My Platform: Protecting vulnerable residents

I’m spending July focusing on some of my key platform points. So far, I’ve covered an accountable Sheriff’s office and expanded access to the county council for working class candidates. Today I’m covering protecting vulnerable residents, something on all our minds amidst Trump and co’s attacks on immigrants, the unhoused, and our LGBTQI family and friends.

A sign I saw at a protest for Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferino, the farmworker organizer who was detained at the Northwest Detention Center for four months before stopping his fight against deportation.

There are several ways we can commit to protecting vulnerable residents. Some of them are symbolic but important, some have more legal enforcement power, and some are just common-sense language cleanup and modernization. With your support, I believe we can achieve them all!

Our charter is a living, dynamic constitution that needs updating to reflect our diverse community. Our approach should be expansive and inclusive and -whenever legally possible- it should focus on “residents” rather than “citizens.” Let’s add language in the charter’s preamble or an attached Bill of Rights recognizing all residents’ rights regardless of their country of origin, their gender identity and their physical and mental abilities, along with more traditionally recognized categories like race, ethnicity, and religion. 

We must also add explicit language on non-discrimination in hiring, policing, and access to public services, creating legal mechanisms for enforcing these rights that align with our State and Federal Constitutions. This is crucial right now, as anti-democratic forces are undermining protections at all levels of government. And while adding such language to our county charter is a small step in a bigger struggle, it’s also a necessary one.  Other counties have done similar, including King County during a recent charter review.

 But we must be even bolder in the face of Trumpism and billionaire attacks on our diverse working class. We must democratize our workplaces and public spaces. Let’s enshrine rights for local workers to organize unions and collectively bargain without intimidation. Let’s ensure good jobs through Project Labor Agreements and Targeted Local Hire. Let’s commit to the future through apprenticeship, youth commissions, and youth voice in government. Let’s work across local agencies to ensure schools, parks and public spaces are safe and accessible for all. Let’s Trump-proof Pierce County.