Cary Moon

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Cary Moon (born June 21, 1963) is an American urban planner and political activist known for her work to reopen Seattle’s waterfront after the Alaskan Way Viaduct project and for her 2017 bid for Seattle mayor.

Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Buchanan, Michigan, Moon comes from a large family that ran an industrial respirator business, which she helped operate in the early 1990s. She earned a Bachelor of Science in operations engineering from the University of Michigan and a Master of Architecture with a certificate in urban design from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997. She moved to Seattle in 1998 and led Landscape Agents, an urban design and landscape architecture firm, until 2006. A notable project was a Pioneer Square neighborhood plan.

In 2004 Moon helped found the People’s Waterfront Coalition with Grant Cogswell to oppose an elevated freeway on Seattle’s waterfront and to promote a surface option with a boulevard, parks, and transit. The 2007 referendum rejected the viaduct replacement plan, and Moon received a Stranger Genius Award for her work. Although the coalition did not stop the replacement tunnel, the final plan included a surface option and a waterfront park.

Moon announced her candidacy for Seattle mayor on April 17, 2017, focusing on housing affordability and a right-to-shelter for the homeless. She finished second in the August primary, behind Jenny Durkan, and conceded after Durkan won the general election.

She is married to Mark Reddington, a principal at LMN Architects, and has two teenage children. She lives in a condo near Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle.