Endorsements for Lake Forest Park City Council

Remember This Image?

This was the image that CORE published in 2023 that awakened the community to the impacts in Lake Forest Park (LFP) of the Sound Transit Stride-3 bus rapid transit (BRT) project that was approved by voters in 2016.   The dramatic Sound Transit design change that shifted SR522 to the West in 2021 was not clear to LFP residents during the limited public engagement during COVID.

The top half shows the LFP we know: a green gateway of trees and shrubs providing important carbon retention (a single tree can remove 50 pounds of carbon from the air annually), stormwater retention, shade, and traffic calming.

The bottom half shows what Sound Transit’s Stride-3 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project would bring: a nearly mile-long concrete wall up to 17 feet tall, 399 trees (6" trunk or larger) removed plus shrubs and vegetation, and a widened roadway pressed against homes and hillside. This image represents what’s at stake for our city and why this election matters.

But Don’t the Long-Term Benefits Outweigh the Costs?

Unfortunately, the modest transit benefits come at too high a cost - the loss of five acres of mature tree canopy and the taking of land from over 100 LFP property owners along SR 522, who together must surrender over an acre to Sound Transit.

CORE supports public transportation, but the project segment in LFP will not significantly benefit transit riders or reduce general purpose traffic on SR 522.  The Sound Transit Stride-3 promotional video cites a 34-minute time savings for the morning commute but doesn’t say anything about the afternoon commute benefit.  The morning benefit will still be realized without the LFP segment because there is already a dedicated bus lane in the westbound/southbound direction through LFP.  The city’s alternate design would decrease BAT lane coverage only by 2% - from the planned 53% to 51%.   So is a minute or two in the afternoon commute worth the damage, cost and longer construction?  Read our earlier blog to understand how two-seat commutes to/from UW and downtown will actually take more time after this destructive and expensive project is completed.

CORE Endorsements – November 2025

CORE is endorsing the following candidates because it is critical that Lake Forest Park have a city council committed to protecting the community’s interests as Sound Transit moves forward with its Stride-3 project. Our goal is to ensure that Sound Transit’s plan is fair to our city—protecting its environment, ecosystems, and tree canopy while providing value to bus riders. That’s why we are endorsing these candidates:

Bryce James for Position 1

Bryce pledges to bring diverse LFP minds together to solve our biggest challenges. He is a big supporter of CORE and the City’s alternative Stride-3 design.  He is opposed by Semra Riddle, the only Council member who refused to sign the city’s letter to Sound Transit. 

Ashton McCartney for Position 2 - Write-in Candidate!

Ashton is serving as a temporary City Council member and is running as a write-in candidate for Position 2 to offer an alternative to the other candidates who support Sound Transit’s plans in LFP. On the ballot, use the blank space under the other two candidates for position 2 to write in Ashton McCartney.

Jon Lebo for Position 3

As an employee of Sound Transit, Jon must recuse himself from official City discussions about Sound Transit.  Jon is the Council liaison to the City’s Planning Commission and chair of the Budget Committee. John is committed to maintain our city’s permitting code.  

Tracy Furutani for Position 5

Deputy Mayor Furutani was one of the six out of seven Council Members who signed the City’s letter to Sound Transit with their alternative plan.  He cares deeply about our environment and values inclusive decision-making.

Larry Goldman for Position 7

Council member Goldman also signed the city’s letter presenting an alternative plan for Sound Transit. He committed to making LFP a welcoming, environmentally focused city.

These candidates support the plans the City Council submitted to Sound Transit and application of the city’s established permitting code, which protects both property owners and the broader community through transparency, accountability, and public oversight for a construction project of this magnitude. 

Project Status

The LFP segment of Stride-3 (BT-306) remains the most complex and delayed portion of the SR-522/NE 145th Stride-3 project. Sound Transit has already awarded the Kenmore/Bothell contract (BT-307) and released the Seattle/Shoreline contract (BT-305) for bid, but no Invitation to Bid (ITB) has been issued for LFP. According to Sound Transit’s September 2025 Property Acquisition Report, only 90 of 134 parcels in LFP have been acquired and recorded. That leaves 44 properties still unresolved — typically the most difficult with owners disputing compensation, tenants awaiting relocation, or parcels tied up in legal or title actions. Between the May 2025 and September 2025 reports, the agency’s “Contractor Need Date” for LFP slipped from October 1 to February 1, 2026, showing clear evidence of delay linked to property and design complexity.

Why This Segment Is So Difficult

The LFP stretch crosses steep slopes and sensitive terrain, including Bsche’tla Creek between 153rd and 155th Streets NE, a mapped landslide-hazard and critical-area corridor. Building a continuous bus-only lane here would require major retaining walls, deep excavation, and utility relocations within a corridor barely wide enough for existing traffic. Those constraints explain why BT-306 remains the last and most technically challenging section of Stride-3.

LFP City Leadership Have Advocated for a Simpler Design

In July 2024, the mayor and most of the city council formally urged Sound Transit to reconsider its design. In its letter — developed using analysis first prepared by CORE — the city proposed a simple change in design that would cost significantly less, avoid cutting down nearly 400 trees, and have minimal impact on bus travel times during weekday afternoon commutes. The city called the LFP segment “the most constrained section of the corridor” and emphasized that flexibility was essential to maintain public safety and community character.

The Stewardship Foundation Issued a Letter of Support in February 2025

Their letter endorsed both the city’s position and CORE’s findings. They wrote that Lake Forest Park is “the smallest and most heavily impacted community of the entire four-city project,” and that this segment is “the most costly in dollars, time to build, and permanent environmental impact.” It concluded that the supposed time savings for transit riders were “negligible when weighed against the scale of harm.”

Leaders from the Stewardship Foundation, CORE and several City Council Members met with then Sound Transit CEO Julie Timm and presented Sound Transit with a clear, data-driven alternative that protects LFP's livability while still meeting regional transit needs. 

Permitting Reality

Sound Transit has not completed the purchase of property from many impacted homeowners. This means that until those acquisitions are finalized, the agency cannot legally enter, clear, or build on those critical sites—and the City cannot lawfully issue or honor permits for work on properties Sound Transit does not yet control. That’s why it’s essential that Lake Forest Park stays within the permitting guardrails in our Municipal Code. These rules protect residents by ensuring construction does not begin until ownership, environmental review, and community impacts are fully addressed. Our Municipal Code provides the safeguards that keep major projects accountable, ensuring transparency, lawful process, and full public oversight before work begins.

In Summary

The LFP segment of Stride-3 remains months behind schedule because of unresolved property acquisitions and extraordinary engineering demands. That delay proves what many of us have consistently said: that the current design is oversized, overpriced, and out of balance with the needs of the community it cuts through.

At the same time ST is now facing an overall $30 billion dollar shortfall and has commissioned an Enterprise Initiative to address the shortfall, including “Finding project and program efficiencies, and the potential for scope changes, phasing projects, reconsidering some projects.” 

Stride-3 must fit within Sound Transit’s $581 million baseline budget. If costs continue to rise, the project may face a lengthy “re-baseline” process.  Meanwhile, the other two Stride-3 segments — Shoreline/Seattle and Bothell/Kenmore — are moving forward, leaving Lake Forest Park as the only place where scope changes are likely. This gives the citizens and a united City Council the opportunity and leverage to continue to press Sound Transit for a "Better Way".

With five City Council seats on the ballot this year your vote has never mattered more.  That’s why we are endorsing these candidates that fully support the alternative design and will keep the pressure on Sound Transit for sensible design changes that will preserve our environment as well as preserve most of the transit improvements.