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Recognizing Milestones and Renewing Commitments to Improve the Quality of Life in Seattle’s Duwamish Valley

The Duwamish Valley Program is celebrating the five-year anniversary of the Duwamish Valley Action Plan! A shared City-community vision for environmental justice and equitable development, we are proud to be part of five years of coordination, collaboration, and the implementation of City projects informed by community to improve the quality of life for South Park and Georgetown residents and businesses. Check out our progress update on the last five years of implementing the Action Plan

The Duwamish Valley Program staff want to take a heartfelt moment to thank our colleagues in the City family and our community partners for their dedication and commitment to prioritizing work in the Duwamish Valley and advancing the goals set out in the Action Plan. This work was achieved together and reflects the One Seattle approach to supporting a healthy, thriving Duwamish Valley. 

As a result of the historic and tragic flooding in December 2022, many South Park families were uprooted or experienced impacts. Individuals and community organizations provided incredible assistance to these families, connecting them to supporting organizations and providing immediate resources and assistance.  Since then, the City has supported families as they recover from the flooding and prepare for future flooding.  

This year, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) received $1.5 million from the King County Flood Control District to increase community resilience to flooding. These funds will also support the City’s response to the upcoming wet weather season that begins with the coming King Tide season. Most of this funding was used to deploy a temporary sandbag barrier that was installed in January of 2023. As was noted in our 2023 mid-year update, the South Park Pump Station and major roadway drainage and conveyance projects were completed, which will help reduce urban flooding and ponding in the industrial areas of South Park. 

Alongside these capital projects, the Duwamish Valley Program continued to engage in the Resilience District work. In 2023, the Duwamish Valley Program convened an advisory group of residents, business owners, and community organizations. This group helps guide the City’s work to address community resilience to climate change impacts such as flooding and sea-level rise and enhance community members’ ability to understand these complex issues. The City of Seattle is working hard to follow community leadership to help develop preferred solutions rooted in environmental justice and health equity.  

On a bittersweet note, our dear colleague Alberto Rodríguez has left the City of Seattle for a new opportunity. Alberto was the City’s first Duwamish Valley Advisor and was one of the original co-leads of the Duwamish Valley Program. We miss Alberto and wish him well in his new chapter.  

To learn more about all the work that happened in the Duwamish Valley in 2023, check out our website and see how the City of Seattle is advancing projects across all seven priority areas!