Tacoma

How the City of Tacoma uses planting strips along its streets tells a tale of haves and have-nots, and of our differing standards. The City has gone out of its way to exclude homeless people from this space with $163,000 worth of boulders.

Tacoma voters balked at the price tag of the Streets Initiative II levy. That leaves Tacoma officials scrambling to come up with plan B to grapple with street safety and maintenance needs.

Governor Bob Ferguson should sign HB 1232 into law and immediately make use of the enforcement mechanisms it contains to stop unconstitutional detentions at ICE’s Tacoma Processing Center. The State should also impose fines on the for-profit corporate jailer to discourage the violations.

In Tacoma, 62% of housing units are detached single family homes. This overabundance has come at a cost in terms of affordability and urban livability. But recent zoning changes could spur a greater variety of housing.

The permanent renewal of Tacoma's Streets Initiative would enable the city to make significant progress on overhauling its most dangerous streets, and significantly expand safe bicycle infrastructure. The ballot measure goes to voters in an April 22 special election.

Tacoma is striving to pick up its pace of housing growth. The City hopes newly enact multiplex zoning while help it hit 325,000 residents in a few decades time, a population gain of nearly 50%.

Home in Tacoma will get a public hearing on Tuesday, which will close the comment period for the Final Environmental Impact Statement. Soon the Tacoma City Council will debate and approve a final zoning plan using the options outlined in the study.

Tacoma's Green Blocks program is expanding into the Lincoln International District in October and looking for residents looking to help plant and care for trees.