To the editor:

Kirsten Hytopoulos is the clear choice for the Bainbridge Island City Council’s at-large Position 1 seat.

The former councilwoman’s edge in community experience to that of her opponent — 17 years to two — should end the conversation. But since it doesn’t, let’s talk about her empathetic ear for all community members, her comprehensive knowledge of the minutiae of city policy, the moral clarity of her progressive vision for the island’s future challenges.

In the eyes of this Bainbridge resident since 1968, what puts Kirsten over the top is her advocacy for affordable housing for all income levels, as embodied by the courage of her clear-eyed opposition to the current plan for the Suzuki property.

In the face of cynics who argue, wrongly, that a plan that overloads a property with “affordable” housing that largely fails to serve the people who most need it is the best we can do, Kirsten has established herself as the true voice for the islanders who have been left behind to appease rapacious market-rate developers.

Kirsten speaks for the restaurant employees and retail workers; the police officers and the schoolteachers; the disabled and the retirees on fixed incomes; and those whose lives have been derailed by marital and career upheaval. She speaks for everyone well under the island’s area median income level. And she does so with unimpeachable logic, grounded perspective and depthless empathy.

Kirsten speaks for everyone who believes in true community diversity.

JIM THOMSEN

Bainbridge Island