Council Priorities Retreat

This past Friday, the Council had a working retreat to discuss priorities. We focused on community safety and housing and homelessness. As I mentioned in last month’s newsletter, the Council received the results of the 2022 Community Survey, and these were the clear priorities of many of our residents.

Our residents’ priorities, in turn, have informed our priorities as Council for the upcoming year. 

I reiterated to my Council colleagues that I want to see a reduction in violent crime, especially the number of homicides. I also want to see lower police response times, so that fewer of our residents must wait for the help they need.

In our discussion of housing and homelessness, I expressed my continued commitment to eliminating unsanctioned encampments on our streets. As I mentioned last month, this will mean setting up more places for people experiencing homelessness – whether a tiny home village (like the one by my house), a hotel, or a safe campsite. The goal is to eventually return our streets, sidewalks, and open spaces back to their intended uses. Allowing people to live on our streets, or leaving them with no other option, is something Tacoma can no longer accept.

Having a safe community for people in all phases of life – from our youngest residents to our most experienced, and everyone in between – is what I am committed to.  I look forward to working on this with my Council colleagues in the year ahead, as we work on moving Tacoma forward together on these and other key issues.

Tidy-Up Tacoma Returns in 2022

Tidy-Up Tacoma was something I was very excited to support last year and, starting this month, Tidy-Up is back! City crews have begun maintenance of the main arterials of Neighborhood Business Districts. This effort is working to clean up litter, remove graffiti, sweep the streets, and freshen up the landscaping along the roadsides.

Tidy-Up Tacoma will also include working with the Washington State Department of Transportation every quarter to assist with graffiti removal and sweeping the shoulders of I-705, SR509, Hwy 16, and SR7 between I-5 and South 38th Street.

For District 1 residents, clean-up of the 6th Avenue, Tacoma Narrows, Ruston Point Defiance, and Proctor Business Districts is expected to happen in July and then again in October. Looking ahead, I am excited to see how we can continue to make a clean city a focus for Tacoma in the years ahead. While Tidy-Up Tacoma is a great start, I am eager to see how we can support volunteers who want to help pick up litter and encourage everyone in our community to keep it off of our streets in the first place. Keeping Tacoma beautiful is going to take us all doing our parts, and I look forward to working together on this!

Proctor Neighborhood Planning Project Pilot

This past month, I attended the North End Neighborhood Council and spoke with the Proctor Business District Association Executive Board about the upcoming Proctor Neighborhood Planning Project pilot. I wrote about this a few months ago and, to refresh your memory, the project will help provide planning and development support to communities like Proctor as they strive to create strong, vibrant, and diverse neighborhoods.  

In Proctor, the Neighborhood Planning Program pilot will focus on: 

• Managing change and growth; 
• Traffic safety and parking; 
• Creating a healthy and sustainable neighborhood; and 
• Community engagement for the adaptive reuse of the Cushman and Adams substations  

You can read more about the Proctor Neighborhood Planning Project pilot here and get ready for a late summer/early fall start date. I am very excited for this to begin and to look at how we can expand this to other neighborhoods in District 1 in the years ahead.

Tacoma Arts Commission

Along with the other boards and committees I am part of, I am also the City Council liaison for the Tacoma Arts Commission again this year. As a life-long resident of Tacoma, I have always been proud of our vibrant arts community. Now that we are gathering more frequently, our arts and cultural institutions are vital to bringing our community together. As I said in the 2021 Annual Report:

“As we are returning to something approaching normal, it has become evident how vital community and connection are to physical and mental well-being. While we are getting back to work, school and smaller gatherings, we are longing for the larger community conversations that our arts and cultural organizations provide. I recognize, now more than ever, the way those performances, exhibitions, and events help me feel connected, engaged and cared for.

This is the value of art in Tacoma – it reminds us what makes life more beautiful, challenging, complicated, and in the end, worth living for. Our cultural community has done so much in the past year, and they continue to bring us back together and support a healthy, happy and fulfilled City of Destiny.”

Again, I have been very proud of how our arts, culture, heritage and science organizations, along with the City of Tacoma’s Office of Arts & Cultural Vitality, supported by the Council-appointed citizen volunteers on the Tacoma Arts Commission and Tacoma Creates Advisory Board, have responded to all of the uncertainty of the past year. Through Tacoma Creates, approximately $4.7 million was allocated to 58 organizations for the funding cycle from July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021.  I would encourage you to learn more about all of the work they were able to do in 2021 and get out and enjoy some amazing arts culture heritage and science programming this summer!

Tacoma Rail

As Chair of the Government Performance and Finance Committee, I work regularly with Tacoma Public Utilities staff and have enjoyed learning more about all they do serving our community – from keeping our lights on, to keeping our water clean and ensuring the trains run on time.

Wait, trains? Yes, trains!

While many of you may know that Tacoma has its own power and water company, what is less well known is that we have one of the few municipally-owned railroads in the country. Tacoma Rail has been serving our region for over 100 years and their locomotives are easy to recognize with their distinct red and white paint job.

Last month, I visited the Tacoma Rail offices and got to see first-hand how we run a railroad. Tacoma Rail currently moves freight through the Port of Tacoma and beyond. It was great to visit and learn how they get the trains to run on time and support economic development and growth in our region. I even got the chance to drive one of the locomotives (which my kids now think is the best thing about being on Council).

If you are interested, you can learn more about Tacoma Rail here.

Point Defiance News

While Point Defiance Park is a community asset, it is a key part of what makes District 1 special. Like many of you, I have spent many days exploring its beaches, walking its trails, and visiting the Zoo and Aquarium. Since I also serve on the Zoo Trek Authority, I follow the happening at Point Defiance closely, and this week we heard both sad and exciting news about our beloved neighborhood park.

Five Mile Drive

As regular readers of my newsletter, you heard that the Outer Loop of the Five Mile Drive is permanently closing to vehicles. Like many of you, I have fond memories of driving around the Five Mile Drive, taking in the wonderful views, and escaping into our small slice of wilderness here in Tacoma.

I would encourage you to check out the Metro Parks website for more information. I look forward, along with many of you, to see how Metro Parks will continue to find ways to make sure future generations get to enjoy such a special place in our city.

Owen Beach Reopening

While I was sad to see the closure of the Five Mile Drive, I am very excited for the return of Owen Beach. After 16 months of extensive renovations, Owen Beach will reopen with a public celebration 11 AM – 1 PM on Saturday, June 4.

I have many memories of childhood birthday parties, barbeques, and walks along the beach with my family and I cannot tell you how much I missed visiting Owen Beach over the past year. You can read more about the improvements and events here.

Tacoma Trails Challenge

Metro Parks Tacoma is celebrating National Trails Day on June 4 with a fun two-week exploration of Tacoma’s parks and trails.  From June 4 to June 19, the community is invited to connect, explore, and discover your local Tacoma parks and trails.  More information can be found here.