Mayor's Update

Update November 4, 2011

(An update to the people from Mayor Pete Lewis)

Time to Laugh, Sing and Cheer

There’s just nothing to do in this town. Really?

 How about the fact that Auburn is now on the regional tour for the Seattle International Comedy Competition and you can see some of the region’s best comedians right here in town on Friday, November 4, 7:30 pm at The Auburn Ave Theater? Come downtown, have dinner and see a great show.

Friday night for our business folks there’s the Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce 13th Annual Auction & Dinner starting at 5:30 pm at Emerald Downs, 2300 Emerald Downs Dr

Up at Auburn Mountainview High School their Theatre Company presents: You Can’t Take it with You November 3, 4, 5, 7:30 pm at the Auburn Mountainview Theater, 28900 – 124th Ave SE.

But then again if you want to be part of a great community come see the biggest Veteran’s Day Parade west of the Mississippi at the 46th Annual Veteran’s Day Parade & Observance this Saturday, November 5, 11:00 am Main Street in Downtown Auburn. Come be a part of a celebration. Come downtown and say thank you to those who have served and are serving to protect us all. At 11 o’clock sharp a big Air Force jet will come thundering down Main Street at 500 feet (if they can see it). I don’t know if we will be able to see the plane but we will sure hear it!

But that’s not all. There will be 27 marching bands in the parade. Now all those bands leave the parade route and then they go to the 25th annual Veterans Day Marching Band Championship beginning at 1 until 10 p.m. at Auburn Memorial Stadium, across the street from Auburn Senior High School, hosted by the Auburn High School Band and Choir Parents. This event will feature the best in high school marching band music, precision (marching) and drill (formation) performances.

Over 30 of the finest high school marching bands from Washington, Oregon and Idaho will compete in this year’s Parade and Field Show Competition. Auburn’s Veterans’ Day Marching Band Championship is the largest, most prestigious and longest running marching band competition in the state. Many of the area’s marching band directors refer to Auburn’s competition as a championship where the best-of-the-best compete for top honors and cap off their marching band season in style. Among those competing are bands from as far away as Clarkston, Wash., Spokane, Wash., Kennewick, Wash., Yakima, Wash., Grants Pass, Ore., and one all the way from Burley, Idaho.

Ticket prices for all day admission are: adults $14, students (ages 6-18) and senior citizens (62+) $10. Children under 5 are free. Gates open at 12 p.m. with the first performance starting at 1 p.m. Come rain or shine the show will go on as planned!

In the midst of that you can stop by the VFW for their open house at 1525 A St NE Ste# 107 from 3-5 p.m.

Between events go by the Family Life Center Annual Holiday Bazaar Saturday, November 5, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm 116 Lakeland Hills Way SE

And on Sunday afternoon go to our wonderful Performing Arts Center for an evening of World Cavalcade Travel Films presents: ‘Tibet – A Light in the Darkness’ Sunday, November 6, 6:30 pm Performing Arts Center, 700 E Main St

Scary Times in Auburn

And all of that last weekend! Last weekend in Auburn was pretty scary with the Halloween Harvest Festival downtown and a wonderful start at Washington Elementary School followed by Trick or Treating at our downtown merchants.

That night we got together again as the White River Valley Museum, jewel of the region, held their Halloween Costume Ball and Auction up at the Casino. What a wonderful group of volunteers who all work so hard to do so much.

Mondays are usually all about Council, but it was a fifth Monday, Council decided not to have a Committee of the Whole meeting so we all got to go home early! Still that morning after meeting with the directors of the city I was able to meet with my own department of community services. The different sections were able to take a bit more time discussing their own areas and they all blend into each other. Our diversity person is also involved in veteran affairs and our neighborhood person is also our sister city liaison and we have been working with our different populations for more connections. Human services include people who have been here for a day or a family whose roots go back a hundred years. Today there are people in need of every color, every race or creed or any other way we view people. My group is concerned with how to we bring all of this together from those who can or should to those who need or just need a place to start while moving this whole community forward, step by step, together.

Traffic Alert You Need to Know - road closure will begin Sunday, November 6th at 6am on the two northbound lanes of C Street SW, just south of 15th Street SW.  Traffic will be diverted through the remaining southbound lane alternating the traffic with flagger.   Work is expected to take approximately 20 hours to complete. A Boeing contractor will be performing work related to the rebuilding of the railroad crossing. This work starts at 6am on Sunday and continue until finished, approximately 5am on Monday, November 7th.Count on delay if you go that way.

Gang Intervention, What Can We Do?

Monday afternoon I had a meeting with a group of people from The South Sound Dream Center. They had been working on a gang intervention program. What they decided was to go to the schools and ask who the most difficult problem or gang related kids are and then work with them. They took them through a series of meetings and wanted to meet with me as they handed out their individual certificates of completion. They talked about their individual journeys and how their lives had been changed.

South Sound Dream Center made a difference. That program is over; the young man who ran it is no longer funded because of budget cuts. Want to make a difference in your community right here, right now? Contact Rick Cameron of the South Sound Dream Center at 253-288-1806 to donate money to restart this program. From gang member to positive program proponent in less than a year and you could keep it going.

This week city employees are all going through yearly training put on by Human Resources that goes through a number of areas. I come in and talk a bit about the city and ask for questions about anything. I get some great questions. The first session I noted that our sales tax receipts were a little better, our used and new home sales were a little better and both business licenses and building permits were picking up. I said for the first time in almost a decade I wasn’t carrying a lay-off list with me because of another drastic loss of income and everybody smiled.

It’s Time for the Locals to Share the Pain

That was the specific message from Olympia to the cities of Washington that have had to cut staff and budgets for more than two years. Just here in Auburn we’ve cut and cut and cut again. That was the day the Governor came out with her proposed budget cuts. First on the list was over $900,000 per year from liquor sales taxes that goes to public safety. Instead those dollars would go to the state general fund.  Then over a half million dollars a year for the contract we agreed upon to annex the hillsides in return for funds from the state. We’re still wondering about the legality of that one.

There’s more and with each direct and indirect cut and with each one the cities of the state of Washington will have less and less capability to provide the services that will be needed to get this state going again. People and businesses make up our cities. Cripple that capacity and you cripple the chance of recovery. The citizens of Washington live in cities and if the cities that produce more than 80% of the Gross Domestic Product of the state of Washington are no longer are able to contribute then there will be a hard road ahead of us indeed.

All of us, you and I, are the “locals.” It is the state legislature that votes on the budget and that means it specifically falls to your legislator to decide. It is no longer good enough for a legislator to say we aren’t in control of the vote. It’s no longer good enough to just argue that they said no to something. That hasn’t helped yet.  It is now time to show how the work of the state can be done. It is a message you can send.

Auburn Is an International City

Wednesday night was international in Auburn as the Auburn State Sister Cities Association met in Council Chambers at 6 pm. We talked of our three cities in Japan, South Korea and the business Letter of Intent with China. Our Sons of Italy delegation was there and we will be sending a letter to their chosen city in Italy this week. This is a time when we need to find new sources of business, trade and income for our city as well as keep our doors open as a representative of a Pacific Rim city.

At The Table or On the Menu

Has been the Council’s motto for years and that has brought great value back to this city by being at the tables where money and jobs have come back to Auburn. That is why I left the sister Cities meeting early to go to Renton for the Public Issues Committee (PIC) of Suburban Cities (SCA). We talked about the losses to cities and therefore to any recovery in Washington.

In addition PIC sent their recommendations for over a hundred seats on different county and regional committees. That included Councilmembers Bill Peloza representing us for Regional Water Quality, John Partridge on Regional Law, Safety and Justice Committee and I will be on the Regional Policy Committee, Puget Sound Regional Council Operations & Executive Board. This is by far the fewest members we have had on SCA. Councilmember Wagner works in Pierce County. Councilmember Backus is on national committees. Deputy Mayor Singer and Councilmember Norman are leaving and both of them have completed their terms. Now most of Council and I are on other committees in two counties but we are at the lowest representation we have had in ten years and it is a pivotal time with so much at stake in this economy. We will be working to get all of our new members assigned to committees as soon as possible.

Auburn Rocks

I mentioned at the beginning of this update that Auburn had its heart out for all to see this morning at the Annual Food Bank Harvest Breakfast. At one part of the breakfast, Superintendent Kip Herren talked in front of a breakfast crowd of over 600 people and he said he had wondered who would replace the generations of givers that have protected and funded those in need. But then he went on to introduce representatives of the 22 schools and all their children that participated in a massive food bank drive that helps so many but even with their help that food will soon be gone and the shelves bare after the holidays. Still, as the generations in Auburn follow each other’s lead and we can be secure in the knowledge that the spirit of giving will continue in this wonderful community.

From there I travelled to the monthly meeting of Valley Communications, the 911 system owned and operated by the cities of Tukwila, Renton, Kent, Auburn and Federal Way. I did talk then about my meeting with the Pierce County Cities & Towns and the outstanding services provided to our people here.

We don’t know what the weather will really be like for our Veterans Day Parade, but I do know the streets will be lined with cheering people and we will give tribute to those who have defended us so well. We can return home secure in the knowledge of their faithfulness to us and this nation. For of all of the places in the world with all of our self examination and problems the world holds us up as that place where all can be free in a land of endless opportunity. We may be feeling self doubt for now but we are the land of the free and the home of the brave and I have no doubt that we will see our nation reviving as it always does. May God Bless You and God Bless America. 

Pete Lewis

Mayor of Auburn