Update from District 4 Council Member Catherine Ushka
City of Tacoma Washington sent this bulletin at 12/02/2020 12:59 PM PST
Dear Tacoma District 4 residents,
There’s no denying that this year has been hard on our neighborhood. We are facing unprecedented challenges – yet I am hopeful because we face them together.
COVID-19 cases are once again spiking in our community. We know what we need to do as a community: physically distance from one another by at least 6 feet and wear our masks. If we all commit to taking care of each other, we can bring the case count back down.
Today, I want to highlight the good things that are happening in our neighborhoods. Take a break today and join me in reflecting on the good that is happening right here in Tacoma. Big challenges are still ahead for us but, together, our community is doing our part to support one another and improve everyone’s lives.
Below are a few highlights I am celebrating. I encourage you to share your stories of community resiliency with me and with others. Thank you for being a part of this great city we call home.
Sincerely,
Catherine Ushka Council Member, City of Tacoma - District 4
In Tacoma, our local businesses are an integral part of our community. In the Lincoln Business District, our local businesses have banded together with community partners to donate meals and snacks to first responders in Tacoma and Pierce County. Our first responders have gone above and beyond this year in their pandemic response. Let’s celebrate their hard work, and the generosity of our community!
I also encourage you to shop local this holiday season. The impacts of COVID-19 have hit our local businesses hard. These businesses are vital to the health of our neighborhoods. When we shop at local businesses, we re-invest our dollars in our own local economy, contribute to local jobs, and support the businesses that create the best customer experiences in Tacoma.
Let’s continue to build a strong, mutually supportive community. Thank you to the Lincoln District businesses leading the way, and thanks to Chun Li from Bambu Tacoma for sharing this story!
Visit the City of Tacoma’s new web based tool, Celebrate Tacoma. This is a searchable database of businesses that sell directly to consumers and are licensed and located within Tacoma’s city limits. Celebrate Tacoma highlights restaurants, local retailers and service businesses that have been especially hard hit by COVID-19.
To be included in Celebrate Tacoma, local retail, restaurant, café and service businesses can fill out this a brief survey.
It feels like there’s always construction on I-5 and we don’t always know what to expect at the end of it. This was the case when construction near Reed Elementary School took out trees that served as a buffer between the highway and nearby community. Thank you to everyone in the neighborhood who contacted State Representative Jake Fey and myself to advocate for a better landscaping plan at this critical location, and particularly to Ricky Clousing, a Jennie Reed Neighborhood Leader, for his relentless enthusiasm.
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and their design-builder are currently working on the last stage of the I-5 Tacoma HOV program that will provide additional landscaping replacing and increasing the tree canopy along I-5 through Tacoma. With the completion of the HOV projects in the southern section of Tacoma, WSDOT and Tacoma residents recognized that the completed projects did not replace removed landscaping or tree canopy in all locations along the I-5 corridor through the project limits. With City of Tacoma and community input, WSDOT worked with their design-builder to develop a revised plan that will fill in gaps along the corridor. The revised plan has been finalized, and it is expected that the trees will be put in place the spring of 2021. The plan will address areas near 48th Street, at the 38th Street interchange, and within the SR 16/I-5 Interchange
This is a huge success for all of Tacoma, and an example of how we improve the lives of all of our neighbors when we work together. Thank you for your commitment and advocacy for our neighborhoods!
A little rain never stopped us from having fun in the Pacific Northwest! This year, you can visit East 40th Street at the Pipeline Trail for a family-friendly, all-weather outing. Local literacy non-profit Write253 worked with students at Roosevelt and Lister elementary schools to create sidewalk poetry that only appears in the rain. The students created poems around the themes of water and nature that were applied to the sidewalk using a superhydrophobic sealant that is invisible when dry, and only becomes visible when wet. The result is a poem that emerges in the rain, encouraging members of the community to take a walk in the rain and read poems written by youth in their community.
The 2013 bond approved by voters provided funding for the Boze Elementary School replacement. The project had savings from labor efficiency and unused contingency funds, and the school district was able to add this funding into the project scope of work.
The latest aerial photo of Boze Elementary School helps show some of the additional community focused assets Tacoma Public Schools added to the project. Korsmo Construction worked closely with the Boze Neighbors to rebuild the community garden, and continued to take input on construction. One of the main design drivers was to position the new school, parking and play areas to create an inviting and inclusive neighborhood presence and, with the input of Boze Neighbors and others, the project is now complete.
Over the last several weeks, I was one of several Tacoma City Council Members who biked around Tacoma to get up close and personal with the existing (and missing) bike and trail networks in our city. Since we can’t gather in person for a bike ride and discussion, Downtown on the Go! is adding their rides and stories as a Pedal with Politicians video blog series here, so you can see the routes and neighborhoods that your elected officials traveled, and get more familiar with infrastructure and opportunities for bike advocacy. If you’re interested in a bike ride with me through your neighborhood just reach out by phone or email and I will be glad to join you, so long as it isn’t snowing!
