EVERETT – Snohomish County residents served a bounty of demands to Gov. Chris Gregoire on Monday and asked her to find the dollars and political capital to solve them.
Pay caregivers and correctional officers higher wages and increase services to children and adults with developmental disabilities, several said.
Provide mobile home residents with aid in moving when their parks are sold and fix the Growth Management Act to prevent rampant sprawl, others argued.
Let holistic medicine practitioners receive licenses and ensure the history of tribes in the state is embedded in the curriculum of public schools. still others urged.
A long list of concerns emerged from the nearly 500 people who packed an Everett Events Center ballroom and greeted the governor with a standing ovation at the outset of the 90-minute town hall meeting.
She made it clear she came to listen, not promise solutions.
“The number one thing I’ve heard is we ought to do a whole lot more listening to the people of Washington,” Gregoire said.
Everett marked the fifth and final stop on Gregoire’s town hall circuit this summer soliciting the state’s residents on how their tax dollars should be spent. Prior stops were in Spokane, Vancouver, Pasco and Puyallup.
Gregoire assured audience members their comments would be considered as she drafts a budget for the 2007-09 biennium. She will release her proposed spending plan in December.
Monday night, nearly two dozen residents made heartfelt pleas on how they want her to handle their concerns.
More than 40 people came to show their concern about the rising number of mobile home parks being closed and sold to make way for new development.
Peter Carrig of south Everett, representing the Holly Vista Mobile Home Association, said too many seniors face being driven from their homes and lack money to find a new residence.
“We need to help us move on or we need money to help us buy the parks so people won’t have to move,” he said.
Gregoire agreed but said the money to help residents relocate is “gone. It’s all been used up because of all the development. We’re going to have to address this issue.”
Several residents said they want more done to preserve the state’s Growth Management Act and prevent sprawl into rural areas.
When the governor asked the crowd how many thought the state law has “been working as it should be,” no one raised their hand.
“There are some legitimate concerns about the Growth Management Act,” she said. “I stand ready to address them.”
Several speakers pushed for improving pay and benefits for nurses and correctional officers at state prisons. They said a shortage of employees and low pay is creating low morale at facilities in Monroe and elsewhere.
“I’m aware of the correctional officer issue,” Gregoire said. “We’re not being able to keep folks employed because other governmental organization can afford to pay more.”
Monroe Mayor Donetta Walser reminded the governor of the need to improve safety on U.S. 2.
Success, she said, would be, “When I don’t have to pick up the newspaper or see on the television that somebody has been killed on Highway 2.”
Shoreline Community College President Lee Lambert asked the governor to “not establish another four-year college” in the state but let leaders of the existing higher education institutions figure out the best way to serve students.
But when Gregoire asked the crowd its preferences, the majority raised their hand in support of new college.
A report summarizing comments made during all the stops of the listening tour will be prepared for the governor by the end of September.
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