‘Love, joy, sacrifice’: MLT Mayor provides assisted living residents with City vision, personal history

About 15 seniors at Mountlake Terrace Plaza Senior Living listened and chatted with Mayor Steve Woodard Friday morning. Woodard said his mother was a school valedictorian and died when he was a young boy. His father served in the U.S. Navy in San Diego, California, during the 1950s, and despite the racial barriers of the time, he earned the rank of an officer in the 1970s.

Woodard grew up in Paradise Hills in South San Diego County, and he recalled working on projects with his father every weekend, such as putting in driveways, building a small farm and doing repairs around the house.

While he supports the work of law enforcement, Woodard said his early experiences with police weren’t positive. He recalled being 6 years old and standing at the edge of his yard with his 9‑year‑old brother while his mother lay dying inside the house and his father was caring for her. A police officer came by and told him that if any crime happened in the area, he would come to their house first.

“I was still considered a danger as a 6-year-old,” Woodard said. “And I can verify that because my 9-year-old brother, who was probably the real threat, was standing next to me.”

Woodard has remained interested in public safety and now serves on the LEOFF-1 Board, which reviews and approves retired police officers’ and firefighters’ disability and medical claims.

Woodard said he and his family have lived in Mountlake Terrace since 2004, and he noted that the City has become increasingly diverse since that time. “We moved to Spain from 2010 to 2012, and when we got back here in 2012, my spouse and I both were walking around [MLT] going, ‘Where all these folks of color come from?’ A lot of people moved to the south [Seattle-Tacoma area], but quite a few actually moved north as well. Somehow we were affordable still.”

He shared three role models who shaped his character growing up: John Henry, Frederick Douglass and Verb, an animated Black action hero in School House Rock!

Woodard also talked about how Mountlake Terrace operates under a city manager model rather than a strong mayor system, and he invited residents to participate in local events, such as Community Academy and community ambassador programs.

“City Hall is your building,” he said. “All of this is about demystifying what a city is.”

Several residents asked about parking issues and pedestrian safety, especially the crosswalks that connect the MLT Library with Mountlake Terrace Plaza and the ones at the corners of 236th Street Southwest and 58th Avenue West.

“We will have lights out there,” he said. “We attempted to have it [lights] while we fixed it, but we didn’t get that part of the grant. So we are still working on that. We are very much aware of that.”

Woodard added that the many people who live within a mile from the light rail station could walk there instead of driving and parking in the parking garage  or in front of other people’s homes. He said the City is working to improve transit connections and last‑mile solutions and have better bus routing and Zip shuttle service from Community Transit.

“Process is the key when it comes to government, and ‘slow’ is the other word that goes with government…so that we don’t rush into anything, fix something only to create a bigger problem somewhere else,” Woodard said.

Woodard said that while he is the City’s first African American mayor, he acknowledged former councilmember Lonnie Williams, Sr. as the first African American elected in 1997. Sam Doyle is the City’s first Black woman councilmember, elected in 2025. Now three African Americans – Doyle, Woodard and Councilmember William Paige Jr.  – are serving concurrently as councilmembers and Councilmember Kyoko Matsumoto Wright was the first Asian American to serve as mayor of Mountlake Terrace.

“I have the honor of working with these folks…and it’s been an honor to carry on the tradition,” he said.

Resident “Sis” told My MLT News that she liked hearing what the mayor said and had asked him if he had worked with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg because she had worked with her once. She pointed to her earrings that are shaped with the portrait of Ginsburg.

“When she passed away, her family gave me her earrings, and I will never take them off,” she said.

Near the end of the talk, Woodard said that MLT Plaza may invite City Manager Jeff Niten to speak. “This would be a wonderful chance for you to ask him really hard questions because it’s his responsibility to know everything about this city,” Woodard said. “If you remember anything, it’s love and joy. But the other piece of that – until you get both of those – is sacrifice. Things don’t happen without something having to be sacrificed.”