Dear friends and neighbors,
I begin this newsletter on a somber note, in the wake of rising political violence in our nation. Earlier this month, Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed in a targeted assassination at their home. Additionally, Minnesota State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were shot and wounded in an attempted assassination at their home by the same gunman. This horrific act of violence hit me especially hard: I knew Melissa personally. We had attended legislative conferences together with lawmakers from around the nation from both sides of the aisle. My heart hurts for the Hortman and Hoffman families, and for the entire state of Minnesota.
There is no place for violence in our civil and political discourse. While spirited debates and peaceful protest belong in a healthy democracy, violence and murder do not. That’s why together with the leaders of the four legislative caucuses, Democratic and Republican, we released a statement condemning what happened in Minnesota and calling for us to stand united against such acts.
Our district is a vibrant community filled with people from all walks of life who hold a diversity of opinions on any topic. We may not always agree, but we must respect each other’s rights to do so and protect the safety of all Washingtonians. Our democracy relies on it.
In more upbeat news, I’m happy to share some updates about our transportation and capital budgets, including projects in our community receiving funding from these budgets.
Our transportation budget does exactly what it sounds like: it pays for our roads, bridges, public transit like buses, multi-modal transportation like bike paths, and more. The capital budget is our state’s construction budget, and it funds things like K-12 buildings, childcare centers, mental health treatment centers, affordable housing, and more.
More details about projects in the 27th district are below.
Lastly, I want to share one example of the kind of site visits I love getting to do outside of the legislative session. I always enjoy being able to see the places and organizations that receive state funding and talk with them about their work. Earlier this month, I got to visit a Science on Wheels event at Rose Hill Elementary School in Kirkland. Science on Wheels helps to provide free or deeply discounted STEM programming for over 100,000 students across our state. This program helps to fill educational gaps and creates opportunities for students to learn more about science, technology, engineering, and math. (Btw, that’s me in the blue wig in the photo!)
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The capital budget this year, unlike the operating and transportation budgets, didn’t have a deficit to address. Because of that, we were able to make some increased investments in housing and other areas, and were able to fund important projects all over the state. In the 27th district we have a lot to be excited about:
- $5 million for the Willard Early Learning Center, a 24-hour affordable childcare option for union employees, helping more people with kids enter and stay in the workforce with family-wage union jobs.
- $485,000 for continuing work at the Cora Whitley Family Center. I was proud to attend a groundbreaking for this earlier in the year, which when complete will help drastically expand their early learning and daycare spaces and create over 100 jobs.
- $1 million for the Integrated Care Clinic to help provide more behavioral health care in our community.
- $2 million towards affordable housing for seniors on S. Yakima St. and $309,000 to help with the conversion of the Mason United Methodist Church into affordable housing.
- $5 million for Maritime 253: South Puget Sound Maritime Skills Center, which will help train the next generation of maritime workers located right in the Port of Tacoma.
- $1 million for the new Asia Pacific Cultural Center building at the current APCC space in coordination with Metro Parks.
- $1.6 million for the Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center, $878,000 for Phase 1 of the Museum of Glass renovation, and $618,000 for the Grand Cinema to help support the arts in our community.
- $1 million for the Peck Community Sports Park Expansion to help meet our communities’ recreational needs, and $1 million to improve the Sheffield Trail in Fife and make it more accessible.
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While the capital budget didn’t face shortfalls this year, our transportation budget did. I’m proud of the work we did, led by my seatmate Rep. Jake Fey, to protect investments and create a forward-thinking final transportation budget. Some of the projects in our district include:
- Improvements to Puyallup Avenue corridor including improved intersections, pedestrian access, bike lanes, and increased functionality for parking and other street amenities.
- Improving Pierce Transit’s High-Capacity Transit Service through system expansion, speed and reliability improvements, station access improvements, and increased accessibility to make public transit more accessible.
- Funding for improvements on the Stream Community Line (SR 7 Express Service) to help speed up the trip between Tacoma and Parkland/Spanaway.
- Improving the HOV lanes on I-5 from S. 38th St to JBLM and from S. 48th St to the King County line.
- Upgrading the interchange between I-5 and Port of Tacoma Road to improve traffic conditions on both roads.
- The Puget Sound Gateway Program (SR 167/SR 509) is two projects in one – SR 509 connects SeaTac to the Kent Valley and SR 167 connects the Port of Tacoma to Sumner and Puyallup.
- Upgrading track and doing track maintenance on Tacoma Rail’s Alexander Wye & Storage Tracks near the Port of Tacoma
- Improving the Schuster Parkway Trail by creating a shared use promenade along Schuster Parkway from South 4th to N 30th and McCarver.
- Tacoma Dome Link Light Rail Access (Fife to Tacoma) improvements to support multi-modal passenger access to the planned Fife and Portland Avenue Stations.
