Redmond Mayor John Marchione kicked off his re-election campaign Wednesday morning with plenty of handshakes, hugs, pats on the back and smiles, along with a vow to continue to build neighborhood connections, while keeping Redmond a financially strong city.

“Under my leadership, Redmond will continue to support strong neighborhoods, strong businesses and a strong environment, creating a strong Redmond,” Marchione told a group of more than 160 supporters at a fundraising breakfast at the Redmond Marriott Town Center.

As of Thursday morning, there have been no challengers to Marchione who have filed with the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC), according to its website. The King County elections filing period is June 6-10.

The event raised more than $15,000 for Marchione’s campaign, according to his wife, Debbie, who added, “we expect additional donations from attendees who did not make a gift at the breakfast in the coming days.”

During Wednesday morning’s event, four key supporters — Byron Shutz, past president of the Lake Washington Schools Foundation; Roy Captain, co-president of the Audubon Elementary PTSA; Lloyd Warren, chairman of Cascade Water Alliance and commissioner of the Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District; Dan Angellar, general manager of the Redmond Marriott; and Linda Benson, vice president of community initiatives for Redmond-based Hopelink — all provided reasons why Marchione should be re-elected.

There were several local and regional officials in attendance, including Redmond council members John Stilin, Pat Vache, David Carson, Hank Margeson, Hank Myers and Richard Cole, along with King County council members Kathy Lambert, a Redmond resident, and Jane Hague.

Lake Washington School District Superintendent Dr. Chip Kimball also attended the early morning event.

Shutz said he supports the mayor because of his collaborative approach to problem-solving and his community-based philosophy.

“He really is here for bettering Redmond and letting Redmond better themselves,” Shultz said after the program.

Marchione grew up in Redmond and is a longtime city resident — he played and then later coached for Redmond Little League. He is married to Debbie, who is also helping with the re-election campaign, and he has two children, Andrew, 21 and Maria, 18.

Captain spoke about how Marchione is very personable and easy to approach.

“John has made so many positive changes for Redmond,” he said. “It’s very, very important we keep him in Redmond and keep him working on Redmond — a Redmond he obviously loves. … He’s not just a mayor sitting in the office. He is a dad who is involved with the community. He is a neighbor.”

MOBILITY AND CONNECTIVITY

Making connections — through communication and infrastructure — with residents and neighborhoods is Marchione’s main platform for his re-election campaign.

During Wednesday’s speech, he talked about how he launched a neighborhood network where residents of Redmond’s 10 neighborhoods can gather on a regular basis and help plan their vision for the future.

He also talked about the need to improve the city’s infrastructure and traffic flow to create transportation options for people.

If re-elected, he said one of his priorities is turn the downtown one-way couplets — Redmond Way and Cleveland Street — into two-way streets.

“Could you imagine a Cleveland Street with traffic going two ways,” he told the audience.

After the program he told the Reporter that within the next 12 months, the city will acquire all the land and begin planning and building the Downtown Park. The project to extend 161st Avenue Northeast is currently underway and within the next couple years, he hopes to see 164th Avenue Northeast extended into Redmond Town Center, making downtown easier to navigate.

If re-elected, he also plans to turn the old railroad track in downtown into the Redmond Connector — a well-landscaped regional trail that will improve connectivity in Redmond.

Besides Downtown, Overlake has been — and will continue — to be a focus of urban development if Marchione get another term in office. He would like to see the city make the blocks smaller in Overlake so “people can actually walk through the neighborhood.”

With light rail expected to come to Overlake by 2022, Marchione said the goal of Overlake development “is to have more people live where they work.”

“By laying the groundwork now, we can achieve this vision to create a vibrant working neighborhood,” he said.

BOOST FOR BUSINESSES, FINANCIAL STABILITY

Marchione said he also wants to see the city, which boasts big-time companies such as Microsoft and Nintendo, continue to be technology epicenter that it has grown to be by providing infrastructure, “so creative, talented entrepreneurs are attracted to our city. We can’t predict the type of companies that are going to come to Redmond, but we can be prepared.”

Angellar, the general manager of the Redmond Marriott, said Marchione had done an excellent job of promoting and retaining businesses in Redmond.

Angellar said the mayor “has created a good kind of traffic in Redmond. The kind of traffic that puts people in our restaurants, puts people in our stores and puts people in our hotel. John gets it.”

Before being elected mayor in 2007, Marchione was the director of finance and administration at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue for 10 years. He also served on the city council from 2003 to 2007, and the reason he ran for council was to make sure the new Fire Station 17 on Education would be built.

Earlier this year, Marchione led the groundbreaking ceremony for the new fire station, which is slated to open early next year.

In addition, Marchione’s finance background has served him well as implemented a Budget by Priorities system that has created a stable financial footing. He told the crowd that Redmond’s budget is “structurally balanced for the next six years and that’s unprecedented.”

“I really think we’ve got a great mayor who understands that he’s the executive of the city,” Stilin said after the program. “I look forward to working with him and he inspired me to run for council. I think we’ve got a good thing going.”