Jeremy Barksdale – B

Barksdale prioritizes communication and collaboration with the community.  He would convene public discussions and encourage collective decisions rather than relying solely on his own judgment of complex issues.  Barksdale didn’t mention specific policies or priorities during his candidate interview, but says conversations with the community and experts would inform his decisions.

Here are Barksdale’s transcribed and graded answers to each of our questions.

1. Should city government be more involved in energy project planning beyond land use?

Grade: B

I’m less familiar with the extent to which cities get involved with energy planning. I do know land use is a part of it, and given that, generally speaking, I think there should be a strong partnership with all the stakeholders involved in a process when it comes to big issues such as energy planning.

In terms of the extent to which the city should be involved beyond the narrow question of land use, I could see the city playing a key role in facilitating a conversation between individual members of the community and companies, given that I think that those who are impacted by whatever decisions that come out of that, are at the table and part of the conversation. This is one of my priorities – engaging neighborhoods and making sure that the people that are impacted by the problems and solutions are part of the conversation.  Given the list of things here (viz., reliable electricity, environmental impacts, preservation of neighborhoods, and energy costs) are such complex issues, I think it’s key for everyone to make collective sense of that, together. Just given the complexity, especially when we are talking about a very specialized area, energy planning – I  have a technical background and I still don’t know about energy planning – I think it is important to bring the community along in that understanding so they can make sense of what’s happening in the community.  The big piece for me, though not the only piece, is making sure that the conversation is broad and inclusive, and healthy, so that we collectively have an idea of what’s happening.

2. Do flat forecasts for electricity demand have policy implications?

Grade: A-

Even when I’m not looking at issues like power (i.e., just whatever the issues our community is facing), I look at what’s working and what’s not necessarily working in other areas.  I think that’s key because we have a lot of similar characteristics as other cities, though every city is also different given that the people that make up that community differs. So I think it’s important to consider what’s happening in other cities, especially neighboring cities. Obviously Seattle, Tacoma, Snohomish – these are ones that are within the broader region of the Pacific Northwest.

To answer the question of how might they influence my input into policies, they would inform how I make sense of our community in the broader context of the region, and also they would in some ways guide how I further understand the issue. I would reach out to someone at Seattle City Light, Tacoma Power, Snohomish County, professors at UW or other academic institutions, wherever, to make sense of whatever policy decision that needs to be made.

I would also engage the community in addition to the other stakeholders as I mentioned in the first question, to understand what how that relates to Bellevue in the context of the region. It would inform how I approach making sense of it, as well as questions I would ask, and any position I would take.

3. Any ideas about negotiating a better energy project for East Bellevue?

Grade: B

To me, this speaks of process and engagement, which is not limited to energy planning? I think there’s a broader conversation about how we engage people in our community and I think that’s, in my mind, the way I would approach a situation like this – understanding the perspectives, the concerns, the needs, the context of whatever it is, the decision that needs to be made. I don’t think it’s so much me negotiating as much as it is facilitating that interaction, that engagement. I consider myself a convener, and so my orientation is more around bringing people together to figure out what works across the board.

I recently talked to a neighborhood association – listening to their concerns, and my last question to them was how flexible are you on also realizing that by the time we finish campaigning, there will be a lot of competing interests. I think it’s important to call those out, and be able to talk about them, transparently among all the stakeholders.  For me, negotiating is really about getting an idea of what are those concerns, so that at least we can have a conversation around, these are the concerns, how are we going to mitigate against these concerns? And if we can’t, what does that mean and where do we go from there? So, it’s not really about me, as much as trying to figure out how to bring out the various perspectives so that we can figure out how to chart that path forward together.

4. What do you think about having a public energy provider?

Grade: C+

This is where my UX research comes in–I like to know what the pros and cons are of what I’m taking a position on. So, I don’t know that I’ll be able to answer about a PUD because I don’t know the pros and cons of a PUD. But, I would begin to engage the people who have that insight and perspective to inform that decision. Again, it’s not about my personal belief about a PUD. It’s more about how we think about it collectively because I feel like while I’m bringing a skill set to the table, keeping in mind that as a convener, it’s really about how we make this work for us.