Editorial: Don’t miss next chance to make your voice heard

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, March 23, 2022

In last week’s issue of The Beachcomber, islanders were notified of a town hall to be held by King County Local Services with King County Councilmember Joe McDermott at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 17, on Zoom.

Islanders may have also been notified of the Zoom town hall via a mailer that was sent out to Vashon households earlier in the month from King County Local Services as well.

This particular town hall served as a space for community members to provide feedback on items that were deemed to be part of Vashon’s community needs list, and to then rank the items presented from high to low priority.

Based on what was seen and heard in the meeting, said King County Local Services Director John Taylor, the items would then be ranked based on their priorities, and King County departments would receive a list to use as part of their process for devising budget numbers to submit to the county council in September.

So, in other words, this was a chance for islanders to come together to speak up, loudly, and make their voices heard.

Our island is facing a time of distinctive challenges — transportation on Vashon is difficult, affordable housing is in quickly diminishing supply, and members of the community are now concerned about rising crime levels. Beyond that, many are also concerned about equity in our community and schools, and the continuing challenges faced by our health care and fire districts, given that we are a ferry-dependent community.

The issues of housing, our water taxi, and crime, among others, were among some of the “highest priority” issues that were brought to the table at the meeting. Some other issues discussed were the development of a dog park on the island, affordable childcare, affordable high-speed internet access and having a dedicated King County Sheriff’s deputy assigned to staff the Vashon substation.

Only about 50 people were in attendance, assigning priority to the subjects put forward to them. At the meeting, 59% of those in attendance thought a dog park was a “high” to “medium” priority for the island.

75% in attendance thought increasing access to public transportation was a high priority, and 70% thought increasing service on the water taxi was a high priority.

In regards to affordable housing, 83% of attendees at the town hall agreed that implementing affordable housing measures was a high priority. 78% said that they supported the development of accessory dwelling units (ADUs), calling that a high priority need on Vashon.

While Councilmember McDermott was absent from the town hall due to an illness, it was impressive the vast representation King County brought forth at the town hall — with representatives from Road Services, Permitting Division and King County Parks in attendance.

“You’ve got a bunch of bureaucrats here, ask them questions,” said Taylor near the close of the meeting, making sure attendee’s queries were answered.

We couldn’t agree more — islanders should seize on opportunities to speak directly to King County when given the chance and we wish more voices and communities had been represented at the meeting.

Don’t miss the next chance to turn on your computers, log on to Zoom and chat with a bunch of bureaucrats.