2025 Election Features: Marcus Nunez for District 3 Representative

We are continuing our series featuring candidates running in the 2025 election for Everett city council and mayor. We are asking each candidate to share their thoughts on four hot topics that affect Everett residents and want to help the public get informed and involved in the election before they are opening their pamphlets for the primaries in a few months.

Marcus Nunez is running for City Council District 3 in Everett. For more information please visit his website: https://www.nunezforcouncil.com/about.

Marcus is running against incumbent Don Schwab.

Public Safety & Police Staffing: What specific steps would you take to improve public safety in Everett? How do you plan to address the 20+ open positions on the police force and ensure the department is adequately staffed?

Right now I think when it comes to public safety, I personally have noticed the levels of street racing in certain areas of the city are going up. Street racing, especially in district 3 along Sievers Duecy Blvd, is becoming a very common occurrence. If you go out there, you can see burnt rubber marks on the roadway. Part of this has been caused by the city defunding the park rangers at the December 4th 2024 meeting, and opening the parks 24/7 and just hoping law enforcement patrols these areas. Street racers will park at the Phil Johnson park and baseball field, and have that as a meeting point for street events.

We also see street racing on Evergreen way at night, or at least some cars doing well over the 35 MPH speed limit, posing a major risk to public safety.

The other public safety issue I noticed during my time with the Everett School District, was drugs and drug paraphernalia being left on school grounds. Some nights I or a custodian would locate needles or baggies on the benches or playgrounds. Now imagine if we had failed to locate these objects, who would have found them. The risks that are posed by these acts are completely unacceptable, I believe while a bit drastic, yet necessary, it could be a good idea to put up a syringe drop box on school grounds, in the hope that drug users dispose of them more appropriately.

As for plans to address the openings within the Everett Police Department, that’s something I’ve talked to officer Danny Rabelos, our recruitment officer about, and right now there are a lot of applicants for the department, but they aren’t meeting the standards we have for our applicants. Hopefully with better marketing we’re able to draw in the quality we want and deserve.

Homelessness Crisis: What policies or initiatives do you believe the city should implement to improve housing stability and address root causes of homelessness?

Right now I think the city has the right ideas for clearing up the homelessness, with the addition of some section 8 housing. I think our biggest struggle right now is the lack of section 8 housing, as it’s not something we can force development companies to do. Luckily there’s a ton of undeveloped land around town, as well as abandoned buildings that could be converted. Such examples are the Longfellow building on Oakes Ave next to Everett Memorial Stadium. The condition of that building is horrible and should be torn down, as there were times I’d trip inside there or almost fall through a floor. Removal or refurbishment

leaving us an opportunity to build apartments for section 8 housing. Also the lack of development along Sievers Duecy Blvd, there’s room for a couple apartment buildings that would be a major boost to section 8 housing in the city.

City Budget & Revenue: Given Everett’s budget deficit, what alternative revenue sources would you explore to increase city funding without relying on property tax hikes for residents?

Obviously no one wants a tax hike on anything, but one thing I believe could boost city revenue and cut down on the budget is the addition of more red light cameras, such as the intersection of 41st and Rucker. If the city can pinpoint where accidents are happening or where people are at least running red lights, the increased revenue could help slightly with the budget deficit, especially if we can raise the fine on these offenses. I believe the current fine for a red light offense is $124, if we raise this by just 10% up to approximately $136, We’ll see a much greater return on our investment of the cameras. This also goes back to public safety, if people know there’s a red light camera, it could bring down the amount of

accidents in these areas.

Bright Spots & Future Vision: What excites you most about Everett’s future? Are there any projects, initiatives, or developments that you believe will have a particularly positive impact on the community?

Right now I’m just excited to give my input and to hopefully represent the people in my community, and make this a place that people will wanna live in long-term.

I can say I am excited about the new baseball field downtown for the Aquasox, but I also feel the city went about this the wrong way, by pushing out popular businesses in the area to complete this project, rather than overhauling the current Funko Field. I also hope to bring back the park rangers in the city, and promote more usage of our city parks and trails. Everett has 16 different parks and 5 trails. I would wanna find ways to make these places more inviting for the next generation of Everett, as a safe place to hang out, have fun, and enjoy

the city we call home.