SENATE RESOLUTION

8782

By Senators Franklin, Rasmussen, Regala and Kastama

            WHEREAS, South Tacoma native Skip Vaughn began his community activism shortly after receiving a notice in the mail that more than four hundred apartments were to be built in his neighborhood; and

            WHEREAS, Vaughn was an active participant and an organizer of the First Community Summit in 1990; and

            WHEREAS, In 1992, he served on the Mayor’s Task Force, which lead to the creation of the Neighborhood Councils in the City of Tacoma; and

            WHEREAS, In 1992, he was elected President of the United Neighborhoods of Tacoma, and was the board’s official representative on the Eastside Youth Entrepreneurship Program and the Tacoma-Pierce County Small Business Incubator; and

            WHEREAS, Vaughn currently serves as President of South Tacoma Neighborhood Council, a position he first attained in 1994; and

            WHEREAS, In November 1994, Vaughn served on the Wapato Hills Task Force created by the Tacoma City Council; its mission was to explore alternatives for the use of open space; and

            WHEREAS, From 1995-2000, he served as board member of the Tacoma Public Utilities, and in 2000 he became Chairman; and

            WHEREAS, Vaughn is best known for his tenacity in saving Wapato Hills, an eighty-acre property that sits west of Interstate 5 near Tacoma Mall, stretching about a half a mile from South 56^th to South 64^th streets; and

            WHEREAS, Growning up in South Tacoma sixty years ago, Vaughn remembers the days when he and his childhood friends frequently climbed over the Wapato Hills to swim in Wapato Lake on hot summer days; and

            WHEREAS, Vaughn envisioned the eighty-acre property to hold the fourteen-acre Wapato Hills Neighborhood Park and a twenty-three acre wildlife preserve; he wanted to keep the remaining forty three acres as open space; and

            WHEREAS, Through hard work and determination, Vaughn and other community activists worked for five years to save the property from developers; and

            WHEREAS, The South Tacoma Neighborhood Council and the Wapato Hills Task Force acquired the necessary funds through private donations and various grants to buy the four parcels of land necessary to make their dream a reality; and

            WHEREAS, Skip and his wife of forty-six years, Laura generously donated $157,340 of their own money to leave the park as a legacy; and

            WHEREAS, Neighborhoods USA is the nation’s largest grass-roots organization that brings together diverse people dedicated in building stronger communities; and

            WHEREAS, On May 27, 2000, at the Twenty Fifth Annual Neighborhoods USA conference in Phoenix, Arizona, the South Tacoma Neighborhood Council was presented with the Neighborhood of the Year award;

            NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Washington State Senate honor Skip Vaughn, whose vision and extraordinary efforts will benefit the residents of Tacoma, visitors and future generations to come; and

            BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be immediately transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate to Skip Vaughn.

I, Tony M. Cook, Secretary of the Senate,

do hereby certify that this is a true and

correct copy of Senate Resolution-8782,

adopted by the Senate March 12, 2002.

TONY M. COOK

Secretary of the Senate