Bellevue City Councilmember John Stokes announced Wednesday he will run for reelection this year, with endorsements from fellow councilmembers John Chelminiak and Lynne Robinson, as well as Mayor Claudia Balducci.

This will be the councilmember and retired attorney’s first run for reelection since taking his seat four on the council four years ago. Stokes is a former city parks and community services board member and current member of Eastside Pathways, the Bellevue Schools Foundation, Friends of the Cedar River Watershed and the city and state’s parent teacher associations. He has lived in Bellevue for more than 20 years with his wife, Bettina, in the Woodridge neighborhood.

“What’s been exciting is realizing how much affects people lives and the economy, and everything is focused on the city,” Stokes said, adding he wants to focus on more regional efforts if he is reelected. “I don’t think people quite realize as much particularly how much goes on with the cities and working together can kind of move things along, where it’s kind of stalemated in Congress and the Legislature.”

Stokes said there is much work left to be done by the council in regard to Sound Transit’s East Link light rail coming through Bellevue and tackling development downtown and in Bel-Red, which will be affected by the alignment in terms of transit-oriented growth.

“Once we get through this year and the next couple years, and get everything sorted out and most of the permitting done and those things, then hopefully this can go forward and we can spend our time and energy on other things,” he said.

He said there is also a lot of energy going into education conversation, with Bellevue College working toward a partnership with Washington State University and the University of Washington eyeing the city for its innovation center.

“Bellevue, I think, has the opportunity to be a growing education center, particularly in the tech area,” he said.