Forum intended to improve services for low income and needy populations

MOSES LAKE — The one reason Paul Knox gave Wednesday for traveling from Olympia to Moses Lake for a forum was this: To get out of Olympia.

Knox, who is the policy and performance manager for the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, came to collect input on how the state can improve programs for low income and needy populations.

CTED wanted to go beyond Olympia and hear the concerns of people from all around the state, Knox said.

Representatives from Grant, Whitman and Lincoln counties were invited to come and give their input.

The purpose was to prioritize areas of most importance from each forum held throughout the state, which will then be presented to the Legislature.

Those areas range from affordable housing, drug and alcohol abuse, child care, energy costs and access to health care, the topic voted on as the most critical need by members at the Moses Lake forum.

Moses Lake is the 11th of 14 scheduled forum locations throughout the state.

"When this is done it will be our job to come up with three, four initiatives before the Legislature," said Mark Porter, public information officer with the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development.

Priority areas that followed access to health care were affordable housing, services for seniors, legal council and hunger.

After those areas were prioritized, attendees met in small groups for a half hour to brainstorm strategies and action plans.

The groups then presented their ideas which ranged from increased funding to pay for legal council for crime victims to improved standards for affordable housing access and more opportunities for contact with senior citizens.

Sharon Chesterman from Royal City came Wednesday and was disappointed representatives from more areas of the health care community and District 13 legislators were not in attendance.

The legislative representatives for this area need to be coming to things like this, Chesterman said.

She also called for people in the Basin and within her own community to be proactive in contacting lawmakers to get action on issues like those discussed at the forum.

Reducing the number of payday loan centers in the downtown Moses Lake area was suggested.

"You can go to downtown Moses Lake and I think you will find a dozen payday loans which I think puts (people) further in debt," said Ken Sterner, executive director with North Columbia Community Action Council. "They're making bucks off low income people and I think that is an issue."

CTED plans on sending out a report summarizing the feedback from the meeting held in Moses Lake next week.

The goal is to put together a proposal from all the cities visited throughout the state to send to the Legislature for consideration in the next biennium.

In reference to comments about the needs of eastern Washington being different from those of western Washington, and the desire to have state representatives make more visits to rural areas, Porter said in response: "We, the state, serve everybody and we should never forget that."