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Sustainability, coping with climate change, livable and ecologically sensitive communities were — along with social equity and health issues — priorities for Ron Sims during his 12 years as the elected Executive of King County, Washington.
Now, the same pattern holds in Sims’ position as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration. In addition to the basic administrative duties of his post, Sims is taking a leading role in making HUD a leader in promoting “smart growth” issues across America. “We’re no longer a housing agency,” he has said, “We’re a community development agency.” Sims was a national leader among local officials of global warming issues. Every major regional decision, he insisted, should be made with a 2050 mindset – assuming it’s already mid-century, and attempting to look backward from that vantage-point to assess the wisdom of major new infrastructure and other steps to be taken, or not. In his King County post, Sims played a critical role in protecting over 100,000 acres of green space as a critical “carbon sink” – an offset to the booming Seattle region’s CO2 emissions. Sims made King the nation’s first county to sign on to the Chicago Climate Exchange. Sims also pushed for sustainability on the transit front. Under his leadership, the King County transit system, which carries 300,000 passengers a day, partnered with General Motors in developing the country’s first hybrid diesel bus fleet. On the rail front, Sims took a leading role in turning around the troubled Sound Transit agency, helping it move forward to start construction of the region’s first light rail system. Sims also authored a reform health insurance plan for county employees, including strong incentives for healthier lifestyles. And he created a study highlighting the links between “walkable” communities and increased health. As a council member, Sims joined with a colleague in a successful effort to rename King County, which has originally taken its name from a 19th century slave holding vice president, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And while he could be labeled as a political liberal, he practiced conservative fiscal management that helped King County earn AAA ratings from the nation’s three bond rating agencies. Earlier in his career, Sims worked on the consumer protection issues at the Washington State Attorney General’s office and the Federal Trade Commission. He ran Seattle’s juvenile offender program and was board president for the South East Effective Development, a neighborhood advocacy and economic development group. Later, he was an election observer for the Carter Center in both Zambia and the Republic of Georgia. Last updated September 24, 2009 |