Kent – People for Climate Action

Kent Chapter

Looking to get involved? Join us!

There are many opportunities to propel the city of Kent to operate in a more climate conscious way. Regardless of your age, experience in advocacy, or skill level, we are happy to have you! Email us to learn how you can get involved in the various aspects of climate action.

Kent City Council Candidate Responses

We posed climate questions to Kent City Council candidates for the Nov 2023 election and are awaiting their responses. Their responses will be published below. PCA has a policy of not endorsing candidates.

Question:	Marli Larimer (Position #1, incumbent)	Jessie Ramsey (Pos. #1) – no response	John Boyd (Pos. #3) – no response	Kelly Wiggans-Crawford (Pos. #3)- no response	Bill Boyce (Pos. #5, incumbent) – no response	Zandria Michaud (Pos. #7, incumbent) – no response	Darryl Jones (Pos. #7) – no response
1. How would you prioritize climate climate in running Kent, given the urgency of the global warming acceleration?	Address crime & homeless/ housing needs first, and climate after the other priorities
2. How will you support the King County-Cities Climate Collaboration (K4C) goal — set by the County and 16 Cities (including Kent) — to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions to 50% of 2007 levels by 2030?	At the city, council has given staff a directive that all new fleet vehicles for non-construction use by hybrid effective immediately and all-electric in the next budget cycle. We have also directed them to replace grass seed spray with pollinator seed spray wherever possible in surplus/strip landscapes.
3. Given that the climate emergency impacts many of our current local and global societal issues, how will you include climate in all your policy making decisions?	In Kent we don’t have budget to do half of what we would like to do for climate action, but the staff is really good at pursuing grant opportunity towards these goals. Recent wins include securing state funds for solar panels on city buildings and we are pursuing a number of brownfield grants for clean up and reuse of industrial lands.
4. What type of commitments are you willing to make around climate projects?	Lead or support climate projects while in office. Partner with community organizations to get climate projects accomplished.
5. In the Pacific NW region, the bulk of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions typically come from transportation and buildings. What steps will you take as a city leader to lower emissions from these sources in Kent?	See previous answer. In my opinion, our position at the 4th largest manufacturing and distribution hub in the country comes with the responsibility to reduce our own City emissions and work with private and public partners to reduce emissions overall in the industrial valley.
6. Washington state has many public utility districts (PUDs) that use predominantly green energy sources to generate electricity, but Kent and most of King County must buy electricity that is predominantly generated by burning gas and coal. What steps will you take as a city leader to address the emissions from our electricity and heating sources?	I believe we approved the switch to green energy source credits over two years.