Hello District 3!
I wanted to share some of the exciting news from the 2024 State Legislative Session with you all. While the legislative session was just 60 days this year, my fellow City Council colleagues and I worked hard to advocate for many of the bills that advanced key goals for our community. I am pleased to share a small handful of our wins below regarding housing, community services, policing, traffic safety, theft, and physical and behavioral health.
Thank you to Senator Yasmin Trudeau, Representative Jake Fey, Speaker Laurie Jinkins, Senator Steve Conway, Representative Sharlett Mena, and Representative Melanie Morgan for their hard work in the legislative session and for all they do to fight for Tacoma!
I’m looking forward to working on our priorities for the next legislative session and I hope you will reach out to me to share your thoughts about the topics you want to see us supporting.
You can sign up for my virtual office hours here: https://calendly.com/cotcouncil/cm-scott-office-hours.
 Funding for Emergency Shelter Operations
Many community members have reached out to me to share their concerns for our unhoused population. I take these concerns seriously and I am pleased to share that Tacoma received $3 million in the 2024 Supplemental Operating Budget to prevent the closure of over 307 temporary and emergency shelter beds in our city. The state funding will allow the shelters to remain open until June 30, 2025, so that we can continue providing support for those in need.
To learn more about Tacoma’s emergency shelters, visit: City Authorized Emergency Shelter Sites - City of Tacoma.
Funding for People’s Community Center Design Study and a Future South End Community Center
I have great memories of being a kid at People's Community Center and I love all the programs offered to our community at this facility. I am pleased to share that the final 2024 Supplemental Capital Budget included $400,000 for a design study for updating People’s Community Center, as well as $200,000 to conduct a study for a future South End Community Center.
I hope you will check out all the great upcoming programs and offerings at People's Center, including the Co-Create to Recreate event on June 12! At this event, you can enjoy a free BBQ meal and learn more about programming and opportunities at Metro Parks. Metro Parks is hiring for lifeguards now too!
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Banning Police Use of Hog-tying in Washington
One of the most important bills to pass during this year’s legislative session aimed to prohibit law enforcement officers from hog-tying an individual and makes hog-tying a form of excessive force. Hog-tying is when an individual has their ankles bound or restrained and then fastened together to their bound or restrained wrists. I was proud to lead our City Council's effort to send a letter of support for this bill to legislators and to testify in support in Olympia.
Many police departments already see hog-tying as creating an unnecessary and unacceptable risk to life and have banned the inhumane practice. I am so proud that Tacoma is one of those cities, and I am thrilled that the state has now joined us in this important step.
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Expanding Automated Traffic Enforcement
Traffic safety is a top concern for District 3 and I know that we need to do more to ensure that our drivers and pedestrians are safe. I was pleased that we supported the expanded use of automated traffic enforcement and the development and passage of House Bill 2384. The bill gives cities and counties expanded authority to use automated traffic safety cameras, including school zone cameras, red-light cameras, speed cameras, and bus lane enforcement cameras. All revenue generated from these cameras will remain with the City and must be used for traffic safety purposes. In addition, a proportionate share of the revenue must be spent in census tracts with household incomes in the lowest quartile and in areas that experience above average rates of injury crashes.
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For more on our work to eliminate fatality and serious injury vehicle collisions, check out our Vision Zero plan.
Our Safe Routes to School program is also working to make it safer, more convenient, and fun for K-12 students and families to walk, bike, and actively roll to school.
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Increasing Penalties for Catalytic Converter Theft
We supported House Bill 2153, which aims to deter the theft of catalytic converters by establishing new felony and gross misdemeanor crimes for trafficking, processing, selling, or offering to sell stolen catalytic converters.
Reporting Lost or Stolen Firearms is Now Required
We unfortunately see a large number of stolen firearms being used to commit crimes in Tacoma. To help address this problem, House Bill 1903 has created a civil infraction for the failure to report the loss or theft of a firearm to law enforcement within 24 hours, and it requires law enforcement to enter lost and stolen firearms into the national Crime Information Center database. This bill also requires firearm dealers to post signage related to civil and criminal penalties related to the failure to report a lost or stolen firearm and the unsafe storage of a firearm.
Cleaning Up Graffiti with a New Drone Pilot Program
Our city is so beautiful, but our streets and buildings are too often marred by graffiti. House Bill 1989 creates an exciting graffiti abatement and reduction pilot program to field test new drone technology to spray over graffiti and the use of systems capable of identifying individuals who damage property with graffiti. The Washington State Department of Transportation will prioritize the I-5 Puget Sound region from Tacoma to Seattle and the North Spokane Corridor during the pilot program.
Don't forget to check out the City's graffiti removal services: Graffiti Cleanup - City of Tacoma. If you see graffiti in your neighborhood, I hope you will help alert the City by entering the location into our Tacoma First 311 system. We appreciate your help to keep our streets clean and beautiful!
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Funding for Street Medicine Teams
I was pleased to see that we were able to secure $1 million in funding for the Health Care Authority to contract with street medicine teams that rapidly assess and address the acute and chronic physical and behavioral health needs of people experiencing homelessness. This funding will help the City continue to show compassion and care for those experiencing homelessness and be able to provide the right services at the right time.
Special thanks to City Council Member Kiara Daniels for her work helping to secure this funding for Tacoma!
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Remembering Council Member Catherine Ushka
Our community has sadly said farewell to one of our great champions, Council Member Catherine Ushka. Catherine fought hard for District 4 and was deeply committed to public service. In April, we celebrated the renaming of Gas Station Park to Catherine Ushka's Gas Station Park, in recognition of all she has done to support parks in our community.
I hope we will all continue to be inspired by her hard work, compassion, and service to our city. She will be deeply missed!
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For more information on City updates and resources, please check out cityoftacoma.org. You can also tune in to the City Council’s Study Session or Council meetings every week on Tuesdays via TV Tacoma, Facebook Live, or Zoom. Access information is available at cityoftacoma.org/councilmeetings.
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. I can be reached at JScott8@cityoftacoma.org. Join me for virtual office hours by signing up for a time slot here: https://calendly.com/cotcouncil/cm-scott-office-hours.
Please also feel free to share my newsletter with others and encourage them to subscribe.
Thank you,
Council Member Jamika Scott -- District 3
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