Update from your City Council Member

City of Tacoma Washington sent this bulletin at 12/11/2019 12:41 PM PST

Greetings!

It is my honor to serve the residents of Tacoma Council District 5 and work to create a safer community for all. Some of the primary issues I worked on these past few months are covered below. These projects are in addition to my ongoing efforts on the Affordable Housing Action Strategy, public safety, roads and infrastructure, and protecting our most vulnerable populations.

I want to know what matters to you in District 5. You can reach me at chris.beale@cityoftacoma.org or (253) 591-5164. If you would like to meet with me in person, please call (253) 591-5470 to schedule an appointment.

Gratefully in service,

Chris Beale

Tacoma City Council Member, District 5

Increasing shelters in Tacoma

CM Beale touring a tiny home village with Mayor Woodards and Deputy City Manager Tadd Wille

Every person deserves a safe place to call home. The Mayor, Deputy City Manager and I traveled to Seattle and visited the True Hope Village, a micro-shelter site in Seattle housing people who would otherwise be homeless. The purpose of this trip was to learn how these shelters are used by individuals and families to find stability in their lives, and eventually transition into permanent housing.

The City Council on Tuesday, November 19, 2019, approved a contract with the Low-Income Housing Institute to operate a temporary emergency micro-shelters site at 802 Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

This is one of many actions the City Council has taken to create housing and shelter space for the most vulnerable in our community.

The Community Vitality and Safety committee just reviewed the ordinance allowing for faith-based and nonprofit organizations to host temporary shelters to reduce barriers to participation. Currently, two faith-based organizations are being permitted to provide temporary shelter, Bethlehem Baptist Church (40 shelter beds) and Altheimers Church (32 shelter beds).

Community partnerships are critical to successfully meeting Tacoma’s sheltering needs. In fall 2019, the City contracted with Metropolitan Development Council (MDC) to help map community assets that can support sheltering needs and convene community stakeholders to identify options for temporary and/or permanent shelter locations in Tacoma. To participate, contact Rob Huff at impact@mdc-hope.org or (253) 284-9096.

Clean Fuel Standard

This month I sponsored a resolution that could lead to substantively improving air quality and public health in my Council District.

The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency's Board of Directors adopted a science-based target to reduce greenhouse gas pollution by 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, and is considering adopting a regional Clean Fuel Standard to help meet that target.

I am sponsoring a resolution at the City Council to recommend the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency vote in favor of “Scenario D,” the option that establishes the strongest standard to meet by 2030 and provides the most health and environmental benefits to Tacomans.

A Clean Fuel Standard can significantly reduce the Puget Sound region’s greenhouse gas pollution – up to a 26% reduction in carbon intensity of transportation fuels by 2030.

This policy would substantively improve air quality and public health, especially in communities like ours that live near major roadways.

A Clean Fuel Standard is consistent with the region’s expected economic growth. Any changes to economic productivity and employment are estimated to be very small (plus or minus one tenth of one percent). The assumptions used in the report are incredibly conservative and relate to "do nothing" scenarios to mitigate any potential job losses or impacts to consumers, which is not realistic.

Learn more about this upcoming vote on the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency’s website.

South East and South End Joint Strategy Session

This Tuesday the City Council held the first hearing of an ordinance that proposes changes to the City’s Neighborhood Council program. One of the proposed changes creates a process to create new Neighborhood Councils and adjust existing boundaries.

Join the South End Tacoma Neighborhood Council and South East Tacoma Neighborhood Alliance this Saturday, December 14, at 10 am, at the fire station on South 49th and South Alaska, for a joint strategy session intended to review past planning work and to discuss the possibility for a new neighborhood council in South East Tacoma.

This Saturday’s strategy session will be a place for you to voice how we define and engage with our neighborhoods.

Map of the South End Neighborhood District

Reducing gun violence in Tacoma

The City of Tacoma spends nearly $3.8 million dollars a biennium on services and programs directly and indirectly related to reducing gun violence. Notwithstanding these investments, the City is facing an increase in gun violence. Of the 22 homicides that occurred in Tacoma in 2019, 19 involved firearms. From 2014 to 2018, there has been a 37 percent increase in the number of criminal offenses in Tacoma involving firearms.

On November 12, 2019, the City Council passed an ordinance that will tax the retail sale of firearms and ammunition. The new tax will be assessed on retail sales of the following:

$25 tax per firearm (The tax does not apply to parts or components used to make a firearm.)
$.02 per round of ammunition .22 caliber or less
$.05 per round of other ammunition

Projected annual revenues of $30,000 will be used to fund programs that promote public safety, prevent gun violence, target youth and young adult violence prevention, and other programs intended to reduce violence and promote community healing and address, in part, the cost of gun violence in Tacoma.

The passage of this ordinance also called upon the City to host a convening of a workgroup to include representatives from Tacoma Public Schools, Tacoma-based firearms manufacturers and retailers, community partners, and City of Tacoma staff, including representatives from the Tacoma Police Department. This convening will review best practices for Tacoma to address gun and youth violence reduction, review and present fiscal analyses to include costs of expanding current programs and the fiscal impact of any future firearms and ammunition tax on local gun vendors and manufacturers.

The City Manager will report on the projected impacts of the new tax to the Council by May 25, 2020, and annually thereafter. In the years to come I will take care to review the effects of this ordinance on reducing gun violence, as well as other impacts it may have on our local businesses and community members.