The city of Kenmore invited residents to meet with state and federal representatives for a Legislative Send-Off on Jan. 8, as session starts back up in Olympia and Washington D.C.

A representative from U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell’s office and one from U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene attended the Legislative Send-Off, along with State Sen. David Frockt and State Representatives Gerry Pollet and Jessyn Farrell.

The big issues discussed at the meeting included education, transportation and the ecological health of local waterways. Funding K-12 education, ensuring that the State Route 522 corridor is safe and has up-to-date bridges, and the ecological impact of the State Route 520 barges and dredging of the Birthing Canal near Lakepoint in Kenmore, were heavily discussed.

“Other issues that we’ll be looking at this congress are obviously transportation issues, when it comes to reauthorizing the Highway Trust Fund, which brings critical dollars to our states and counties, and important projects like out here in Washington state and in the Kenmore area with SR 522, 405 and 520,” said Tommy Bauer, a representative from Cantwell’s offices. “Those are important issues we’ll be looking at when it comes to reauthorization.”

Robert Knoll from DelBene’s office spoke about the dredging of the Navigation and Birthing channels, and the upcoming release of chemical analysis results from testing done by the Army Corps of Engineers. The results will show the toxicity levels of known dangerous compounds that may or may not exist within the soil.

Frockt spoke about the need for funding SR-522 improvements in order to better support the increase in traffic from tolling. He’s also focused on a government that works through compromise. Pollet spoke about the need to protect local streams and trees, and public health interests that have been massively defunded since the recession. And Farrell concentrated on funding education, both K-12 and higher education, along with infrastructure improvements for roads and transit.

Of course, all of the representatives agreed that none of these things would change unless something was done about governmental incomes and revenues.

“All I’m hearing is money, money, money and the dollar goes here or it goes there and it goes there,” said Kenmore business owner Carl Michelman. “What’s kind of frustrating is over years, I hear ‘Healthcare,’ ‘Education;’ it’s like a broken record. And it’s like a family that’s dysfunctional, the American way that we can’t get things right.”

An example he gave was giving health insurance to his few employees and the exorbitant increase in costs that comes from it.

“You were talking about revenue – we only have two kinds of revenue, property tax and sales tax, and it doesn’t make it anymore,” said Michelman. “It seems that whether its house or federal government, an income tax is out of the question. You gotta make the hard choices and say ‘Maybe it’s time to find a different way to tax us.’”

He also gave some examples of ways to fairly tax people and businesses, with his final emphasis on how no one in the legislature wants be the one to change taxes even though funding was critical to all projects.

Others commented about ecological issues regarding dredging of local waterways and pollution at the Lakepoint site.

“My issue is the dredging, the industrial park, the good money the citizens of the State of Washington have already spent winning the court action action against Pioneer Towing, and for the continued testing of the [Kenmore Industrial Park] site and what the city has referred to as the Lakepoint Project,” said Kenmroe resident Pat O’Brien.

According to O’Brien, the government cannot pay for dredging in the Birthing Canal. It is up to the private interests it serves to pay for that. He also states that the court documents demand testing of the site and permitting, both of which weren’t done properly.

Kenmore resident Margaret Wiggins spoke about the need to properly fund the Public Works infrastructure, instead of taking the funds for other governmental needs.

Eric Murray, president of Cascadia College, was concerned with how the government was going to fund itself and what strategies they would use for revenue. “My question: What’s changed in Olympia? What’s going to make this year the year we can figure out how to pay for the things we need?”

Farrell replied with a mention of population growth also being a part of the need to find new revenue for governmental funding, not just the need to continue with the same levels of funding. She also said that, while there is no crystal ball, there is a need to ensure funding for basic needs, such as education, transportation and infrastructure.

“It is an interesting set of problems that I’m listening to and I’ve listened to them before. It’s not a matter of ‘the end of the day’ its not a matter of ‘three million people moved in,’ from my perspective. It’s not a matter of sewer and power… [or] dioxins in the channel,” said Richard Honor, resident of Kenmore. “That three million have come and gone, what we’re confronted with right now is the next two million that will show up… Who’s preventing the fire of tomorrow? It’s a bigger fire [and] its not the same one.”

State Rep. Ross Hunter (D-Medina), who is the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, has said that the legislature will have to fill a $4.4 billion deficit this year, with $2 billion going toward education.