I'd like to call to order the city council meeting of August 26, 2025.

Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Councilmember Bushnell?

Present.

Deputy Mayor Daniels.

Here.

Councilmember Diaz?

Here.

Councilmember Heinz.

Councilmember Rumba?

Here.

Councilmember Sadalgay, absent.

Councilmember Scott?

Here.

Councilmember Walker?

Here.

Mayor Woodards?

Here.

Please join me in listening to the land acknowledgement and flag salute led by Councilmember Bushnell, followed by a moment of silence.

We gratefully honor and acknowledge that we rest on the traditional lands of the Puala people where they make their home and speak the Lashutsi language.

Please stand for the flag salute and remain standing for a moment of silence.

Seeing none, we'll move on to the consent agenda.

I move to adopt the consent agenda, includes including resolutions number four one seven four one through four one seven four five.

Second.

All right, are there any questions, comments, or corrections?

Seeing none, all those in favor of adopting the consent agenda, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

All those opposed.

The consent agenda is declared adopted.

Moving on to proclamations, recognitions, and presentations.

Or at least it's definitely in the top ten.

Tonight, um, we have the honor um of recognizing Annabelle Stevens, who is an incoming third grader at Downing Elementary School, and she has she has been named our honorary chief of the day.

So Annabelle, would you come?

Would you come with the chief and come stand at the podium right here for me?

Do we have a step stool for her?

Oh, man.

Oh yes!

I love it.

All right.

Annabelle, I'm gonna read this for you, okay?

All right.

Whereas the City of Tacoma is proud to celebrate and uplift the unique talents, perspectives, and achievements of all members of our community.

And whereas Annabelle Stevens, an incoming third grader at Downey Elementary School, is an inspiring young student who approaches life with courage, curiosity, and joy.

And whereas Annabelle, who happens to have Down syndrome, is a shining example of determination and kindness and reminds us daily of the importance of inclusion, empathy, and celebrating our differences.

And whereas on August 28th, 2025, Annabelle will have the honor of serving as chief for a day, representing the spirit of service and the leadership that this program embodies.

And whereas the city recognizes the positive example Annabelle sets for her classmates, her neighborhood, and the community as a whole, through her bright spirit, resilience, and compassion.

Now, therefore, I, Victoria R.

Woodards, mayor of the City of Tacoma, on behalf of the City Council and the over 220,000 residents of Tacoma, do hereby do hereby recognize Annabelle Stevens as we encourage all residents to join us in commemorating her accomplishments, her leadership, and her role as chief for a day, and congratulating her on this well-deserved honor.

Please join me in a round of applause for Annabelle.

Thank you very much.

All right, Annabelle.

Are you gonna say a few words?

Do you want to say a few words?

Right here, talk right in the mic.

You could speak right on the mic.

Ready.

Okay, you ready?

Did you want to say something?

Yes.

Go ahead and say it.

Um thank you, Annabelle.

Now, before Annabel comes forward, Annabelle, I think there are some other special people who were here with you today, right?

What?

Are your mom and dad here?

Um, yeah.

You want to ask your mom and dad to come up and stand with you?

Sure.

Okay.

Call them up, Annabel.

Yeah.

Tell them, come on up.

You tell them.

I too.

My dad.

Now get your mom too, Annabel.

Oh, I'll put my mom.

Annabelle, we want to thank your mom and dad for for bringing you here today.

We want to thank your mom and dad for being really good parents.

Do you have really good parents, Annabelle?

Oh, yeah.

Do they take really good care of you?

Well, thank you.

I am skinless.

Love it.

Love it.

So they take really good care of you.

She's thinking about it.

She's thinking about it.

Well, Annabelle, we're we really want to thank your parents for bringing you here and helping, um, helping you get to the police department so you could be the chief for a day.

Do you want to give them a big hug and tell them thank you?

Sure.

Okay, go ahead.

All right, Miss Annabelle, would you like to come up here and see me again so we can present you with your proclamation and take a picture?

Go take a picture.

Sure, come on up with the chief.

Chief, come with her.

Parents, you can come with her too if you want.

Huh?

Do you want our agency members?

Yeah, oh yeah, all of you.

Yes, please.

Every police officer who's here this evening, come on up here with Annabelle.

So, Annabelle, you know what?

You get to have this one, and you get to keep it.

You will can you shake my hand again?

I know you already gave me a hug.

Thank you.

So, mom and dad come up and chief, come up and stand with her.

The chief and the chief.

Okay, that's a cute thing.

Shelby, she can take the picture and you could be in it.

It's my job.

All right, everybody.

Wait, hold on, stop.

Shelby thought that was a request.

Now get in here, Shelby.

Oh, you see yourself.

Oh, what?

He's not tall enough?

All right, everybody.

One, two, three.

One more picture.

Yes.

Thank you, Annabelle.

Thank you.

Oh, Chief, I'm sorry.

Chief Patty.

Not Chief Annabelle.

Chief Patty, let me give you one as well.

All right.

I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

I think that's enough for today.

All right, all right.

What what an honor to be able to recognize a young student from Tacoma.

Um with just as much excitement as Annabelle.

What an incredible young person.

Chief, thank you so much for.

I I know this is not a new program, so to speak.

It could be new for Tacoma.

But um, thank you so much for embracing this and giving allowing us to have a moment like this at this meeting, especially after a really long day to celebrate.

Such a bright young person as Annabelle.

So thank you.

All right.

On tonight's agenda, there are two opportunities for people to comment.

Under public comment, you can speak about motions, resolutions, and ordinances on tonight's agenda.

Bye, Annabelle.

Under community forum, which is held at the end of this meeting, you can speak about items over which the city council has jurisdiction.

These forms are intended to give speakers the opportunity to share their viewpoints and feedback with the city council to aid in our decision making, and is not meant to be a back and forth dialogue.

Your remarks should be directed to the city council and not to individual staff members.

If you want to speak under the public comment period, please press the raise your hand button near the bottom of your Zoom window or star nine on your phone now, so we can see the number of people wishing to testify.

If you're speaking in person, please sign up at the back of the room if you have not done so already.

Your name and the last or the last four ridiculous of your phone number will be called out when it is your turn to speak.

Clerk, will you please read?

This is a time set aside for public comment.

Speakers are asked to identify the specific legislation they wish to address.

All right, I'd like to remind everybody to please keep your comments respectful, relevant, focused, and on topic.

We strive to provide a comment period where people can feel respected while sharing a wide variety of viewpoints and acknowledge that we may hear comments that conflict with our values.

To ensure all speakers can express their First Amendment constitutional rights, we ask that you refrain from clapping, cheering, booing, or otherwise being disruptive.

You will have 90 seconds to make your remarks.

Please be mindful of the time frame.

And as always, you are not required to make to make to use all of your time to make your point.

If you cannot remain on topic, you will be given two warnings.

If you remain off topic, we will have we will have to move on and we'll end your time.

Clerk, have we received any written public comment for tonight's meeting?

We've received one email regarding ordinance two nine zero five one.

Wonderful.

All right.

Hello, I am Tyler Daniels, licensed civil engineer in Tacoma, Washington.

Um I'm talking about uh the sidewalk program.

I would like to entertain a motion to end that program.

Um I have personally observed that program's inefficiency throughout my nine years before being terminated at my employment with the city of Tacoma.

Um it is ineffective.

Um it is outdated.

And that program only served to fund one individual who now makes over 12,000 a month in retirement, more than she made um in the lifetime of her career.

And it is heaving, it's just replacing an outdated uh systems, and we need a solution to move forward with our community because it is not accessible and public works is in an outdated program.

Um, and we need to elevate our consciousness when it comes to what we're putting in for our communities to access uh areas, especially now that we have two major food stores closing in our communities.

Access to transit is a priority.

And when Sound Transit has been uh engineered substandard and constructed substandard and it is crumbling around us.

We need to evaluate our next design when it comes to concrete and what we're doing in our community.

Tacoma deserves better.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Thank you very much for your comments this evening.

Kathy Irwin Hi, my name is Kathy Irwin.

I wanted to speak tonight on um ordinance two nine zero five one.

The South Tacoma Groundwater Protection District Code update.

I wanted to say, and I've submitted comments as well as well as other people have over the last few hearings that these code updates, as they're written, will not do anything more to protect the groundwater than has already been done so far, mainly because they are written to continue the status quo of what has occurred in South Tacoma, meaning variances have occurred that have allowed construction of projects that should not have been permitted due to the groundwater protection district guidelines.

Many people have submitted comments, nothing has been changed.

The feedback um the planners have received has been ignored.

And to make a point, they did not include any of the neighborhood council as they claim with the writing of this code.

Um, unfortunately, this code as it is written, will just continue with the confusion of who's doing what, who's accountable for what, who interacts with what as far as the departments go.

And the two different systems that are used for permitting, including the planners using their system for deciding if they're gonna have a variance on a project or not.

So it is not changing any of that.

And unfortunately, you're just gonna continue with the same unless it is thoroughly looked at again and modified as recommended.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Kathy.

Thank you for being here this evening.

All right, I'm gonna turn to the two people who have signed in the chambers, and I'll call Michelle Reich, followed by Kit Burns.

Michelle Reich.

I'm speaking to the 29051 groundwater protection.

Um first of all, um there has not been uh a thorough study of the air, water, and ground pollution that would come from construction of a megaware house.

Uh also a megawarehouse will change the character of the neighborhood to a semi-industrial there with uh hundreds of diesel trucks coming in and out.

And you should uh see what uh the pollution would entail by going to the port of Tacoma and doing sampling there, so that way you know what happens South Tacoma when you put it uh megawarehouse there, you'll get a good reading on what the pollution will be.

Yeah, also too.

Um the underwater aquifers is a very important resource to protect.

Yeah, they're very limited and finite in the world, and and Tacoma has good water, and uh sure to protect it there.

One final comment is that uh the UN declared payment in Gaza on Friday, period.

All right, Kit, come forward.

My name's Kit Burns.

I have a comment on um 29051.

Um, just two minor ones, two small ones.

Uh one is a definition that says here under definitions under P, it says metal roofs are also considered to be pollution generating surfaces, impervious surfaces.

I agree with that.

But the sentence continues on.

It says, unless they are coded with an inert non-leachable material.

I have a problem with that because you can't define that.

I'm sure your designers can't define that as somebody who's written specifications, everything.

This is rather vague.

Um typically, when you have a metal roof, it always comes with a plastic overlay that will leach on to the impervious center.

So my recommendation to the city council is to just say metal um, sorry, that uh everything is considered as pollution generating.

Second comment, this is just a small one, but it's an important one.

Um your drawing figure one, uh STB, or sorry, STGPD, well head protection area.

I believe it's really grossly inaccurate.

And so I produced another drawing.

I've looked at the bridge industrial, and I know what is six months and what is one year.

In fact, your own drawings right here, which I will leave with the city clerk, shows you that you now have a conflict if you go forward with this without reviewing it carefully.

Um you have my phone number email, I'll be happy to talk about the details.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Kit.

Thank you very much, Kit.

All right, that's everybody who's signed up.

I'll declare the public comment period close.

Bring it back to the full council, and we'll go on to our regular agenda.

Item 11, Clerk, will you please read resolution 41746?

A resolution appointing and reappointing individuals to the equity and contracting advisory committee.

I move to adopt resolution number 41746.

Second.

All right, I'd like to call on Deputy Mayor Daniels.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, at the August 12th, 2025 Economic Development Committee meeting, the committee conducted interviews for the Equity and Contracting Advisory Committee and recommended the appointment and reappointment of the following individuals.

Christopher Brown, Suchil Nihal, Katie Barrett, Clint Myers, and Justin Baker.

All right.

Are there any um council questions or comments?

Seeing none, all those in favor of adopting resolution number 4174 six, signify by saying aye.

All right, the resolution is declared adopted.

Moving on to item 12.

Clerk, will you please read?

Resolution 41747, a resolution appointing and reappointing individuals to the Transportation Commission.

Sorry, I was very good at come on.

I move to adopt resolution number 41747.

Second.

All right, I'd like to call on Councilmember Walker.

Thank you, Mayor.

At the August 13th, 2025 Infrastructure Planning and Sustainability Committee meeting.

The committee conducted interviews and recommended the appointment and reappointment of the following individuals to the Transportation Commission.

Bronwyn Clark, Austin Goebb, and Richard Gardner.

All right.

Are there any additional council questions or comments?

Seeing none, all those in favor of adopting resolution number 41747.

Signify by saying aye.

Aye.

All those opposed.

The resolution is declared adopted.

Are there any of the individuals whose name oh there you are?

Is there any are there any other individuals whose name I called who are here this evening?

All right.

Um to those um to those of you who are not here this evening, um, and to the to those of you who are here.

We want to thank you for volunteering and continuing your service service on the equity and contracting advisory committee and the transportation commission.

Um, we really appreciate your willingness to serve, and I'd like to ask everyone to please join me in a round of applause for our new appointees.

Thank you all very much for agreeing to serve.

All right, we're gonna move on to communications.

Item 13 is information only and no action is necessary.

Moving on to resolutions.

Item 14, Clerk, will you please read?

Resolution 41748, a resolution revising the approved cancellation of regular city council meetings and study sessions in 2025 by ratifying the cancellation of the April 8th study session and reinstating the November 4th study session in the November 12th meeting and study session.

I move to adopt resolution number 41748.

Second.

All right.

Um, first I'd like to start by thanking Deputy Manor Deputy Mayor Daniels for actually introducing this on my behalf.

But since she's done that, we have also had to add back one more study session for November 4th.

So the resolution will add the study session on November 4th and both the study session and business meeting on November 12th.

Are there any additional council comments or questions?

Seeing none, all those in favor of adopting resolution number 41748, signify by saying aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, the resolution is declared adopted.

Moving on to first reading of ordinances.

Item 15, Clerk, will you please read?

Ordinance 29050, an ordinance granting a non-exclusive 10-year telecommunications branchise agreement to level three communications LLC to construct, operate, and repair a telecommunication system in the city.

I would like to call on Jeff Luters, who's here in person.

Jeff.

Thank you, Mayor and City Council members.

My name is Jeff Leaders, and I'm the Media and Communications Office Division Manager for Franchise Services from the City Manager's Office.

Before you this evening is a request for ordinance number 20929050 for a 49-page telecommunications franchise agreement for your consideration between Level 3 Communications LLC, a subsidiary of Lumen, and the City of Tacoma, setting forth provisions, terms, and conditions of the grant of franchise, specifically making such grants subject to the provisions of Title 1016B and Title 10, Title 10, sorry, of the Tacoma Municipal Code and the Tacoma City Charter.

Providing for city regulation of the telecommunications system prescribing liquidated damages and certain other remedies for violation of the franchise provisions, in addition to those specified persuaded to the municipal code.

This request from Level 3 Communications LLC is for their third 10-year telecommunications franchise agreement.

The previous were under ordinance number 26465 in 1999 and a renewal under ordinance number 28214 in 2014.

This franchise would allow level three communications LLC, a Delaware limited liability company currently involved in the business of operating a telecommunications network utilizing fiber optic technology to continue to operate within the City of Tacoma.

The only change that has occurred since the last renewal is that in 2017, Level 3 Communications LLC was purchased by Lumen.

This item was presented to the government performance and finance committee during the August 19th, 2025 meeting for your consideration and approval this evening.

A special thanks to Charles Lee, Deputy City Attorney, and Alexis Cutler and Josh Freeman of Lumen for all of their efforts as we negotiated this agreement.

This concludes my presentation, and I can stand for any questions.

Thank you very much, Jeff.

Um do we have any council questions or comments?

All right, we do not.

So this ordinance will be set over for final reading on September 16th.

Item 16.

This item will have a PowerPoint presentation.

Clerk, will you please read?

Ordinance 29051 and ordinance amending chapter 13.06 of the municipal code relating to zoning by amending various sections to implement the South Tacoma Groundwater Protection District Code Update Work Plan to strengthen groundwater protections, align with best available science and ensure consistency with state and local regulations as recommended by the Planning Commission.

All right.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Withers, Deputy Mayor Daniels, members of the City Council.

My name is Miriam Muinon.

I'm a senior planner with Planning and Development Services.

And I'm here tonight on behalf of PDS Environmental Services, Tacoma Water, Tacoma Pierce County Health Department to help introduce ordinance number 29051, which is the proposed update to the South Tacoma Groundwater Protection District Code.

This is the first reading of the ordinance to consider amendments to the South Tacoma Groundwater Protection District Code.

I will start by giving a little background on the CGPD, what this overlay district does and why it matters.

Then I will talk about the code changes recommended by the Planning Commission.

And finally, I will end the presentation with the summary of the potential next steps for the city council.

The CGPD is an overlay zone created in 1988 to protect the South Tacoma Aquifer from contamination.

The code applies to commercial and industrial uses and establishes standards for substance storage, stormwater infiltration, spill prevention and enforcement.

The lead engines is involved in this update are Tacoma Pierce County Health Department, Tacoma Water Environmental Services, and Planning and Development Services.

One of the key updates is about better connecting the SCGPD with the critical the city's critical areas preservation ordinance or CAPO.

Right now, the SCGPD code doesn't mention CAPO, and it doesn't officially recognize the area as a critical aquifer recharge area or CARO, which is important because the CARAS are protected for both water quality and recharge function.

With this update, this district would be formally designated as a CARO and tied into broader critical areas code.

It would also be recognized as part of the Central Pierce County Source Aquifer.

In regards to map refinements, the boundaries of the SCGPD are being updated to reflect the Manitone neighborhood, which was annexed into the city last year.

And to also show the wellhead protection area time of travel zone.

In regards to enforcement, right now enforcement is led by the health department, starting with voluntary compliance before escalating to formal actions.

With this update, new tools such as stop work and stop use orders would allow faster response to serious or emergency violations when the aquifer is at risk.

In regards to general program awareness, in the current code, education is mostly tied to enforcement and focus on regulated businesses.

The process will now involve environmental services and Tacoma Water, in addition to planning and development services and Tacoma Pierce County Health Department.

And as for stormwater infiltration and impervious surface standards, currently the code focuses uh more on preventing contamination than on recharging the aquifer.

With this update, um infiltration would become the preferred stormwater management method in the recharge areas, um, as long as it doesn't pose a risk to water quality.

Um contamination assessments would be required to make sure it's feasible and safe.

And uh new limits on lot coverage in industrial zones uh would also help to improve recharge and reduce the runoff.

Um in addition, uh, in regards to landscaping, uh new standards are being proposed for industrial zones in the CGPD and the Tacoma Mall uh Regional Growth Center.

Um these standards aim to improve stormwater infiltration by reducing uh impervious surfaces.

Um and lastly, the update uh expands the list of high impact uses.

Um you will find the full list in the ordinance packet on pages 16 and 17.

Um it also introduces uh a tiered protection approach based on how vulnerable uh different parts of the aquifer are uh the most vulnerable areas, the one-year time of travel zone uh shown on this map in orange, would have the strongest protections, the 10-year time of travel zone and the remaining of SCGPD outside the outside of the Wellhead Protection Areas uh would allow more flexibility.

Uh this approach helps protect groundwater without um restricting uses across the entire um district.

Um the draft code also uh proposes to uh permanently prohibit metal recycling and auto-rehume facilities and underground storage tanks, which are um temporarily prohibited by the moratorium in the entire uh uh SCGPD.

Uh for the next steps, uh following tonight's first reading.

Uh, we are scheduled to return to the city council on September 9 for the final reading of ordinance.

And as a reminder, the moratorium expires on September 20th.

Um, this concludes my presentation, and we are happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Councilmember Rambah.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you so much for the presentation.

And we've heard this like three times now.

Um, I do have a question for the city manager about the MOU, the memorandum of understanding that will be put together.

I just want to know how do we make sure that happens?

Is there anything that we can do to make sure that that the community knows that the memorandum of understanding is going to happen?

Because of course it probably can't happen before this gets approved.

Thank you very much, uh, Councilmember Walker.

Um I think the Ramba.

It sounds like something she would ask, though.

So I'll give her the credit.

It's fine.

Councilman Rumba, I apologize.

I think the cleanest and probably the fastest ways you can direct me to work with our um our our team at PBS uh to ensure that you if you want to set a if the council would like to as a quorum set that out through um uh a directive, I can take that and work with PDS and come back to you.

You probably want something succinct within a time frame that would actually be uh that we could actually meet.

Let me meet with the team, and I'll come back to you about that.

Okay, that would be great.

And then I can I could talk with you in a public meeting, maybe even next Tuesday about what that might be.

Well, we don't have a meeting next Tuesday, but I am 0 for two today.

I apologize.

Yeah.

But maybe we could talk to my to Linda and see what we're doing.

We will work with your office.

Okay, thank you so much.

I appreciate that.

And then and then could if you all worked on something that we could add to this, would you all then bring that back in an amendment for second reading?

Perfect, great.

Thank you.

Are there any other additional questions at this time?

Councilmember Bush now.

Thank you, Mayor.

Just a comment.

Um, I'm just gonna reiterate what I said in study session, but for the for everybody else that's listening.

Uh so last week at our study session, um uh staff led uh the South Tacoma Groundwater Protection District uh hearing debrief.

Uh and in their present presentation, they identified four uh suggested edits to the STGPD, um, which included uh adding language for non-conforming uses, existing underground storage tanks, uh maybe replaced, provide the replacement needs of standards for a new tank, uh remove waiver language, reference the variance process, uh some clarifications for split parcels, as well as some minor code cleanups based on public um based on public comments.

Um so I do plan to bring uh forward some amendment uh these amendments, uh staff amendments uh for the second reading of the ordinance uh on Tuesday, September 9th.

Um and I want to thank uh Councilmember Scott for working with me on those as well.

Thank you.

All right, thank you very much, Councilmember Bushnell.

Are there any other comments or questions?

All right, seeing none.

Um, Mary, thank you so much for the presentation, and this ordinance will be set over for final reading on September 9th.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Uh moving on to uh unfinished business.

Is there any unfinished business?

All right, seeing none.

Moving on to community forum, um, which uh community forum is set up that uh you can speak about items over which the city council has jurisdiction.

As a reminder, these forums are intended to give speakers the opportunity to share their viewpoints and feedbacks with the city council to aid in our decision making and are not meant to be a back and forth dialogue.

Your remarks should be directed to the city council and not at individual staff members.

At this time, I'd like to ask attendees if you wish to speak under community form to please press the raise your hand button near the bottom of your Zoom window or star nine on your phone now so we can see the number of people wishing to testify this evening.

If you speak in person, please sign up at the back of the room if you have not done so already.

Your name or the last four digits of your phone number will be called out when it is your turn to speak.

Community forum.

Clerk, will you please read?

The purpose of community form is to assist the council in making policy decisions.

Items of discussion will be limited to matters over which the council has jurisdiction.

Arguments shall not be made in support of or opposition to any matters on this week's agenda, and each person may address the council only one time during this forum.

Right, community forum will be limited to a total of 60 minutes, and each speaker will have 90 seconds to make your remarks.

Please be mindful of the time frame.

As always, you are not required to use all of your time to make your point.

If you cannot remain on topic, you will be given two warnings.

If you remain off topic, we will have to move on and we'll end your time.

Clerk, have we received any written public comment for this evening?

We've received two, one regarding initiative measure number two and one regarding peer transit.

Wonderful, thank you.

All right.

I'm gonna start by calling on Tyler Daniels, who has his hand up online.

Hello.

Uh the City of Tacoma operates outside of their legal requirements under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

They do not provide protections to any employee who works with a third-party contractor.

That would be the subsidiary of Lumen, who they intend to allow to profit off of our airspace for the next 10 years.

The City of Tacoma has graciously provided little Annabelle with 15 plus minutes to be the sheriff of the day and devote the entire meeting around that when they have provided employees who speak their truth about being discriminated, harassed, and retaliated against no opportunity to speak.

And in fact, they serve to perpetuate a culture of silence by eliminating them from the organization.

And Madam Mayor, council members, I ask you if this is what you wish to be the result of your legacy in office, then continue to move at the rapid pace that you are working at at a pace of going nowhere to progress.

I ask you to put pen to paper before your turn is over, Madam Mayor, to do something about the loopholes within personal management policy 130 and your inability to provide protections to any employee for harassment, discrimination, or retaliation.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for your comments tonight, Tyler.

April Smith.

Hello.

My name is April Smith.

I just want to thank the city for the work that they're doing along 84th and Larchmont on the sidewalks.

Um when we had done our walk with the neighborhood council in the past, we noted a lot of issues on these sidewalks as I'm disabled and was in a wheelchair and almost thrown out on them.

So it's really nice to see the city actually working on getting those areas fixed.

So thank you.

Thank you very much for your comments tonight, April.

All right, I'm gonna move to those who have signed in, and we'll start with Brett Frank.

Franich.

Brent, sorry, Brent.

I said Brett.

Me and my brother are a part of a fourth generation plumbing company uh since the 50s.

Um July uh 19th, 13th, excuse me, I watched as my neighbors building of 99 years burnt down to the ground.

Burnt down to the ground.

And it was 50 feet from our shop.

And you know, uh the homeless are just out of control down there.

Um I was told the police by the police that there's nothing they can do, and to come talk to you guys.

It's literally since that's happened literally every night since that's happened.

The homeless have been in this building, looting it, stripping it of everything precious.

It's we put up they put a fence up, they cut it immediately.

I mean, I've called, we got it on camera.

We there's I don't know what to do.

Um he wants to tear it down.

He can't tear it down because of all the loopholes.

It's a it's a uh it's a danger.

I mean, it's uh he's trying to do everything, we're trying to do everything.

I really need we need help.

We need help down there.

We're business owners, we're busy, we're taxpayers.

Uh I love the city.

I grew up here.

I I also went to Downing, Mason, Wilson.

My kids did, and uh we just need help.

And uh I don't know what to do.

Just tell us what to do, and we will do it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Um, I believe it's your brother who's coming up next, right, Brian.

That's correct.

Okay, Brian, coming up, Brian, when you come up, will you tell us exactly where the businesses are located?

And Brent, you had me till you said Wilson.

Go A.

Go ahead.

Go ahead, Brian.

Hi there.

Uh, our business is uh off of South Tacomaway by Still Street, um, right behind Johnson's mill work.

So his address, 2319 South Tacomaway, 98409.

And again, um, we have been working with the police, we've been working with 311.

Five years ago, we didn't have a fence around our building or our property because we didn't need it.

And now all of our neighbors have electric fences, gates, security.

We're just we are a fourth generation business.

Our grandpa started in Tacoma in 1950.

He had a business down on uh Wilkerson in South Tacoma Way.

Then he moved it to Cake Harbor.

My dad took it over with my mom, and uh they ran it out of Gate Harbor for a while.

Brent and I grew up in Tacoma.

We moved it back to Tacoma, and we've been here in the area again, doing what we can.

Uh, but it it is I I know you guys are pro-business, but there's there's definitely something going on down in that area that the police are not enough.

We're not enough as business owners.

Um, just on our street alone, there's been three businesses that have closed and moved away.

Those are taxpayer businesses that are gone.

When they leave, the homeless break into the buildings, set up camps, loot, take everything, and I would just ask again, what can we do?

What what can you guys do to help us help the area, help the community?

That's it.

Thank you.

Um, thank you very much for your comments tonight, Brent and Brian.

Brett and Brian, I'm gonna ask Carissa.

Um, if you all Chris is right back there in the corner waving her hands.

I know we've got your name and addresses here, but Chris is gonna talk with you and take some information, and we're gonna take that back and make sure that our city manager reaches out to you so we can figure out how we can support you.

Thank you.

Thank you all.

Thank you very much for being here.

All right, Steven Stephen Bach.

Come on up, Stephen.

Hi, I'm Stephen Bach, and I'm here to talk today to talk about the closure of the Fred Meyer on Pacific Avenue.

That store is one of the for South End's primary sources of food, full stop, and has fed tens of thousands of people for the last 50 years and ongoing.

But recently, Kroger has decided to close it.

And what's worse than the actual closure is the complete is the apparent lack of any kind of response from either our government or our community.

Now, I understand we all will find out more information at the South End Neighborhood Council meeting on Thursday, but still, everyone seems to be accepting the closure as inevitable, and not even attempting to put up a fight.

Sometimes you just can't walk away from a bully.

Kroger is such a bully that you can't let win in this case.

And we're not alone here.

Kroger has also announced other store closures in Washington State.

So again, where's the response?

Where's the community organizing?

Where's the cease and assist letters?

Where's the press releases and legal threats to Kroger?

So far, the only person that said anything publicly is Councilmember Bushnell.

Thank you, by the way.

Heck, where's the attorney general here?

Where's A.G.

Brown?

Where's Governor Ferguson?

Have any of their offices been contacted over this?

Have we talked with some of the other cities being affected?

Is there a coordinated response yet?

Bottom line, how can I or others like me light an absolute fire under everyone's feet about this?

How can we fight back?

How can we show that Kroger that we and like the other cities in Washington State won't take this lying down and that we will fight hard both politically and legally to keep to keep these stores open and food and our access to food and water flowing to the old so we can't migrate to other neighborhoods?

Thank you.

Thank Stephen, thank you very much.

And I'm gonna ask Tanya Carter, who is our um director of community and economic development.

We are working with them.

So if you will if you will see Tanya before you leave, she's right back here.

Yeah, you she's you she's right, she's sitting right next to the fire chief.

Make sure you check in with her.

Thank you, Stephen.

Um forward.

Michelle Reich.

I'm gonna challenge this city council on your precursors, progressive identity, credentials, and your limitations to that.

The letters L G B T Q.

IA plus there should be one more letter behind that, and that's as for sex industry workers, because they're a sexual minority and they need to be protected, and they're discriminated against a lot, uh, not only by uh individuals, their clients, and the police.

And I've been uh um on the sexual minority commission in Seattle for two years.

I was alternate point, and we received complaints from the sex industry workers about discrimination and crimes, and this should be a protected class.

Uh as a former member associate uh quads, the professional body of sex therapist.

Uh, commercial sex is not dysfunctional unless it interferes with activities of daily living and should be allowed.

That's the official position of this body of sex therapists.

In Tacoma, the Schoenfield building, the Davida building that was richly constructed to be the world's largest sprothel west of the Mississippi, and never did take place, but that's uh where we are.

And so look into it.

And another thing is that you might think it's a violation, but the city council has violated dozens of local, state, and federal crimes.

Michelle, you say sanctuary laws.

Michelle, Michelle, please, Michelle.

Your time is up.

Thank you.

To dress, thank you, Michelle.

Thank you, Michelle.

Thank you, Michelle.

Dr.

Janice Clark.

Oh, Council, Deputy Mayor, Mayor, all of you with the high calling.

I am Janice Clark, and the subject is honoring our heroes and hearons.

Uh invitation to our 13th annual Veterans Day.

I am uh also congratulating uh Councilman Bushnell for his appointment as the chair of the military.

I wrote it down Military Communities Council, and I'm looking forward as I corner you in, not really corner, you're very cordial in community when I see you.

So we're looking forward to joining hands and expand the reach of this initiative throughout.

Um I will I brought a packet of information for you.

I will follow up, like you said, and send your email so I can get on your calendar so I can unpack the slide deck and everything for this event.

Also for confidential purposes, your eyes only.

We do have a signed contract with the uh EQC, event capital of the Northwest, entertainment capital of the Northwest, so we're excited.

Took us about four months in negotiations to get it, but we're proud of that, and we're looking forward uh to not only this great city and leave this in double indelible mark on the veterans community active duty military veterans and their families, guard and reservist.

So um, Madam Mayor, I will follow up with the appropriate protocols to get the proclamation, etc.

But I'll leave this for you, Councilmember.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very much, Dr.

Clark.

All right, and our final speaker this evening will be Patricia Concha.

And please put um three minutes, Kit, you're wanting to speak?

Yeah, we missed I'll get you right after this.

Please put three minutes on the timer.

Um she will have an interpreter this evening.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Oh, this is Patricia Concha.

I am Peruvian.

I have to tackoma one year ago.

Um you camino for bastante poor, sinker describing much la infrastructure urbana del ornato public.

Since I walk through the city very often, I found that a lot of the structures in the city are very dangerous for the community and for those pedestrians that are walking through.

One of the major things that I've noticed is a lot of the posts that are holding our signs are very loose.

They're not fitting in the concrete.

And I know I've been talking with Carisa about it to see if I could get in touch with somebody that might be able to get us more information or help.

So I know I have to keep this short because we don't have a lot of time.

But a lot of it, my concerns again, are they ornate or the sign holders that are uh in bad um uh situation the way they would they're looking.

Also my biggest concern is also with the transit.

Whenever you're trying to cross the street, people going straight normally will stop and they'll let you through, but the ones turning will turn right into you, and if you don't step back or get out of the way, they'll insult you, scream at you.

Yeah.

Una campagna e respetual.

I know I'm running out of time, so I just wanted to say real quick if there's any way that we can start a campaign to uh protect lives and protect women's rights.

Um and then respect for life.

Thank you very much, and thank you for please let her let Trishano thank you for your comments this evening.

Thank you for being here.

Um Clarissa in the back can talk to you about 311.

Oh, oh no, there right right there.

The director of our um public works department is standing right in the back for you to talk to.

All right.

Kit, you're our last speaker tonight, and I apologize.

Not a problem.

Happy to be here tonight.

I know it's election seasons coming up, but in spite of that, I spent a lot of time walking the streets of uh Tacoma and walking the sidewalks particularly.

And I've mentioned it before to some of the commissions about having uh basically I would call a traffic uh sidewalk fund.

And that fund would be so that the city could actually repair the sidewalks without the expense going to the homeowner until the home is sold.

And so I just want to plant that seed that you could work on that.

Um there are many sidewalks that are badly in need of repair, and I can navigate them presently.

Uh but it's a challenge for people in wheelchairs and other ways, mobility impaired.

So my thinking is there could be a fund, and it could come out from the city's reserve fund.

I don't know what the amount would be that I'd have to do some calculations on that.

But if you set up a fund of say $10 million to replace sidewalks, and then that sidewalk could be repaired in front of a piece of property, and what you would do is then assign it to the property, and that way older people that are retired that don't have the funds to come up with 8,000 or 10,000 or whatever it takes to repair the sidewalk, could tie it on to their uh property as a lien uh to be paid at the time of sale or the transfer of the polyp uh property.

That would allow a lot of the property to get done quickly and immediately.

Needs a great deal of input from public works, but also planning.

I think it could be done.

So think about that.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Kit, and thank you for this suggestion.

All right, um, I'm gonna allow one more person who raised their hand online to speak.

And so we'll go back.

I normally don't do this, but we'll go back to the person who is online.

And it's P N L A U.

Pen Lau, if you're online, go ahead and speak.

Yes, go ahead.

Okay, Mike.

My name is Peter.

Uh I live in the district five.

I was born and raised Tacoma.

Uh somebody brought up the front of our closing earlier.

Um, and I was going to bring that up and speak about it.

But uh first of all, the Kroger merger happened 28 years ago.

So let's get over that.

It's got nothing to do with the Kroger merger.

The closing, it's everything to do with shrink.

And I'm very disappointed that the city and the council and even the county has not raised some serious bells and whistles about that store closing.

I do believe I worked for the company for 30 years.

Um started as a kid that brought the cards in, worked my way up to store manager and district multi-store leadership.

I was responsible for millions in PL dollars.

And I did all that on just a couple of years of community college.

So Fredmeyer taught me a lot.

And I do believe that the society that we're dealing with today, the route is retail crime.

Theft in general is the downfall of any society, but retail crime has gone unchecked for years, and I believe it's a gateway.

Thank you, Peter.

Thank you for your comments this evening.

Um, seeing as no one else has their hand raised, I have nobody else signed up.

I'm gonna declare the public comment period closed, bring it back to the council.

And I'm city manager, do you have a report this evening?

Madam Mayor, uh, no report.

Okay, thank you.

All right, I'd now like to call on Councilmember Walker, who's chair of the infrastructure planning and sustainability committee.

Thank you, Mayor.

The infrastructure planning and sustainability committee has met twice since our last report out as our June 25th and July 9th meetings were canceled.

On July 23rd, the committee conducted interviews to fill seats on the Board of Building Appeals, and this body adopted that resolution appointing the candidates we recommended last week.

IPS also received and discussed three communications at that meeting, a letter from the Transportation Commission on the second draft of Pierce Transit's 2045 long-range plan, a memo from solid waste management on a pilot project to recycle residential food waste, and a memo providing a status update on the planning commission's current work program.

IPS will revisit the planning commission's work program this fall after the commission has completed its work plan review.

On August 13th, the committee conducted interviews to fill seats on the Transportation Commission, and we just confirmed those recommendations earlier this evening.

Our next meeting is tomorrow, August 27th, and our agenda topics are two that everyone has been waiting for transportation impact fees and the stormwater and wastewater system development charges.

Both of those will come to full counsel after IPS.

Madam Mayor, that concludes my report.

Thank you very much, Councilmember Walker.

Are there any council are there any final counsel comments?

All right.

Seeing none, um, I I want to do a make a couple of of an yeah, make a couple of comments.

Number one, um, for those of you who have commented on on the closing of the Kroger Fred Myers, um, and obviously we've just been a little too quiet about it.

But um first of all, I just want to let you know that before they close, the president of Kroger did reach out to me directly, share that information with our economic development department and with council member Bushnell.

Um their decision by the time they reached out to us, their decision to close was already made, and it was a business decision, and we have no jurisdiction over private businesses deciding to close.

Um we did have a conversation, and our economic development director, um Tanya Carter Carter, along with um a couple of people from the county are working together and are working with um with Fred Myers and Kroger to talk about the future of the building, what their plans are, um, how we can partner together.

They are not the owners of the building, they leased the building.

Um, and so I will what I will commit to is we don't have a council meeting next Tuesday, but the Tuesday after that, the ninth, either myself, Councilmember Bushnell, or our economic development, Tanya Carter will come forward and give a full um report of what we know so far and what we've learned and how we're working with Fred Myers.

So apologize for being so quiet about it.

Um but it's a private business, so sometimes it's it's it's hard for us to tell them what to do to do, but I want to make sure that the community understands that we are working directly with them.

Number one, to make sure that all their employees get what they need in order to transition, but then to always also make sure that the community gets what they need out of the building, um and to make sure as they are um as they are leaving that building that we make sure that we're leaving it in the best repair for the community and making sure that we can do whatever we can to work with both Kroger and the person who leases the building to do best by our community.

So apologize for not getting that information out sooner, but look further at our next meeting on the 9th for a full update of where we are with Kroger.

And then the other uh the other thing I'd like to talk about this evening is I just want to recognize the Tacoma Police Department's um third annual Kid Kids Health and Safety Fair held last weekend at the East Side Community Center.

Um, thanks to the incredible support of our community partners, volunteers, and donors.

Thousands of children were ready to start the school year.

Um, and they called that event school ready on day one.

There were thousands of kids.

They don't they gave out over 1200 backpacks.

They were doing haircuts, providing um providing food on site, as well as providing lunches for folks to take home.

In addition to that, um, just serve was there handing out um handing out bags of food for parents to take home.

They were doing haircuts, they were doing physicals, they were doing dental cleaning for kids out in the front.

They have lots of vendors who were giving out information and support to young people.

So I just really um want to thank our police department, especially under the leadership of Bourbon Smith, who's our community relations specialist.

Um, I I don't know, I'm sure there are lots of people who work really hard, but Bourbon's got to be up there.

He was doing absolutely everything.

They also had vaccinations, vision screenings.

Um, they really brought a lot of vital resources to parents.

When I got there, there was already, and it was at 11 o'clock, there was still a line all the way around the building going down the street.

Um, and so we're gonna have to talk about where they do it next year because they have outgrown the East Side Community Center.

But um, if I look down on my notes a little a little close a little more, over 5,000 people attended um the event.

Um, and it was a great experience for everyone involved.

So thanks to our partners, to all of the vendors, to the volunteers, to the families, to everyone who came out.

I really want to express um my gratitude on behalf of this council to everyone who gave their time, their energy, and their generosity to make this year's fair another tremendous success.

Um, with that, I'd like to remind everyone that September 2nd, 2025, the City Council study session and business meeting and government performance and finance committee meeting have been counts canceled due to the Labor Day holiday.

Um, with that, that concludes my remarks, and I'll turn to the deputy mayor for the second to the last motion.

I move to excuse Councilmember Saudesh from tonight's meeting.

Second.

All right.

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

All those opposed.

The motion is declared adopted.

Final motion.

I move to adjourn.

Second.

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

All those opposed.

The ayes have it.

The motion is declared adopted.

We stand adjourn.

Have a good week, everybody, and happy Labor Day.