Remarks by Senator Murray
March 19, 2002
Mr. Chairman, thank you focusing on this vital
issue and thank for letting me say a few words about a friend and leader from
my home state, Ron Sims. You'll be hearing from him during your second panel.
Unfortunately,
I need to attend a joint hearing shortly, but I wanted to come by and let you
know that Ron Sims understands the critical transportation problems we're
facing in Washington State.
Ron
Sims serves as the Executive of King County, which is the 11th
largest county in the nation.
When
Ron talks to you today about traffic congestion, he speaks with authority. The
Seattle-Tacoma Corridor has the second worst traffic in the nation. Ron's been
working to address that in his role as a board member -- and now Chairman -- of
Sound Transit, the major transit authority in the Central Puget Sound.
For
the past few months, he's been working to bring business leaders and local
elected officials together to reduce traffic congestion, so that King County
can continue to grow economically. Ron has led the way on smart strategies for
moving people and products in a state that is the most trade dependent in the
nation.
And
Ron's a national leader on metropolitan issues. He's a member of the advisory
board of the Brookings Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy.
Ron
was born in Spokane, Washington. He spent 11 years on the King County Council
and for the past five years, he's served as the county executive -- dealing
with everything from recovering endangered salmon to using technology to bring
government closer to his constituents.
He's
a proud husband and father of three, a passionate advocate, and a gifted
leader. Mr. Chairman, I know that Ron's insights will help this committee as they have helped the people of my
state.
It's my honor to welcome to this committee, Ron Sims.