King County’s food safety employees want to ensure that the County’s restaurant safety ratings are as simple and user-friendly as possible for residents so they turned to a new system that everyone understands: emojis.

“[Diners] were telling us that they wanted the information to be easy to understand, and to see it at the restaurant, helping them make decisions on the spot,” Becky Elias, Food Program Manager with Public Health – Seattle & King County, said. “People can walk down the street, see a window sign outside of a restaurant and be able to easily understand that restaurant’s food safety practices at a glance,”

Under the new first-of-its-kind system, restaurants will receive one of four food safety ratings that will be posted on restaurant window signs that indicate how well a restaurant practices food safety – “Needs to Improve,” “Okay,” “Good” and “Excellent.”

In creating the new system, the County began by learning what sort of rating system would work best for local diners and restaurant operators.

“Students from UW asked focus groups about using stars and letter grades,” Damarys Espinoza, Community Engagement and Outreach Manager, said. “They found that people associate stars with consumer reviews or how a food tastes, and not how safe it is. Letter scales, such as ABC, were found to be confusing by many people…Through additional focus groups and surveys, we learned that emojis, or smiley faces, are something that most everyone understands.”

While simplicity was a key goal in the new system, employees also wanted to make the information more comprehensive, so inspectors will now use the last four inspections to determine ratings rather than just one.

“Using four routine inspections gives a better idea of how that restaurant practices food safety over time instead of just a snap shot of one inspection,” Espinoza said.

To be truly effective the food safety ratings also have to work for restaurant operators.

“We listened to the concerns of restaurant operators about food safety inspection consistency,” Espinoza said. “One way we are improving our work is by having inspectors do inspections side by side once a month. This helps them share skills and learn from each other. This has been a great way to build teamwork and with our staff create a more consistent way of doing inspections.”

The rating system is being rolled out in phases across the county, starting with the northwest part, so you may not see the new signs in all restaurants until the end of 2017.

King County is harnessing the power of the sun and the innovations of its employees to provide lighting at its bus shelters.

King County Metro Transit is one of the largest transit systems in the country, and its network of more than 8,000 bus stops and 1,800 bus stop shelters is growing!

Metro’s employees are using solar power as a climate- and budget-friendly solution to providing lighting at bus shelters.

Solar lighting is being installed in about 50 new shelters each year, as well as in another 50 shelters through refurbishment. “Solar shelter lighting helps us address safety concerns without incurring the cost and climate impacts of hard-wired electrical infrastructure,” said Dale Cummings, King County Transit Planner and project manager for the shelter lighting improvements.

In addition to the 100 new fittings each year, 230 existing shelters with solar lighting are being upgraded for Metro by Urban Solar Corp., Metro’s solar lighting supplier. The upgrades include new controllers to standardize systems and improve battery life, brighter light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs, and new battery harnesses.

The new harnesses are another example of Metro’s team embracing innovation to deliver important services to commuters. Brian Cady, Chief of Power Distribution, proposed a maintenance simplification and led the design of a plug-and-play system that could be replaced safely and quickly when needed, greatly reducing time spent on ladders in busy bus zones. “I love the prewired batteries, plug in harness, and the flip-up battery cover that stays up with no worries of dropping near customers,” said John Campagnaro, Metro electrician.

Prior to receiving upgrades, sites are reviewed for light levels, ridership, known security issues, maintenance history, and complaints about poor lighting from either customers or operators.

Visit Metro’s site to learn more about their programs and projects, and how you can benefit from the Metro team’s great work!

Flooding is the most common winter weather disaster and one which many residents are unprepared. From river flooding to urban drain and stream flooding, “Be Flood Ready” is a print resource available in 21 languages to raise awareness about available resources and best practices for reducing risks associated with flooding.

The brochure is available as a PDF online at www.kingcounty.gov/floodservices or in print, by request. The web site also has videos in the same 21 languages on flood preparedness that are available for sharing to your web site, social media or in communications.

From Tuesday, January 3 through mid-February, crews will close the sidewalk on the east side of 4th Ave S between S Washington and Jefferson streets. This sidewalk closure is in addition to the sidewalk closure on the west side of 4th Ave S, check out the detour map here. Crews will be widening the bridge footings (beneath the sidewalk) during the weekdays, and other crews will be installing a large electrical utility duct bank next to the eastern bridge abutment on weeknights. The right lane on 4th Ave S will be closed during weeknights to safely complete these activities.

A reminder that the left lane of 4th Ave S between S Washington and Jefferson streets is closed until early spring 2017. The center lanes will remain open to traffic, please use caution and follow detours around the work areas.

The Yesler Way Bridge Rehabilitation Project, which will improve safety and reliability while preserving the bridge’s historical elements, will continue through fall of 2017. If you have any questions or would like to discuss the project further, please contact Yesler­Bridge@seattle.gov or 206-684-8684. To learn more about the project, visit the project website.