Edmonds Shopping Center Associates (ESCA) just recently contributed $1000 to the re-election campaign of Edmonds City Councilman Ron Wambolt. For those who forget, ESCA owns the Antique Mall Site, otherwise known as the “Old-Safeway Shopping Center” Site. They actively lobby for taller buildings on the waterfront. In one proposal, they wanted to build towers up to 10 stories tall.
In the past, Al Dykes (the head of ESCA) has tried to put a casino on that property. When the citizens of Edmonds signed an initiative petition banning casinos, his lawyers lobbied the city to take legal action to stop it. When the casino ban passed anyway, ESCA sued the city to have the ban tossed. Fortunately, the city won, and ESCA lost. (see State Court of Appeals Upholds Mini-Casino Ban)
It’s sad to see council members accept large contributions from a developer who is likely to come before them asking for zoning code changes that will likely improve the profitability of their development. It looks like a buy off.
Ron Wambolt becomes the third council member, along with Strom Peterson and DJ Wilson, to join the ESCA thousand dollar club. If these three council members vote to change ordinances on that site, how will the public ever believe those changes were done for the good of the city?
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