Andrea Mazzarella has a unique window into the cost-of-living pressures on the North Coast.

The Astoria High School graduate spent two decades working in food and beverage and other tourism-related service jobs before becoming a real estate agent.

“I do think that affordability and livability for the working class are the biggest challenges facing Astoria,” said Mazzarella, who is unopposed in the November election for Ward 2 on the Astoria City Council, which covers the South Slope and parts of Uniontown. “I don’t know the specific policies that can address that, if any, so that’s something I look forward to digging into more.”

Mazzarella was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Clatsop Community College Board in 2018 but lost in the 2019 election. She serves on the city’s budget committee, as well as the boards of the Astoria Housing Alliance and the Lower Columbia Q Center.

In an interview, Mazzarella discussed her motivation for stepping forward for the City Council and some of her policy priorities.

Q: What motivated you to run for Astoria City Council?

A: My main motivation, besides being encouraged by friends and family and community members to do it, was realizing that I care a lot about the issues that come across the City Council’s desks and those policies and stuff.

And I’m going to care about them and get passionate about them and want to research and write emails and all that stuff even if I’m not on City Council. So at least, in this opportunity, it seems like the right time to step in to that role.

And there are other people on council that I hope to collaborate with, that I feel like we could actually get some positive movement around some things that I care about in the community.

Q: What are your top policy priorities?

A: I’m interested in reviewing the city charter, because that has not been updated, I think, since the early ’90s. So that’s something that I’m interested in reviewing and updating in ways that are relevant to our life today here in Astoria.

I’m also interested in looking over parts of our development code and things that can allow for more functional use of our spaces, like having covered outdoor areas for people that are still doing COVID protocol and want to be able to go into public places and gather with friends in a town that rains almost 200 days a year. So things like that.

Livability is important to me. Affordable housing is a huge, important thing, but I don’t exactly know what policy specifically will be able to address that.

Q: What do you consider the most pressing policy issue facing Astoria?

A: I don’t know if I actually know what that would be at this time.

I do think that affordability and livability for the working class are the biggest challenges facing Astoria. I don’t know the specific policies that can address that, if any, so that’s something I look forward to digging into more.

I think it’s a complex answer and a complex question.

Q: What have you learned from serving on the city’s budget committee that you didn’t know before?

A: I learned that it’s important to ask a lot of questions. It’s OK to not know the answers or the procedures — most people don’t have a lot of training in how to serve on these kinds of committees.

And it’s really important to ask a lot of questions.

Q: Housing has been the dominant policy issue on the North Coast for the past decade. At the local government level, there is some tension between private sector and public sector strategies for housing development. You work in real estate — a very free market, capitalist pursuit. How has that experience shaped your views on housing?

A: It’s been fascinating.

On the one hand, I have had the pleasure of helping a lot of community members, first-time homebuyers, individuals or single people — which is really hard to afford to buy or rent housing as a single person now — buy and secure housing for themselves in a way that feels like this really big win.

In a weird capitalist system, like you said — in the free market — housing is something that I do actually believe should be — it’s a basic human right. And yet here I am, and this is my job, and it’s very weird to me.

I get these wins sometimes where I get to really feel good about my job and helping people secure housing and see how much joy and safety it gives them, because they don’t have to worry about the next time their landlord is going to raise the rent or whatever.

And I’ve also watched and seen how people use property as an investment, and that’s another part of the system.

It’s challenging sometimes to reconcile with my own like moral code or ethical beliefs and my job. And I’m sure I’m not the only person that has a job that gets challenged like that.

Q: How do you plan to handle any conflicts of interest with your professional footprint?

A: I think I would, on a case-by-case basis, need to (recuse) depending on the situation. I think it’s easy to recuse yourself from a vote on something if it’s an obvious and clear conflict of interest.

I have no problem doing that.

I think there are a lot of things that I could also maintain a professional attitude about. But I think there are really clear rules and lines around conflict of interest, and I would just follow whatever those rules are easily.

Q: Often, we see the same people attend City Council meetings and participate in policy debates. There are many voices, particularly from the service sector of our workforce, that are rarely heard. Do you have any ideas for improving civic engagement?

A: Something that’s been a challenge for a long time that I know the City Council just reviewed and is considering putting on a ballot, would be adjusting the compensation for City Council. Because right now they get paid, I think, it’s like $60 a month. That was set in the ’90s.

I would have ran for City Council or other public offices 10 or 15 years ago if I could have afforded to then, but I was working two or three jobs. So I think that’s a big part of it, is just making it not something you’re going to get rich doing, but making the compensation at least something that if I’m going to do 20 hours of work a week, that anyone that’s in the working class can do that and participate without being homeless because they can’t afford to volunteer for 20 hours a week.

Another challenging thing, I think, is that a lot of the meetings are in the evenings, which I understand because most people that attend those meetings work a 9 to 5. But the service industry folks — that’s dinner rush. I could never go to a City Council meeting at 6 p.m. in the middle of a shift.

So getting those voices in, whether that means encouraging people to write emails to their representatives if they can’t be present. And really helping people understand the processes of how to get your voice heard by your representative and by City Council. Posting on Facebook does not count. You have to show up during public comment or write an email that will be given to everyone.

I’ve actually been trying to think of ways to make like fun infographics to help people understand who’s in charge of what and whose job it is, and put that out on social media and stuff so that people can just get a better understanding of how it all works, because most people don’t know. They don’t know who to ask.