[EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a Letter to the Editor, written and submitted by a verified Burien resident. It represents the opinion of the author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of South King Media or its staff.]
I am going to vote for Kevin Schilling, and I think that you should, too.
We visited Burien many times before we moved here three years ago. Friendly people, diversity, walkability, and more.
Within five months, things changed. We had many people living in tents by the library and elsewhere. Drug addiction and behavior, sex trafficking, drug dealers aplenty, and more. No one seemed to care about the everyday citizens; especially those residing in Town Square. So called do-gooders were moving people around like chess pieces for drama, not long term solutions.
Service organizations were here daily trying to place people. Local businesses were threatened and experienced a lot of stealing. I witnessed this daily. Thieves told me to mind my own business when I watched them blatantly stealing and then they laughed.
Kevin Schilling, our city manager, and some city councilmembers thoughtfully and with dignity, stood up for Burien citizens and offered many services to those in need. They were caring and steadfast.
I am receiving flyers almost daily from Kevin’s opponent who frankly, has no platform and is misinformed. Has he ever even been here?
Kevin Schilling has been a great mayor who really cares about ALL people. I ask that you join me and cast your vote for Kevin for State Rep. Common Sense needs to stay in Burien!
– Kathleen McNee
Burien Town Square Resident
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I agree wholeheartedly, Burien’s loss of his leadership will be a setback but if we collectively keep the Activists off the Council we will still be ahead thanks to his efforts.
Thanks for writing this and 100% agree
Kevin Schilling sold out Burien workers for political donations.
If you had your way everyone would earn the same in your Socialist utopian dream, what Kevin did was point out the incorrect data that the wage groups didn’t bother to research.
Are you even a Burien worker and your complaining about Kevin? No? Then maybe sit this one out. You’re speaking from the sidelines with zero understanding of the realities on the ground.
If anyone’s sold out, it’s those who choose to whine and demean others instead of stepping up with real facts or workable solutions. You’re not here to help—you’re here to stir the pot and feel self-righteous doing it. That’s not activism; it’s ego wrapped in a empty slogan.
Kevin Schilling has taken strong, transparent positions on labor rights, economic development, and public safety, his positions did benefit the entire city of Burien. He’s done the work. But your hollow attack(s) prove you have no argument but only more noise to add.
I’m voting for Kevin Schilling for many of the reasons Kathleen pointed out. Homelessness coupled with drug addiction is not only a public health and safety problem, but also an economic problem. Businesses close earlier, give up and relocate, or not even start up at all. Customers are reluctant to walk to nearby restaurants and other establishments at night if they have to walk by homeless and / or drug addicted people. Property values decline. Who wants to relocate to Burien and live next to an encampment? Mayor Kevin Schilling and like minded council members have made some incredible progress in making Burien a safer city to live in. Much more needs to be done, but good progress over the last two years.
Kevin Schilling wanted the police to enforce a law before it was constitutionally reviewed. A small group of individuals on the council wanted the police force beholden to their whims, without a vote of the citizens. Allowing *anyone* to control a police force without due oversight is a terrifying concept, and a mayor who cares about their citizens would accept the review process as standard procedure, rather than firing a police chief over it.
He’s campaigned as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, but had no words when I asked about the fact that LGBTQ+ youth are the most at-risk group of individuals for homelessness (Over 25% of LGBTQ+ folks report being homeless at some point in their lives). Instead, he passed law to criminalize homelessness. This law and other “camping bans” like it, is now being weaponized by MAGA, who state that such laws can no longer consider “housing first” agendas (which ours currently does). (See the executive order ‘Ending Crime & Disorder on America’s Streets’, Section 5: “ending support for “housing first” policies”).
This is exactly what many people feared would come to pass by enacting such a law, and especially the underhanded way in which it was done. Did it clean up our 3 blocks of downtown? Sure. Did it just move encampments to less visible places? Absolutely. Will it have been worth it when the EO rewrites such laws to give authoritarian servants carte blanche to send people with “mental health conditions” to “long-term institutions” involuntarily?
The “camping ban” is a disgusting infringement on civil rights and is being openly praised by an objectively fascist federal regime. This is the kind of person Kevin Schilling is. He’s shown this to us time and time again. This is a man who will roll over and accept fascism as long as the streets look nice and he gets more votes. No thank you.