Friends,
On June 15th and June 22nd, we had the privilege of sitting down with many of you at various community coffees throughout the district. We were fortunate enough to be able to sit down with community members in Black Diamond, Maple Valley, Issaquah, Snoqualmie, North Bend, and Carnation.
These venues give us the opportunity to sit down with our constituents and learn about their concerns, their perspectives, and their needs. Sometimes, these conversations shed new light on well-established topics and other times these conversations bring to light perspectives that need more consideration.
We had some great conversations and wanted to highlight some important topics that attendees brought up at each location.
- A dairy farmer in Black Diamond wanted to discuss challenges they face ensuring they comply with state regulators and maintaining proper paperwork. Black Diamond residents were also concerned with traffic congestion, road safety, and the impacts of landfills and recycling composting centers.
- Maple Valley community members were concerned about homelessness, school class sizes. They were also excited about the new ADA inclusive playground opening soon.
- Issaquah residents wanted to discuss climate change, recycling challenges, mental health issues, and the state budgeting and revenue process.
- Your neighbors in Snoqualmie wanted to discuss transportation challenges unique to the community, development issues, and the need for an ADA inclusive playground.
- Constituents from North Bend wanted increased transit options for North Bend and more information about the progress of widening the SR 18 and I-90 interchange. They also wanted to make sure that we work on eliminating the practice of subminimum wages for people with disabilities.
- Carnation residents wanted to ensure local development responsibly took into account traffic needs and would not hurt local businesses. They also spoke about the need for transportation funding, management of forest and watershed health, and climate change.
Over the coming months, we will highlight steps we have taken in Olympia to address a number of these challenges and any additional steps we would like to take in the future. If you aren’t receiving both our email newsletters, you can do sign up at housedemocrats.wa.gov/callan/news, or housedemocrats.wa.gov/ramos/news for future updates.
For the issues the legislature hasn’t yet addressed, we both want you to know that we hear you and will be looking into those concerns in advance of the next legislative session.
If you were unable to attend or have any other questions, please reach out to us. You can contact Rep. Lisa Callan by email at Lisa.Callan@leg.wa.gov, or by phone at (425) 295-2945. Rep. Bill Ramos is available at Bill.Ramos@leg.wa.gov, or by phone at (425) 654-5947.
Finally, we are looking at scheduling more community coffees in the future. Stay tuned. We will make sure to publicize those events once they are scheduled.
Sincerely,
Rep. Lisa Callan Rep. Bill Ramos