The Lakewood Examiner

Do you care about Lakewood’s future? About what kind of city we will have in the years ahead? Then you have to care about who is running in this City Council election on November 4, 2025. Who are Michael Brandstetter, Amelia Escobedo, Mark Herr, Jennifer Lamari, Philip Lindholm and Ellen Talbo? This is a summary of who these candidates are and what they seem to stand for.

A warehouse is about to be developed on 123rd Street, in Lakewood’s Springbrook neighborhood. Are there toxic substances on the property, specifically PFAS? To my knowledge, the results of any testing have not been released.

Lakewood is being poisoned, and the actions of private developers could make the problem worse.

The poisons in question are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS. It is well know than PFAS are extremely toxic. They are associated with a variety of cancers, thyroid disease, low birth weight and infertility. In 2016, the Environmental Protection Agency set a safe limit of 70 parts per trillion for drinking water. In June, the EPA reduced these limits for some PFAS substances, to effectively zero parts per trillion.

A recent scientific article in the Journal of Hepatology Reports considered the impact of PFAS on liver health. The study found that high exposure to one PFAS, perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, increased the odds of getting liver cancer by 4.5 times.

Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) is used in fire-fighting foams, of the kind that are frequently used on airbases. For example, on Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM).

Thousands of gallons of foam have been splattered around JBLM, and they have contaminated the immediate environment. Not only has the soil been contaminated, but also Lakewood’s s precious water resources.

The City is well aware of the problem. In July 2020 The Tacoma News Tribune wrote that

Lakewood Water District is suing the U.S. government, including the Department of Defense, the Air Force and the Army as well as 13 manufacturers, including 3M and DuPont, of firefighting foam used on Joint Base Lewis-McChord that leaked into the groundwater supply.

The clean-up is going to be an expensive process, with the Water District envisioning that over the next 50 years it will cost over $377 million.

Still, we can’t have PFAS getting in the way of progress. The area next to JBLM, which includes Springbrook, has been rezoned as industrial, and on 123rd Street the real estate developer Panattoni is about to build a warehouse.

The warehouse will be built on an 8.88 acre plot, which is part of a flood plain and a sole source aquifer recharge zone. Over 100 Garry oaks will be cut down, and 85% of the property will be covered with impervious surfaces, according to the project’s SEPA Checklist.

Underneath the property is groundwater — measured at just six feet below the surface — which is most likely contaminated with PFAS. If there is a major flooding event, this possibly contaminated water will be dispersed across a wide area, and the poisoning of Lakewood could be intensified.

This raises the question of how likely it is that there will be such an event. The original estimate was once in 500 years. It was then found, because of climate change, that it was once in 100 years. However, estimates have been changing, and the next estimate might be 20 or even 10 years. In some places, supposed 100-year floods have been coming every three or four years.

Assuming 100 years, there is a 50% chance of a major flooding event in the next 69 years. Assuming 20 years, there is a 50% chance in the next 14 years. Assuming 10 years, there is a 50% chance in the next 7 years and a 10% chance in the next year.

The City of Lakewood, in rezoning Springbrook, and allowing development on 123rd Street, is gambling on Lakewood’s future. It’s putting the interests of developers before the interests of the City’s residents.

Lakewood’s City Council members don’t seem to care. Maybe they are not interested, or they regard it as a risk worth taking. Especially as none of them live in Springbrook.

However, you should care, and you and your family should think very carefully about whether you really want to live in this poisoned city.

There was a dreary inevitablity to the August 2 elections. The Democrat establishment won out, and we can all go back to sleep. However, I’ll briefly discuss the three candidates I wrote articles about.

The Lakewood Examiner endorsed Melissa Knott for Washington State Representative in the 29th Legislative District, Position 2. Melissa is infuriated by non-partisan politics, and I think she understands that when there is no debate, when there are no split votes, democracy dies. A vote for Melissa Knott was a vote against the Croneyism that pervades Pierce County.

So perhaps it wasn’t surprising that she came in a poor third, with only 16.66% of the vote.

On the other side of the political spectrum, Republican Susanna Keilman did nearly as badly, in her bid to be elected for State Representative, Position 2, in the 28th Legislative District. Yet in spite of only getting 26.16% of the vote, she came second, and goes through to the November election.

Chris Nye, who came third, was also a Republican, so Keilman is likely to pick up his votes. And with Biden continuing to trash the Democrat brand, she might be in with a chance.

Linda Farmer had a great election, getting 43.92% of the vote in the election for Pierce County Auditor. She will get most of Damon Townsend’s votes, so she is all but guaranteed to be elected in November.

Some might ask what I’ve got against her. Well, she hadn’t even finished her first term as Lakewood council member, and yet she wants to move on, to better things. And as a council member, she was largely ineffective, standing by as the rot and the injustice continued.

Worse, if she gets elected as Pierce Couny Auditor, then presumably she will stand down as council member, and the council will appoint an unelected replacement.

But I hear some people claiming that she’s non-partisan, just the person we need as Pierce County Auditor. In which case why did the Pierce County Democratic Party establishment endorse her?

There’s no point in asking, you’ll get no reply.