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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2012
Vol. CXXIII, No. 214
OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE CITY OF TACOMA Devoted to the Courts, Real Estate, Finance, Industrial Activities, and Publication of Legal Notices
Published Since 1890
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Historic Tacoma opens doors to landmark post office building
INSIDE:
LEGAL NOTICES BANKRUPTCIES LIENS ORDERS FEDERAL COURT AUDITORS OFFICE NEW BUSINESSES editor@tacomadailyindex.com
Tacoma City Council to discuss fire dept. budget
File Photo by Todd Matthews, Editor Historic Tacoma, a non-profit organization that aims to promote, conserve and enhance Tacoma's architectural character, will host its sixth annual membership meeting and reception on Thurs., Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. at the Old Post Office building, located at 1102 A St., in downtown Tacoma. The evening event will include an exhibition and sale of architectural photographs by Historic Tacoma member Gerry Sperry, free public tours of the building, membership meeting and reception in the third-floor courtroom, and a presentation entitled "Bringing New Life to Tacoma's Historic Old Post Office" and presented by architectural historian Chrisanne Beckner and property manager John Hunt. The event is open to prospective members
and guests. The Tacoma Post Office was built in 1910 and designed by James Knox Taylor, supervising architect for the Treasury Department. Taylor was behind the consistent classical look of many of Washington's grand, early 20th-century post office buildings. More information is available online at historictacoma.org.
This week the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) is poised to become the first environmental agency in North America to meet rigorous reporting standards for sustainability measures set by a global organization serving thousands of organizations worldwide. The release of Ecology's Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Report combines for the first time financial, environmental, social and governance performance indicators and standards for measuring sustainability in a single document. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a nonprofit organization working to establish standardized reporting of sustainability practices for private businesses and public and non-profit organizations around the world. Its goal is to make sustainability reporting as important as preparing financial reports. Increasingly, the GRI standard is being adopted across the U.S. and Washington state. Companies such as Starbucks, Weyerhaeuser, Microsoft and others are using this universal, standardized measurement tool to communicate their impact to their clients and community. "By publishing our GRI Report, Ecology shows Washington citizens how we walk our talk," said K Seiler, Ecology manager of the Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction Program. Seiler is also executive sponsor of Ecology's agency-wide Sustainability Team.
Ecology's GRI Report highlights activities to reduce waste, improve efficiencies, engage stakeholders and promote lean innovation at the department based on key performance measures. For instance, the agency's Carbon Smart Initiative drove energyefficiency actions that resulted in annual utility savings of more than $100,000 at agency buildings. Also, a green information technology project will save the agency $1.2 million over five years by reducing electricity and cooling costs by reducing the need for new servers. At office buildings across the state, Ecology has put in place measures to conserve water, increase energy efficiency, establish composting, and conduct waste reduction audits. Employees started an organic vegetable garden through volunteer work at its headquarters building that benefits the local food bank. By establishing a precise, uniform reporting standard, GRI aims to make sustainability reporting as common as regular financial reporting. This measurement tool is to organizations' sustainability reporting what the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standard has become for the construction industry. In October, the GRI database listed more than 4,700 organizations worldwide that had published over 10,400 reports. GRI was founded in 1997. More information is available online at fortress.wa.gov/ ecy/publications/SummaryPages/1204034.html.
Dept. of Ecology publishes sustainability report
Tacoma City Council is scheduled to meet Tuesday at City Hall to discuss the Tacoma Fire Department as it relates to the proposed 2013-2014 biennial budget. The meeting is part of an ongoing schedule of budget workshops to finalize the city's biennial budget. Last month, Tacoma City Manager T. C. Broadnax presented a budget proposal that calls for a variety of measures in order to close what is projected to be a $63 million general fund shortfall over the next two years. City Councilmembers will not take public comment during next week's meeting, which will be held on Tues., Nov. 6 at 12 p.m. in the Council Chambers on the first floor of the Tacoma Municipal Building, 747 Market St. The meeting will be broadcast live on TV Tacoma and online at tvtacoma.com. On-demand audio archives are available on the Web within 24 hours of the meeting online at tvtacoma.com. A tentative schedule of upcoming budget workshops (and topics), which will also be held in the Council Chambers on the first floor of the Tacoma Municipal Building, 747 Market St., includes: Tues., Nov. 13 at 12 p.m. — Municipal Court; Information Technology Services; Public Assembly Facilities; Non-Departmental; Budget Wrap-up; Tues., Nov. 20 at 12 p.m. — Council Budget Workshop; Tues., Nov. 27 at 12 p.m. — Council Budget Workshop; Tues., Dec. 4 at 12 p.m. — Council Budget Workshop. Additionally, the city will host its final community budget input meeting on Mon., Nov. 5 between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. at Center at Norpoint, 4818 Nassau Ave. NE. City Hall is also collecting comments through its community budget input box online at surveymonkey.com/s/B22HH9M until Nov. 30. More information about the City of Tacoma's 2013-2014 proposed biennial budget is available online at cityoftacoma.org.