“While we want everyone to enjoy their Fourth of July holiday, the safest bet this year is to avoid lighting them altogether,” Ricketts says. “Conditions are extremely dry given this week’s heat.”

At a Fourth without fireworks we can still enjoy friends and family, backyard barbecues, games, water fights, and much more. 

Those who do discharge fireworks, Ricketts said, must be aware of their surroundings and potential dangers. You can find fireworks safety information on the Fire Marshal's website and in this King County news release.

In July, Road Services kicks off a five-month roadway preservation project in the northeast part of King County, rebuilding nearly 1.6 miles of NE Stillwater Road/Kelly Road NE.

The road, popular with cyclists as well as motorists, is cracked, crumbling, and difficult to drive on. Spot repairs no longer work because there are too many large cracks. Learn more

Photo: The temporary repairs shown here are like putting a tarp on a roof to cover holes—eventually, it's time for a new roof.

As King County Local Services’ first Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Manager, john miller is honest about the process of helping the department create a more equitable, racially diverse, and inclusive work environment.

It won’t always be easy or smooth—and that’s OK.

“As we embark upon this journey to achieve equity and belonging in Local Services,” he said, “we must commit to leaning into our discomfort, as it is where our learning begins.”

The part about “our learning” is especially important to john, who is so adamant about working together that he spells his name with all lowercase letters to remind himself and others that our focus and successes are about the collective group over the individual.

john will guide and support Local Services as it works to deliver services that are consistent with King County’s True North aspiration to be “a welcoming community where every person can thrive.”

His career spans 23 years, and he has extensive experience leading programs and community engagements and an established record as an Equity and Social Justice change leader, trainer, and advocate.

Read more about john in the department's June 24 blog post.

Questions? Comments?

Join King County Local Services for “Local Lunch” on Fridays

King County Local Services is here to help connect people in unincorporated communities with government services.

Join us every Friday* during the noon hour to share questions or comments, ask for help, or just to chat. These informal meetings are virtual for now (see our home page for information on how to join), but we plan to keep them going in person after the pandemic is over.

You can also send us questions, comments, or requests by email or call us at 206‑477‑3800.

*NOTE: In observance of the July Fourth holiday weekend, the July 2 Local Lunch has been canceled.

Volunteer at a park near you

The King County Parks Volunteer Program leads community members in high quality service experiences with the goal of building connections and engaging people in the stewardship of their parks.

Parks and its partners lead hundreds of events year-round—doing restoration, improving parks, building and maintaining trails, and enjoying being outside with fellow community members.

Environmental education is woven into into every event to make for a rewarding and productive day in the park. Learn more or sign up.

To minimize public exposure to contaminated soil at the Maury Island Natural Area, King County Parks capped nearly all of the trails and access roads there with gravel in May 2020. The next phase, which started in May 2021, will cap contamination at the former skeet range to create a parking area along SW 260th Street.

The parking area is expected to open in October 2021 with spaces for 20 regular vehicles and four horse trailers. Parks is also removing three acres of invasive vegetation on the south side of SW 260th Street and preparing the area for native plants to be put in next winter. Learn more

This past spring, King County Parks closed the play area at Dockton Park because the rubber surface under the main piece of play equipment was failing. They began planning a comprehensive renovation of the entire play area, which involves working in a sensitive shoreline area. The comprehensive renovation project won't be finished until mid-2022.

In the meantime, Parks replaced the failing rubber with a wood fiber surface and re-opened the play area in June.

For updates on this project as well as other upcoming construction at Dockton Park, subscribe to the e-newsletter. Sign up to receive updates on this project and other upcoming construction work at Dockton Park.

To help people tackle tough weeds without spending a lot on expensive tools, the King County Noxious Weeds Healthy Lands Project is partnering with the South King and Vashon tool libraries (as well as tool libraries in Seattle) to make weed control tools more available.

Each tool library got several new weed wrenches (great for Scotch broom and young holly), an electric hedge trimmer (goodbye, blackberry thicket!), and a variety of useful and sturdy tools for digging and cutting to add to their already amazing inventories of yard and garden tools.

Tool libraries are community-based organizations that help reduce waste and save people money. Each organization has slightly different processes for joining and borrowing tools, but they share the goal of making tools available to everyone with low barriers to participation. And they all love to help people find the right tools to match their jobs.

Learn more and find links to tool libraries or contact Sasha Shaw by email or phone (206‑477‑4824).

Would you be interested in serving on King County International Airport/Boeing Field's advisory board? The Airport Roundtable makes recommendations to the airport's administrators, the King County Executive, and the King County Council. 

Roundtable members include representatives of aviation-related businesses and communities interested in airport issues. The board currently has one open position for a representative from unincorporated King County.

The Roundtable meets—virtually, for now—on the second Monday of each month. The position will remain open until filled.

• Visit the airport website to learn more about the Roundtable
• Call 206-477-4993
• Email the airport to request an application

King County International Airport/Boeing Field is interested in increasing the opportunity for community members and airport tenants to participate in its infrastructure projects.

Interested parties can serve on community working groups (positions are available until filled), sign up for email updates, and arrange for airport staffers to attend their community meetings.

The airport is now recruiting members for community working groups for three projects, with recruitment closing dates of July 6, 7, and 20.

Learn more on the airport website

Be prepared for wildfire smoke

It's hard to predict whether we'll experience wildfire smoke in any given year. But for three of the past four years, wildfires in our region have exposed people to unhealthy levels of particulate air pollution for long periods of time. So Public Health is encouraging all residents to get “smoke ready” now.

If the air quality is poor, stay indoors as much as you can. Create a clean air space inside your home so you can get relief from wildfire smoke if it comes. Learn more on this blog post.

Trailhead Direct is back in business. The weekend/holiday transit-to-trails service, co-led by King County Metro and King County Parks, offers rides to and from the Issaquah Alps and Mount Si.

Developed to reduce overcrowding at popular trailhead parking lots, Trailhead Direct has become a popular, eco-friendly way to get out of the city and explore King County’s mountain forests. Today, both routes are easily accessible from Sound Transit's Link light rail.

The Issaquah Alps route starts at the Mount Baker Transit Center, with service every 30 minutes serving Margaret’s Way, Squak Mountain, Chirico Trail-Poo Poo Point, High School Trail, and East Sunset Way. The Mount Si route starts at the Capitol Hill Link light rail station and offers service every 15 minutes to Mount Si, Mount Teneriffe, and Little Si.

The service will operate each weekend through Sept. 26, including Independence Day and Labor Day. Learn more on the Trailhead Direct website or read Metro’s May 25 blog post.

Puget Sound area youths aged 6–18 years can now get their first ORCA cards at no charge. After the cards are loaded with a transit pass or E-purse balance, they can be a young person’s ticket to destinations across the region on participating agencies’ buses, trains, and ferries.

Youth cards provide reduced fares on services operated by ORCA agencies, including Community Transit, Everett Transit, King County Metro, Kitsap Transit, Pierce Transit, and Sound Transit.

Youth ORCA users can load value on the cards for one trip at a time or add a pass for unlimited rides for a whole month. For more information, visit www.orcacard.com or www.kingcounty.gov/reducedfare.

Toasty temperatures arrived early and with a vengeance in the Pacific Northwest. Every summer, Regional Animal Services of King County responds to hundreds of calls about pets—mostly dogs—left in hot cars. (That's in addition to many more reports about animals left outside without adequate water or shelter from the heat.)

During severe heat waves, animal control and law enforcement officers respond to a dozen or more of these calls a day. While most incidents end with no harm done, pets can suffer injuries or even die from heat stress.

Whenever you see an animal in distress from the heat, call 9-1-1 or 206-296-7387 (PETS). Find tips on pet summer safety on the Regional Animal Services of King County website.

While we're on the subject of summertime animal health and safety, please keep in mind that while many humans enjoy the noise and lights of fireworks around Independence Day, our pets do not. In fact, more stray pets are picked up in the days after the Fourth of July than at any other time of the year.

To reduce their stress on this noisy holiday, keep your pets inside, in the quietest room of your home. You can use music or the sound of a TV to help cover the bangs, booms, and pops outside. Outdoor pets should be moved inside or into a well-ventilated, secure garage or shed during fireworks displays. Also, make sure your pet has a license, ID tag, or microchip in case they run away.

If your pet does manage to escape, Regional animal Services of King County is ready to help. Owners of missing pets can visit their lost pets page for tips and information. If you find a stray pet, you can go to the found pets page to help reunite them with their family.

COVID-19 resources

Public Health-Seattle & King County:
Website | News and Blog | Facebook | Twitter

Washington State Department of Health:
Website | Facebook | Twitter

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Website | Twitter

Every day, more than a million people use the nearly 1,500 miles of roads and 182 bridges in unincorporated King County. If you stretched these roads out and lined them up end to end, they could touch the Canadian and Mexican borders at the same time. And King County Road Services works tirelessly to keep this system safe and open for all to use.

The county has three main sources of funds to pay for this work: a dedicated tax on properties in unincorporated areas, gas taxes, and some federal and state grants. Because of the limited funding tools granted to counties by the legislature, and a statewide one-percent cap on annual property tax increases, King County has an ongoing roads funding challenge. The lack of revenue significantly affects our capacity to maintain and improve roads.

That’s why the King County Council is considering an increase in the county’s Roads Tax—a tax on all unincorporated King County property owners that is dedicated to maintaining the county’s roads. The proposal being considered would increase the Roads Tax from $1.83 per $1,000 in assessed value in 2021 to $2.25 per $1,000 in assessed value in 2022.

This increase would bring in about $335 million over the next eight years, and would cost the average homeowner in King County about $223 per year.

The new funds would be dedicated to improving county road safety, expanding our paving program and maintenance crews, repairing bridges and culverts across the county, replacing guardrails, and matching more state and federal grants so we can bring more outside funding into the county.

The King County Council will consider this proposal on Tuesday, July 6. If they approve it, the measure will appear on the November general election ballot for voters in unincorporated King County.

I’d like everyone who lives in our unincorporated areas and pays for the county road system to be aware of this proposal. If you’re interested, you can follow the council’s deliberations by watching the July 6 council meeting live online (the meeting starts at 1 p.m.).

You can also learn more about Road Services projects on their website.

Have a happy—and safe—Independence Day!

Director’s Corner is a column from John Taylor, the director of King County Local Services. To contact John, email AskLocalServices@kingcounty.gov or call 206-477-3800 (Relay 711; language interpreters available).