City Briefs

City passes new 6-year transportation plan

The Shelton City Council at its June 4 meeting unanimously passed the city's updated 6-year Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP).

The plan received preliminary approval at its May 21 meeting.

With the plan, the city is required by the state to prioritize its transportation projects it anticipates doing in the next six years. The plan lets the state Department of Transportation know what projects are anticipated, which have federal and/or state funding secured, and to allow WSDOT to create a list of projects for the Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan.

The listed projects include signal improvements at the intersection of Wallace Kneeland Boulevard and Shelton Springs Road, roadway improvements on Olympic Highway North from C to I streets and the Wallace Kneeland intersection, and an improved pedestrian crossing next to Oakland Bay Junior High School on Wallace Kneeland.

June is Pride Month in Shelton

The Shelton City Council on June 4 passed a proclamation celebrating June as Pride Month.

During public comments, 15 people shared their views on the proclamation. Some used their interpretation of passages from The Bible to oppose or support the proclamation, and others quoted Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X to support the measure.

Former council member Kathy McDowell said she opposed the measure, just as she did a year ago as a council member. "There's too much divisiveness in the proclamation," she said.

The proclamation passed without a vote. None of the council members commented on the proclamation, except Miguel Gutierrez, who praised it before reciting it out loud.

The proclamation begins, "Whereas, the Shelton City Council recognizes and proclaims the month of June 2024 as 'Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer+ (LGBTQ+) Month' ... Washington State has a long-standing tradition of upholding the dignity of the individual, supporting legal equity and fair treatment for all people regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, and ensuring that acts of discrimination will not be tolerated."

The proclamation also states that "because of the acts of courage of the millions who came out and spoke out to demand justice, and of those who quietly toiled and pushed for progress, our country has made great strides in recognizing what these brave individuals knew to be true in their hearts - that no person should be judged by anything but the content of their character."