Voters speak up at town hall meet | Rep. Chad Magendanz

Published 5:14 pm Thursday, March 13, 2014

By Rep. Chad Magendanz

I’d never hosted a town hall meeting with a moderator, and it was great.  Issaquah-Sammamish Reporter Publisher William Shaw, made sure questions on a wide range of topics were covered and helped keep us on track.  People seemed to appreciate having him there, and I think it was a benefit to everyone.

We had a great turnout at all three town halls, with about 25 to 40 people at each event.

The issues that ranked highest in my recent 5th District online survey – jobs and the economy, education and controlling government spending – were also big concerns at the town halls.

It’s also safe to say there’s quite a bit of frustration about transportation.  We need to be investing in our infrastructure, but there’s a lack of confidence in the Washington State Department of Transportation’s ability to be good stewards of our tax dollars.

On the education front, I was glad to see continued interest in funding our schools first, as is our paramount duty as laid out in the state constitution.  There also was recognition that the heavy lifting will be in the next budget cycle. We’ll start to attack the big problems of levy reform and compensation reform. Of course more funding will be necessary, but it’s not the only component of improving education.

On the jobs front, we spent a lot of time talking about minimum wage. My take is that minimum wage jobs are a stepping stone, especially for young people, for getting into the job market. These jobs help them build skills – relating to customers, getting along with co-workers and managers – and enable them to move on in their careers.

Considering the high youth unemployment rate in King County, I think people understand that for now our focus should be on reducing unemployment and getting people back to work.

Rep. Chad Magnenanz, R-Issaquah, represents the 5th Legislative District.