Dear Neighbors,

As we move further from the winter with longer days, daffodils, and the smell of fresh cut grass, we are entering into my favorite time in the City of Destiny. The Hines Family is getting ready for the return of Rainiers baseball and other highlights of the season. There are some great events to share in the months ahead, so hopefully we will see you at one of them! 

Before I go further in the newsletter, I want to take a moment and thank everyone who was able to join me at my recent Coffee Chat at Swasey Library. It was great to see many of you and to discuss some of your thoughts on topics like Home in Tacoma, public safety, and keeping Tacoma beautiful. 

It was another great reminder of why I am so happy to serve the residents of District 1 and the entire City of Tacoma.

Pierce County Opioid Summit

I was happy to be part of the Pierce County Opioid Summit on March 21. I have served as one of the executive co-sponsors of the Pierce County Opioid Task Force since 2021, and it was great to join such a large community gathering dedicated to addressing substance use disorder in our community again this year.

I continue to be deeply troubled by the increasing number of overdose-related deaths in our city. The number of people dying does not convey the entire impact of this crisis as it ripples outward in our community, effecting families, friends, businesses, and institutions throughout our city and county.

In my opening remarks (which can be viewed here) I stressed that we need to continue to commit to getting our residents the right services, in the right place, and at the right time. Since I have joined the City Council, we have continued to work to connect our residents to services – from setting up our therapeutic courts, to expanding our HOPE Team, to providing funding to service providers. Despite the inspiring and herculean efforts of many community partners, much more is needed.

With the  $518 million opioid settlement with the State of Washington we are already expanding to address the national opioid epidemic in our community. We have more money available for drug treatment, prevention education, and support systems in our criminal justice system.

While the sheer number of deaths weighs on me, like many in our community, I recognize that we must act with urgency. We have many great people heroically working to address this crisis and it is not lost on any of us how important the work is to everyone in our community.

Washington Kyiv Oblast Sister State Ceremony

This past month, Mayor Victoria Woodards and I were personally invited to join Governor Jay Inslee and Kyiv Oblast Head Ruslan Kravchenko for the signing of a sister state agreement in our City Council chambers. It was a powerful moment and a show of our state’s continued commitment to the Ukrainian people.

Washington has welcomed more than 24,000 displaced Ukrainians since the war began, and over 6% of all Ukrainian refugees to the United States have settled in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area.

I am proud of our Ukrainian community members for all their work to support these efforts and the opportunity for the city of Tacoma to host such a special event.

Tacoma has had a long running relationship with Ukraine, including our ongoing relationship with our sister city, Brovary, Ukraine, and the delivery of a retired Tacoma Fire Department ambulance in 2019. The event was very powerful, with many shared stories of the ongoing war in Ukraine, but also optimism for the Ukrainian people and the future relationship between the State of Washington and the Kyiv Oblast.  

Junior Daffodil Parade

This month I am excited for one of my favorite District 1 events – the Junior Daffodil Parade. This year it will be held on Saturday, April 20, at 10 AM. I have many memories growing up and enjoying the parade as it went through the Proctor District. Now I am excited that my own children, and children from across the city, get to enjoy this tradition.

Hopefully you will be able to join the Hines family and check out this great event now entering its 63rd year! You can find more information here.

Tidy-Up Tacoma Update

At the March 19 Government Performance and Finance Committee Meeting, we heard an update on the progress of Tidy-Up Tacoma. As many of you know, I was proud to work with Mayor Woodards to start Tidy-Up Tacoma in 2021, and it has been exciting to see how much it has grown. I hear from many of you about how important it is to address litter, trash and graffiti, and this has been a great first step in making an impact throughout our city.

The program will continue to focus on our business districts and making sure that they are welcoming and inviting to residents and customers. They will also be looking at further partnerships, expanding out public litter cans and volunteer litter pick-ups, and launching a new litter education program aimed at getting community members to not trash Tacoma.

As we heard in the presentation, these efforts within Tacoma, along with partnerships with the Washington State Department of Transportation around trash and graffiti on the highways (that may soon include drones!), should hopefully continue to improve our city’s visual appeal. There is still so much to do, but I am hopeful that I see more and more residents committing to keeping Tacoma beautiful.

You can track the work of Tidy-Up Tacoma here and see all of the work they have done so far! And as always, I am happy to talk trash with any of you.

Pierce Transit Runner Service

This past week I took a ride on the new Pierce Transit Runner along County Councilmember (and fellow Pierce Transit Commissioner) Ryan Mello. Pierce Transit is retiring some routes that have historically low ridership and limited schedules including Routes 13, that serves the Proctor District.

Rather than a Pierce Transit bus, customers in the Proctor area will see Pierce Transit Runner vehicles serving those areas. Runner service will provide riders with expanded hours, on-demand availability, curb-to-curb service, and ADA accessibility, all for the same fare as riding a regular bus.

I was very impressed with the ease of ordering our ride and the convenience that it provided as we rode from the Tacoma Dome Station to Point Ruston and back. While I was sad to see the loss of Route 13, I think the Pierce Transit Runner will be a great service for the Proctor District.

For more information, I would encourage you to check out the Pierce Transit website and learn more about the Runner. Even more than that, go ahead and schedule a ride today!

Zoo Trek Authority

As longtime readers of the newsletter know, one of my responsibilities is to serve as one of the City’s representatives for the Zoo Trek Authority. This group is responsible for the budget for the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium and Northwest Trek, and this past year I was elected chair of the authority board. It is by far my children’s favorite thing I do on City Council.

This past month we had one of the Zoo Trek Authority quarterly meetings and we were able to view the 2023 Annual Report video. If you are interested in learning more about the Zoo Trek Authority and some of the happenings at the Point Defiance Zoo and Northwest Trek, I would encourage you to check out our annual report video.

Also, do not hesitate to visit Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium or Northwest Trek sometime soon!

National League of Cities

I was happy to join many of my colleagues in Washington, D.C. to attend the Congressional City Summit. While in the other Washington, I participated in the Finance Administration and Intergovernmental Relations (FAIR) Committee, which I have been a member of for the past three years. This committee has allowed me to gain additional influence and have a chance to lead on important issues like grant funding and tax credits for affordable housing in Tacoma.

This trip was also a valuable opportunity for the City Council to meet with our Washington congressional delegation. I joined other city leaders from across the state to speak with Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell about issues facing our city and the need for federal support. After meeting with Senator Murray last month on our alternative response efforts, it was great to further chat with her about the work going on in Tacoma.

Tacoma has been very successful in obtaining federal funding to support the needs of our residents. Most recently this has included $963,000 for TPD’s Alternative Response Strategies to Improve Public Safety and $850,000 for the City’s Shelter Expansion and Site Preparation projects. We are in further need of support for some of our larger infrastructure projects, like the Fishing Wars Memorial Bridge, to smaller ones, like accessible sidewalks and trails. As your Council Member, I will continue to advocate for you in Washington, D.C.