 It snowed!
Saturday evening arrived and we were blanketed with snow. The weather reports had stated only an inch or less would fall. We definitely had more than an inch of snow! Our Maintenance & Operations Team had prepared – they were on call, the sand was ready, and so were the plows. Auburn has a list of priority roads for sanding including Kersey Way SE, Lakeland Hills Way LE, Lake Tapps Parkway SE and Auburn Way S – heading up the hill to the city limits. Most of the roads were plowed fairly quickly – in prioritized order. Something strange occurred on Auburn Way S – a large number of guests at the Muckleshoot Casino decided to leave around the same time – when the snow got bad. That created a traffic jam of sorts on the hill around 9:30pm, and by 10:00pm traffic was at a standstill. Guess what else was in that traffic jam – one of our snow plows! The traffic was backed up before our great team was able to get the plow up the hill for snow removal. Finally, the street was cleared, and traffic moved at a safe and faster pace. Our M&O team had a debrief on Wednesday, and strategized on how to make improvements for the next (hopefully not soon) snow event. We did receive some very positive feedback from people that were very happy with Auburn’s response. A few unhappy with the status on Auburn Way South, but we will continue to make improvements.
It is so important that Auburn partners with our surrounding cities and agencies. This week, I had the opportunity to meet with Mayor Dave Hill from Algona. While our cities are very different in size, the needs of our citizens are not so different. We discussed the support that Auburn provides to Algona related to Information Technology, Planning and Public Works. Algona pays us for these services, and it has worked very nicely. Mayor Hill and I are both on the Sound Cities Association (SCA) Board of Directors and we also discussed transportation issues that were facing the SCA Public Information Committee this week. King County voted to form a Transportation Benefit District, and will most likely put a measure on the ballot in April for voter approval that includes a $60 license tab fee and a .1% sales tax increase to fund Metro Transit and provide the King County cities with funding for local roads.
 So many great events this week, and I want to share a few of them with you. I enjoy getting out and meeting with people and listening to your concerns, opinions and visions. This week included an opportunity to meet with the ReMax Real Estate team located on Main Street, attend the town hall meeting at Wesley Homes, and also judge a Chili Cook-off at the Auburn School District Transportation Building. The cook-off was a tribute to Nate Pratt, a long-time ASD bus driver that passed away last week after a brief illness. His co-workers wanted to honor him for the positive impact he had on them. Nate was family to them, and was a strong supporter of kids and a mentor to the other drivers. The chili was delicious, and the event was a good opportunity for friends to remember Nate.
I am not an artist, so when I was asked to participate in “Painting With the Stars,” I wasn’t sure the event planners knew what they were getting themselves into! Turns out, they didn’t care if I had talent or not (they were very kind)! My daughter Lucky and I went up to Green River Community College, and painted bowls that will be glazed, fired, and put up for auction next week at the event. February 27 at Green River Community College at 6:30 – 8:30pm. Tickets are $15 presale or $20 at the door contact www.interurbancenterforthearts.org for information.
Thanks to those of you who weighed in on the youth curfew issue last week. Turns out, most all of the responses agreed with having a curfew, some thought we should change the time on weekends from midnight to 1:00am, and also make sure there is a provision for teens that might be working until after midnight so they’re not punished for just driving home. Thank you for the thoughtful responses - you can view them here!
Here’s this week’s situation & question:
As most of you know, we recently increased the speed limits on West Valley, East Valley and 37th St back to what they were a couple of years ago. A citizen received a speeding ticket in December while the limits were lowered. The citizen is asking if there is any thought by the city to giving a retroactive “forgiveness of tickets” since the limits have now been raised. What do you think?
|
