Puyallup Tribal Impact
MILLIONS IN FUNDING FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
The Puyallup Tribe has provided tens of millions of dollars to local governments to fund vital projects and services, especially during the recent state and municipal budget cuts caused by the ongoing recession. These non-tribal projects include everything from road improvements and law enforcement equipment to fire department vehicles and emergency medical technologies for first responders.
In the past five years alone, the Tribe has spent more than $17.4 million on transportation projects in neighboring areas. These are largely done in collaboration with state and local governments on non-tribal roads to benefit the region’s growing traffic infrastructure.
The City of Fife receives $850,000 each year through an interlocal agreement with the Puyallup Tribe that helps pay for a host of community-improvement projects that range from police and fire protection to road improvements. The Tribe has also provided funding for high-occupancy vehicle lanes along Fife’s stretch of Interstate 5, where tribal staff has also worked with Washington State Department of Transportation. Another $200,000 was provided for planning for improvements to 54th Avenue, Pacific Highway East and Interstate 5 to help ease that traffic congestion point.
The Tribe has partnered with the City of Tacoma on several transportation projects this year as well. One notable project can be found on East 30th Street. That work involves paving, lighting, replacement of sidewalks, relocation of public utilities and improvements for individuals with disabilities. Another notable project partially funded by the Tribe is the paving and widening of ‘R’ Street between East 29th and 32nd streets. That work also includes the installation of curbs, gutters, lighting and sidewalks, as well as a stormwater system. The city also received tribal money for access ramps at State Route 509 and East ‘D’ Street to aid freight mobility associated with waterfront operations.
But road improvements are not the only non-tribal community projects the Puyallup Tribe supports with its impact dollars.
Tacoma Police Department and Tacoma Fire Department received tribal dollars for services related to the casinos. Tacoma’s Legal Department further received $592,205 to support prosecution of crimes committed on tribal lands by non-tribal members.
The Tribe helped Pierce County with $84,000 for a sustainability plan for improvement of air and water quality and another $115,506 for emergency management services in the event of a natural disaster.
The City of Puyallup, the Tribe’s namesake neighbor to the south, has received ongoing tribal support for that community’s projects. Some $125,000 helped fund a signal controller that enabled traffic lights on River Road to be accessed from different locations as a way to help alleviate traffic jams during rush hours and to aid first responders traveling through the area in times of emergency. That project dovetailed into tribal funding of Washington State Patrol efforts to control traffic flows in that area. The Tribe has also funded sidewalks along that roadway to increase pedestrian safety.
Rounding out the flow of tribal dollars along River Road, the Tribe also paid for flood tubes for the city’s sewage treatment plants that protect the plant from flooding and safeguards against a flood closure of River Road, since it is a major route into and out of the valley.