The following is a release from King County:
Providing local insight on national issues to representatives from the National Association of Counties (NACo) is Metropolitan King County Vice Chair Jane Hague’s goal as NACo holds its Large Urban County Caucus (LUCC) Innovations Symposium in King County this week.
“I am proud to have brought the NACo thought leaders from metropolitan areas across the country to focus on issues that we all confront and solutions that are working, either here in King County or in their home counties,” Hague said. “Our well-received and thought provoking keynote speaker, James Whitattaker of Microsoft, was asking ‘what’s next’ and describing how technology affects the economy as well as businesses and government.”
The LUCC Safe and Secure Counties Innovation Symposium is here at the invitation of Councilmember Hague, who has served as president of NACo and currently serves as a member of their Board of Directors as well as on the Steering Committee of the Large Urban County Caucus. In addition to providing opening comments, Hague will introduce Congressman Dave Reichert who will address the Caucus on the issue of safe and secure counties.
The symposium met in King County this week and there were discussions and workshops on a wide range of topics that include: raising healthy children, the changing geography of poverty and innovations to confront poverty. King County Assessor, Lloyd Hara, is presenting at a session that highlights the King County Assessor’s LocalScape which won a 2015 NACo achievement award.
The symposium will also feature several innovative mobile workshops, providing opportunities for participants to visit some of the County’s most interesting and/or challenging projects. Of note will be Preserving the Living Legacy: Urban Agriculture in King County which will explore two Agriculture Districts, as well as the Snoqualmie and Sammamish Valleys and will highlight the successful Farm to Table program. Other mobile workshops will cover Urban Waterfront Transportation, Innovations in Mental Illness and Chemical Dependency Programs, and County Impact of Marijuana Legalization.
