 Photo: Sound Transit
Today, Bellevue City Hall Plaza reopened to the public after being rebuilt and reimagined in concert with the construction of the East Link light rail Bellevue Downtown Station. To mark this key milestone and Bellevue’s 70th anniversary of incorporation, this morning City of Bellevue, Sound Transit, and other members of the community participated in a celebration and ribbon cutting ceremony.
Featuring new art - including major works by Pacific Northwest artist Dan Corson and statues gifted to the city by sister city Hualien, Taiwan and the City of Taipei, Taiwan - and welcoming public spaces, Bellevue City Hall Plaza will serve as a civic gathering space, and as an inviting entrance for both light rail riders and those visiting Bellevue’s civic campus.
Visit this inspiring reimagined public space in Bellevue:
Making more affordable housing a reality
 Earlier this week, the nationally recognized 190-plus member Housing Development Consortium (HDC) named me the Public Sector Champion Awardee for 2023. The award recognizes my work on creating more affordable housing in the Puget Sound region.
This work would not have been possible without organizations like HDC, many other elected officials, and the tenacity of housing leaders from all sectors and walks of life. In 2017, I convened a regional task force to help King County research our housing crisis and identify for the very first time that our region needed to create or preserve 244,000 affordable housing units by 2044. Since then, this number has grown, and we’ve worked to advocate for the policy changes and investments at the state and local levels necessary to reach this goal.
Behind each and every one of those housing unit numbers are human beings, and each and every one of them is important. They are our family, friends, neighbors and coworkers. Working together for more affordable housing, we’re doing things that were just hopes and dreams in the recent past. While there is much more work left to do, I know we will look back in 10 years and be proud of what we’ve done for this community.
 In an effort to reduce the number of guns in circulation and increase public safety, the King County Sheriff’s Office is hosting its first Gift Cards for Guns event tomorrow in Burien. People can anonymously trade in unloaded firearms in exchange for a Visa/Mastercard gift card worth up to $300, depending on the firearm.
This voluntary firearm return program was funded in the King County budget and tomorrow’s event is the first of two Gift Cards for Guns events in 2023. It will be held at the King County Sheriff’s Office, Southwest Precinct, located in Burien.
Spread the word!
Please forward this email widely and invite others to sign-up to my email updates to receive important and timely information for District 6 constituents.
Sincerely,
 Claudia Balducci
King County Council
District 6
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