All Posts in "Month: March 2024"

Puyallup trying to attract affordable housing

The City of Puyallup has expanded its use of tax exemptions for developers in the hope of stimulating more construction of affordable housing.

The City Council recently authorized the effort to create new opportunities for developers in the city that’s currently home to about 42,000 people.

The Multifamily Tax Exemption (MFTE) program was originally only available for new construction in some of the city’s downtown. Now the program includes other downtown areas and the city’s portion of South Hill. Additionally, the River Road corridor was added to further stimulate housing and economic growth, according to Katie Baker, the city planning manager.

The expansion “will incentivize developers to look at Puyallup in a new light,” said Baker. “We know that the costs of building new housing are rising, so we need to create attractive programs that entice developers to create more housing inventory.”

 State officicals have estimated “we need to accommodate over 7,482 units of housing by 2044 to meet population growth targets,” she added.

The state Department of Commerce created the MFTE program as a way to simulate affordable housing through tax incentives for residential developers. The program allows cities to designate areas where developers can apply for and receive property tax exemptions on new housing developments for a specified time period.

Puyallup has an eight-year and a 12-year option for developers. Under the exemptions, a property owner or developer doesn’t have to pay property taxes on the residential improvements for those number of years in Puyallup. The property owner still pays taxes on commercial improvements to the land.

Under the eight-year option, there are no affordability requirements, and developers can pursue market-rate housing. For the 12-year option, at least 20 percent of the units must be offered at lower prices that are more affordable or moderate, officials said.

The Senior Scene by — March 13, 2024 in News

Take it from the Federal Trade Commission: Stay alert for scammers impersonating government personnel. They’re after your money.

According to FTC officials, many such schemes start with a phone call about an alleged problem, such as suspicious activity in an account. The story includes a claim that someone is using your information to commit crimes and that all your money is at risk. The caller tries to convince you that a court will seize the money in your bank account or retirement savings. The phony caller — who claims to be a helpful agent from the FTC, the FBI, the Border Patrol, or another government agency or organization — insists the only way to protect your money is to quickly transfer it to a more secure account. Or to cash out your savings or buy cryptocurrency or gold bars.

The truth is, instead of protecting your money, you’re about to lose it. The scammer controls the new bank or cryptocurrency accounts or sends someone to pick up the gold bars or cash “for safekeeping.”

It’s a scam if the caller says you need to buy gift cards, go to a cryptocurrency ATM, or go to the bank in person while they stay on the phone with you. And if the caller tells you to lie to anyone who asks why you’re transferring or withdrawing so much money, that’s also a clear sign of a scam.

Here is what else the FTC wants you to know and do about this scam:

• The FTC will never tell you to move your money to “protect” it.

• Ignore all unexpected requests for money in an unexpected call or message.

• Verify the story. If you think there’s a real problem with one of your accounts, use a phone number, website, or app you know is real to contact the company. Don’t use contact information in any message you received.

Source: Pierce County Aging and Disability Resources

The Senior Scene by — March 13, 2024 in Personal Finance/Consumers
Going green for funerals, burials

SAVVY SENIOR

By Jim Miller

Dear Savvy Senior,

What can you tell me about green funeral options? At age 80, I would like to pre-plan my funeral and make it as natural as possible. 

Old Environmentalist

Dear Environmentalist,

Great question! Green funeral options are becoming increasingly popular in the United States as more and more Americans look for environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional funerals. Here’s what you should know about “green burial” and “green cremation” options, along with some tips to help you locate services in your area.

Green burial

A green/natural burial will minimize the environmental impact by forgoing the embalming chemicals (which is not required by law), traditional casket, and concrete vault. Instead, you’ll be buried in either a biodegradable container or shroud with no vault and you won’t be embalmed. This allows the body to decompose naturally and become part of the earth.

If you want to temporarily preserve the body for viewing or a memorial service, you can request dry ice or Techni ice, a refrigeration unit, or a non-toxic embalming agent.

You’ll also be happy to know that green burials are much cheaper than traditional funerals, which average around $8,000 in 2023. By scrapping the coffin, vault and embalming, which are expensive, you’ll save yourself several thousand dollars on your funeral costs.

To find green burial services in your area, see if there’s a certified green funeral home in your area and contact them. The Green Burial Council offers an online directory of providers and other resources at GreenBurialCouncil.org. If there isn’t one nearby, contact several traditional funeral homes to see if they offer green funeral service options.

You’ll also need to find a green cemetery. There are nearly 100 throughout the U.S., along with more than 300 traditional (hybrid) cemeteries that offer green burials, too. Or, if you own rural property, you may be able to have a home burial there, if your state and county allow it.

If, however, there are no green cemeteries nearby you can still make your burial more environmentally friendly. If a vault is required, ask to have holes drilled in the bottom, or use a concrete grave box with an open bottom so the body can return to the earth.

Green cremation

If you would rather be cremated, you have some green choices. While cremation has always been touted as being more eco-friendly than a typical burial, a traditional cremation, which uses high heat to incinerate the body, does emit greenhouse gases into the air.

A green cremation, however, uses water and potassium hydroxide to reduce a deceased body to its basic element of bone ash within a few hours. This technique, which is known as alkaline hydrolysis, is a little more expensive than traditional cremation but, unfortunately, it’s not legal in every state. Contact some local funeral providers to find out if this is available in your area, or Google “alkaline hydrolysis cremation” followed by your city and state.

Another consideration is deciding what to do with the remains. Instead of scattering, which can be harmful to the environment, there are a wide variety of biodegradable urns that dissolve into the earth or water over time, and memorial urns that will grow a plant or tree in combination with your ashes.

Jim Miller is a contributor to NBC TV’s “Today.” Send senior questions for him to Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or at savvysenior.org.

The Senior Scene by — March 5, 2024 in Lifestyle, Home, Adventures
44-mile trail system now complete

The final segment of the East Lake Sammamish Trail is open, completing King County’s portion of the 44-mile paved Locks to Lake Corridor that connects Seattle’s waterfront in Ballard to Eastside cities and the Cascade foothills

The 3.6-mile final link completes the 11-mile trail’s connection to the Burke-Gilman, Sammamish River, Marymoor Connectors, and Issaquah-Preston trails, welcoming people of all ages and abilities to walk, ride, roll, and bike.

At a trail-opening ceremony, County Executive  Dow Constantine noted the new lakeside link “allows residents from all across King County to use a safe, healthy, and accessible recreation path” that is 12 feet wide with two of gravel shoulders on each side. Construction crews also installed new culverts for salmon to swim underneath the trail to reach spawning habitat.

The trail follows the old BNSF Railroad along Lake Sammamish’s eastern shoreline. At its southern end in Issaquah, the trail links to Issaquah-Preston Trail. To the north, it connects to the Marymoor Connector Trail at Marymoor Park, which connects to the Sammamish River Trail and Sound Transit’s new Link light-rail stations in Redmond.

King County purchased the East Lake Sammamish corridor in 1997 and opened a gravel-surfaced interim trail in 2006.

The Locks to Lakes Corridor is part of the Leafline Trails network of more than 500 miles of paved, non-motorized trails across King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Kitsap counties.

The Senior Scene by — March 5, 2024 in Lifestyle, Home, Adventures