I would like to call order the city council meeting of July 14, 2026.

Click, will you please call the roll?

Deputy Mayor Bushnell.

Present.

Councilmember Diaz.

Councilmember Hines.

Here.

Councilmember Palmer.

Here.

Councilmember Rumba.

Here.

Councilmember Sidalgay?

Here.

Councilmember Scott.

Councilmember Scott, absent.

Councilmember Walker.

She's on the way.

Councilmember Walker.

Absent Mayor Ibsen absent.

All right.

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

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

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

Liberty and just score off.

Agenda modifications.

Are there any agenda modifications before us this evening?

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

I move I move to adopt the consent agenda.

Second.

Are there any questions, comments, or corrections to the consent agenda?

All those in favor of adopting the consent agenda, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Hearing none, the consent agenda is declared adopted.

Next we are moving on to proclamations, recognitions, presentations, and announcements.

For the Sparta Tacoma recognition, I would like to invite Ark Matthias, head coach, Sparta Tacoma, to the podium as Councilmember Hine reads the proclamation.

And uh anybody else that you'd like up there?

Come on.

Come on, surround your coach.

Come on, everybody.

Come on up.

Yeah.

Oh, yes.

All right.

And so I gotta do a quick uniform change.

Yes.

So how come how come only you got one of these?

Oh right.

It's spite it's spite Councilmember Rumbaugh's request for me to take my shirt off.

I'm not this evening and saving everybody that.

Uh but I did um I did want to put on my sweatshirt.

So uh whereas the Sparta Tacoma team with the North Tacoma Soccer Club won the 2026 U-17 Elite Academy League National Championship, marking an incredible achievement for players and the entire Tacoma soccer community.

And whereas Sparta Tacoma's victories against formidable opponents are a testament to the heart, unity, and commitment of the remarkable players, including Golden Glove winner Joseph Matthias the third, as well as the talent of their extraordinary coaches.

And whereas in Tacoma, we also know that behind every successful team is a dedicated group of friends, families, and fans that are cheering from the sidelines, and we applaud everyone involved in the North Tacoma Soccer Club for their commitment to making youth sports accessible and for building an inspiring community around soccer.

And whereas we are thrilled to celebrate our national champions, and we have no doubt that all Sparta Tacoma players will continue to find that their brotherhood and teamwork will make them unstoppable.

Now, therefore, I, John Hines, Councilmember of the City of Tacoma and parent of two Sparta soccer uh players, um, on behalf of the mayor and of the over 225,000 residents of Tacoma do hereby recognize Sparta Tacoma as the 2026 UA uh U17 Elite Academy League National Champions cementing North Tacoma Soccer Club as a force to be reckoned with and showing our community the great heights that are possible when you never have to walk alone.

Let's give them a round of applause.

All right, please say a few words.

It's gotta be red.

There you go.

Oh, see, we're good now.

All right.

Um first of all, Deputy Mayor Bushnell, uh, Council members, we appreciate the recognition.

Um it's great to to have a community uh club like this come to the forefront and and do something on a national stage, and it just really is amazing.

Um I know for myself for uh Coach Nate over here.

Um it's an absolute pleasure to have this group and be able to do this.

And um, our theme through the entire tournament was you know just one of the nicknames of the of Tacoma, which is we're just grit city.

We'll grind it out and we'll make it happen.

And uh with that, I really appreciate it, and I'm gonna turn it over to one of our captains.

Again, uh I would like to thank you, all council members, for recognizing um not just us as players and coaches, um, but as the club as a whole.

Um I know from experience as a player, having the support from my coaches and all of the team members and parents, it is very important that they're there.

And a couple things I'd like to say to our success is um one is playing for the badge.

Sparta is very important to all the players and coaches, and we every time we go to play in a tournament, we're playing for the badge.

We're representing Tacoma.

And the last thing is just playing with passion, and we're playing the game we love.

Is it okay if uh each of you come up to the mic and just uh say say your name?

Start on one side.

Uh John Cleveland.

Taylor Albert.

Miles Ford.

Phillip Wynn.

Joseph Matthias.

Robert Avis.

Josiah Olson.

Blake Weaver.

Uh Kellen Gallagher.

All right, congratulations to all of you.

Um we're gonna have some council comments here, so I'm gonna call on Councilmember Rumbaugh first.

Um, I want to just thank you all for being here, but I also want to recognize my my daughter and my family played soccer for a long time.

And um, I know what commitment it takes for all of you, but it's also that commitment as a parent.

All of the hours and the things that you choose to do on your weekends.

Um I just I want you to know that I just think it's fabulous that you guys had that winning spirit.

Um and also just like what you're gonna take with you to the next level, what you're gonna do next.

I'm sure you're all planning that you want to play in college or whatever happens next, but I just want to wish you all the best.

And um, thank you for coming here and being a part of our city.

We really appreciate you.

Councilmember Hines.

Oh, thank you.

Uh I just want to say, first of all, congratulations.

Um, more importantly, as a as a Sparta parent and knowing how many hours I spent on the sideline every weekend.

I want to thank your families for all the support and effort it takes.

I just spent last week at uh in Snow Qualmie at the Cascade Cup for a U 10 girls' soccer game.

So my daughter plays U 10 for Sparta, my son plays U13.

Um I just want to first of all thanking your family, but also just make sure you all recognize how much of an inspiration you are to all the kids who wear the badge along with you, right?

So my 13-year-old son and his friends woke up early to watch your game on live stream because they were so expired about the fact that you all had made it so far.

Um and they really see you all as your heroes in many ways.

They aspire to do something similar.

And I just want to make sure you don't lose sight of that, especially as you think about the future.

And to the members, the coaches here and the club members here.

I I just are a good reminder of how important this work is and how important this all is to our community, right?

That it's not just about soccer.

Um and I I always appreciate Sparta that with my son and daughter, it's never just been about soccer, it's been about teamwork, it's about brotherhood, it's about growth and skill development and and trying to be the best player you can be and and hopefully be the best person you can be at the same time.

And so um when you all won, uh I was so excited for the chance to recognize you and your accomplishment because it's not only just about what you all did, even though that is what we're celebrating today, it's also how much you contribute to the community.

So thank you.

Thank you again and congratulations.

Um I don't need to belabor the point, but I think you all have done a phenomenal job of representing Tacoma.

Um I'm very proud of you, and I know everybody here in the city of Tacoma is proud of you, so thank you so much for all you do.

Um and continue to inspire those young people and look forward to the future.

So congratulations again.

Oh uh please please come on up.

Uh we're gonna take a photo and I'll present you with the proclamation here.

All right.

Thank you.

All right everybody smile one two three smile we're gonna take uh a five minute recess so we can uh allow everybody to uh move out of the chambers I never didn't know if there's a different kind of positive

All right, I'd like to call back to order the city council meeting.

Uh so next up we are moving on to public comment 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 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.

It is not meant to be a back and forth dialogue.

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

If you want to raise if you want to speak under public comment, period, press the raise hand button near the bottom of your Zoom window or STR9 on your phone now, so we can see the number of people wishing to testify this evening.

If you are speaking in person, please sign up at the back of the room.

If you had not done so already, your name and the lot or the last four digits of your phone number will be called out when it is your turn to speak.

Public comment.

Clerk, will you please read?

This is the time set aside for public comment.

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

I would like to remind everyone 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.

Uh you'll have 90 seconds to make your remarks.

Please be mindful of the time frame.

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

If you cannot remain on topic, you will be given two warnings, and if you remain off topic, we'll have to move on and we'll end your time.

That is a wonderful question.

Uh going into the room, first up uh we have Tyler Daniels, followed by Kelly Robinson and then Kit Burns.

All right.

Hello.

I am speaking to resolution four one nine five eight, the multifamily housing credit.

I do not consent to these tax credits being given until there are proper review processes in place to track and monitor the rents that go through the development phase and as it goes into habitable spaces.

Um I also feel that the mayoral representative of Mayor Ibsen's election to abstain from these votes in numerous instances over the past show that there is a significant systemic conflict of interest in these tax credits and his personal line of work.

I thank you.

Thank you so much.

Next up we have Kelly Robinson, followed by Kit Burns.

And so when this summer was approaching, we realized we didn't have the funding to go out and do that, you know, provide services for kids and programming.

We quickly kind of just figure out what we were going to do next.

Um we knew we wanted to continue to have programming, so we were able to partner with um Nikki Davidson and the Bryant Neighborhood Center.

She asked, did we want to do late nights?

Did we want to do at the Bryant Neighborhood Center?

We said absolutely.

We didn't know how we were going to do it.

We didn't know how we were going to get it funded, but we knew we needed things in place for our kids for this summer due to the heightened gun violence in our community.

And we just know that the work we do with the juvenile court, we see how kids are hurting.

So it was our goal and mission to just provide some fun activities, some food, and just pour into the youth in this community.

And so that's what we've been doing this entire month of July, Mondays and Wednesday nights.

We're at the Bryant Neighborhood Center from about 5 30 to 8 8 o'clock, just having good times and just really pouring into our youth.

So I just thank the city for recognizing what we're doing and wanting to help us fund it.

So thank you.

Thank you so much.

Next up, we have Kit Burns.

My name is Kit Burns.

I'm speaking on resolution 41958 regarding the multifamily tax exemption.

And I just want to bring to the council's attention.

I'm not speaking for or against it.

I just want to comment on the fact that this still has it set at 70%.

And the documents you have tonight, too.

I know it's supposed to include the utilities, which I think it does.

However, it doesn't say that.

So these documents should say that.

Uh but I bring this up because the 70% rate is still not what I believe to be an affordable rate.

The Housing Authority rents their affordable rates at 60%.

State law has codes that say that.

Now you as a council can go higher than that, but I really think if we're going to provide affordable housing, we should look at that.

And I'd be happy to have a discussion with that even in more detail, bring up specific projects, and I won't name any tonight.

But I think we should look at that and see is that a fair number.

I've been in Seattle riding the bus, which I do.

I ride the bus a lot.

And on many of the buses, they have things that say, hey, rent this place.

It's only a thousand dollars.

I get a number of Facebook um ads saying, hey, you can get this place for twelve hundred dollars.

I think that if we keep giving affordable rates at 70 percent, they'll be paying more than the market rate, the way things have been going.

Anyway, thank you.

Thank you, Kit.

All right, next we're moving to online public comment, and the first commenter is Heidi GS.

Good evening.

My name is Heidi Stevens.

Speaking on ordinance 29114 critical areas.

It was so discouraging to see an amendment approved at last week's council meeting, rejecting once again the planning commission's recommendation for their critical areas ordinance, and instead allowing industry to override environmental common sense within the Port of Tacoma.

As mountain glaciers and snowpack disappear, less runoff to rivers, groundwater and lakes levels dropping all across the nation.

Your prioritizing industry is extremely short-sighted.

Permitting short-term commerce to jeopardize long-term critical aquifer areas, that will be your legacy.

The point of a critical area policy is for unquestionable, unbreakable protection, not to be influenced by the pressure from industry and the very practices which harm these areas.

But once again, Tacoma has it backwards, and this current proposed draft should not be supported.

After the mega warehouse disaster, we were promised planning codes would be improved.

But Tacoma is continuing with the same weak approaches, allowing for the same destruction.

This vote should be delayed, the port amendment removed, and more true protections added as per my written comments.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Next up we have Kathy Irwin.

Hello, my name is uh Kathy Irwin, South Tacoma resident.

Um I wanted to um echo Heidi's comments and concerns, um, and rather than restate them, I will offer the fact that she has stated this very well and very thoroughly.

We do not need to be approving uh a substitute amended ordinance number 29114.

Please vote no to this change and honor and respect what the planning commission had put forward for protecting our aquifer, avoid high impact industries being located within the Tide Flats area.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kathy.

All right.

Uh do we have anybody else sign up in person?

Anybody else online?

Oh, uh please um please come forward and then state your name for the record.

Um and if we could get her um written in as well.

And then the uh the topic in which you wish to discuss.

Hi, my name is Susan Healy, and I want to talk about the tenant landlord laws.

Um so that's not on tonight's agenda.

We are gonna have community forum later this evening.

Uh you're more than welcome to talk about that under that time.

Thank you.

Good evening, Council Albert Godwin, uh 1314 or together word east Tacoma regarding proper station one.

So we're gonna have to that you'll have to be able to talk about that during community forum.

That's not on tonight's agenda.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you.

With that, I'm gonna go ahead and close public comment.

Um if folks want to talk during uh community forum about these specific areas, and make sure you sign up in the back room so we can uh get you on that list.

Thank you.

All right, next up we have a regular agenda before us.

Um item three.

This item will have a PowerPoint presentation.

Clerk, will you please read?

Resolution 41958, a resolution authorizing the execution of a multifamily housing 12 year limited property tax exemption agreement with Michael Hopkins for the development of seven multifamily market and regulated rate rental housing units located at 70 56 Fawcett Avenue.

I move to adopt resolution number 41958.

Second is been moved and second.

Oh, we have a PowerPoint presentation, then we'll go to that.

Thank you.

Good evening, Deputy Mayor and Council members.

I'm Debbie Bingham with a community economic development department, and uh Paul Bacher is on his honeymoon, so you have to deal with me tonight.

Uh resolution 41589 is um for uh property at 41, I'm sorry, at 7056 Fawcett Avenue.

If I can get this to vote, there we go.

This project, Michael Hobbins is proposing to develop seven market rate and affordable units.

The project will include three parking spaces.

We'll have two affordable units in the project.

Um on the screen is a breakdown of the proposed units, which include, as I said, two affordable units as well as five market rate units, the affordable unit um rental rate, this is a maximum rental rate they can charge, and it does include utilities.

This is a map of the location, and this is um located in the new UR3 expansion areas.

And I did want to mention this is the 12th project that we've had come through in those new expansion areas.

This table shows the estimated fiscal impacts for the project.

We estimate total taxes generated over the life of the projects at $90,000 and total taxes exempted at $29,000, leaving a net positive impact of $61,000.

That concludes the presentation.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you very much.

Are there any council questions or comments?

All right, seeing none, all those in favor of adopting resolution number 41958, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Nay.

All right.

Uh the resolution is declared adopted.

All right.

Um I just wanted to clarify also um for the community forum under our council rules.

Uh we cannot um have any discussion around uh support or opposition of any particular ballot measure, but if you did want to talk about uh tenant and landlord issues broadly, that that can be done.

So you cannot uh talk in support or opposition to any particular ballot measure currently on the ballot.

Just want to uh clarify that for folks.

Um next up we have item number four.

Clerk, will you please read?

Resolution 41959, a resolution authorizing the one-time use of council contingency funds and the amount of ten thousand dollars to sponsor beyond the block.

I move to adopt resolution number four one nine five nine.

Second.

It has been moved and seconded.

Like to call on Council Member Fallmer.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

Um I'm excited to bring forward my first council contingency fund request for uh $10,000 to sponsor a great new program called Beyond the Block, which we heard about earlier from Kelly Robinson.

I wanted to thank Nikki Davidson and Kelly Robinson for putting this together and making this happen.

Um and thank you for speaking uh talking about it tonight.

Um this is an important program for kids in Tacoma.

It offers culturally informed programming and it's free.

Um it's uh available to ages eleven to sixteen at the Bryant Neighborhood Center.

Um they're taking place on Wednesday.

Did I get it wrong?

Is it Wednesday and Friday?

Okay, Wednesday and Friday, 5 30 to 8.

Um I'm excited to bring my kids coming up.

They're talking about some basketball player coming and what was the other thing?

Dance night.

Um so this is fantastic.

Um each session of the Beyond the Block program features different themes to help participants gain valuable life skills and support, as well as discussions on conflict resolution, mental health, stress management, self-esteem, and much more.

Um and they get free food, free meal and free snacks.

Um this uh our contribution would help with the costs of staffing and the snacks and the food and program supplies.

Um definitely uh contributes to our city's goals of the community uh community safety, uh including preventing youth violence by providing safe and engaging spaces for young people during evening summer hours.

I also wanted to thank my co-sponsors, Councilmember Scott and Councilmember Rumba for signing on to this as well.

And I hope um you all will support.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Palmer.

Any questions or comments?

Councilmember Rumbach.

Um thank you, Deputy Mayor, and I just want to thank um all of you for the good work that you do to try to prevent um you know youth violence and tackling domestic violence, and it's really important that you're in this space.

And I know you didn't fit with Tacoma Creates dollars, but the work you do is really important, and we really support you.

So I want to thank um Councilmember Palmer for bringing this forward, and I'm just so happy to support it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Rumba.

Any other additional questions or comments?

Uh Councilmember Scott online.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor, and I just as what Council Rambaugh said, just really appreciate the work that um both our sisters house and the Brighton Neighborhood Center do for uh to support youth in the community, but the community well-being as a whole, and I really appreciate Councilmember Palmer for bringing this forward.

And I'm looking forward to uh possibly being able to drop in and say hi to some of the kids as they experience all the fun stuff you all are putting together for.

All right.

Thank you, Councilmember Scott.

And I too will just say thank you for your leadership on this, Councilmember Palmer, and thank you for your service to our community and our young people.

Uh it means a lot to everybody that we have these safe places for young people to go, especially in the summertime when there's so many other things that could be done.

Um if it's not for safe places like this, you know, our kids could get in all kinds of activities.

So with that, uh oh uh councilmember Diaz.

Sorry, I just wanted to add real quickly.

I wasn't sure if you were going to.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this might be Councilmember Palmer's first um resolution she'd bring forward.

So I just wanted to honor and congratulate her on that because it's a good meaningful one.

Thank you.

Yep.

Awesome.

All right.

With that, any final council questions or comments?

All right, seeing none, we have the resolution before us.

All those in favor of adopting resolution number 41959, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Hearing none, the resolution is declared adopted.

All right.

Uh next up, we have our final reading of ordinances.

Item number five, Clerk Lee, please read.

Ordinance 29114, an ordinance amending Title 13 of the municipal code relating to the land use regulatory code to update the critical areas preservation ordinance, a periodic update required by state law to incorporate new scientific information and can ensure consistency with other policy and laws as recommended by the planning commission.

All right.

This item was presented last week.

Are there any additional questions or comments on the amended substitute ordinance before us?

All right.

Seeing none, Clerk will you please call the roll.

Councilmember Diaz.

Aye.

Councilmember Heinz.

Aye.

Councilmember Palmer.

Nay.

Councilmember Rumba?

Aye.

Councilmember Sidalgay.

Aye.

Councilmember Scott.

I heard an aye.

I thank you.

Councilmember Walker?

Aye.

Mayor Ibsen absent.

Deputy Mayor Bushnell.

Aye.

All right.

This ordinance is declared passed.

Next up we have unfinished business.

Is there any unfinished business before us?

All right.

Seeing none, we are moving on to community forum during which you may speak about items over which the city council has jurisdiction.

As a reminder, these forums are intended to give view uh give speakers the opportunity to share their viewpoints and feedback with the city council to aid in our decision making.

It is not meant to be a back and forth dialogue.

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

At this time, I would ask individual attendees if uh they would like to speak during the community forum to press the raise hand button near the bottom of your Zoom window or your star nine on your phone so we can see the number of people wishing to testify this evening.

Uh if you are speaking 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's your turn to speak.

Uh just a reminder um uh community form cannot be uh in opposition to or support of any particular ballot measure or candidates.

Um but if you wanted to talk more broadly about any specific issue under the city council's jurisdiction that is available to you.

All right.

All right, we're gonna start with uh folks in the room.

Oh, sorry, clerkly please read.

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

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

And then um Deputy Mayor, we received one written public comment for public comment period and five for community form.

The community form ones were regarding data centers, herbicides, minimum wage, and legal aid and phone cards for detainees at the Northwest ICE Processing Center.

Great.

Thank you so much.

Community form will be limited to a total of two hours, and each speaker will have three minutes uh to make your remarks.

Please be mindful of the time frame.

As always, you're 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 move on and end your time.

All right.

Uh first up, we have Brad, uh, followed by Randy Gooksteader, followed by Tyler Daniels.

Hi, um I'm here to talk about uh flock cameras.

Um I know that you guys don't have flock cameras here, but uh you guys do use ALPRs.

And with uh Washington State, they limited ALPRs to uh certain aspects, but they but if you are using a flock camera as an ALPR, um it has other things attached to it that you might not know about.

It has facial rec, it also is able to be accessed by any agency across the United States.

Five thousand plus agencies are able to look at anything they want from a flock camera.

Um so I commend you guys for not wanting to have them here, but they are pretending to say that it's for safety and it's not for safety.

So I if it ever comes up to be where you guys want to ask about it or uh or you guys want to uh implement them, I would highly suggest you guys say no.

Um it is the first step to a dangerous uh police state and the way our country is going.

I would rather uh stay free.

I did not stand for the Pledge of Allegiance because I don't believe we are free anymore with the way the government has been doing what they have been doing.

So please, if Flock ever comes to you and asks you or wants to be part of this city, please say no.

There's a ton of cities around you that have used them and are using them, and it makes it harder for the rest of us that do not want to be tracked on a daily basis, put into a uh database to travel around the state and just do our normal stuff.

It tracks every single thing on a car, it tracks license plates, it also puts you into a database.

So if your car has five dents on the left-hand side, it will it will put that down so that if you ever speed, you do anything that is somewhat under over the law or uh outside the law, it will actually send people cops and it will send people to your to your house to give you or uh uh things that um like tickets and whatnot.

So please do not let Flock trick you guys into bringing it into the city.

I wish that other cities would get rid of it.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments tonight.

Next up we have Randy Gookstetter, followed by Tyler Daniels, followed by Alma Viegas.

Uh please state your name for the record and topic.

Uh, Randall Googstetter.

Uh from Northeast Tacoma.

I'm here to comment about 311.

So I call a lot of tickets in to the city of Tacoma.

But the first thing the city of Tacoma does once they send it to a person to work on it, they close the ticket.

So then it's not really kept kept track of.

So in my records, when I look at my thing, they archive them.

So they get archived, nobody ever works on them.

One of my tickets says you're gonna move uh speed camera or speed censored down on 509.

They move it 100 yards further south, but they never did and they archived it.

So it never got fixed in 14 days.

It's been there since February 26, 2025.

And the tickets I just called in on the like the hill, came up North Point Hill to get uh maybe some stanches along it.

The minute they got the ticket, they closed it.

And the next ticket, they closed it, they're not worked yet.

So I worked 30 years at Boeing and maintenance, so what we do is we put them in work.

And if we went to engineering, we hold them for engineering.

They got held for parts, got held for parts, and when you closed it, you closed it because it was done.

So then if it doesn't get archived, you you don't lose track of it.

So that was my only comment.

They're getting archived and closed without ever working them.

So we're not doing our stuff within 14 days because they archive them.

Anyway, thank you.

Thank you so much for your comments.

Next up we have Tyler Daniels, followed by Alma Viegas, followed by Lydia Zabeda.

Hello.

Tyler Daniels, PE.

I am talking about West Rock Paper Mills Environmental Review by the Department of Ecology.

Um I'm not sure if you all are aware that is going on.

We are starting to evaluate Tacoma's next superfund site.

So that's really exciting and also extremely concerning because the Department of Ecology's purview is only on the private property.

It does not extend to the waters or the sediment of commencement Bay.

That is the EPA's designation.

And where does the city fall into this?

Nowhere a part of this review, other than to permit West Rock, that site to continue to dump surface water directly into Commencement Bay with known carcinogens and toxins that poison humans and has already been cleaned up once in the 1980s.

So my concern is that the Department of Ecology's review does not address the plume zone.

If you all haven't been here for 34 years like I have, or longer or shorter to remember the aroma of Tacoma, I remember driving bus from Parkland to Des Moines to go to high school every day, and we would drive through, and we would close the windows not to be gassed by what was going on.

All of that, every one of us that went through there or lived here, was toxified by that.

And if you don't believe me, I ask you to walk down East 26th Street by grief, the paper processing facility, and to smell their emissions and ask me if that feels fresh to you.

Because what happened at the port in that amount of volume is still happening at grief at a small operation.

We need to address the air quality of our community, because that is key on the three-legged stool of our air, water, and our soil that continues to poison us.

And all of these young humans here, that's what I do my work for.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Next up we have Alma Viegas, followed by Lydia Zapeta, followed by Aidan Perkinson.

Good evening.

I'm Alma Villegas, District 2.

I am here to share Kenny's journey, and I asked that you do not look at your phones, but listen to the story.

Kenny is a 34-year-old from Cuba who lived in the U.S.

since she was a teenager.

She was held at the Nice Northwest Ice Processing Center for 14 months starting in October of 2024.

On December 13, 2025, early in the morning, she was transferred from Tacoma to Fort Bliss in El Paso.

She was there for two nights, zero sleep, constantly terrified of being attacked.

On the third day, she and a group of 30 detainees, all men and three women, were taken to the border and handed over to the Mexican authorities.

On the third night, they uh they traveled 40 hours to Tabasco.

They were not allowed to get off the bus at any time.

Food was limited, they didn't bathe, and all they had to share was one bathroom on the bus.

They were escorted by three heavily armed cars belonging to the Mexican National Guard.

In Tabasco, they were held for two nights in detention.

On the third morning, she was given a document granting permission to stay in the country for 15 days until January 3rd, after which she had to exit the country by the southern border to her country of origin.

They were given they were given a choice stay in detention, find a place in Tabasco, or go to Cancun.

Her only contact was in Mexico City, but she was not given that option.

She and three others chose to travel to Cancun, arriving late at night on December 26th, where they were released to fend for themselves.

They had no money, no belongings, and no ID.

They were taken to a location where they sometimes rent apartments to recent arrivals.

However, there was no room.

Aided by the apartment manager the next day, they found a two-bedroom rental for 550 U.S.

dollars.

They are still there.

As a Cuban, she can request humanitarian asylum, which allows her to stay in Mexico until that process is completed.

On January 5th, she waited overnight in line for eight hours at the Mexican immigration office to apply for asylum.

She is still waiting for approval.

This means she can't work.

She has love for employment under the table, but the only thing available is at night and far from her residence.

Too dangerous for a young woman traveling alone.

Her family sends whatever help they can.

Kenny is only one of a thousand who committed no crime, picked up during a regular traffic stop.

Her family spent thousands on a fraudulent attorney who did nothing.

So she was deported to another country alone.

She cannot return to the U.S.

where her brothers and sisters are for 10 years.

One week after Kenny was deported out of Tacoma, eight women from her unit were released on habeas corpus.

If she had had legal representation here in Washington, perhaps she could have had the same fate.

We are all immigrants, all of us.

It's time for each of you to choose what is morally right for a community that is being intentionally targeted and executed on our streets.

You were left there to make tough choices.

If you can approve funding for developers, you can approve this funding.

A permanent line item in the budget to support legal representation for detainees.

You have your choice.

It's a choice that you have to make.

Thank you for your next up, we have Lydia Cepeda, followed by Aidan Perkinson and then Kit Burns.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Lady Zapeta, and I am from District 3.

And I'm also the League of Women Voters, Washington State Immigrant Issues Chair.

First, I want to thank you for the support that you have provided immigrants at the detention center in the past.

But I want to speak tonight on behalf of a budget recommendation made by the Commission on Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, CIRA.

CIRA is charged, is appointed by you on the council and is charged with providing advice to the council.

And the piece of advice they have made is to include 170,000 annually as a permanent line item in support of immigrants in detention at the Northwest Ice Processing Center here in Tacoma for legal services and phone calls.

The people in detention do not have right to counsel, free counsel.

They do not have right to free phone calls.

And free counsel is absolutely essential, as Alma has demonstrated, to get justice.

Phone calls are essential for peace of mind, to be able to contact your family, your children.

I visit one woman named Lilia who calls her daughter every single day because she misses her and she wants to make sure that her daughter's okay.

And in this detention facility.

She fled an abusive relationship in Bolivia with her two children.

She had a work permit.

She was a sous chef.

She supported her family.

She started a life here in America.

She has an active asylum case as well as a U visa application.

She was picked up during her regular check-in.

Her husband and her children went to a friend, but her husband came from Bolivia, kidnapped her children, forged her forged her signature, and took them back to Bolivia.

She doesn't know what's what's she hasn't heard from her children since.

And she's afraid they're being abused.

Meanwhile, she's stuck in a detention facility with no lawyer, no money, no way to contact anybody.

She's also a two-time cancer survivor.

She's 40 years old and she has survived breast cancer and cervical cancer.

And she has not and she has an had approval for a test, but ICE delayed the transportation, so she missed the test.

She's taking chemotherapy and she's afraid for her life.

Please support this line item of 170,000 that Syrah has.

And these are some of the letters that we receive every week from people.

So please we ask you.

Thank you.

Sorry.

Thank you for your comments.

Next we have Aidan Perkinson, followed by Kit Burns, and then Susan Healy.

Hello, I'm Aidan Perkinson.

I'm the operations manager for Advocates for Immigrants in Detention Northwest, and I'm here to speak about the importance of phone funds to people in detention.

When ICE last released data in April of this year, of the 1,289 people in detention, 987 were listed as non-criminal.

That's almost roughly three quarters of the population, according to ICE, are not criminals.

Most of them are unable to make phone calls to their family until someone deposits money into their phone accounts.

Calls cost 15 cents a minute inside the U.S.

So as you can imagine, that goes by pretty quickly.

Sometimes it is the only way for people to access legal representation through calling legal aid organizations until they find one that has room in their caseload to take their case.

In other cases, like two days ago, we helped a man connect with his family to let them know when and where he would be deported to.

They had been expecting him to be deported the week before, found out when they checked again the next day that he was still in detention and that they no longer knew which part of Latin America he was going to.

Without phone funds, they would have had no way to tell him that they'd made a plan to connect him with family in the country.

They'd reached out to the consulate to help him, and that he needed to look for the consular officers when he landed.

So that is just one example of why being able to make phone calls is so critical for people in detention.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Next we have Kit Burns, followed by Susan Healy, and then last in person I have is Albert Jodwin.

I'm here to speak about the South Tacoma settlement agreement with Bridge Industrial.

It's been a great time of the last two or three years on Bridge Industrial, so I'm really familiar with it.

Recently, the City Council actually approved the IAA, the interagency agreement between Department of Ecology and the City of Tacoma.

But what I want you to know is that what's approved on June 23rd.

And then the following day at IPS, then a presentation was made.

That's not normal.

That's out of order.

First of all, the presentation should be made to the city council so the city council is informed, and then vote on it.

So that was one thing that was out of order.

There are multiple issues with this, and I'm not going to go into it.

I'm not an attorney, but as an architect, I've had experience with contracts.

But I'm not going to speak to any of those particular issues tonight.

I'm going to mark up the agreement and point out some of the errors that don't comply with the settlement agreement between the Department of Ecology and Bridge Industrial.

Because the uh proposed submittal here, a proposed solution wasn't really discussed with the citizens in South Tacoma.

South Tacoma is a bigger area than what is shown in these documents.

So I've looked at these documents and they leave out everything south of 56th Street.

But in South 56th Street during construction, one of the big harms was there was at least by my calculations, a low ball calculation, 150,000 truck trips.

Seems a little bit incomprehensible.

They're supposed to have access on the north access road, but that's not complete, so there's no trucks using that.

But the people that live south of 56 have been harmed, and they should be included in this.

So I'll address that in my documents and I'll share that with the entire council, and we should all be aware of that.

But you should be concerned when the presentation is given after the approval.

So the other thing is it includes what I would call capital projects.

And the Capital Projects is not listed in the agreement between the Department of Ecology and Bridge Industrial.

So since it's not a lo not since it's not included, since the capital projects are not included, that's one of my major issues.

Another issue that many people have been brought up about listening to the uh citizens in South Tacoma.

You can look at this uh presentation that was done on the 24th, and it lists things that happened in and I want to be correct about this.

Uh presentations were made in 2015 to 2018, well before Bridge even came along.

Uh 2018, 2023, 2022.

There wasn't public input.

Anyway, I'll be talking to you later.

Thank you for your comments.

Uh next we have Susan Healy, followed by Albert uh Jodwin.

Goodwin.

Apologies.

Hello again.

I'm Susan Healy, and I live in District 3.

I didn't realize there was pending legislation, although I did sign a petition for something.

So if I go into something I'm not supposed to, please tell me.

Um couple months after I moved into my place, which was two and a half years ago, I noticed there was some bug activity in the evenings.

I had little bites on me, they were itching stuff, and I told my landlord.

And um they told me that I live in a multifamily unit.

They told me that tenant is responsible for pest control and get a bed bug inspection.

Got a bed bug inspection.

From then I vacuumed and laundered and steamed everything, got essential oils and pests, got bins for my clothes, you know, the whole thing trying to fight it, and I did pretty well until last spring.

And it is just out of control.

I can't prepare food in my house, you know.

Uh at night, especially it's very bothersome.

They get it, I have carp beetle larvae that getting your clothes and your hair.

They don't do anything to you, but still, it's just disgusting.

And she just won't, she just refuses to do anything about it.

So my uh you guys have great laws here, Ted and Landlord Laws for both sides, I think.

But you can't find the attorney in town who will take your case, especially not on contingency or free.

I've been at the um Tacoma for Hall and the Housing Justice Project and Tacoma Pro Bono.

And but they don't let they don't do um lawsuits, they just kind of give you advice.

And I really want to sue her for damages because my clothes are ruined.

You know, nobody would pay that much rent for a place that's full of bugs.

I had to have eye surgery because my tear dots were clogged.

They're microscopic, mind you, to get my hair and um the honey dew that they excrete makes um makes my hair sticky basically, and when you brush it, it just breaks breaks.

So like I have missed balls kind of over here in my head.

And it's just frustrating as hell to me that there is no back behind this law.

So I wouldn't come without a suggestion.

My suggestion is that you give them penalties that accrue daily until they start working on whatever it is law they're breaking.

And I she knows that this has no back.

She knows that nothing's gonna happen to her because she continues to break laws and harass me and change the terms of my lease and all these other things.

And I just feel like there's nothing I could do.

And I find that very frustrating, especially with the great laws that you all passed.

So I do think that this bill might have something to do with penalties or or not penalties, but um, you know, putting some back behind the law, and if that's true, I hope you support it.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Next up we have Albert uh Goodwin.

Yes, Albert Godwin, again, proposition one.

Uh Sir, we can't talk of in opposition to you or uh in support of any particular ballot measure, but if you wanted to talk broadly about broadly about it, yes.

Very broadly.

I did a survey of over 300 people, plus of some of the uh apps out there.

And so far everybody's in disdain.

It is so vague.

The people that I have spoken to in over 300, they want the main arterials repaired.

You have a hundred and sixty-seven blocks of gravel road, which equals 13.916 miles, and you're gonna do that in the right off the bat.

Fix the potholes.

So bicyclists want the potholes fixed.

They want a smooth surface to ride on.

You don't need more bike lanes.

What you need to do is fix the darned streets.

Having run an engineering and a maintenance budget, if I have one employee that put together a proposition like that to me, they would have been looking for new employment.

You know, and I won't be candid.

A lot of people feel the same way.

So I want to thank you for your time.

But I don't see this passing in any shape, manner, or form.

Thank you so much for your comments.

Next up, we'll be moving online.

If there's anybody else in person that would like to speak, uh please sign up in the back of the room.

So moving online, we have Heidi GS followed by Kathy Irwin.

My name is Heidi Stevens, speaking on multiple topics.

First, thank you for three minutes.

It gives me time to support those who spoke on West Rock, detaining legal representation, tenant rights, and opposition to flock.

And to note that Los Angeles just decided to remove their flock system.

The LAPD found it too intrusive on civil rights.

So that's saying a lot.

Okay.

I'm disappointed that Tacoma is becoming known mostly for fake titles, like the South Tacoma Tree Enhancement Plan that doesn't include any significant tree planting at all.

And an interagency agreement, which refers to resident input as hostile.

And the city supported the Pacific Northwest Climate Week, which is actually sponsored by fossil fuel industry.

Regarding the data center statement, since when has Tacoma ever prioritize the health and well-being of our residents, quote, when instead deliberately legally challenging any inclusion of environmental justice in industrial permit approvals, not only do we need a moratorium, but then a permanent code update, because if not, you're setting us up to defend a lawsuit claiming that nothing says they are prohibited and thus can be allowed.

So I am not comforted by the city's assurance that data centers aren't currently mentioned in the code.

Well, neither have been auto crushing, megawarehouses, or private prisons, but we still ended up with those.

And speaking of detention centers, GEO Group is in the first step of selling the facility to ICE, which means no more taxes from them and even less oversight.

I'll be emailing follow-up information about actions the city must take soon regarding this.

And lastly, the housing density in the Tacoma Mall sub area was based on having nearby green space at Madison School.

Now that that school is closed, this council needs to be facilitating a transfer of that land to Parks Tacoma or following your own critical areas code passed just tonight and acquiring green space to preserve.

The city and Parks Tacoma also must stop spraying pesticides and herbicides, especially within the groundwater protection district.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Next up we have Kathy Irwin followed by Shauna Franklin McCann.

Hi, my name is Kathy Irwin, District 3, South Tacoma resident.

And I wanted to state that Heidi has covered a lot of the bases I would be talking about tonight as well.

But the one thing I wanted to make sure to share with the residents and the city council and staff is that this recent agreement, the interagent agreement, and partnership that formed between the City of Tacoma and Department of Ecology totally excluded the South Tacoma residents that were the people that were supposed to be helped by this agreement and by the use of the bridge industrial settlement funds.

According to the paperwork with the settlement funds, the decisions regarding the use of these subs were to be directed by South Tacoma residents, the ones impacted from the operations of this project.

Yet the residents were purposely not included in meetings, even though we requested being included.

We were told no, we could not be included.

We were teased with the fact that there was some kind of an agreement going on, but we couldn't know anything about it until after it had been arranged.

This has been a very cruel process for us to go through this and only recently realized that this has been going on since 2024, this partnership.

It happened immediately after the settlement funds became available.

So this is a very irritating situation for us to be having no impact and being told that we have can only engage at appropriate intermittent moments during this whole process with no ability to make any decisions with this whatsoever.

So even though people seem happy about the whole idea of getting trees planted, none of this is happening right away for South Tacoma residents within that settlement area.

Even the tree enhancement project isn't supposed to be really moving forward for another year or two.

So how is that helping the immediate concerns with health for the residents of this South Tacoma area?

During the construction phase of this project, South 56th Street was the an access point for the trucks getting over to do the construction work.

Some of those funds were actually even available at during that time where people could have had access to air purifiers and weatherization projects along that South 56th Street street.

Yet all this has been delayed and under very suspicious conditions.

So South Tacoma residents don't seem grateful enough for having more trees planted.

Please understand that we had no voice in any of this, and we continue to not have a voice until the right moment.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kathy.

And I apologize if I I mess up your name as uh Shauna or Shayna Franklin McCann.

It's Shanna Franklin McGinn.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

Um my name is Shanna Franklin.

I am a community member and also a visitor at the uh detention center here in Tacoma.

Um I just wanted to speak a little bit about my concerns around the lack of legal representation that I'm kind of hearing from the detainees that I speak to pretty regularly.

Um during my visits, I hear ongoing concerns about the lack of legal representation and their ability to pay for legal representation.

Um many of the detainees are losing jobs while they're detained, uh, they're losing their homes, they're losing their cars, they're losing their connection to their families, their connections to community.

And a lot of it, I think could really be helped with uh a budget line dedicated ongoingly for uh legal representation of to provide legal representation for these detainees that can't afford it.

Um that's really all that I um would like to speak about tonight, and I thank you so much for your time and I appreciate your consideration.

Thank you very much for your comments.

Next we have Onita Arnold.

And that's my last speaker online.

If there's anybody else online wishing to speak, please raise your hand.

Are you am I being heard?

I can hear you.

Oh, okay.

It's hard to tell from this end.

So, yes, my name is Onana Arnold, um, District 2.

And there's I can't add to the stories that Alma and Lydia uh um told you about the detainees at the Northwest IPC.

Uh and I'm just going to uh throw my emphasis behind prioritizing legal representation for detainees in this year's budget.

170,000 is such a small amount to ensure legal counsel for them.

I don't think any council members are in approval uh uh uh to what's happening at NW IPC, which the city unfortunately hosts.

And um, so I I don't think that's an issue, but I I think you have to push for that prioritization.

Uh you heard the stories.

It it's it's horrendous.

So please uh push that in.

It's it it once again is such a small amount.

And also being able to uh speak to family and their council by phone.

Uh so that's what I'm hoping that you all will do.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Uh is there anybody else in the room wishing to speak for community forum?

All right, seeing none, I'm gonna close community forum.

Uh next up, we have reports by the city manager.

Uh, since this is community forum nights, there is no report by the city manager.

Um, so next we have council comments and committee reports of the city council.

Uh we have the infrastructure planning sustainability committee.

I would like to call on Council Member Walker, chair of the IPS committee uh to give a report.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

We have done a lot of work at IPS.

This is going to be a long one.

We've met three times since our last report out on June 10th.

The committee voted to recommend candidates to serve on the planning commission, which we already voted on.

Um, and council confirmed these appointments on our June 30th meeting.

Uh public works updated IPS on a new framework for parking citation rates and potential improvements to the adjudication process, and Parks Tacoma informed IPS of their grant application to purchase a portion of the former Galt Middle School site in fulfillment of the grant's application requirements.

On June 24th, Environmental Services and the State Department of Ecology staff provided an overview of a 1.75 million dollar interagency agreement that will expand South Tacoma's urban tree canopy through the end of 2028.

And on July 8th, the environmental services staff briefed the committee on the operational and financial performance of the city's renewable natural gas facility.

Public works and planning and development services staff summarized the most recent right-of-way design manual update, describe the work that's being done thus far for the current update and outline plans for finishing this cycle.

Since our last report out, the committee has received two policy letters.

One from our climate and sustainability commission on climate action plan progress and the second letter from the planning commission on the Sound Transit Enterprise Initiative.

Both those are available on the IPS webpage.

Our next meeting is scheduled for July 22nd.

Tacoma Water will provide an update about groundwater supply and regulations protecting the public from PFOS.

Common commonly known as forever chemicals.

Deputy Mayor, that concludes my report.

Thank you so much.

Chair Walker.

Is there any council comments?

I actually have another.

Oh, please continue.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

I just wanted to share a great success story with everybody tonight.

I have been working, as you know, you all helped pass um a resolution finding ways to enhance salvage and deconstruction in our city with the goal of diverting more waste, especially demolition and construction debris from our landfill and increasing the reuse and recycling of items.

And so this is about a year and a half ago.

We had meetings with stakeholders, many of our local salvage and deconstruction industry leaders.

And one of the items that came out of those discussions was the idea of as a first step encouraging more salvage assessments for buildings that are being demolished.

So we passed a resolution, and then City Council and IPS at that point sort of set the vision for this new program.

And then one of our PDS staff, uh Lucas Shatdock, uh, brought this vision to life.

And we have just released it, and I think everyone saw the press release.

But we launched the new program, which is a voluntary salvage assessment program on July 1st, and we had our very first demolition permit already.

Um that request came in right after launching the program.

They did the voluntary assessment, and it resulted in a ton of quality building components being salvaged.

Um high-quality kitchen cabinets, a door, windows, plumbing fixtures, fencing, kitchen appliances, a new furnace, and a water heater.

So, really proof of concept already that this is possible and making a difference.

Um, all of those things would have been lost if they went straight to demolition, and it would have ended up in our landfill.

So we're really excited, and I've gotten a ton of emails already from folks who are looking to do this.

But I just wanted to highlight that um and thank PDS staff.

Um, and then I also want to thank Councilmember Palmer who has jumped in on this and will carry on this good work after I am no longer on council.

So very exciting success story and more to come, I'm sure.

Thank you, Councilmember Walker.

That's awesome news.

Um Councilmember Hines.

Thank you, Mr.

McMahor.

And uh I have another success story I'd like to elevate.

Um I think this one's about I I think this is one we all saw, and it's one about our police department.

So Chief Jackson recently shared that Operation Guardian, which is a multiple agency operation led by the Wash State Patrol to identify those allegedly involved in exploitation of children has recently led to 21 arrests of individuals.

Um this really important collaborative effort involved more than 30 dedicated law enforcement agencies, agents, and staff, and I'm so proud that the Tacoma Police Department played a role in this effort.

Um Chief Jackson shared that protecting children from exploitation is one aspect of law enforcement often happens behind the scenes, but its impact is immeasurable as someone who's works in schools and has been involved with schools my entire life.

I know that these um exploitation of children does not just impact um the children that are involved, though that is horrific, but it also impacts our families and our communities, and so the work that we do to try to stop this from happening is critically important to everyone involved.

Um, I want to applaud our detectives and our team for representing the police department's operation with great professionalism, and your hard work is very much appreciated.

Congratulations to Chief Jackson and all of our Tacoma Police Department officers for this important work and protecting some of the most vulnerable members of our community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for sharing that.

Councilmember Hines.

Uh Councilmember Walker.

Oh, sorry.

Very well.

All right.

Um other final council comments.

All right.

I'll obtain the second to final answer.

Uh move to excuse Mayor Ibsen from the meeting.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded to excuse Mayor Ibsen from the meeting.

All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right.

The motion is declared adopted.

Move to adjourn.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded to adjourn.

All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

When the motion is declared adopted, we stand adjourned.

Everybody have a good night.