Today on Brewocracy Now KPTZ host Tim Quackenbush spoke with City Manager John Mauro about efforts to recruit for vital city staff. John Mauro also provided updates on the work being done by Seton Construction on Cook Avenue, and the proposed Evan’s Vista project development.
(Airdate: February 2, 2022) In 1970, the Southern Resident Killer Whale known as Tokitae (also named Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut and Lolita) was captured off the coast of Whidbey Island when she was four years old. She was shipped across the country and has lived in a tank at the Miami Seaquarium ever since. Coastal Café host Samantha Larson talks with Jay Julius, former Chairman and Councilman of Lummi Nation who is part of a campaign to bring the orca back to her home waters, and Bonnie Swift, a Seattle-based reporter who recently released the Audible podcast series called Tokitae. Over eight-episodes, Tokitae tells the story of the whale and also a much bigger history of the Coast Salish Indigenous peoples and ecosystem, and what’s at stake for all of us.
(Airdate: February 2, 2022) Follow the historical and current use of western red cedar with tribal vice-chair Loni Greninger of Jamestown S’Klallam tribe and Nature Now host Mary Robson.
For a compendium of upcoming featured programs, check out Spotlight for February 1-15. Many of our program hosts provide specifics about what’s planned for the first half of February. If you’re not already a Spotlight subscriber, you’re invited to join our Mailing List. See KPTZ’s current Weekly On-Air Schedule and Daily Program Schedule.
Jefferson County had 1,108 new cases in January 2022, more than triple our previous high of 305 in September 2021. Of our 2,616 cases to date, about 42% were recorded in January 2022. There were 78,606 vaccine break-through cases in Washington as of Dec. 1, 2021. By Jan. 17, 2022 there were 203,348, according to state data. This is thought to reflect both Omicron’s heightened ability to infect as well as declining immunity among those who have been vaccinated but not yet boosted.
Hospital occupancy in Washington was 93.8% in late January (31.1% were COVID-19 patients). State ICU occupancy was 92.3% in late January, (32.0% COVID-19). Jefferson Healthcare Hospital occupancy continues to average 100% in both ICU and regular beds, and it lacks the staff needed to operate all of its beds. While Omicron tends to cause milder symptoms for many people, it’s straining the healthcare system because its extremely high rate of infection means the subset of infections requiring hospitalization is a huge number as well.
(Airdate: January 31, 2022) Coming to Attention Please this week are two presenters in the Jefferson County Historical Society’s program, Chinese American Voices: graphic artist Tessa Hulls and filmmaker Valerie Soe, with support from Tara McCauley of the Historical Society staff.
KPTZ joins Housing Solutions Network to spread the word about fulfilling basic housing needs for the residents of Jefferson County.
Housing in Jefferson County exists all around us and yet is unavailable. How could this be? If we pause to look around, it turns out that we have housing resources all over. Have you noticed the empty houses, empty yards and lots, and large homes with just one resident? As Jefferson County continues to age (at 5 times the rate of Washington state) and as more incoming wealth displaces residents with local wages, we’re seeing a massive disruption in access to housing. This is further exacerbated by the lack of workers who fuel the building economy: carpenters, roofers, electricians, and building officials. The irony is that the lack of housing makes it harder for these workers to live here and build here, encouraging the vicious cycle.
The most immediate workforce housing solution that we have is to leverage the housing resources that we already have: developed land, houses, and bedrooms. This is the foundation of Housing Solution Network’s recent campaign, Share Our Spaces. “Workforce housing” refers to the housing that is available and affordable to those earning about the area’s median wage, that is to say, housing that is accessible to most of us. Housing Solutions Network (HSN) focuses on workforce housing because it is the housing that allows for a functioning economy, strong social services, stable family life, and for those in transitional housing to be able to transition somewhere more permanent. The lack of workforce housing impacts the entire housing continuum.
HSN is proud to work with KPTZ Radio Port Townsend in this effort to broadcast the available tools and opportunities towards creating more workforce housing by utilizing existing resources. The Share Our Spaces campaign outlines five solutions that can be acted upon by homeowners who have the space and spirit to share. These solutions include creating accessory dwelling units (ADUs), home-sharing a room in a house either temporarily or long-term, filling one of the county’s 3,000 empty homes, leasing land for a mobile tiny home, and finally the utilization of the Housing Link, a platform to connect local renters to rentals.
You’re invited to reach out to HSN with any question about any of these solutions, or even a solution that you’re excited about sharing. We are a growing community network, oriented to respond to this housing issue, and we welcome new thoughts and partners in this work.
Be well, and don’t forget about the resources we already have.
Kellen Lynch
Campaign Manager
Housing Solutions Network
