National convention inspires candidate

“I have the confidence and skills to do a good job. I really care deeply about our community,” she said. “I think I’m a good fit for mayor. Also, I was asked by several members of the community to run.”

She is hoping to unseat incumbent Mayor Steve Lawrence, who is seeking a third two-year term. Susan Barr Harris is also running for the nonpartisan position.

“I’m objective, thoughtful, I’m a very good listener,” she said, in describing why she felt she made the best mayoral candidate. “I care deeply about our citizens and would do all I can to ensure that we are heard and respected in our community and that the decisions we make for our city are practical and realistic in order to grow in a responsible way and have people feel at home and comfortable here.”

At the convention, she served as whip for the Bernie delegation. “I spent a lot of energy keeping the peace between the Bernie caucus and the Hillary caucus.” Sometimes she literally sat between them.

She said she sympathizes with both perspectives and thinks “we need to find common ground in order to work productively together and move forward, in all avenues, not just at the national level, but in our city, in our state.”

She wants to pursue environmental measures, promote cultural diversity and improve communication in local government.

Kabakov hopes to get people more engaged in local government and wants to start a mentoring program with The Dalles High School “to get young people excited to take on things like politics, policy, those kinds of things.”

She also wants the city to convert to use of 100 percent renewable energy. She said the state of Oregon is already at 89 percent renewable energy use because of hydropower, a renewable resource.

“We’re really close, so I think that is an attainable goal.” She would like The Dalles to become the first 100 percent renewable energy city in Oregon.

“I would like to work on protecting our natural resources. We’re not only in this beautiful scenic area but we’re on a major water way, the Columbia River, and it’s important that we plan for the future so that we don’t leave things unexamined, because we need to really seriously look at our policies regarding not just our source of drinking water, but how our industry and town affects the river.

“Also, I would like to be involved in making sure that the oil trains are safe. Because we’re this big corridor with an interstate and the trains and the boat traffic on the river it’s important that we know how to protect our city from this large industry that moves through our town without seeming to care for our citizens.”

She said another major threat to the environment is the “off gassing of toxic chemicals from the nearby treatment of railroad ties,” referring to the AmeriTies West tie plant. She said she would seek “creative solutions” to the issue.

She added, “I think that we’re doing a lot of good things and continuing in that positive direction. I think that one thing that is lacking is the communication of why we do things. So we have this who, what, when, where, how, why, and I think that’s actually backwards. I think if we explain to people why we’re doing things, I think that’s the missing piece.”

As she has been knocking on doors in the community, “I have had a lot of people complain about the water rate, and I think the complaints extend from not knowing why we have the water rates, and if they knew about the scope of the project we have, they wouldn’t complain about the rate, so I think that communication is very key on all issues.”

The city has long planned to replace the 110-year-old wooden Dog River water line, and has other major infrastructure upgrades planned.

The city has also long worked toward expanding its urban growth boundary. “I need to do more research on that topic,” she said. “I’m always for protecting more land.”

“Responsible development to me means that we are inviting in businesses or growth that will boost our economy and will provide jobs that are living wage jobs with benefits and will have a low impact on our environment,” she said.

She wants jobs that can help the town in multiple ways, “not just by creating jobs, but by creating more tourism, or stimulating the economy in other ways.

Kabakov was born in Boston and moved to the gorge 10 years ago, and has lived for the last eight years in The Dalles.

She is a single mother with four children, ages, 6 to 13, and just bought a house in The Dalles. She is in sales and customers service at Powder Pure, a company in the port industrial area that manufactures ingredients for large food companies.

As for cultural diversity, she said her mother is Native American and her father is the first generation born in this country after his family left eastern Europe.”

Even though we don’t have a lot of diversity in The Dalles we do have cultures represented her and that pleases me and I would like to see an annual event where we can come together and celebrate our cultures. Right now its divided, with different celebrations for different cultures.”

Kabakov said the scope of mayoral duties requires someone who is dedicated and unbiased. “The mayor only has so much that they are responsible for directly, so for me personally I have issues I’d like to work on, but it’s not like a new mayor can come in and sweep through with a bunch of changes.”

“I don’t look forward to things that are creating animosity but I have patience and I’m a good listener and I’m sure I can help work out things between argumentative parties: I have four kids.”

She can be reached at solea.kabakov@gmail.com or on Facebook at Solea-Kabakov-for-mayor.