by David Mendez

Less than a week remains before election day in Shoreline. And while eight elected offices are up for grabs this year — four city council races, two school board positions and two seats on the fire department’s board of commissioners — only one is a competition.

Real estate agent Jack Malek and King County government employee Valerie Snider are the two candidates seeking Position 1 on the seven-member Shoreline City Council — an at-large position representing the city as a whole, like every other seat on the council. The race has no incumbent, as council member John Ramsdell has declined to seek reelection after one term in office.

Malek’s resume shows a long-standing presence in Shoreline. In more than 24 years in town, he’s served eight years on the city’s Planning Commission, is a director on the ShoreLake Arts board, is a former president and current director of the Shoreline Chamber of Commerce, was a member of the Shoreline College Foundation Board and was a longtime member of the Richmond Beach Community Association.

“I’ve done just about every volunteer position that you can hold here in the city, and I’ve been fortunate to have every one of them,” Malek said at a Briarcrest neighborhood candidate forum. “I love this community. I understand it at a fundamental level. I understand all of our social organizations, and wish to support them to further our community, and I know I’ll do a great job.”

Professionally, Malek is a veteran real estate agent, and has built connections across Seattle’s North End and into Snohomish County. Malek wants Shoreline to create development and land-use models — especially near public transit — that other cities would be excited to copy. But his ties to development have given some folks pause (even as he pledges to recuse himself from any land-use conflicts of interest), and given Snider a way into the race.

Valerie Snider, in her own words, is a “complete unknown,” as she said at the Briarcrest forum, contrasting herself with Malek and the three incumbent council members seeking reelection, Eben Pobee, Laura Mork and Mayor Chris Roberts. But she thinks that her underdog status, policy positions and volunteerism can win her the day. Professionally, she’s worked in business and supply-chain management for nearly 20 years, including now as a sourcing manager for King County’s IT department. Her advocacy work has included stumping for Shoreline’s trees and legislative work for the Shorecrest High PTSA.

“I feel strongly about fully funding our schools and making our kids safe,” Snider said at the forum. “I work for King County, and that was an active decision — I actually came from big tech and manufacturing and supply chains, but I decided that I want to be a public servant and serve my community in better ways than the for-profits.”

Her local advocacy comes from supporting organizations like Save Shoreline Trees, which seeks to grow the city’s existing tree canopy. That’s especially relevant for Snider’s neighborhood and all of Shoreline east of Interstate 5 — a 2024 city report shows that every census block east of the freeway lost tree coverage between 2017 and 2021.

When it comes to raising funds for his Shoreline City Council race, Malek can’t be beat. He’s raised $25,693 for this campaign as of Oct. 29. By contrast, Snider has raised $4,507.

But Malek has put $14,000 in cash and in-kind donations, alongside more than $4,500 in self-loans, into his campaign. He’s also received $1,000 from the Affordable Housing Council of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties, the activism arm of the local homebuilding industry. The rest of his donations come from Shoreline and nearby cities, totaling about $5,300 from individual donors.

Snider has contributed $1,000 of her own money to her campaign, with the rest coming from a handful of locals — as well as one donation from a person in Oregon: Snider’s mom, Barbara.

Both each received $1,000 donations from an individual donor. Malek’s largest single donation came from attorney Steven Cho, an intellectual property law specialist. Malek is currently the listing agent on a property owned by Cho, the former site of Alfy’s Pizza in Lynnwood, which Cho purchased with the intent of building a new office. (Cho did not respond to multiple emailed requests for comment.)

Retired nurse Trisha Woollcott provided the largest single donation to Snider, based in part on Malek’s business dealings and feelings on development..

“When I learned that Jack was going to run for Ramsdale’s spot, in the only contested seat, I was frankly appalled. He’s a nice guy, I’m sure, but he has a very clear — and, to me, limited and short-sighted — view of what progress means,” Woollcott told The Osprey.

“It matters how you define your words, right? How you define a word like ‘progress’ or how you define ‘affordable housing,” she said. Malek’s definitions, she believes, don’t jibe with her own. Shoreline needs its trees — not just for aesthetics, but for how they affect actual livability.

Woollcott’s husband is living with dementia, and is recovering from a broken hip. Finding a comfortable spot to enjoy a walk outside of strong, direct sunlight is imperative, as is making sure that they’re safe to take sidewalks or the Interurban Trail without dodging bikes and cars.

“So I was thrilled when I learned that there was this lady with a different kind of background and a different kind of focus,” Woollcott told The Osprey. “We need affordable housing, but $2,000 to $3,000 a month is not the affordable housing that we need.”

Her “impulsive decision,” as she called it, to put $1,000 toward Snider’s campaign was to ensure that Snider would actually be able to contest the race. “She doesn’t have big bucks, and I didn’t want that to be the deciding factor.”

Though there are seven other seats up for grabs on next week’s ballot, none of them are actual contests.

Council incumbents Laura Mork, Eben Pobee and Mayor Christopher Roberts are the only candidates in their races, for city council positions 3, 5 and 7, respectively.

Emily Williams is the only candidate for the second position on the Shoreline School District Board of Directors; the same is true for Lama Chikh, a staff member with the Washington Education Association’s Center for Education Quality, who is in the race for the school board’s third position.

Likewise, Kimberly Fischer — a retired Shoreline School District employee — is seeking reelection to the Shoreline Fire Commission while Rick Nye — a retired firefighter — is seeking election for the first time after being appointed to the commission earlier in 2025.

Effectively, all of the races are sewn up. But, as Pobee said at a City Council candidate forum earlier this month, it’s still helpful to hear from constituents at the ballot box.

“There’s no name except Eben Pobee. Still vote, because I still want to know whether you want me to continue to serve you,” the fifth position council member said. “Until you vote, I won’t know. Thank you.”