Incumbent Mayor Howe focused on housing and communication in bid for second term

Karen Howe, the current Mayor of Sammamish, is no stranger to local politics. After two unsuccessful bids for City Council, she was narrowly elected on her third attempt in 2021. In early 2024, she became the city’s deputy mayor. On Jan. 7, 2025, the Council selected Howe to lead the city when then-Mayor Kali Clark stepped down to focus on law school.

Now running for City Council for a fourth time, Howe has prioritized affordable housing and communication in her campaign. She seeks to retain her Position No. 7 seat in the Nov. 4 general election.

Howe brings her background as a business executive to her role on the Sammamish City Council. For her, leading businesses–from small startups to tech giants like Microsoft, including time as CEO for one of Technicolor’s subsidiaries–comes down to listening and partnering with others.

“This has given me a deep understanding of how to work with others to deliver tangible results. I care about residents, and I listen to their input and collaborate with staff and colleagues to better understand the issues at hand,” Howe said.

As a resident of Sammamish for over 33 years, Howe, 69, has seen the city change and expand. She recalls that during her first run for City Council, affordable housing was not a major public concern. But she has since seen the city go through significant development, with an increase in single-family homes but few new apartments or condos.

In her campaign, Howe will focus on diversifying housing. She wants options like cottage housing, duplexes and mixed-use buildings through neighborhood centers. According to Howe, a neighborhood center concentrates growth in specific areas that limits the impact on the entire city.

“I want to see housing choices that allow our adult children to live here, to ensure that workers at the local grocery and teachers in our schools have places where they can live, thrive, and, frankly, afford,” Howe said.

Howe believes development focused on single-family homes puts an oversized tax burden on those residents, as opposed to sharing it with businesses and denser multifamily housing residents.

Howe aims to redirect tax burdens away from property owners by exploring progressive revenue options, including the development of Town Center and encouraging retail projects that will help the city financially.

“If you don’t have other businesses to help offset your tax base, all you’re doing is just encumbering your residents with taxes to try to pay for services in the city through property taxes, which are regressive, not progressive,” Howe said.

Howe knows concerns have risen over traffic and transportation. While traffic studies suggest that Sammamish does not have a chronic traffic issue but rather peak traffic times, Howe is not unsympathetic.

“It has everything to do with how [residents] feel,” she said.

Howe hopes to reduce traffic stress by continuing to invest in intelligent traffic systems (ITS), which use artificial intelligence (AI) to power adaptive traffic signals that have been shown to reduce travel times and reduce fuel emissions.

If she wins a second term, Howe wants to improve on the city’s communication with residents, especially when it comes to future planning. She cited the draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS), a key document that addresses many concerns about the Town Center development, but one few residents know exists.

“People don’t understand what that is. They don’t understand that it’s a draft document to help us plan for the future,” she said.

To improve communication and engagement with City planning, Howe proposes offering a “resident academy,”  a program where residents can learn about city operations.

“They’d get an intro to the departments, a basic explanation of our financial structure, permitting and so forth. My goal would be that it could serve as an intro to volunteering to join a commission as a commissioner or even run for office in the future,” Howe said.

Regardless of the issue, Howe is committed to hearing residents and finding solutions.

“I believe that even thorny challenges, such as affordable housing, have solutions,” Howe said.

Howe is running for re-election for Sammamish City Council Position No. 7.