City of Tacoma Washington sent this bulletin at 07/30/2025 10:00 AM PDT
Hello District 1,
I hope your summer is off to a great start. The Hines family has been making the most of these long, sunny days, whether it's cheering on the Rainiers at Cheney Stadium (especially for the July 3rd fireworks game!), soccer games, backyard BBQs, or some of our favorite summer events. I know many of you are also soaking in the season, and I hope you're finding moments of rest, joy, and community.
In this month’s update, I’m excited to share some of the latest happenings around Tacoma, along with a deeper dive into one of the most important challenges facing our city: homelessness. Thank you, as always, for staying engaged and helping shape a stronger future for Tacoma.
Scenes from the City of Destiny
Adopting the 2025 Climate Action Plan Update
I am pleased to share that the City Council unanimously passed a resolution on July 8 to adopt the 2025 Climate Action Plan Update. We've seen too many stories recently about other cities across the country facing devastating and tragic losses from climate change, including floods and fires. We need to build Tacoma's resilience to climate change to ensure that our residents and local businesses thrive for generations to come.
Tacoma's coastal location and urban topography make it particularly susceptible to flooding, air pollution, and urban heat islands. The 2025 Climate Action Plan Update will serve as the City’s guide to reducing the impact of immediate threats to our community, while also looking for opportunities to advance the transformational actions necessary to achieve our broader goals. It will also provide guidance to inform City funding, investments, and initiatives to help strengthen our local economy, infrastructure, and the health and well-being of our residents.
Many of you know that I worked hard during the past year to update our animal control code, including the structure of our pet license fees. A license is your pet’s ticket home if they ever get lost. Each year, tens of thousands of pets end up at the Humane Society for Tacoma & Pierce County, and very few have proper identification.
When a lost pet is found with up-to-date identification, our Animal Care and Control Officers can either return the pet directly to its home or promptly notify the owners that their pet is safe at the shelter. Your pet’s license enables us to offer better services for you, your family, and your community. Don’t wait — license your pet today!
There is still time to get the lower license rate if you register now, but prices will increase to the new rate starting September 1. Sign up for your pet license here: License Registration
Addressing Homelessness: What steps are we taking and what is next?
Homelessness has been one of the most complex challenges facing Tacoma since I joined the City Council. One of the very first projects I supported was the micro-shelter site at 6th and Orchard to ensure additional housing support for families with children and single women. As a parent and a teacher, I know how critical stable housing is for family stability and allowing children to thrive. Since then, the City Council has supported and funded a variety of actions to ensure we act with urgency, compassion, and accountability:
We launched the new HOPE Team to respond to behavioral health crises alongside both FIRE/EMS and Law Enforcement.
We formally adopted a comprehensive homelessness strategy to guide long-term action for permanent supportive housing and improve coordination with regional partners.
In 2022, I worked hard with my City Council colleagues to pass an updated camping ordinance that limits where in our city people are allowed to camp, while continuing to offer shelter alternatives.
The City's efforts have helped decrease the number of larger encampments across Tacoma, provided shelter for thousands of community members, helped keep public spaces clean and accessible, and have ensured that families and individuals receive the support they need. You can learn more about the City’s Homelessness Services here: Homelessness Services | City of Tacoma.
While the City has made progress, the work is not done, and we are seeing new challenges. Too many community members continue to live in inhumane conditions on our streets and struggle to find stable housing. Not only is the safety and well-being of our unhoused community members a serious concern, but homelessness also has an impact on nearby residents and neighborhoods. Camping on our streets brings a host of sanitation concerns and costs for the City in terms of cleanup. While our HEAL teams have connected many people to services, we are now seeing individuals who continue to live unsheltered even after being offered help multiple times.
We’re also continuing to see real consequences for local businesses. During meetings with some of these local businesses, owners and employees have shared their concerns about persistent encampmentsimpacting their ability to attract customers and maintain security. We have heard from small businesses owners who are distraught because they care deeply for others but cannot bear the financial impact their stores experience. It breaks my heart to see deeply compassionate people become overwhelmed and exhausted by persistent encampments around the stores they have invested a great deal in and work hard to maintain. Our local businesses are vital for ensuring we have a thriving city, but they are facing real challenges that impact their stores and customers.
As we move forward and continue to explore additional options for actions to address homelessness, I’m focused on three key questions that guide how we think about policy, funding, and accountability:
How do we create solutions that help people now, not just years from now?
How do we create solutions we can afford and sustain long term?
What do we do when people continue to refuse help and the options we can reasonably offer?
These are not easy questions, but they’re the ones we must answer if we want lasting change. As I dig into these questions, I'm speaking with unhoused community members, nonprofit leaders, the Police Department, Neighborhood and Community Services staff, Municipal Court officials, and many others who are working hard to address homelessness so that I can learn more about their perspectives and needs. We are also working to evaluate policies that other Washington cities--and cities like ours across the country--are using to address homelessness. In the past several years, I have visited Seattle, Spokane, Everett and Vancouver to see firsthand the actions those cities are taking. My efforts to learn more about the issues and options are aimed at navigating new ideas for how to balance effective policies that can also be enforced in our city with the resources we have in place.
These are hard conversations and there are no easy answers. However, as your Council Member, I remain committed to finding practical, compassionate approaches that make a real difference, for those living outside and for the people and businesses affected by encampments. As always, if you have ideas, feedback, or concerns, I’d truly like to hear them. Your voice helps shape the work ahead.
Kingfisher Village
This month, I joined other leaders and community members at the grand opening of Kingfisher Village, a new 60-unit tiny home village in South Tacoma. This project, led by the Low-Income Housing Institute, gives people living in encampments a safe place to stay and the support they need to move toward permanent housing.
The village was built with help from Pierce County and the State of Washington and is part of a growing effort to get people off the streets and into shelter. Like the tiny home village near my home at 6th and Orchard, Kingfisher offers case managers, shared bathrooms and kitchens, and 24/7 staff support. I’m proud of the teamwork that made this possible and hopeful for the many lives it will help change.
Catching Up with Council Member Hines
Honoring Willie Adams
This month, I had the great honor of presenting an honorary street sign to longtime labor leader Willie Adams, celebrating his retirement and his deep impact on our city. Willie served for years as a proud member of ILWU Local 23 right here in Tacoma and recently retired from his role as International President of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
Tacoma is a city built on labor, and Willie’s leadership, both in the labor movement and in our Black community, has left a lasting legacy. He’s been a strong advocate for workers’ rights and for honoring Black history and labor history in our region. It was a privilege to recognize his decades of service by naming a street in his honor: Willie Adams Way. Congratulations to Willie and thank you for all you’ve done for Tacoma.
Honoring the Twulshootseed language
We also recently unveiled 174 honorary street signs in the Twulshootseed language! This was a collaborative project between the City and the Puyallup Tribe of Indians to recognize and celebrate the Tribe's history. These signs can be found on roads within the Puyallup Reservation, and they include 27 honorary names. Six names run north and south along Portland Avenue, Grandview Avenue and Pioneer Way. The other 21 names will run East/West starting at 28th Street and going up to 38th Street including Roosevelt Avenue, T Street and Browning Street. Along with the new signs, there is information about the translations and pronunciations. This is a wonderful opportunity for our city to celebrate Tribal language and learn about our rich history.
Celebrating Pride
I had the pleasure of helping to cut the ribbon on our new Pride-themed crosswalk this month! This permanent installation, created by artist Natalie Dupille, stands as a powerful symbol of Tacoma’s long history as a welcoming and inclusive city for the LGBTQIA2+ community.
Hope you will go take a look and join in the joy this art brings to Tacoma! The crosswalk is located on Broadway, between South 9th and 11th streets. If you check it out on a Thursday, between 10AM-2PM, the Broadway Farmers Market is open!
Please be sure to check out tacoma.gov for City updates and resources and, as always, please feel free to share your thoughts and concerns with me directly at john.hines@tacoma.gov. You can also call me at (253) 312-5620 if you have questions.
I invite you to tune in to the City Council’s Study Session or Council meetings every week on Tuesdays via TV Tacoma or Zoom. Access information is available at City Council Meetings | City of Tacoma.
Also, if you enjoy getting this newsletter and regular updates from me, please feel free to share it with others who you think might find it valuable and encourage them to subscribe.
