The City of Lakewood was recently notified by the Tacoma Pierce-County Health Department that its Rental Housing Safety Program and the work done to expand and upgrade Springbrook Park were awarded Health Communities Awards.
Lakewood is the only South Sound city to receive two awards — both of them platinum.
The announcement from TPCHD:
Healthy Community Planning Projects Receive Recognition
TACOMA, Wash.—Healthier housing options. Better air quality. More walking opportunities. Six Pierce County cities and towns made these and other improvements last year. Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department honored them for their forward-thinking approaches to improve the health of their residents.
The 2017 Healthy Communities Award winners took a comprehensive approach to address the social, economic, and environmental factors that make people healthy. They showed a commitment to incorporate health considerations when implementing comprehensive plans.
“People in the communities are the true winners,” said Amy Pow, principal planner. “They benefit from the upstream work of municipal leaders to make our communities better places to live, learn, work, and play,” she said.
And the winners are…
The cities and towns received platinum, gold, or silver awards for efforts to influence the health of their communities. The Health Department ranked them based on criteria such as public engagement, economic prosperity, and environmental stewardship. This year’s four platinum award winners:
Fircrest (Emerson Sidewalk Project)–Completed missing stretches of sidewalk for pedestrians to get around more safely. The improved connectivity encourages healthier lifestyles and independent living, particularly for the underserved populations. The project added trees along streets to improve air quality and appearance. Learn more.
Lakewood (Rental Housing Safety Program)—Establishes basic health and safety standards for residential rental properties to improve tenants’ living conditions. According to the State Department of Health, this program should be a model for cities statewide. Learn more.
Lakewood (Springbrook Park Redevelopment Project)—Started as a park redevelopment but evolved into a neighborhood revitalization. The project brought neighborhood groups together to regularly meet on other community issues and enhanced the sense of community. Learn more.
Puyallup (Active Transportation Plan)—Promotes human-powered transportation (walking, cycling, use of a wheelchair, etc.) to give residents a healthy way to get around the city. One immediate outcome: the successful and well-attended summer walking series. Learn more.
Gold awards: Fife (Benthien Loop Water Main Project) and Tacoma (Mall Subarea Plan).
Silver award—Steilacoom (Farmers Market-ETB Outreach Project).
Learn more about healthy communities and community planning.
About Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department: Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department’s mission is to protect and improve the health of all people and places in Pierce County. As part of our mission, the Health Department tackles known and emerging health risks through policy, programs and treatment in order to protect public health. We are one of only 163 accredited health departments in the country and among six in the state to have met or exceeded the Public Health Accreditation Board’s quality standards. Learn more at www.tpchd.org.
David Anderson says
Except for nuances of the law, and semantic interpretations of legal language, this decision of Lakewood, based upon the court case in Pasco, could easily have gone the way of the rolling national tsunami sweeping America “a nation fed up with expensive, expansive city intrusions,” hardly worth a silver or gold award, let alone platinum.
Stay tuned in this publication for the article entitled, “Lakewood lottery begins.”
Joseph Boyle says
Let’s be fair. The City of Lakewood and our Lakewood City Council has accomplished many great things which deserve an awards.
However, the Pierce County Health Department award is not anything to be proud of. My observations of the Health Department spanning a period of decades tells me it is a governmental / bureaucratic organization focussed mainly on doing things to justify its existence, but in fact, spending most of it’s energy getting out of responsibilities by constantly shifting as much responsibility as they can to other organizations.
Now the Health Department is giving out Emmys.
Awarding a platinum Emmy to the City of Lakewood for forcing their way into private rental homes (RHSP –
RIP) reminds me of the time the Austrian School Board gave Adolf Hitler a Student of the Month Award just before he flunked out of art school.
A platinum Emmy from the Health Department reminds me of the time the WWII Council gave Adolf Hitler an award for community building after he invaded Poland.
Joseph Boyle