Bracing for Tuesday’s primary election, Auburn’s four mayoral candidates introduced themselves and fielded questions at last week’s Rotary Club of Auburn candidate forum at Grace Community Church.

The top two vote-getters will advance to the Nov. 3 general election.

The issue of redevelopment, especially as it concerns the downtown and Les Gove Park, drew the sharpest contrast between the incumbent Mayor Pete Lewis on one hand and his challengers businesswoman Shelley Erickson, Councilmember Virginia Haugen and locksmith Frank Lonergan on the other. But other differences were clear throughout, as follows:

What will you do with development projects such as the Promenade and Auburn Junction now in the pipeline?

Erickson: Said she would “put everything on hold that I can put on hold.” She said she would ask residents, city employees and anybody with a stake in those projects what they would want done with them or whether the City should just start all over.

“I don’t agree with what’s going on,” Erickson said. “I would like to know what the citizens want that will improve this community and not go on with anything that has been started already.”

Haugen: Said “[Development] is going to come to a standstill, that’s what’s going to happen.” She said the city is in big trouble because it developed in a hurry and didn’t pay attention to its infrastructure. Recently, she noted, it annexed 20,000 people on Lea and West hills. She said the Promenade project on South Division will take foot traffic off Main Street running north and south toward the Transit Station, “when the only attraction right now at the train station, besides trains, is the Farmer’s Market.

“… We have to go back to the basics, We have to go about back 45 years when the City Council members had an opportunity to discuss everything thoroughly, and if they did it on a pool hall on a weekend, maybe it worked,” Haugen said.

Lonergan: Said it would be a mistake to proceed with the proposed downtown Promenade project on South Division Street, a project that calls for underground infrastructure improvements, repaving, street amenities and new businesses. At the minimum, Lonergan said, he would put the Promenade on hold until the City could figure out how to save what remains of historic downtown Auburn, which he claims the present city administration is destroying.

“We’re trying to reproduce Kent station,” Lonergan said. “If we do that, it will fail. New buildings downtown are going to increase the costs for businesses to move in and do business. We need, especially now while we’re coming out of recession, reasonably-priced places for businesses to work.”

Lewis: Said projects would go forward in the downtown as well in Les Gove Park, where he said the City plans to break ground early next spring on the community center and activities center. He said this isn’t the time to try to keep down values for business people in the downtown.

“We are hoping (the values) are going to go up,” Lewis said.

As far as the Promenade, which would involve the redevelopment of South Division Street and about four surrounding blocks, Lewis said the City has two grants, each for about $3 million, three quarters of the $8 million project.

“That provides all the infrastructure in the downtown to allow development to come in. Auburn isn’t Kent Station. We don’t want Kent Station. We need to have a community downtown that is a community. We need site connections as well with historical Main Street, so as Auburn grows, so does old Auburn redevelop. But it’s got to be a partnership for both. It’s not just about having an outdoor mall, it’s about having living units downtown … It’s about having people coming back into our downtown and being part of a brand new structure. The community center will go forward, the activity center will go forward for our children and for our seniors,” Lewis said.

What qualifies you to run a $280 million “corporation” like Auburn?

Erickson: Said she has repeatedly demonstrated her ability to pull the community together, and that’s what she will do as mayor. She said that she has owned businesses in Auburn for 35 years, beginning as a subcontractor. For the 25 years she has owned and operated Shelley’s Total Body Works and Day Spa, and that has taught her about the difficulties of owning and running a business.

Haugen: Said her blue-collar credentials as a retired Boeing worker would serve her well. At Boeing, she said, she worked side-by-side with finance people in manufacture-auditing. She said she attended corporate meetings and watched videos that showed her how a business, even a big one, should be run. Haugen said that she had been a partner in her former husband’s business, doing everything from taking orders to ensuring that taxes were in order.

Lewis: Said he has been a banker for most of his adult life, and it is essential for a mayor to thoroughly understand cash-flow budgeting, employee relations and the needs of small businesses and the community. He said a mayor must also understand the limitations of government and the needs of the public he or she serves.

“The hardest part is knowing people you have known for a generation, and you can’t help at this time,” Lewis said. “You have to be able to require a customer-service standard, so that even though you must say, ‘no,’ they will understand and help you move forward. You have to understand how to run a business, and you have to be able to do that with a heart.”

Lonergan: Said that four years on the Snoqualmie City Council at a time that city was just beginning a state-mandated rebuild under the Growth Management Act taught him how important it is for cities to prepare for growth. Yes, Lonergan said, growth must happen, but the proper foundations must already be in place. He said he has served as treasurer for the Northwest Locksmith Association for five years and, as a concerned citizen, is qualified to be mayor.

What will be different four years from now if you are elected mayor?

Haugen: Said she would reduce the City budget and criticized the present administration for being too willing to spend money on out-of-area, out-of-state, even out-of-country travel for employees and officials, despite having nothing to show for the money spent. She intends to stop the practice and would keep a careful eye on vouchers.

Erickson: Said she also would cut the City’s budget. Under her mayorship, Erickson said, Auburn would become a community that works together for its residents, and she would know that residents are boss. She pledged to work to bring everybody together to build a community in which everybody can take pride.

Lewis: Said Auburn would have a community center and activities center in Les Gove Park. Those facilities won’t be funded by local taxpayer dollars, he said, but through the efforts of the City Council to find funding outside the city. He said that by the time his term is over, the City will have found the funding to fix worn downtown streets, arterials, local streets and truck corridors. He said residents will see a new downtown rising. That new development will be the catalyst, he said, to bring in tax dollars and that will allow the City to be less reliant on individual home rates and property taxes.

Lonergan: Said people will be lining up to come to work in Auburn, not looking for an another place to work. He said residents would see more business coming in and those businesses, especially small businesses, would find building space they could afford.

“Not Bellevue, because Bellevue already exists. Not Kent Station, because Kent Station already exists,” Lonergan said. “As Auburn, we have our own identity, and we need to build on that. We’re not going to pull customers away from Kent, we’re not going to pull customers away from Federal Way by duplicating what they have. We will only get customers in to support our base by building on our niche.”

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Election results

Tuesday’s primary will be held entirely by mail. Preliminary results are scheduled to be posted at 8:15 p.m. Tuesday, with periodic updates to follow. For election results, please visit www.kingcounty.gov/elections.aspx.