Burien voters will choose between incumbent Hugo Garcia and challenger Jessica Ivey in the Nov. 4, 2025 general election for City Council Position 1, and below are their answers to our Candidate Q&A.
Ballots began arriving last week for the upcoming election, and voters are encouraged to make their decisions soon, as ballot boxes will close at 8 p.m. on Tuesday night, Nov. 4.
Ivey, a working mom and marketing professional who raised her family in south King County, serves as vice chair of Burien’s Planning Commission. She has focused on housing affordability, equitable neighborhood investment, and sustainable growth, and is running for City Council Position 1 with priorities that include affordable housing, small business support, public safety, and inclusive community programs.
Garcia, first elected to the Burien City Council in 2021, is seeking a second term with a focus on affordability and support for working families, small businesses, and workers. An immigrant with experience on the Planning Commission and Economic Development Partnership, Garcia emphasizes coalition-building and inclusive representation, aiming to create a resilient city where all residents can thrive.
To help inform voters ahead of the election, 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, their vision for Burien’s future and more.
NOTE: Photos and links are from the King County Elections website. We do not correct punctuation, grammar, or fact check candidate statements. Answers are posted the same order as on ballots.
Jessica Ivey vs Hugo Garcia*
*denotes incumbent
1. Why are you running for Burien City Council? What are your top three reasons and issues you want to address?
Jessica Ivey
Ivey: 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.
Ivey: 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.
Ivey: As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I’m committed to building a thriving, inclusive Burien for everyone through:
Ivey: • 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.
Ivey: • 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.
Ivey: • 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.
Ivey: • Fiscal Responsibility: My experience in the business sector has given me the tools to work to promote fiscal responsibility while balancing the budget.
Hugo Garcia
Garcia: I’m running to continue standing up for those who often have no voice. Small and micro-business owners, working class families and immigrants need a strong voice now more than ever. I’m running because it is a difficult time to be an immigrant in America. It would be immoral for me to not use my privilege as an immigrant and naturalized citizen who has called Burien home for the past 34 years. Having recently prepared a family separation plan myself, I understand the threat of ICE on our community.
Garcia: Here are the top three reasons and issues I want to address, all of which tie back to public safety:
Garcia: (A) Housing and Affordability
Garcia: We don’t have enough housing to meet the needs of our current or future residents—and this isn’t just about “affordable housing.” We need housing of all types and price points. Insufficient housing at all levels leads to homelessness and also impacts the ability of everyone to pay rent, buy food, gas and the ability to buy a home in our community.
Garcia: The cost of housing is directly tied to the cost of living, including the price of food at grocery stores and restaurants. When grocery and restaurant workers can’t afford to live here, businesses raise wages to keep workers, and restaurant owners face rising rents and other costs of doing business. Those costs are passed down to customers. So housing isn’t just a social issue, it’s an economic one. If we want to keep small businesses thriving and meals affordable for working families, we must build more housing across all income levels.
Garcia: Building modest multi-family homes like duplexes, triplexes, and cottages can help. My own family avoided displacement 18 years ago when my brother, his wife, and I found a duplex we could afford. We now live close to our aging parents who we help care for, and my brother has continued teaching in Burien for decades while I’ve been able to serve the community first on two city commissions and now on Council.
Garcia: This kind of middle housing is exactly what Burien needs more of, and my lived experience as someone who not only chaired the Planning Commission but also avoided displacement demonstrates the range of people who are positively impacted by it. My personal experience with middle housing is a type of lived experience we need on Council as Burien grows.
Garcia: (B) Neighborhood, Parks, and Public Works Development
Garcia: Burien’s 28 parks and beautiful tree canopy set us apart from neighboring cities. But to fully enjoy them, we must improve the infrastructure and connectivity roads, sidewalks, and trails that link our homes to schools, parks, and small businesses.
Garcia: Building our own public works facility and prioritizing grant writers and staff is critical. This isn’t just about maintaining roads and parks; it’s about ensuring equity in neighborhoods across Burien. Every family, regardless of where they live, deserves access to safe streets and quality public amenities.
Garcia: I also want to begin the process of developing a Parks District to supplement the public works facility, strengthen our city budget, manage staff more effectively, and reduce the need for frequent tax increases via levies.
Garcia: (C) Defending Burien’s Immigrant and Refugee Families from ICE and Trump-Era Impacts
Garcia: For generations, Burien has welcomed immigrants and refugees. Our city has grown and thrived thanks to their small businesses and community contributions. Now being a majority of people of color in the city, we must protect our immigrant neighbors and understand that their public safety is all of our public safety.
Garcia: Public safety means preventing cruel deportations and maintaining trust between immigrant communities and local government. When people fear ICE, they are less likely to report crimes, which makes all of us less safe.
Garcia: Burien needs someone on Council who truly understands the emotional and practical challenges of our immigration system. I’ve lived through that experience, not just inherited it from my parents. I continue to live it every day, and I want our immigrant families to know their city has their back.
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?
Jessica Ivey
Ivey: 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.
Hugo Garcia
Garcia: My comments and vote during council meetings on this topic are public and available on the city website. I expressed strong concern about allowing exceptions for global franchises like McDonald’s and Wendy’s, which have more than enough profit to pay fair wages to workers whether they be youth and young adults from Highline, Evergreen, and Kennedy High Schools or parents trying to keep their families fed and housed.
Garcia: I also opposed policies that penalized tipped workers by letting employers count customer tips toward minimum wage requirements. My father waited tables for decades on minimum wage plus tips, and while that worked in the 1990s, it does not work today. A higher living minimum wage is needed to keep up with housing and food costs.
Garcia: I made efforts to exclude those loopholes in the council’s version, but those proposals were voted down or not incorporated. I abstained from voting for the council’s version because I felt it would bring no real benefit at all to most residents and working families.
Garcia: I was transparent in personally supporting the version that went to public vote and trusted the democratic process. Voters approved it by 57%, rejecting carve outs for franchises and penalizing tip earners. The people spoke and the voter approved initiative is the version that should be enforced
Garcia: Because the initiative is now in active litigation, I can’t comment on the lawsuit or countersuit. But I can say that spending our limited city funds on legal battles instead of sidewalks, roads, and parks is not something I support.
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?
Jessica Ivey
Ivey: 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.
Ivey: 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.
Hugo Garcia
Garcia: We need to better inform residents, home owners, and buyers of homes of our zoning and permitting updates that allow housing of all types, including temporary, transitional, missing middle, and single-family homes, both market-rate and affordable. We don’t have enough housing for all income levels, and this lack contributes directly to homelessness.
Garcia: Beyond housing, we need more professional behavioral health and addiction services for people living in cars or on the streets.
Garcia: Regarding the ordinance on homeless encampments at churches: on its own, our city lacks the resources to fully address homelessness. Partnering with churches, nonprofits, the county, and the state is our only viable path toward solutions. The proposed ordinance was overly restrictive and made it harder for churches to help. After my attempts to amend the ordinance to match what I was hearing from organizations who do this work failed, I abstained from voting. Three other council members also abstained or voted against it. I can’t speak for them, but that was my reasoning.
4. Public Safety and Policing: How would you approach public safety concerns in Burien, including police funding, alternative response programs, and community trust?
Jessica Ivey
Ivey: 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.
Hugo Garcia
Garcia: Public safety includes everything from speeding in neighborhoods to break-ins, robberies, to ICE deportations that ignore due process and separate families.
Garcia: Too much of our limited budget is focused on policing the downtown core. We must also prioritize residential neighborhoods with better traffic calming, road maintenance, and park safety.
Garcia: Our current contract with the King County Sheriff’s Office already takes up over 40% of our budget. It’s the best police department we can afford as a city our size. Nationwide, police departments face staffing shortages not due to lack of funding, but because fewer people want to work in the field.
Garcia: Burien had been a leader in alternative response programs like LEAD, using social workers and behavioral health staff. That success came from collaborating with our county, churches, and nonprofits. I believe restoring that collaboration is key to rebuilding public trust.
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?
Jessica Ivey
Ivey: 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.
Hugo Garcia
Garcia: As one of the few council members who live in North Burien I know firsthand that the life expectancy of people living closer to the airport’s flight path is lower than in other areas of the city and region.
Garcia: I’m grateful for the hard work of our Airport Committee and our Deputy Mayor, who lives directly under the flight path in Boulevard Park. I’ve had conversations with Chair Brian Davis and support the committee’s collaborative approach. However, we now need to be more intentional and direct about addressing these life-and-death environmental impacts especially in areas annexed into Burien like North Burien and Boulevard Park, where many residents are lower income and people of color.
6. Downtown Revitalization and Economic Development: What is your vision for revitalizing Burien’s downtown core and attracting new businesses, jobs, and community spaces?
Jessica Ivey
Ivey: 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:
Ivey: • 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.
Ivey: • Developing live-work space for artists being priced out of urban centers will enrich our community with galleries and performance space.
Ivey: • Bringing a boutique hotel to grow foot traffic to support local cafes, coffee shops, services, and retailers.
Ivey: • Incentivizing more variety of programming for families and youth
Ivey: • Developing in key neighborhood nodes with gathering spaces to build neighborhood identity and connectivity.
Hugo Garcia
Garcia: Our biggest assets as a city are our parks, tree canopy, and dedicated city staff. My vision centers on these strengths. I want Burien to have the best park system in the entire state.
Garcia: Our geographic location is already a major advantage. We’re close to transit, travelers, downtown Seattle, and sports venues. But I want to see revitalization beyond just our downtown core. Many residential neighborhoods, including North Burien and Boulevard Park, have been left behind.
Garcia: Investing in the quality of all twenty-eight of our parks adding more fields, kid- and pet-friendly features, better lighting, pickleball courts, and water features will not only serve our families but make the city more attractive to new businesses, organizations, and job creators.
Garcia: That’s why I’ve led efforts to explore a Parks District: it would improve our financial capacity, support our hardworking public works and parks teams, and complement the excellent work of our economic development and communications staff. A regionally dominant parks system can revitalize not just the downtown core but the entire city and incorporating the arts district designation we have with the state commerce department is key too.
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?
Jessica Ivey
Ivey: 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.
Hugo Garcia
Garcia: First, we need to prioritize building our own public works facility. This investment will save the city millions of dollars annually and show our regional transportation partners that we are serious about collaboration.
Garcia: Once we establish our own facility and improve our staffing, especially for grant development, we will be better positioned to maintain roads, reduce traffic congestion, and expand the pedestrian and cycling infrastructure.
Garcia: During my visits to Washington, D.C., I’ve advocated for funding for this facility and have made real progress. Once complete, the cost savings will allow us to invest in safer, more accessible streets for all users.
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?
Jessica Ivey
Ivey: 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.
Hugo Garcia
Garcia: Maintaining arborist staffing is critical, as is expanding our code enforcement team. Burien has one of the strongest urban tree ordinances in the region but it’s only effective if we have the staff to enforce it.
Garcia: We must also build strong partnerships with neighboring cities, the Port, King County, and federal agencies to fund home improvement programs and modernize our aging housing supply.
Garcia: Leadership in collaboration is essential.
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?
Jessica Ivey
Ivey: 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.
Ivey: 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.
Ivey: 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.
Hugo Garcia
Garcia: As an immigrant and naturalized citizen, I am part of the diverse population mentioned in this question. I’ve lived in Burien since I was eleven, attended Shorewood Elementary, and was raised in a low-income neighborhood. My family has contributed to this city for decades—through taxes, public service, education, and nonprofit work.
Garcia: I’ve helped businesses access capital to allow them, and their families to thrive. I share these stories because many immigrant and working-class families in Burien have made the same contributions. Supporting diversity means more than enjoying cultural food; it means standing up when it matters.
Garcia: It was the Sanctuary City fight that got me involved in local government. Today, we must stand strong with our immigrant and refugee neighbors. This is not only a moral responsibility, it’s a public safety issue.
Garcia: We’re fortunate to have support from federal leaders like Representative Pramila Jayapal, Senator Maria Cantwell, and Senator Patty Murray, and from state and county governments committed to protecting Burien’s values for immigrants and refugees. I will continue to lean on that partnership should federal threats ever jeopardize our funding.
10. Transparency and Community Engagement: What new approaches would you take to increase transparency and improve communication between City Hall and the public?
Jessica Ivey
Ivey: 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.
Ivey: 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.
Hugo Garcia
Garcia: Transparency and trust start by meeting people where they are not expecting them to come to City Hall.
Garcia: As a councilmember, I would advocate for:
Garcia: • A bi-annual State of the City report and event, including department-level budget updates, staffing trends, and summaries of staff exit interviews.
• Pop-up town halls and council meetings in schools, parks, apartment complexes, and small business plazas.
• Text message updates and mobile-friendly surveys to engage working residents.
• Continuation and expansion of the community liaisons program trusted messengers from neighborhoods and cultural communities who share city updates and gather feedback.Garcia: City government should be as accessible and responsive as the people it serves especially for renters, immigrants, and working families.
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?
Jessica Ivey
Ivey: 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.
Ivey: I also think councilmembers should be more diligent in scrutinizing utility contracts. With record inflation, I want to know that the City understands that every dollar counts for households on a budget.
Hugo Garcia
Garcia: My top priorities are building a public works facility, strengthening our Parks Department, and maintaining our police contract with the Sheriff’s Office. These are directly tied to public safety and economic revitalization in not just for the downtown core, but for the entire city.
Garcia: We must also prioritize road maintenance and traffic calming in residential neighborhoods. That matters to the 55,000 residents of Burien, most of whom live outside the downtown core.
Garcia: I believe we can reduce the scale and frequency of large downtown events and reinvest in smaller, neighborhood-based programs in our parks. A balanced approach to investment downtown and citywide is a smart, short-term tradeoff while we build out our public works facility and establish a Parks District to complement our Arts District designation.
