nwasianweekly.com
Jan. 12, 2008

Cindy Ryu elected as mayor of Shoreline

By James Tabafunda & Eleanor Lee
Northwest Asian Weekly

Shoreline City Council member Cindy Ryu was selected by her fellow council members Jan. 7 to serve as mayor. Ryu, a council member since 2005, said, “I am honored to have been elected to serve as the mayor of City of Shoreline by my colleagues. I look forward to a very productive, civil, and professional City Council.”

Ryu, 50, was elected to the City Council in 2005 and her term ends in 2009. She has served as president of Shoreline Chamber of Commerce, board member of the Council of Neighborhoods, and member of the Shoreline Bond Advisory Committee. She owns an Allstate insurance agency with her husband, Cody. Ryu and her husband are both emigrants from Korea and longtime residents of Shoreline.

Ryu was nominated by council member Janet Way, and she received a majority of five out of seven votes. She was up against one other nominee.

Ryu is the first person of color to be the mayor of Shoreline, and to the best of her knowledge, the first Asian American female to be mayor of any city in Washington state.

She said that she wanted the job of mayor because, “though (Shoreline) is 12 years old, we have outstanding issues.” She mentioned Shoreline’s rapid development, saying that she wanted to “do development right.” She also said that she felt suited for the position because of Shoreline’s diverse population, including 19% who are of Asian descent. Shoreline has a total population of 53,000.

Ryu said she looked forward to working with the newly elected deputy mayor, Terry Scott, as well as all the council members, saying, “Each Council member has his or her unique strengths and skills to offer to the Shoreline City Council and to our community.”

She added, “We should honor the past, but move on. I would like to build on the many strengths of Shoreline. We have concerned and involved citizens who should be encouraged to stay engaged.”

Several prominent leaders of the Asian American community were in attendance at the meeting in support of Ryu, including James Arima, community activist; Nadine Shiroma, of Raising Our Asian Pacific American Representation; and Teresita Batayola, executive director of International Community Health Services.

In another city approximately the same distance from Seattle, in contrast, “no change” seemed to be the buzzwords of one group of city government officials.

The Bellevue City Council re-elected Grant Degginger as the city’s mayor; he will serve a second two-year term. The city council voted in a private study session Jan. 7.

After serving 14 years on the City Council, Lee had decided the time had come to add his name along with Degginger’s to the list of mayoral nominees. “Everybody considers it an international city,” he pointed out. “It’s time, I think, for Bellevue to have a mayor who has an international background.”

He added, “Bellevue has probably the highest nonwhite population in King County. One-third of the population, here, was born outside this country, so it’s really quite international.”

Lee also decided to run because of the nature of the job itself. He said it enables a person to “learn, experience and become more effective as an elected official, as a public servant” and that all seven council members are “capable to represent the city in that capacity.”

Lee’s most recent City Council assignments include co-chair of the ACCESS Downtown Citizen Advisory Committee, the Bellevue Convention Center Authority Board and the Regional Issues Committee.

City Council member Claudia Balducci was named the new deputy mayor, taking over the duties from John Chelminiak, a council member since 2004. Re-elected last fall to her second four-year term on the council, she serves as the regional jail coordinator for King County.

She voted for Degginger, citing his excellent work as mayor during the last two years and for being “good at delegating.”

Degginger, a Bellevue resident since 1982, serves as chair of the Cascade Water Alliance. His most recent City Council assignments include Planning Commission liaison, the Growth Management Planning Council, the 520 Mediator Panel and the Regional Issues Committee.

If he remains on the City Council in 2010, Lee said he wants to be elected as Bellevue’s next mayor. He is determined to bring his unique perspective, creativity and innovation to the job.

“The fact that I’m different is already innovative and transforming,” he said about being the only Asian American Bellevue City Council member.

Balducci supports more city leaders of color who reflect the citizens of Bellevue. “We have made an effort to put more of them on city boards and commissions. I very much support that,” she said.

By doing so, she said this will develop and encourage more leaders for the future, especially from the city’s immigrant and refugee populations.

She said, “It’s important to have someone you can relate to in those positions.”

James Tabafunda can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

Eleanor Lee can be reached at e.lee@nwasianweekly.com

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