AIA members have entered Seattle’s political milieu in a big way. The component counts among its members a bevy of candidates for public office this fall, including:

• Jeff Clark, AIA, a candidate for Kirkland City Council, where he served previously in 1999
• Ted Nixon, AIA, candidate for Kent City Council
• Peter Steinbrueck, AIA, first elected to the Seattle City Council in 1997, now seeking his third term.

Still others with backgrounds in design currently serve or formerly served their communities:

• Cynthia Richardson, AIA, former AIA Seattle president, Anacortes City Council
• John Cheney, AIA, Mount Vernon City Council
• William Polk, FAIA, State of Washington legislator, with his final 2 of 12 years as speaker of the house
• Alan Merkle, an attorney trained as an engineer and member of the AIA Seattle Board of Directors, mayor of Mercer Island
• Scott Jepsen, mayor of Shoreline.

For these candidates, participating in public life is a natural complement or transition from their day-to-day commitment to architecture. To highlight AIA Seattle members who are seeking public office, AIA Seattle has established a Web site to focus on the meaning of design leadership, a companion to its “See How They Run” program. AIA Seattle hopes to communicate to Institute members, both locally and nationally, the importance of active engagement in government, and how the skills of an architect are directly applicable to making a foray into public life.

To share the perspective of a citizen-architect, Peter Steinbrueck, AIA, president of the Seattle City Council, spoke with AIArchitect. Steinbrueck explains that he received many of his life lessons in architecture and activism from his father, Victor Steinbrueck, FAIA, one of the city’s most respected architects and advocates of historic preservation. His father’s early teachings on the built environment and the value his family placed on public service now intersect as he serves his fellow citizens. Steinbrueck’s current schedule precludes him from continuing his day-to-day work as an architect, but he holds his Institute membership in high regard. Although he says he does not know what the future holds, he says he could conceive of going back to the profession and keeps his license current. “I take a great deal of pride in my architect status and background,” he says. The following are excerpts from the interview with Steinbrueck.

How did your father affect your thoughts on architecture and public service?
My experiences go way back, in terms of early childhood memories, being involved with my father and his many civic efforts. Most pronounced was his role in saving the Pike Place Market in Seattle, which was an eight-year political battle. It really began in about 1964 and ended by a vote—by citizens’ initiative in 1971—to save the market. Over those years, as a child and youth, I participated in many of the events—demonstrations, petition drives, signature gathering—around that campaign, including attending city council hearings, listening to my father speak before the city council that I now sit on, in the same building. At 12, I spent a summer working in the Pike Place Market, running a stall alongside the farmers in the main arcade, selling buttons and signs, and talking to people about the importance of saving the market.

Beyond that specific campaign, my dad as an architect imbued in me a lot of values: the importance of public spaces, parks, the urban environment, historic preservation. He did so in ways that used the city as the classroom. He had a sense of change and certainly a sense of what he valued in the city that he wanted to preserve.

How does it feel to be on the other side of that table?
I ask myself, Would I rather be out there fighting on the other side or would I rather be on the inside with the resources I have available? In some ways, as an elected official, you can be very effective and make things happen. You can work toward goals, particularly at the local level, where you can see the fruits of your efforts and not have to wait for years or exhaust yourself as you do at times in other legislative bodies that are larger. All things considered, I feel I’ve been very effective in office, but it’s not without some pretty significant sacrifices, as there are for any activist.

Prior to running for city council, I was an architect, and prior to that, a building contractor. But I was also an activist in my own right for many years, up until the point I ran for office in 1997. I took up various issues in preservation, parks, open spaces, and homelessness in Seattle, which I’ve continued on the council. I’ve been able to work on issues of homelessness and seen real progress at the local level in ways that I could not have achieved as a non-elected activist.

You have a platform as an elected official. You get plenty of press attention—sometimes more than you want—and you have a lot of resources to get things done to help further good public policy.

What would be your advice to someone who wants to get involved in public life?
There’s no one recipe for getting involved. Reading the papers and following what’s going on in your community is an important first step. When issues that you care about arise, there are ways to advocate for them.

A lot depends on the size and complexity of your community. Certainly larger cities offer opportunities to be involved in areas where your expertise can be directly applied, including building development, land use, regulations, and comprehensive planning, but also in areas of design review. Design professionals often sit on panels involved with design review of development projects over a certain threshold. There are also public-works projects. It might be a new library, city hall, theater, or even a train station.

There’s usually a public process that allows opportunities for people to comment and participate in the development of the design, even on the selection of the architect, site planning issues, and neighborhood integration. I found it very satisfying as an architect to be able to contribute my skills and background here in Seattle, both on the regulatory side in planning issues and on the city’s built projects. For instance, we just completed a new city hall. I worked for six years on the planning right up through completion, meeting on a monthly basis with the mayor and other city staff to serve as the client and working directly with the architect and the project manager.

It’s important to recognize the value of relationship building and getting to know your elected officials on a personal basis. You can invite them to functions that your local chapter or organization may be hosting. Giving them awards is a great way to bond with your electeds—they always appreciate that. You can support their campaigns for office and invite them to participate in a charrette that might look at a particular problem in a community that’s begging for attention and creative ideas, for example.

Writing position papers on issues, offering to comment and bring some professionalism to the political process when it deals with the built environment, writing letters and e-mails, and making phone calls are all effective. A well written letter to the newspaper sometimes can be a catalyst for change. Architects often have a more-than-common perspective about things to share.

How do you reach out to other architects in the community?
I stay involved with AIA Seattle and really enjoy maintaining and building new friendships and connections there. I attend conventions whenever I can and work to engage our local chapters in issues facing the city. I was instrumental in getting the local chapter to create a committee to be an independent oversight group on a major mass transit system we’re building. I urged the local chapter to get engaged and bring design professionals, landscapers, planners, and architects to evaluate the emerging plans for the city’s new monorail system.

Architects have a special ability to see into the future, imagine, visualize, and take a concept and be able to understand and conceive of how it might look and what its impacts might be in ways that the general public cannot. I think that’s a real attribute and value that architects bring to the public realm, and it’s a great asset we have.

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