Everett City Council Campaign Statement – Erik Richerson

Editor’s Note: On October 6th MyEverettNews.com sent the following message to all 7 candidates on the general election ballot for Everett City Council. We advised that we would be publishing the response on Saturday October 17th as most voters will be receiving their ballots in the mail this weekend.

Every general election MyEverettNews.com invites candidates for Everett City Council to tell our readers in 400 words or less why they should vote for you. You may have been invited to participate this way in the primary but this is a new election so we are asking for a new submission. In addition to the 400 words we’re asking all candidates to answer the following reader-submitted question…

With the county jail’s new policies restricting taking in those that are currently on drugs, and a surging heroin epidemic that is resulting in increased property crimes…what do we do with the hundreds/thousands of addicts that are avoiding the criminal justice system?

Here is the response received from challenger Erik Richerson who is running for position 6 against incumbent Brenda Stonecipher.

Running for council is an exciting venture for me. As a successful downtown Everett business owner for the past 8 years, I have seen first hand all of our citizens concerns as far as the homeless, and drug problems go. I believe that we as a city government need to look outside of ourselves for the answers to our ever increasing epidemic. As the past 10+ years has shown, our current governing body has not gained any lead way in winning the battle of drugs and homelessness in Everett. Utah has done a great job coming together as a community to overcome their resent drug and homelessness problems. The key was that all concerned parties are coming together towards one over arching purpose. We can learn from them. I feel that the citizens of Everett and the current government body that be are not engaging the current resources that we have in our city. Resources like the many outreach, non-profits, churches, and active citizens. Instead of pointing the finger at each other, we need to come together as a team. I will be that council member that is active in the city as a connector for us all. Doing more than just showing up to council meetings on Wednesday, and pushing papers. As my credentials show I have been and will continue to be active in our community, and do my best to protect our families and insure the success of our next generation, and generations to come. Furthermore we as a city need to have some fun, yes I said have some fun. For the past 15 years our families, and kids can hardly say that downtown everett is fun. We need to change that. I would like to see downtown become fun and family friendly. Good shopping, eats, and entertainment. Food vendors, shops, and fun for the kiddos. I would like to see a 3D image of what our citizens would like our downtown to be. Protection, and clean fun streets is what we need. We need to enforce laws that keep drugs and loitering off our city streets and out of our neighborhoods and local businesses. We need new blood and a change of the guard. Thank you for the opportunity to serve our community.

Mr. Richerson tells MyEverettNews.com that he combined his answer to the reader submitted question within his above response.