Month: January 2023

Last night (and this morning), I was out in the field as part of our annual Point in Time (PIT) count of chronically homeless residents.  Each year, our Human Services team leads a community effort to conduct this “Count” to meet a Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirement.  It is a big effort. In the weeks leading up to the Count, teams are collecting food, Gatorade, clothing, hygiene kits and other items to distribute. In addition, they are bringing together counting teams made up of service providers, Human Services staff, community volunteers - and several County elected officials!  They also prepare maps of the County so we can fan out to count and interview many of the chronically homeless living unsheltered in our community. Other teams count…

The iconic naturalist John Muir once famously said, “The mountains are calling, and I must go.” Those of us blessed to live in this region can appreciate Muir’s sentiment.  We look at Mt. Rainier and the Cascades each day (when the clouds allow), and many of us answer the call to connect with the grandeur of our environment - hiking, backpacking, snow shoeing, and skiing.  Looking at nature from afar is great - but being in it is awesome! This week I reflected on connecting as part of the groundbreaking for a new pedestrian bridge being built across the White River.  This new bridge will extend our amazing Foothills Trail from Buckley to Enumclaw.  When finished, the bridge will connect two cities, two counties, two communities - and it took…

If you’re like me, when you were a kid you played the game, “Red light, green light.” It was no game, however, when I visited the STOP (Sewer and Traffic Operations) facility where our traffic lights are made, tested, repaired and managed. My thanks to Vern Page, a supervisor in Planning and Public Works, for his tour of their spaces.  It was fascinating to see into the guts of our traffic signal control cabinets! Did you know that our team takes care of about 250 signals throughout the County - and nearly 100 of them are in incorporated cities and towns? I also learned that today’s signal lights last longer, are more reliable, and use much less energy than those from years ago.  Despite what you see in the movies,…

  As a kid, I kind of liked power outages - it was an adventure where we used candles!  As an adult?  Not so much.  I need to make sure I am prepared, including updating my emergency kit.  Do I have fresh batteries for my flashlights?  Has the food expired?  Are my gas cans full? *If you don’t have a home emergency kit, checkout helpful tips here. And when the power goes out, it is, at its best, inconvenient – just resetting all the clocks and timers is a hassle! As the County Executive, I really don’t like power outages.  I know many in our community are ill-equipped to deal with a prolonged outage.  Most household budgets would be hit hard by throwing out a refrigerator or freezer full of…