Testimony Videos
I've been advocating from the trenches of City and County Council meetings, Port Commission Meetings, and while sitting on various governmental boards concerning workers for years both before and during the pandemic. I've been a strong voice for working class families in the 40th for almost a decade now. Where there's been unfairness and exploitation of working people, I've been there, on picket lines, in marches, and behind the scenes putting pressure on those who could do something about it. This is personal for me. four generations of my family and friends live in the 40th. What happens, or doesn't happen here affects all of us directly. These issues have long been framed as "workers vs. the environment". But there's absolutely no reason that we cannot do both! Paying people a living wage with benefits and security to create and build today's solutions to today's problems! We can't be stopped by the general acceptance of "the big lie". I believe that now is the time to take a practical approach to creating real solutions that will help clean our environment and protect it for the future. Those same solutions will create a variety of living wage jobs that will help workers be able to afford housing and a decent life in the most beautiful place on earth. I know, I've been involved in several projects that have done just that. And I certainly have ideas for many more.
A few examples would be : Drinkable water storage to protect both aquifers and people during periods of drought, A functional graywater system to reduce the overall volume of water used in the first place, separating storm and sewer into separate systems to reduce cross contamination which we then pay to purify all over again.
I've already been crafting legislation and getting it passed at the local level for years, but what we see out of Olympia is less concrete. There's a lot of great ideas, and aspirational language, but very little action or funding. And there's no plan to implement any of it. To actually get from point A to point B. Climate change and the wage crisis we currently face just won't wait. It's time to act! And that's my specialty. I've spent almost a decade working with the nuts and bolts of HOW to implement change without leaving working people behind. With your support I want to go to Olympia and get to work!