Author Archives: Thad Curtz

W4.9 Organics collection (See W4.1 Residential composting) Require food waste pickup at residential and commercial buildings to reduce landfill methane. Compliment with an ordinance that restricts compostables from going into the garbage and has a fining structure to enforce.

W4.10 Waste Less Food program * Expand Thurston County’s “Waste Less Food” program. The program has a website.

B4.9 Permit counter technical assistance * Hire or contract with dedicated green building specialists to provide technical assistance through the permitting and development process. Municipalities can increase the success of green building projects, and incentivize more green building development, by … Continue reading →

T4.15 Promote transit benefits * Work with employers and transit agencies to develop ways to incentivize employee ridership (eg. rebates for employees who give up use of employer parking facilities). The Orca for All campaign, which is working to get … Continue reading →

T2.2 Congestion mitigation * Develop congestion mitigation programs to increase transportation efficiency, reduce delay, and reduce emissions such as signalization coordination improvements along with application of speed harmonization techniques (ex. reevaluate speed limits, roundabouts vs signalized intersection, street connectivity). Added … Continue reading →

T4.14 Transit & schools Work with school and transit providers to understand if there is a likely partnership to coordinate routes with transit start and top times. According to a recent study, “Miles to Go: Bringing School Transportation into the … Continue reading →

T4.10 Rider education / Benefits * Maintain and expand a regional online page that lists all the mode shift education efforts and employer benefits opportunities (Thurston Here‐To‐There). Include a comments section for suggestions to further transit education and ridership. Intercity … Continue reading →

T2.3 Transportation efficiency service Create and fund a transportation efficiency service for local residents that gives an assessment of a household’s current transportation costs, shows cost saving potential by using cleaner forms of transportation, connection with vendors and financing as … Continue reading →

B7.2 Public Power Transition to a publicly owned power utility district. The 2012 initiative campaign to authorize the Thurston County PUD to get into the electricity business, and perhaps buy out PSE’s infrastructure in the county, collected more than 15,000 … Continue reading →

B4.15 Innovative design Allow administrative variances from code requirements for innovative designs, materials, and technology that support increased efficiency or renewable energy optimization. The Northwest EcoBuilding Guild’s Building Innovations Database provides case studies documenting code compliance for innovative designs, materials … Continue reading →