Celebrating your service during Public Service Recognition Week
Dear fellow King County employee,
King County Executive Dow Constantine
This week we celebrate Public Service Recognition Week and the people who have dedicated their careers to serving their communities.
You chose a public service career because you believe in the power of public service to create positive change and make a difference in people’s lives. You chose a career with King County because you believe in our work to make this a better, fairer place for the people who live and work here.
The services you provide are wide-ranging and varied, but they all have the common goal of helping people in our region live well and thrive, today and for generations to come.
Almost every day I meet employees from across this vast, complex organization, and your dedication and commitment to your customers is a constant inspiration to me, as are your success stories, innovations and lessons learned.
You give your best every day to serve your customers, sometimes under challenging conditions, and always with the goal of breaking down barriers and improving lives.
Thank you for everything that you do for the people of King County. I am proud to lead this County and proud to be your colleague in public service.
Sincerely,
Dow Constantine
King County Executive
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Prosecutor partners to end sex trafficking
Crossposted from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office Facebook
Even before Liam Neeson’s film, “Taken” hit movie screens in 2008, Tanya Fernandez had the notion that sex trafficking involved kidnapping young girls and forcing them into the commercial sex trade against their will, but that’s not the reality.
Tanya Fernandez, Education Director with Seattle Against Slavery
Tanya learned what trafficking actually looks like while running youth programs in her hometown of Oakland, Calif. and volunteering as a rape crisis counselor for sex trafficking victims.
“Every victim I worked with, I kept thinking, ‘How can I build a time machine and meet every person who has exploited you or let you down?’ because these victims have had a LOT of people let them down. They have been let down by negligence. Or they have been aggressively exploited in every way,” Tanya explains. “I’d think, ‘If I had a time machine, I’d go back and undo so many things for these victims.’ Moving to Seattle and working on a prevention program for exploitation is the next best thing to building a time machine.”
Tanya is now the education director for Seattle Against Slavery, an organization that works to fight sexual exploitation in the community. SAS is an important community partner of the prosecutor’s office. Tanya runs programs through area high schools to teach teens about healthy relationships, consent, and what sexual exploitation really is. She talked with us about some common myths around sex trafficking.
Myth #1: Sex Trafficking Involves Kidnapping and Force A lot of trafficking is mental coercion rather than physical force. Individuals who are already marginalized through things like poverty, race, abuse, or an absence of close family or community relationships are susceptible to being manipulated into consenting to commercial sex. “We picture someone who is taken and held against their will because we can’t imagine someone being manipulated into consenting,” Tanya says. “The truth is, someone is still a sex trafficking victim even if she doesn’t look like someone who was kidnapped and kept against her will.”
Myth #2: Young Victims Choose This “If you are under the age of 18 and participating in the sex industry in any way, it’s always sex trafficking,” Tanya says. “The truth is, someone is still a sex trafficking victim even though she doesn’t look like someone who was kidnapped and kept against her will. A lot of sex trafficking is boyfriend pimping. It is someone—usually an older male—who poses as someone who really cares about a person and manipulates them. It’s a girl who did not get to make a choice, but she feels very strongly that she did.”
Myth #3: Sex Trafficking Doesn’t Happen in the United States “People are starting to wise up to the idea that ‘Okay, this does happen in some places in Seattle.’ But we still have very specific stereotypes in mind of what a buyer looks like, what a pimp looks like, and what a victim looks like. We’re finding that a lot of those are really false,” Tanya says. “A lot of exploiters and traffickers and pimps that [King County] prosecuted recently are affluent white guys. Yet, when we think of pimps, we think of a person of color.”
And when we think of victims, we think of Liam Neeson’s daughter in “Taken” instead of girls of color who are disadvantaged and marginalized from the start. “These victims often don’t have great relationships with adults in their lives who can act as a litmus test for them,” Tanya says. Without healthy relationships with adults as reference points, they are unable to discern signs of unhealthy or problematic relationships.
The King County Prosecutor’s Office is proud of community partners like Seattle Against Slavery and the work they do to combat exploitation. To find out more about the work of Seattle Against Slavery, visit them at www.seattleagainstslavery.org or follow them on Facebook at Seattle Against Slavery.
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Kudos! to the King County Medic One team
The King County Medic One team gave a Facebook
tip-of-the-hat to “the good citizen” who reported a good deed by the team to the Seattle Times RAVE section. Good citizenship all around, including by our King County team members!
From Medic One’s post on Facebook: “Thank you to the good citizen who reported the following to the Rave Section of the Seattle Times RAVE: ‘To the medic from a King County Medic One who, as he was leaving Trader Joe’s, noticed a young mother juggling a baby and many bags of groceries to be loaded into her car. He took the time to set down his groceries and load the many bags for her so she wouldn’t have to juggle her little one and her bags. Such a wonderful display of simple human kindness that brought smiles to all of us who witnessed it!’”
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Featured Job: Ballot Collection & Logistics Supervisor
Closing: 05/13/18 11:59 PM (GMT -8:00)
Salary: $31.49 – $39.91 Hourly
Location: King County Elections – 919 SW Grady Way, Renton, WA 98057-2906
Job Type: Career Service, Full Time, 40 hrs/week
Department: Department of Elections
Job Number: 2018-08063
Description: This is an amazing opportunity to be engaged in the election process! The Department of Elections is recruiting a Ballot Collection & Logistics Supervisor. Under the direction of the Elections Services Manager, this position will provide logistical support for ballot collection and the necessary fleet and warehouse tasks aligned with this work. Duties include the supervision of ballot drop box collection program including: planning and logistics for the operations and support of ballot collection, training of short-term temporary staff, dispatching of driving teams and closers, oversee procedures for securely receiving and processing of ballots, and customer relations with vendors and external customers.
Contact: For more information, contact Queniya Lassiter at 206-477-3773 or Queniya.Lassiter@KingCounty.gov.
Learn more about this position or all available jobs.
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Social Media Spotlight: EcoConsumer on YouTube
Green spring fashion, sustainable communities and indoor air quality are just three of the topics you can enjoy learning more about on EcoConsumer’s YouTube channel! KOMO4 News features the team discussing a number of topics; most recently, Earth Day. EcoConsumer is a public outreach program of DNRP’s Solid Waste Division.
Follow King County EcoConsumer on YouTube today.
Click here to view all King County social media pages.
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Japanese-American Remembrance Trail Map
Crossposted from GIS & You
By Patrick Jankanish, GIS Specialist and Senior Cartographer with KCIT
One of the most satisfying things that a well-made map can do is convey a sense of place. And an especially well-made map may convey a sense of a past place that both infuses and transcends a present location. I came across such a map yesterday just a few blocks from our own King County GIS Center location, where Seattle’s Pioneer Square transitions to the International District, specifically the historic Japantown.
The “Japanese-American Remembrance Trail Map” somehow seems larger than its modest tabloid print size, due in no small part to the numerous delightful and intriguing hand-drawn illustrations of people and places throughout the ID that are spread across the map, fusing past and present. For us in the present, the map serves as a walking tour of current sights, sounds, tastes, and touch, which can all be gateways to the rich Japanese American legacy in Seattle, a cultural story that continues into our city’s future. (Coincidentally, as I write this I am hearing a radio announcement for this weekend’s—April 20-22—Seattle Cherry Blossom & Japanese Cultural Festival, which two of my KCGIS Center colleagues will be participating in.)
Japanese American Remembrance Trail Map by Arisa Nakamura ©2018
The trail map—as useful as it is a great piece of art—was designed and illustrated by Seattle’s Arisa Nakamura. Read more about her work on the map in this article in The North American Post. The map is available in separate English- and Japanese-language versions at locations throughout the Chinatown/International District, including the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, which is one of the anchors of the Japanese American Remembrance Trail. The Wing Luke Museum website has a section about the trail tour and links to PDF files of both versions of the map.
As the late winter, early spring chill finally relinquishes its grip on Seattle, it’s the perfect time to put on your walking shoes and let a wonderful map lead you through and teach you about a special part of our city.
Patrick Jankanish is Senior Cartographer in the King County GIS Center and is a member of its Spatial Services group.
Read more at GIS & You.
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Tech Tip: Conference Room Smartboard Training
King County Information Technology is installing more smartboards in Department Conference Rooms. These tools allow unprecedented collaboration for departments, employees, external partners and customers. If you aren’t sure how to maximize these new tools, join us for a drop-in training session in Chinook.
Smartboard Training
Smartboards are in 50+ county conference rooms. To make the best use of the new technology, KCIT is offering three training sessions in May. Drop-in for 10 minutes or stay for 30. No signups required.
What: Open house! A Surface Hub Tour and Live Demo: The Future of Online Collaboration
Who: Jeremy Birney and Alex Patrut
May 7, 2018, anytime from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., Chinook 714 “Reboot” Conference Room & Chinook 931 “Compiler” Conference Room
May 11, 2018, anytime from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., Chinook 616 “Avatar” Conference Room & Chinook 714 “Reboot” Conference Room
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Listen to Executive Constantine on KUOW’s “The Record”
King County Executive Dow Constantine joined KUOW host Bill Radke on Tuesday, April 17, to discuss a range of issues, including the new Children and Family Justice Center, which is being built to replace the failing Youth Services Center.
“King County has long had a goal of reducing the number of kids involved in the justice system, including the number detained,” Executive Constantine said during the interview. “Over the course of the last 20 years we’ve reduced the number of kids in detention from around 200 on an average day to, on this last Friday there were 34.”
Radke and Executive Constantine also discussed options for reforming the state tax system and ways that King County is tackling homelessness, among other issues. You can listen to the full interview here.
(Featured Image: Megan Farmer / KUOW)
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Local cases of E. coli linked to romaine lettuce outbreak
Crossposted from Public Health Insider
Two King County siblings, both under age 5, have been diagnosed with E. coliromaine-lettuce-medium 0157:H7 infections that genetically match the ongoing national outbreak linked to romaine lettuce. One child was hospitalized and has since been discharged. Both children have recovered and neither child developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a type of kidney failure that can result from an E. coli infection.
Public Health’s disease investigators are currently working to identify the exact source of the E. coli exposure and suspect romaine lettuce as a potential source but it is not yet confirmed. Other members of the family ate romaine lettuce and were also ill but were not tested for E. coli. It is possible that the children contracted the illness from other ill family members rather than from eating romaine lettuce. The family reported that they have not traveled out of state recently, suggesting that the family’s exposure to E. coli was local.
An additional case of E. coli linked to the national outbreak was found in a King County resident in her 50s who had eaten romaine lettuce while traveling out of state.
Connection to national outbreak
The national outbreak related to romaine lettuce has been ongoing since mid-March. The infections in these two siblings appear to be the first locally acquired cases. As of April 26, 98 people ill from a matching E. coli 0157:H7 infection have been reported from 22 states. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food Drug Administration (FDA) have been looking into these cases and so far, the information indicates that romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Arizona growing region could be contaminated and make people sick.
Consumer advice about romaine lettuce
The CDC has issued advice to protect consumers:
- Avoid all romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Arizona growing region, including whole heads and hearts of romaine lettuce, chopped romaine, and salads and salad mixes containing romaine lettuce.
- Do not eat or buy romaine lettuce unless you can confirm it is not from the Yuma, Arizona, growing region.
- Product labels often do not identify growing regions, so don’t eat or buy it if you don’t know where it was grown. If you do not know if the lettuce is romaine, do not eat it.
Symptoms of E. coli
Talk to your healthcare provider if you have symptoms of an E. coli infection: diarrhea that can be bloody, severe stomach cramps, and vomiting. Anyone who is ill with suspected E. coli should not work in food handling, patient care, or child care settings. Ill children with suspected E. coli should not attend daycare until they have seen a healthcare provider and been tested for E. coli infection even if their illness is mild.
What do restaurants and retailers need to do?
Retailers, restaurants, and other food service operators should not sell or serve any romaine lettuce from the winter growing areas in Yuma, Arizona. This includes whole heads and hearts of romaine, chopped romaine, baby romaine, organic romaine, and salads and salad mixes containing romaine lettuce. If you cannot verify the source of your romaine lettuce, do not sell or serve it.
Food workers should always take steps to avoid the cross contamination of cutting surfaces and utensils through contact with potentially contaminated products. As a reminder, follow these precautions:
- Regularly wash, rinse and sanitize display cases, cutting boards, refrigerators, and other food contact surfaces where potentially contaminated products were stored in order to avoid cross contamination of surfaces.
- Wash hands with hot water and soap following the cleaning and sanitation process.
- Always wash all leafy greens (e.g., romaine lettuce) with water thoroughly with water before use.
- Always store cut leafy greens in refrigerator under temperature control 41ºF or below.
If you have questions please call the Public Health – Seattle & King County at 206-263-9566. Learn more about recommendations for restaurants and retailers.
For more about the national outbreak, visit the CDC’s webpage.
For more on E.coli, visit Public Health’s webpage on shiga-toxin producing E. coli.
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Wastewater employee’s hard work saves ratepayers $32 million
On April 19, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued its first-ever loan from the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) for $134.5 million to the King County Wastewater Treatment Division to help finance the Georgetown Wet Weather Treatment Station.
Dan Kaplan, Wastewater Treatment Division Financial Services Administrator
Organizations have to be invited to submit an application, and the deadline is tight. Dan Kaplan, WTD financial services administrator, devoted one year to the pursuit of the low-interest loan, which will save ratepayers $32 million in interest payments over the life of the loan.
Dan had to first analyze and determine this was a good source of funding for WTD, and then had the tough task of convincing the EPA that the project was what they were looking for – that we could deliver it on time, and that we were able to engage in the challenging application process.
The WIFIA program supports spending on water and wastewater infrastructure. The Georgetown Wet Weather Treatment Station is designed to significantly reduce the amount of untreated wastewater and stormwater entering the Duwamish River, and will create approximately 1,400 direct and indirect jobs.
Of 44 national projects, only 12 were selected to proceed to the application stage.
Wet weather treatment stations clean overflows locally on-site during heavy rain storms.
It took three months to complete the application package, which required legal, engineering, and financial information from attorneys, project managers, permitting managers and finance staff. The process involved producing 32 pages of narrative, 70 exhibits, a preliminary rating letter from bond rating agencies, and a two-hour video conference presentation.
As this was the first loan ever awarded from the WIFIA program, the draft loan agreement included more than 100 pages of technical and legal requirements, which were reviewed in detail. Then the final loan language was negotiated. Dan managed a team of experts, including bond counsel, bond advisor, debt manager, prosecuting attorneys and project managers in developing an agreement that will provide the template for similar loans in the future.
For more information on the project, visit the Georgetown Wet Weather Treatment Station site.
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