Council Schedule Highlights Week of November 25th, 2019
Tuesday, November 26th, 2019
Regularly scheduled meetings are broadcast live and replayed on channel 22 (Comcast and Click! Network) and channel 20 (Rainier Connect). Access meeting materials at www.piercecountywa.org/councilcommittees.
Proposal №2019–95, Planning and Public Works Department Responsibilities — Efficiency and Sustainability
Sponsored by: Councilmembers Douglas G. Richardson and Connie Ladenburg
You may be experiencing déjà vu because we have seen a similar bill that I proposed several times before in committee and the full Council. We’ll have to dispense with it in the same meeting before this version is heard. We also dealt with the issue in the budget.
Rather than creating a new department or division as I had initially proposed, the bill assigns the responsibility for sustainability to the Department of Planning and Public Works. They’re already doing much of this work. The new bill would create some accountability.
There is one significant difference, and it gets to the core of the dispute. The new version deletes this text:
“fostering resiliency to impacts to County infrastructure resulting from a changing climate, establishing a carbon reduction target and plan.”
Unfortunately, it seems the fact of climate change is still controversial. We already see the impacts with increased risks of flooding and fire, ocean acidification, and loss of critical habitat. We also have an important role to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Continuing to ignore reality will only make our response more painful and expensive.
However, the bill still includes this list of responsibilities:
- farm and agricultural assistance
- active transportation infrastructure
- electric vehicle charging infrastructure
- commute trip reduction.
- coordinating Countywide efforts to increase energy conservation and waste reduction throughout County facilities and operations
- fostering resiliency to impacts to County infrastructure
- promoting efficient Countywide operational initiatives
- encouraging cost effective land use practices
- promoting initiatives that reduce air and water pollution in efforts to improve the health of Puget Sound
- developing and updating Sustainability Plans
- coordinating with the Pierce Conservation District.
- coordinating with the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department on environmental health issues.
My Weekly Calendar
A couple of years ago we got a request for my forward-looking calendar. Rather than have staff waste their time on public record requests, I decided to publish screenshots. Now I’m adding a link to the calendar as well. If you have questions, feel free to call. Keep in mind, my schedule isn’t static. Things will get added, deleted, changed, etc. There are conflicts that I have to pick between. But if people want to see where I’m at and who I meet with, that’s fine by me.
