidates in attendance were Garcia, Ivey, Mendez, Moore, and DeVito.

Meet the Panelists

Garcia said he moved to Burien at the age of eight as an immigrant from Mexico and has made the city his home for 30 years.

“I learned my English in the public schools here and [by] watching a little bit of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cartoons as well,” he said. Calling his life “a story of opportunity,” Garcia said, “I have a lot of experience in the private, public, and nonprofit sector. That’s on top of serving you on the council for the last four years; four years on the planning commission; and three years on the business commission. I’m committed to learning. I’m committed to serving because this community provided for my family. My parents raised us here on a minimum wage job. My dad was a waiter and that really is a lens of how I focus helping businesses and workers.”

Ivey, who said she touts over 25 years of community-building and business marketing experience, is running for council because “Burien needs new leadership and fresh perspectives.” Ivey shared, “I’ve been serving on the planning commission during one of the most forward-leaning moments in Burien’s urban planning history. The new comprehensive plan passed by council last fall is a roadmap for missing middle housing amenities to parks and trails infrastructure improvements. And through this work, I’ve become knowledgeable and committed to seeing it through. And that’s what I want to do on council.”

Mendez reflected on “this era of repression and authoritarianism” in the U.S., saying “it is a very scary time for everybody.” Mendez’s platform is “housing affordability, safer streets for bicyclists and pedestrians, and government accountability and transparency.” He shared that his mother was an immigrant from Australia and his father a carpenter. They divorced when he was six years old and he was “raised mostly by a single mom.” Working through “generational trauma” and firsthand abuse informed his positive stance for health care access. Mendez added that in 2020 he began working as a privacy officer for the Washington State Healthcare Authority “so I know a lot about HIPAA compliance and other really complex areas of the law. If elected, I would be the only lawyer on the City Council and I think I could bring that expertise, too, and that’d be a good value.”

Moore said, “It took me a little while to fall in love with Burien, but when I did, I fell in love very, very hard.” Moore, current deputy mayor of Burien, said she “raised a child through the Highline School [District] going to Cedarhurst Elementary School, Sylvester Middle School, and Highline High School.” She said she chose to run for Pos. 5 because “it was held by Nancy Tosta before and I felt like I was somehow the hereditary environment and outdoors person in that role.” Moore’s “main goals” in council include bettering communication with constituents and “promoting walkable, livable neighborhoods throughout Burien.”

DeVito said he was proud of his “working class roots” and credited his parents for teaching him lessons about “hard work, solidarity and compassion.” He studied conservation biology in college before serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa for three years. Citing people before business, DeVito said he remembered a job where he watched “…10-15 people walk into a room at one time and be fired and told they’re not allowed to go back to their desks. It left a big mark on me.” DeVito currently holds a position at King County Metro and is running for council to enact safe streets and better public housing.

Alleviating Homelessness

One hot topic was what the candidates proposed to do about Burien’s problematic homeless crisis.

“We absolutely should have taken a million dollars offered between King County and 35 shelters,” Mendez said. “That, frankly, activated me quite personally to get involved in local politics because I was so shocked that we did not take these resources offered from King County and instead decided to sue King County. We absolutely dearly need change here in the City Council in order to have a reasonable approach to homelessness. And I think it’s so unfortunate how divisive it has gotten because this is to me this is about good governance. It is not about the color of your party persuasion. It’s about getting the job done.”

Ivey said she supported working with regional stakeholders “to have more tools in our toolbox.” She also agreed with “proactive co-responder services like L.E.A.D. and drug diversion programs.”

DeVito said, “We we need to make sure we’re working regionally and advocating at the state level for more funding and progressive revenue sources so that we can fund and make progress on homelessness. We need to make it easier to build housing. There are lots of little things that we can change around parking and design that would make it that easier. And we should coordinate with other cities to make sure that our permitting is the same or very similar so it’s easier for developers to build more housing.”

Prop. 1 Feedback

Lack of transparency surrounding Prop. 1 was vetted.

“As a councilmember, this issue has caused me a great deal of anxiety because we’re asking people to vote to give up some of their hard-earned income and I want as much information to those voters as possible about the levy,” Moore offered. “I advocated very hard for more details in the levy, more information so that people could make an informed decision about what came with it. On the other hand, the co-response model is works and it is a model that brings services to people when 911 is called and it is going to be continued with the levy being approved.”

DeVito said, “Overall, yes, I support the public safety levy. It is funding that we desperately need to keep some of our programs going. I do have some concerns about the total amount and what they’re allocated to. I think that’s not something we’ve been hearing from our current council. This has kind of been rushed to the last minute and so I would appreciate transparency on the issue.”

Mendez said he’d vote for it to preserve the co-responder program, but that he wouldn’t “fault anybody for voting it down” because “we budget folks do financial modeling often one or two or more years out. This has been a known issue within the City for years and this was brought up to us in April, six months before we were actually supposed to vote on it, before we even had clear language on it and what the funding was for.”

Ivey said, “I also share concerns about transparency with rising costs. I hear at doors people are concerned about taxes going up and not sure how it’s going to be spent. So, I’m not in favor of this current form of this levy without seeing more of a line item budget to know how it will be spent. I think we’ll get another bite at the apple if we were to propose it again in a year, but I don’t want to see those services taken away. So, we’ll see how it goes.”

Garcia said plainly, “I don’t like paying more taxes. Nobody really does, but it’s the main source of revenue for our city and we are financially challenged. That’s why I voted against increasing our B&O tax last fall. That’s why I voted against increasing our utility agreement with garbage. I live in a duplex. I live in a modest multi-family home with two families. It takes two families, four incomes, to make ends meet and it’s hard. So, increasing taxes is challenging. Having said that, I will vote for it because our correspondence model is incredibly important to public safety, as well as our staffing for the City. But I share concerns that it wasn’t appropriately presented in a timely fashion and it’s something that I’m still having a lot of anxiety [over] because paying for everything is so hard nowadays.”

Resident Substance Use

The panelists were asked about their support of housing-first models where subjects do not need to be clean or dry to take up residence.

“Overall, I’m supportive of housing-first models. Getting people into housing is generally the first step in making sure that they have the stable environment to get treatment,” DeVito said. “I would love to see more treatment at DESC [Bloomside] and more direct services. I know that they have a regional center where a lot of folks get treated. I don’t think there is a problem with encouraging people to get help and to have as many opportunities for them to do so. We should have all kinds of housing. If we were to have a tiny house village and the organization running it wants to have it be a dry facility, then I’m willing to consider that and work with them on that. I think it’s one or the other. I think we can have a spectrum of different housing options for people, and help them get to where they need to be.”

Moore said, “I keep coming back again and again to the fact that we inhabit bodies as people. If we need something, we need it regardless of what else is going on in our lives. And in saying that, I support permanent housing and I support housing first. I’m acknowledging that I can’t tell when the right time for somebody is to consider whether they can end their substance use. People often try multiple times to give up substance use and to make that a contingent on which they can be housed denies the fact that they need housing. They need it right now. That’s not me being a bleeding heart about it. They have to exist somewhere. They’re going to exist either inside in housing or outside.”

Sanctuary City Ordinance

Candidates discussed Burien as a sanctuary city, which it has been since Ordinance 651 was passed in January 2017, which prohibits city personnel (including staff and law enforcement) from requesting information about a person’s immigration status solely to determine whether federal immigration laws have been violated.

“It is very personal to me,” Mendez shared. “My mother was an immigrant. My wife was a refugee who came here to the United States as a young child. My grandfather was an immigrant from Colombia. What is happening in this country right now is deeply troubling.”

Ivey said she supported Burien being designated a sanctuary city, however, more attention to the status might bring more harm than good. 

“Any actions to bring more attention to Burien, I think, could be potentially dangerous because I think it endangers our citizens and our residents that are feeling very scared right now,” Ivey said. “I also want to just bring up schools making sure that schools have support and policy so that kids don’t go to school feeling afraid that they might be pulled out of school.”

Moore said, “We should not endanger people by advertising more of a safe status than we can provide. But I also think that we need to continue to be public about our status as a safe city and our beliefs because letting go of those beliefs or quieting them down in the hopes of keeping people safe will not keep people safe.”

Garcia offered another personal perspective. 

“I’m the only immigrant on the current council. As someone who has that lived experience, it’s scary. Immigrants are scared. I am scared,” Garcia said. “I have to have a conversation with my partner in the back about family separation. What happens if I get taken? So, yes, I do support a sanctuary city ordinance. I would support strengthening it, making sure that we provide Know Your Rights workshops, making sure that we have resources to teach families and the school district on how to prepare for family separation.”

Broken Promises

One attendee said DESC Bloomside was not living up to their around-the-clock care policy.

“I’ve talked to councilmembers who have explained that DESC is not living up to its Good Neighbor Policy and it is not offering the comprehensive wraparound services that it promised,” Ivey said. “And I think that that’s unfortunate because we’re a year in and we’re already seeing this. And, so, we need to take corrective action now to determine why that’s happening, whether that’s mismanagement or that’s because of a lack of cooperation with law enforcement.”

Moore said Bloomside representatives would be presenting to the council soon and encouraged voters to attend.

“I believe in the work that they’re doing, even though I know that there is some community concern about it and I would like to really get to the answers of what people are seeing,” Moore said. “I also want to say that I think the relationship between the residents at Bloomside and the organization is different than anything else we really think about. It’s not the same as a regular landlord tenant, but they aren’t a prison. They aren’t a hospital. They are a landlord of the people living there. And I think in some ways that we are still all wrapping our heads around [how that works].” 

Communication Issues

When voters elect their next city councilmembers, those public figures will become part of Burien’s public cloth. Candidates shared how they would choose to communicate with residents.

“One of the things I’ve been hearing from residents is [that] they really like what Normandy Park does, where the city manager has a regular newsletter that details more information about what’s happening in the city, how to get involved,” Ivey reflected. “This summer I’ve spent countless hours with community groups talking to them. I think town halls are an excellent way for councilmembers be able to get out in the community, hear from constituents and hear what their concerns are. And we need more of that because that’s how we bridge the gaps. That’s how we get in the same room and talk to each other.”

DeVito said, “Town halls are great. I think I would love to have some office hours in different parts of town and make sure that people can come and find me and that I’m accessible to people. I think we also need to be very conscious of language access. The County has a very good program in reaching out in different languages and I think we have our community connectors and we need to build on that. I think we also need to look at some of our meeting times and make sure that we’re collecting feedback at different times of the day. Some people work multiple jobs, some people work nontraditional hours. So, we want to make sure that those folks are included as well.”

Garcia said it was “challenging to make sure everybody is aware of everything that’s going on all the time.” He added, “I support our City staff, but I think that there needs to be more accountability on how we do communication on major happenings and projects. What I mean by that, our tree ordinance was one where mailers went out to all residents about ‘now you need to make sure you notify us before you cut trees.’ That was a very successful initiative. However, comprehensive plan updates that we worked on for two years didn’t have the same level of information. A lot of community members recently let us know that. Also, the minimum wage: there was a flyer that went out that seemed like it was almost biased. So, I think we have to have accountability with our major projects, but I support communicating with the newsletter that we have, the magazine that we have. I’m proud that the City has multiple languages.”

Garcia added, “Every time I have gatherings, I tend to have my meetings and coffee chats in Boulevard Park for that reason because I want to make sure that all neighborhoods and all parts of Burien get that support. I recently asked that the City look into starting an immigrant commission (along with fellow councilmember Garcia) and that’s something that I just mentioned in the two meetings ago. I want to make sure this commission fills us in on how to do that with our immigrant community so that we get that empowerment to support not just the business owners in our downtown core, but workers, the business owners in Boulevard Park. Also, we need to have resources to do that and I’ve supported making sure that we try to reach out with family separation planning and Know Your Rights workshops because an empowered workforce that knows their rights is going to feel more protected and I want to keep doing that.”Mendez said he thought the City “could do more.”

“I don’t want to beat up on our City staff that I think work really hard, but I think as Hugo rightly pointed out, there have been recent things that could have been communicated better,” Mendez added. “It could be very hard to work with the Facebook algorithm and other algorithms that don’t always work in your favor. I’m personally a big proponent of meeting in person. I would love to have more listen and learn sessions where the City goes out not just to downtown Burien, but around the city. If we can, I would think it’d be great to meet at a restaurant because I think we get cranky on empty stomachs and I love tacos.”

Enough is Enough

All candidates said they would denounce the Enough is Enough PAC and not accept funding if offered. One attendee asked about that organization making death threats to the Governor as well as others holding higher offices.

“I saw the signs go up, I think, a couple days ago. And I then I saw them taken down. I don’t know why my name is on those signs. I was not asked. I did not consent to that,” Ivey said. “I don’t know the organization. It hasn’t been enough time. I’m just learning from what you just said that that’s the case and and I want to do my due diligence to dig a little more. I’ve been focused on doorbelling mostly and not trying to get distracted by things that are polarizing, but that’s that’s a significant and disturbing claim. So, I’ll look into it. I have not accepted money from this organization, just to clarify.”The remaining candidates said harassing caricatures in their likeness being funded by the PAC were appearing.

“I will denounce and never accept money from this PAC. I mean, they denounce me. They have websites making caricatures of me on there and I don’t think it’s right,” DeVito said. “I think it’s exactly what makes it challenging for us to build trust with the community when you have outliers and folks that focus on hatred, focus on differences.” Moore said, “I’m probably not going to get any funding from this organization. 

“They did also caricature me. It’s a completely different level of vitriol than making fun of a local candidate and putting words into their mouth and having them wear elbow patches, which I have not done since the 1990s. So, no, I think that we are in a place where death threats do have to be taken seriously. That kind of language has to be taken seriously and, at the same time, it’s scary, but it can’t scare people into not stepping forward and running for office.”

Taco Forward

The candidates said they would support food trucks being legitimized with proper food-handling techniques and tax payments.

“I support opportunities for new entrepreneurs and new businesses to get started. I am not for um unlicensed/unregulated food styles. Foodborne illness is a very big issue and something, as a foreign peace corp volunteer, I know a lot about food safety and would prefer to keep it safe,” DeVito said. “I would really like us to do more education rather than enforcement, trying to make sure people understand the system, making sure that we are providing resources. This is something I’ve heard from a councilmember before and providing support and education and language so that people have the opportunity to make a business. I think we can also expand where they’re located throughout town.”

Mendez said, “I love the idea of food trucks. I personally like food trucks. You know, I lived in Portland for two years before moving here a long time ago and they were all the rage in 2009. More business is good, more food is good. A big plank of my platform is more walkable neighborhoods. So that’s mixed-use zoning so that we can walk to a coffee shop and walk to a nearby store without needing to get in a car and drive to the downtown core. But then that also means having more options for people that want to set up a business to set that up. Any kindof change in a neighborhood is often meant with resistance because often people don’t like change, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. I live in Seahurst. It’s a very sleepy neighborhood and, in some ways, I love that quiet, but I love every Thursday when we have our music in the park right there in Lake Burien Park and there’s a food truck there. It enlivens our neighborhood. So, let’s have more of that.”

Video

Below is video of the forum, courtesy the LWV:

Get to know more about the final candidates for the General Election on Nov. 4 below:

City of Burien, Council Position No. 1:

• Hugo Garcia*: An incumbent councilmember since 2022, Garcia is seeking re-election. He emphasizes his commitment to community engagement and economic development.
• Jessica Ivey: A Burien resident, Ivey has announced her candidacy, focusing on bringing a fresh perspective to the council.

City of Burien, Council Position No. 3

• Sam Méndez: Méndez has declared his candidacy, highlighting his dedication to housing affordability and government transparency.
• Marie Barbon: Barbon has filed to run for Position 3.

City of Burien, Council Position No. 5:

• Sarah Moore*: The current Deputy Mayor, Moore is seeking re-election, emphasizing her work on affordable housing and community engagement.
• Gabriel Fernandez: Fernandez has filed to run for Position 5.

City of Burien, Council Position No. 7:

• Stephanie Mora*: Former Deputy Mayor, Mora is running for re-election, focusing on public safety and community development.
• Rocco DeVito: DeVito, a longtime advocate for housing affordability, has announced his candidacy for Position 7.

*denotes incumbent

For more information on local races for the Nov. 4 election, check out our 2025 Voters Guide here.