Community Connection
Issue 73
City of Sumner Newsletter
Winter 2013
Prepare for All Kinds of Weather ‘Tis the season for flooding, ice, fog, power outages, high wind, and more. Make a New Year’s Resolution to ensure that you’re ready for whatever Mother Nature has in store for this winter.
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Take Your Place in Sumner’s History Arcadia Publishing is putting together a picture book of Sumner’s history. The book will be compiled through this winter and then printed next year. Topics include Native American settlement, First Europeans, Founding & Naming the Town, Agriculture from Hops to Rhubarb, Boom Years 1930-50, Farm Community to Suburb, Industry from Lumber to REI, Rhubarb Pie Capital of the World, Daffodil Festival and People. The City of Sumner is excited to gather photos from the Sumner Historical Society, local businesses and you! Do you have photos taken in Sumner that you would like to share? We’ll scan them and send the electronic file to Arcadia, returning the photo itself to you. Drop off your photo, a description of what it is, and your return address to City Hall, attention Carmen Palmer, by February 28.
Tails of Success: Home Alone Cleo’s family lost their home. The family’s solution was to abandon Cleo, locking her in the backyard when they vacated. Cleo was left alone, scared, starving and with no water. Thankfully, vigilant neighbors heard Cleo and called Metro to come rescue her. Metro brought her to the shelter, gave her the care she needed, and found her a new Forever Family, one who will not abandon her again. Cleo in happier circumstances. When Sumner pet owners face Bonnie King Photography difficult, even horrifying circumstances, Metro Animal Services is there to make sure those circumstances don’t get passed along to pets. Keeping your own pet’s licenses current and your donations to Metro fund our ability to protect pets whose families have hit hard times. Go to www. MetroAnimalServices.org for licence forms and donation information.
Be Alert Pierce County Alert will send you notices of weather-related hazards. Receive alerts on up to 10 different devices such as your cell phone, home phone, email, text messages and more. Choose up to five locations you want to be notified about such as your residence, workplace, children’s school and more. Sign up online at www.co.pierce.wa.us or call (253) 798-6595. Piping Warm Remember to keep your pipes warm when the weather is not. Everyone from The Weather Channel to HGTV has how-to advice online. The key in Sumner is to remember that if your pipes do freeze, call Public Works at 253-299-5740 to turn off your water at the meter for repairs. Too many homeowners try to
turn the water off themselves, breaking the meter in a panic and adding a new bill on top of the situation. Empower Yourself Puget Sound Energy has a lot of information about what to do when the power goes out, how power gets restored, how to report an outage, safety around downed power lines, generator safety and more. Visit www.pse.com (before an outage) to prepare. Watch the Weather Local news stations are great, but you can also get weather information directly from the National Weather Service. Go online to www. weather.gov or with your phone/tablet, visit mobile. weather.gov for up to date information about the weather. Take Winter by Storm When your car is in a snowy ditch or you’re facing a cold night without power, you’ll be glad you thought ahead to prepare. Prepare kits for home, for your vehicle and for the chance that you may have to evacuate with little notice. Think about out-oftown contacts in case a storm
disrupts communications while you are at work and your kids are at school. There are lots of websites that can help you prepare. A few options include www.TakeWinterbyStorm.org, www.redcross.org/wa/tacoma, and www.co.pierce.wa.us then selecting Emergency Management under Departments. Getting Around The City will try to keep you moving. When streets get icy, Public Works crews sand throughout days and nights if necessary. They start with routes notorious for ice, such as Sumner-Tapps and then work the major arterials. If, like last year, limbs and lines are still coming down, the crews will get out to clear roads as soon as they safely can. You may choose public transit in bad weather. Be sure to check www.soundtransit.org for updated route information. If you are walking, please watch for ice and hidden tripping hazards. One way you can help yourself and your neighbors get around is a good old-fashioned shoveling of your sidewalk.
Sumner started 2012 encased in ice.
Granting Sumner a New Bridge...and Street!
The gift of grants are providing funding for a new bridge (left) and more repaving of the East Valley Highway.
Santa delivered two very large gifts to Sumner this December. The first is a $9.6 million grant from the Federal Bridge Advisory Replacement Committee to replace the Bridge Street Bridge. Last year, the City had to put the 85-year-old bridge on a “diet,” restricting trucks and buses from crossing it in an effort to preserve its remaining life for passenger vehicles and pedestrians. This grant gives
Sumner a long-term solution of a new bridge with expanded capacity and a long life ahead of it. The City is already soliciting Request for Qualifications for a consultant to provide design and placement options. The goal is to build something decorative while minimizing impact to traffic during construction. And, at nearly the same time, another grant came in
from the State level. The Transportation Improvement Board awarded Sumner a grant to continue repaving the East Valley Highway from Forest Canyon, where funding stopped last year, to Clerget’s Corner. The City is very grateful for the engineers and Public Works employees who secured these grants and continue to keep vehicles moving efficiently around Sumner.