It's official: Belle Haven resident Cecilia Taylor plans to run for City Council this November.

Ms. Taylor ran for an at-large council seat in 2016 and lost to incumbents Ray Mueller and Catherine Carlton. Her platform then was focused on providing representation for the city's Belle Haven neighborhood. It has been at least 30 years since a resident of the historically majority-minority and lower-income neighborhood had a representative on the council. Since then, Taylor founded Belle Haven Action, an advocacy organization working on projects to improve safety and quality of life in the neighborhood.

She told The Almanac in a written statement that if elected, her priorities as a council member would be education, safety for school children, infrastructure, transportation and traffic.

City Clerk Judi Herren confirmed that Taylor has pulled paperwork indicating intent to run for office.

In 2018, the three council seats that will be open are Districts 1, 2 and 4, which roughly cover the areas of Belle Haven, the Willows/Suburban and Flood parks and downtown/Allied Arts, respectively. Candidates who have either filed paperwork or confirmed they intend to run are:

• For District 1: Taylor and George Yang, a member of the city's Sister City Committee.

• For District 2: Kirsten Keith.

• For District 4: Peter Ohtaki.

Not running

Recently, Suburban Park resident Sarah Staley Shenk informed The Almanac that, after considering a November council run for the seat for District 2, she has decided not to run. "It is a decision that does not come lightly — and I believe we need others to join this race — but I don't have the capacity to give this role the 100 percent that it deserves right now," she said in an email. She said she wants to focus on work, family and countinuing to serve on the the city's Parks & Recreation Commission.