I have called Puyallup home my entire life, and I love how it has grown into a more diverse community. I give credit to my daughters for keeping me up with the times, and to my wife’s work in municipal services that makes me more in touch with the needs of the community.
It’s critical that leadership in the City of Puyallup care for everyone regardless of background, income, or circumstance. My reputation throughout my career shows these are my values, including during my tenure as Community Outreach Officer with the Puyallup Police Department, and I’ll continue to pursue policies based on those values as your city council representative.
Unfortunate City Council Decisions This Summer
I feel that my opponent, who is currently taking his 2 year turn as mayor, along with 3 other council members, sent a message of divisiveness into the community when, on July 22, they voted to amend Puyallup’s 20 Year Comprehensive Plan that had been developed by Planning Department staff, Planning Commission members, and extensive public input as detailed by advisory group member who spoke at minute 39:35 during citizen comments.
My opponent was the principal author of those backward amendments. He lead our city into the past, and toward a dead end by writing into the Comprehensive Plan a directive to follow presidential executive orders. He may want to go along with our current president, but writing that directive into our Comprehensive Plan is just about the most short-sighted thing I could imagine for a 20 year plan that will span multiple presidents who come and go.
The amendments my opponent authored also eliminate equity goals for the city, and remove mention of things like mention of the Puyallup Tribe’s Medicine Creek Treaty. The Comprehensive Plan now reads like an attempt to erase the history of our city’s settlement. Knowing what Ezra Meeker wrote in his autobiographical books such as Pioneer Reminiscences of Puget Sound: The Tragedy of Leschi, and considering his own battles with fellow council members, our town founder would likely question why these amendments were proposed.
Looking back at decades of City Council minutes, it appears more people attended (150) and spoke (50) against my opponent’s amendments during the July 22 Council meeting than ever before in the history of the city. Only one person, a sole Planning Commission member who is believed to have fed most of the amendments to my opponent, spoke in favor of the amendments. The proposed amendments come after City Council, following the same 4-3 vote pattern during a February meeting, took the unprecedented move to decline to re-appoint a Planning Commission member, chair Heather Schiller, after she helped steer the Comprehensive Plan through its drafting process.
Even worse for us taxpayers here in Puyallup, some of my opponent’s amendments contradict what the Comprehensive Plan is required by the state to include, and many watchdogs expect reviewing bodies to reject the plan, with some residents and 3 council members expressing concern (including Councilmember Lauren Adler at minute 2:30:20) that the Plan will cause the City to become mired in litigation.
My opponent also operated in his customarily non-transparent ways in developing these amendments, in spite of the extensive public process involved in developing the Comprehensive Plan. Other Council members expressed exasperation during their June 10th meeting that few could even preview what the proposed amendments were, and that 4 hours prior to the meeting, Council received 30 pages of legal documents questioning the amendments without time for review. After some digging, we found the links to the amendments via https://compplan-puyallup.hub.arcgis.com/pages/draft-comp-plan.
Sad Story Behind the Scenes
There is so much more to the story. As you probably read in the news, our Planning Commission Chair Kenya Jones-Lowell received the most horrendous racist death threats you can imagine this summer, including references to her work on the Comprehensive Plan. Despite reports that City Council was briefed in early summer on the threatening letter she received, my opponent and his allies on Council never reached out to Ms. Jones-Lowell, and they certainly did not take into consideration that their amendments created an environment where threats of racist violence could occur.
I was born and raised in Puyallup to believe that doing right by our neighbors is what’s most important. I’ve always had a big-heart for this community. I handled concerns of all types as our Community Outreach Officer, and in that role I saw all sides of this city. Throughout it all, I worked for a safe, strong community, standing up for anyone who was under threat, no matter how long someone lived here, or what their background may have been. After what happened on City Council this summer, I’m more motivated than ever to bring back that spirit of safety, kindness, generosity and service to everyone who lives, works, shops and visits here so that all people feel safe, welcome and included in our community.
The way that I have always operated is to go out on the streets to seek and consider all perspectives before making decisions – unlike the way the incumbent in this race operates. I’ve been encouraged by all the residents that I’ve met at the doors this summer, whether they were raised here like I was, or if they moved to town in recent years. My experience at the doors truly demonstrates what a wonderful and welcoming place Puyallup can be. Now we need to elect city council members who stand up for everyone.
Let’s become one community again in the new year, where everyone feels welcome and included. – Jeff Bennett
253-318-8790 jeff@puyallupjeff.com
Jeff Bennett for Puyallup City Council 
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