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There are some of you who might have been taken by surprise that I chose not to run for re-election to Lynnwood City Council this year.  When I was appointed to the Council to fill a vacancy four years ago, I was asked if I would run for the seat I was appointed to during the following election. I responded that I would, and I have fulfilled that commitment.  I chose to seek election for the Council position because Lynnwood was at a very precarious point of time and upcoming decisions the Council would be making would have generational impact on residents of the City of Lynnwood.  Individuals in the city were calling for the police to be defunded. We were still in the midst of COVID, and there was significant unrest with BLM and Antifa protests.

I ran for office promising the residents of Lynnwood I would fight for public safety, for managed city growth, and to improve traffic.  I believe I have delivered on those promises.  The City Council has approved the Police Department requests for funding to hire additional officers, for additional training and for new technology to fight crime. We have built the Community Justice Center and Community Resource Center to serve our community.  I have fought against the hyper densification of the City that the County, State, and many members of the current City Council are advocating for, and we have channeled City budget funds to improve our streets to make them safer for vehicles, pedestrians, bikers, families and others moving around our city.  At the same time, I have pushed for increased transparency in government, successfully driving for third party external audits of the City departments and fighting unwaveringly against corruption on the City Council.

However, during my time on the Council, I have seen an increasing problem with County and State overreach which severely impacts the City of Lynnwood.  Time and time again, the Council chose a direction for the good of the City, only to have the State or County intervene and block that direction.  Erosion of the sovereign rights of the Cities in this State, and blatant unwillingness to listen to the voice of the people by the State and County have meant that the City Council’s ability to pass legislation benefiting and protecting the residents of this great City has been diluted.

The State mandate to remove Single Family Home zoning across the State is an example of this heavy handed and dictatorial approach to governance.  No longer are our neighborhoods designed according to the vision and needs of our city’s residents, they are now zoned to accommodate the hyper densification vision of the County and State without regard to how that damages those neighborhoods.

In a similar way, the County, which holds control of much of the grant funding used by Cities for growth and infrastructure development, essentially holds those funds hostage from cities in exchange for cities aligning with the County’s vision.  If cities do not toe the line with the County, important infrastructure grants from the County are jeopardized, money which has often been handed to the County by the State or Federal government for development of cities in this area.  In other words, if we don’t dance to the tune the County and State are singing, they will cut off access to funding we desperately need to accommodate the population growth they are forcing into our local cities.

Combine all of this with the incredibly short sighted and painful 52% property tax increase and utility tax increase passed by the Lynnwood City Council, coupled with the ridiculous tax increases passed by the State, the residents of this great State are being pinched at every turn!

Consequently, I feel that I can best protect the residents of Lynnwood by serving on the Snohomish County Charter Commission, where I can best address this overreach by the County and State through changes to the County Charter which will protect the residents of this great City.

I am not going far, and you can be certain I will be speaking to, and about the Lynnwood City Council as I continue my efforts to protect and serve the residents of this great City.

Thank you for your comments, criticisms, thoughts and ideas over these past four years.  I look forward to continuing to serve you in this new capacity on the Snohomish County Charter Commission. 

I leave you in the good hands of several individuals running for office who will make fantastic Lynnwood City Councilmembers with fresh energy and ideas.  Together we will continue to make Lynnwood a safe, vibrant community where each of us can thrive as we continue our efforts to make Lynnwood a safe, wonderful city to live in and to raise our families in.

Patrick Decker, Lynnwood City Councilman

Patrick Decker (段仕诚 – पैट्रिक् डेकर) has been a resident of Lynnwood for over thirty five years.  He is married to his wife of 27 years, who is a first-generation immigrant from Thailand.  They own a home here and have raised their three sons in this community. 

He is employed at Microsoft in the Xbox Gaming Studio Business Group, focusing on Strategic Licensing Agreements.  He is a graduate of Edmonds College, and the University of Washington Henry M Jackson School of International Studies, with a double bachelor’s degree in Asian studies and Chinese Language and Literature. 

Councilman Decker is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and for fun last year he read the classic Chinese novel “Journey to the West” in Chinese.  He is also a third-degree Black Belt in Taekwondo and was ranked nationally for two years.

For fun, Patrick likes to spend time with his family, hiking, backpacking, and travelling.  He is also an avid sailor, and you will often find him and his family sailing Puget Sound.

DISCLAIMER: The views and comments expressed are those of the writer and not those of the Lynnwood City Council nor Lynnwood City Government.

Author: Lynnwood Times Contributor