Laurie Lebowsky, center, was appointed to the Vancouver City Council on Monday night. She fills a vacancy for Position 1. (Katy Sword/The Columbian)
Less than 24 hours after Laurie Lebowsky was appointed as Vancouver’s newest city council member, she’s thinking about her campaign.
“My goal is to reach out to people and listen to people and hear what are the concerns in the community,” Lebowsky said. “My goal is to run a respectful campaign that’s about community and collaboration.”
Lebowsky won’t take her seat on the dais until Monday, but in terms of the traditional campaign cycle, she’s months behind schedule. Her position is up for special election in November as outlined in the city’s charter.
“It’s still sinking in,” she said Tuesday afternoon, a mere 17 hours after receiving the appointment.
But she’s got a long road ahead.
“In terms of process, I’m not worried because I have a lot of experience with hearings, and I have experience with the open meetings law. I feel I can hit the ground running,” she said. “I think where I’m going to have a learning curve will be in areas such as budget, or operations and maintenance, facilities, police and fire.”
Her advantage comes from 24 years’ experience as a county planner.
“The advantage to working in government is, I know there’s a process to everything,” she added.
That connection to government, specifically Clark County, has some concerned about a conflict of interest.
“If you’re a member of this community, depending on what your role is here, there’s potential for conflict,” Lebowsky said. “I would say it’s no different than if someone’s an attorney … and they have an issue with a client, they’d have to do the same.”
Before applying for the vacancy, Lebowsky said, she consulted with the county attorney about her potential conflicts and how to resolve the situation. If the council is working on anything with county long-range planning or county parks, Lebowsky would recuse herself.
“I’m respectful of the law and proceedings,” she added.
Listen to citizens
Lebowsky said she applied for the position because she wanted to be more involved in her community.
“I’m looking forward to reaching out and getting to know people in the city of Vancouver better,” she said.
She wants to listen to residents’ concerns, but as a resident herself, Lebowsky has her own concerns.
“Obviously I’m concerned about transportation; I think that’s a big issue,” she said.
But she’s also excited about annexation, redevelopment on Fourth Plain and the waterfront development.
“Vancouver is a river city, and our prosperity traditionally, historically has come from the river,” Lebowsky said. “I think that will continue to happen.”
A love of maps
It was her love of maps that eventually brought Lebowsky to Vancouver via Portland.
“When I got my (political science) degree at Michigan State, at that time there was a recession,” she said. Her 22-year-old self envisioned a career as a lawyer, but layoffs in the field were continual.
“I didn’t want to be $100,000 in debt and unemployed,” Lebowsky said.
While looking out for another career option, she discovered urban planning thanks to a fortuitous conversation about maps.
“Then I learned about Portland State University as a leader in urban planning studies,” she said. A quick visit and a full-ride scholarship later, Lebowsky packed up her Toyota Tercel and drove nearly 2,300 miles toward a new life.
Now that she’s lived in the Pacific Northwest for the last 27 years, Lebowsky said she is excited to get out there and be involved in the community.
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