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The recent Mountlake Terrace City Council meeting on Sept. 18 showed us again that our councilmembers are not willing to reduce spending when they have a clear opportunity to do so. With the single exception of Laura Sonmore, the Council voted to hire a marketing firm to “Promote and Market the City.”
I’m not sure if the members realize this, but Mountlake Terrace is not on the hot list of must-visit sites or cities to see while vacationing in the great Northwest. The cost of this contract — around $68,000 — while not huge in comparison to the total budget, would cover half a year’s salary of one of the city employees. At a time when the city is looking for ways to keep the fine employees we have, this seems like a low-benefit cost the city did not need to take on.
On top of this issue, the Council recently entertained a presentation by the promoters of the 2026 World Cup, suggesting that MLT should “get on board” with them to see the benefits that would flood the city with visitors during next summer’s activities. Somehow, I have a hard time imagining people coming from around the world to watch their teams play for one of the most prestigious trophies in sports, taking the time to travel for an hour or more to see the exciting things that Mountlake Terrace has to experience. It’s more likely we will see people venturing no further than the surrounding environs of the sports arenas where the matches are being held.
MLT has always been, and most likely always will be, a community built for and around residential living. We don’t have a fabulous waterfront/marina. There is no unique shopping village full of amazing curio shops. There isn’t even a fantastic amusement park full of rides and games to enjoy.
This is a city that is centered around the needs of the people and families who live and work here. Filled with schools, local shopping and local sport and gaming facilities and parks, catering to the needs of the people who live here. Keeping that designation alive has, and will continue to be, the top priority on my list of considerations while being involved and living in Mountlake Terrace.
It would be more helpful to the citizens of Mountlake Terrace for the councilmembers to work hard to find ways to reduce the cost of city services and allow us to keep more of our hard-earned money in our own pockets. Not sharing the tax coffers with companies from who knows where trying to change the image of our beautiful, little city into something it can never be, and which no one wants.
Let’s keep Mountlake Terrace the great little town that it is. A place where people want to live, not just visit.
Steve Mosman is a Mountlake Terrace resident.
100% agree. Thank you Steve.
Like duh huh lol Ditto! Thank you Steve
I agree with the sentiment of prioritizing resident needs and as someone who has lived here for years, I believe that is not mutually exclusive to invest in our community either.
I don’t expect us to turn into downtown Edmonds 2.0, but a lot of my neighbors and I wish we had a little bit more to connect with. My wife and I love walking our dog through the parks and neighborhoods. We enjoy going the soccer fields and tennis courts and look forward to using them when we have a family! But when we want to sit at a coffee shop, or go on a date, we often leave MLT. It would be a dream to have a few more options that we could walk to! When we invest in economically diverse, walkable neighborhoods, we prioritize residents.
That is one of the reasons we moved from MLT after 40+ years. We couldn’t afford the increase in utilities and taxes once the train station started to be built. We raised our 2 kids there and came over a couple of years ago. We were stunned how MLT had changed and we didn’t think it was for the best!
Well spoken. Thank you. Keep it Brier and a half, not little Lynnwood. We are a great close knit bedroom community. We have great places here and surrounding cities to do anything we want. If this was to be more, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Arctic Circle, Lucky’s Grocery, Dairy Queen, 4 gas stations, etc. would still be here.
I 100% agree. We need to fix our streets. Fix our community pool that has been a success and a lot of people outside our community enjoy . Let’s promote the business that we have and help them stay open.
We already pay a lot for our water and sewer so that system can be upgraded. Let’s not misuse our funds and have money problems like Edmonds.
Kim Scarth
Well said. MLT will never be a tourist destination so let’s use the money to promote and attract more resident-friendly walking distance opportunities and businesses.
I’d argue that the marketing firm is a necessary investment in our city’s long-term health. While we may not be a major tourist destination, we should still be actively promoting ourselves to potential businesses and new residents. Without a clear marketing strategy, we’re relying on word-of-mouth alone to attract the economic growth needed to improve our infrastructure and services. A strong business community can generate tax revenue that helps fund the very services you want to keep. This isn’t about changing our beautiful city, it’s about ensuring a sustainable future for the “great little town” we all want to live in.
I moved into MLT in 1956. It is a small town and will always stay that way. I never return except to visit with people close to my heart. The best attraction MLT has is DD meats.
Agree. Stop raising taxes and cost of living and find a way to make MLT affordable. And a great place to raise a family.
Lynnwood is broke but they HAD to spend irresponsibly for that useless sidewalk project in anticipation of ?. Don’t waste $ when hard times seem to be imminent.
I’ve come to the conclusion that all politicians at any level of government are tone deaf. There is no incentive for them to control spending, because well, there’s always taxpayers pockets they can reach deeply into.
We see this play out over and over and over, from council level, to the city, county, state, federal government level. We need better representation, we need to elect people that are willing to invest public money for the public good. Like roads, schools, parks, etc. And not waste $68,000 dollars to a “marketing company” that will do what, market MLT to people already living in the puget sound.
I have lived in MLT for most of my life so has getting husband. Over the years it has changed to a place that I don’t recognize. When my kids have to worry about drug dealers and homeless harassing them we have a problem. My honest opinion bring back the neutral zone. It gave the teens a safe place to hang out and socialize. We weren’t out getting into trouble. I hear about more and more shootings everyday. Invest in our kids and community. All these huge apartments going in yea there great but it’s also causing crime to rise. Yes times have changed but why have we let our community change as much as we have. MLT was a good place to grow up in the 80’s and 90’s. Now I’m not to sure. We have all lost sight of what community is and how we should work together.
They shouldn’t be spending money like it just fall from the sky. If they believe in that program so much. Invest the first $6800 from their pocket if it such a great idea and show the receipt.
I smart leader could see taking 2 weeks from a person in the office with chat AI and get a much better result.
Yes folks MLT was a great lil community. But now, forget about it after 20yrs residing here its turned to crap. Lets not forget to mention stupid tiny Apts that nobody can afford. 15 min city you say? Naa leave it the he** alone and make MLT great again.
We have lived in MLT for almost 30 years. MLT was BUILT for the RESIDENTS. Not tourists. We are a small city, too small to be a tourist attraction and too small to be inviting mass swords of people. We don’t have hotels and malls and ocean front restaurants, nor do we have the space to have any of that. Stop trying to make MLT downtown Seattle just because you want to keep up with Seattle, which by the way, is a wreck right now. As council your job is to be for the PEOPLE of MLT, the ones who pay you every billing period and fund all your wild ventures, NOT to put us in the whole and be forgotten about because none of this would be possible if residents weren’t paying you!!! Shame on you, council members, for forgetting who you work for. SMH.
I understand longtime residents are apprehensive of change, but what’s happening is investment into the future of Mountlake Terrace. It doesn’t have to stay small and stagnant just because you don’t like change or paying taxes.
I don’t necessarily agree with hiring a marketing firm, but if the return on investment brings in more visitors, more people wanting to live and spend money here, and leads to more funds to further improve the city with projects like the planned pedestrian plaza, then that’s a good thing and should be celebrated.
If you cared about MLT so much, you’d want it to grow. Instead I see false exaggerations like apartments causing crime to rise, yet simultaneously no one can afford the apartments? Which one is it?
Or that MLT is becoming downtown Seattle? So developing a small city to allow space for residents that want to live here, be walkable, and have space for new businesses to potentially thrive means it’s turning into the downtown of a city that is 30 times its population? And your kids don’t have to worry about crime and homelessness here any more than they do anywhere else. The area around the town center and train is spotless.
Frankly, you should all be ashamed for your false exaggerations and selfishness.
I agree that “Mountlake Terrace is not on the hot list of must-visit sites or cities to see while vacationing in the great Northwest”, but one doesn’t develop a city SOLELY for tourism. As a resident, *I* want more options when it comes to shops, restaurants, cafes, etc.
If we had more choices here, we wouldn’t be as likely to spend money elsewhere. I would love to see more small businesses–this benefits residents, job-seekers, business owners, and the city (sales tax). I doubt that relying on skillsets within city staff is a wise choice here–there appears to be only 1 person employed by the city who could maybe work on this (Communications and Community Engagement Manager)- we don’t have a marketing dept. I doubt a project of this magnitude is appropriate for one person. https://cityofmlt.com/548/Communications
The city has an economic development plan (2024-2029) which addresses a lot of the issues mentioned: https://www.cityofmlt.com/DocumentCenter/View/38431/Economic-Development-Strategic-Plan-2024-2029?bidId= . The very first action step listed is “Establish and promote Mountlake Terrace’s brand and identity built upon its assets as an authentic, growing, family-friendly community with regional transportation access that has embraced a vision for dense, vibrant, and diverse economic and living opportunities.”
The $68k is an investment in our future that will pay off severalfold for US as residents. Change is hard, and progress isn’t free (literally or figuratively).
I’ve lived in Mountlake Terrace for 20 years now. Given housing prices everywhere, I’ll probably be living here the next 20 years, too. When we moved here, it had already moved on from the “tiny bedroom community tucked away from Urbania” that it was 20 years before we came. In the next 20 years, it’ll become surrounded on most sides by growth. That’s the way life works. It’s never going to be a tiny, solitary hideaway again. It *deserves* to be a place with thriving businesses, a diverse population and a healthy infrastructure.
If Mountlake Terrace doesn’t look forward at how they’re going to manage and structure growth that supports the thriving community *and* the infrastructure, we’re going to find ourselves hemmed in by strong urban centers that take our money, and give nothing in return. Scaremongering about becoming downtown Seattle doesn’t serve the community, because it’s not going to happen.