For Immediate Release

November 8, 2001

HUD APPROPRIATIONS BILL INCLUDES
THREE PIERCE COUNTY PROJECTS

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House of Representatives gave final approval today to a bill that includes federal grants for the University of Washington-Tacoma's Institute of Technology, the Gig Harbor Peninsula Historical Society's new museum and for the upgrade of transmission equipment at KBTC-TV, the PBS affiliate in Tacoma, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks said.

        In approving the final version of the bill that funds the Department of Housing and Urban  Development (HUD) today, the House endorsed the three Tacoma-area projects as part of HUD's Economic Development Initiative.  The initiative funds community job-creating programs that have demonstrated broad local support, Rep. Dicks said.

        The bill provides $250,000 to the University of Washington Tacoma Campus to assist in the development of the new Institute of Technology.  The Institute received a $5 million appropriation earlier this year from the State Legislature, after Gov. Gary Locke strongly endorsed the concept.   A fundraising effort headed by Tacoma businessman Herb Simon also raised another $4 million from private contributions, assuring the creation of the new  Institute, which will be located in a newly-acquired building at 1702 Broadway in downtown Tacoma.  

        A total of $200,000 was allocated in the bill to Pierce County to support the establishment of a museum and cultural center currently being planned by the Gig Harbor Peninsula Historical Society.   The organization has recently purchased a site in downtown Gig Harbor for its new Heritage Center, and it has completed a facility master plan.  The federal grant matches substantial local contributions and it will help the Historical Society accelerate the development of the Center, said Rep. Dicks.

        Finally, the appropriations bill contains $750,000 to assist Bates Technical College in Tacoma in its effort to acquire new equipment necessary for the shift to digital broadcasting at KBTC-TV.  Public broadcasters such as KBTC must meet a federal mandate to begin broadcasting digital signals by 2003, Rep. Dicks said, and the grant will help assure that the conversion proceeds on schedule.

        "These grants will complement the substantial local support that has been generated for each of these projects, and we also hope they will spur additional contributions," said Rep. Dicks.

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