Good afternoon.

I'd like to call to order the study session of April 14th, 2026.

First, we're going to start with our roll call.

Deputy Mayor Bushnell.

Present.

Councilmember Diaz?

Here.

Councilmember Heinz.

Councilmember Palmer.

Absent Councilmember Rumba?

Here.

Councilmember Sidalgay?

Here.

Councilmember Scott?

Here.

Councilmember Walker, absent.

Mayor Ibsen.

Here.

We're going to start with our only briefing item today, which is uh connected to Coma, an update from uh our uh public works department starting with the Director Curtis Kingsalver.

Go ahead.

Not sure if I'm on yet or not.

Oh, I am?

Okay.

Thank you, Mayor, Deputy Mayor, members of the council.

So we have a presentation up.

Since we're up and running here.

So I'm going to apologize up front.

We've got quite a bit to cover today, so we'll go as quickly as we can.

I'll try not to talk fast, which I do naturally, but I'll try to talk as clearly as I can.

So we'll go ahead and next slide, Joe.

So just for agenda to give you an idea of what we're going to talk about today.

Too many.

So I'm going to start out with a little bit of background regarding the 2015 Streets Initiative, really about what it was, what we believed it would raise, and how we committed to spend those revenues.

Then I'll talk a little bit about the 2015 streets initiative accomplishments, what we did and what we did raise.

Joe's going to go into some lessons learned from the 2025 initiative that didn't pass.

He's going to talk a little bit about our community engagement efforts that we've been underway for the last few months.

How we want to invest those dollars.

And then I'll close a little bit about you know what that is for voters and what we're proposing.

So let's start with 2000.

Actually, I'm going to start with 2014.

So many of you may not remember maybe you probably do.

In 2014 was the first time we went out for a ballot initiative.

It did not pass.

But we did learn a few things at that time.

Number one, uh we learned it was actually too small.

People at the time wanted us to go bigger.

They wanted us to do something that they could visibly see improvements.

Um but they also told us uh very loud and clear that they wanted us to improve residential streets.

That was their biggest focus.

That was where they felt the biggest need was, and so what you what became the 2015 streets initiative was a focus on residential streets.

What you see here is is really a slide that we used back in the day.

Um it talks about you know what the the 2015 initiative was.

Um it was two propositions, Prop A and Prop three.

Uh they're outlined here.

Prop three was a gross earnings tax of one and a half percent on utilities and a 20 cent per thousand assessed value of a property tax.

Prop A was a transportation benefit district tax, a sales tax of one-tenth of one percent.

Our original goal, we believe from proper A and POP three, what it would raise 175 million dollars.

We also were putting in 30 million dollars or three million dollars a year of city funding for a total of 205 million dollars.

And while we divided that up is we put 125 of that, 125 million into regular maintenance.

Um, and that's just your street maintenance, that's your chip seals, um, slurry seals, uh, what we call two over twos, uh, where we would grind the street down, put two inches of excuse me, two inches of of crushed rock compacted and then two inches of asphalt, um, and a lot of crack sealing just to maintain our streets.

We believed we'd get another thirty million dollars in partnership funds uh through our utility partners, which uh we did.

Um so we'd have 155 million dollars that would go strictly to residential streets.

The other funding theme or investment bucket that I call is the capital projects.

We stuck 50 million dollars into that.

That was 30 million for a tutorial and freight and 20 million for mobility.

And the goal there was to have grant match.

We wanted to be get we want to be aggressive at going after any grants we could go after to really leverage our dollars, and our goal was to get ninety million dollars in grants over the next 10 years for a total package of investment of $325 million.

That was slow.

It was weird how that loaded.

I'm sorry.

So this is what we ended up with um today.

So ultimately, we raised $202 million through Prop A and Prop 3.

The city, of course, did commit the $30 million over 10 years for $232 million.

Our goal was to be at $165 million for residential street maintenance.

We're at $164.

We ended up with $27 million in partnerships, so we're a little shy of the $30 million that we anticipated, but pretty close.

The big change though is we have $194 million that went to capital projects.

$144 million of that is grants.

So that is really where we capitalized and maximized a lot of our resources was that $144 million.

To date, we're at $100 million, it's actually, I think $43 million now is what we've collected.

The $358 million that we've spent is what's actually been constructed.

So when we started this in 2015, I made a decision that I didn't want to include projects until they were done.

So I never know how much they're really going to cost.

And I didn't, you know, we always adding a little bit to projects.

So the reason why you see the $358 is that's really what we have completed so far.

We have another $55 million worth of projects that are either in design, um going out uh in construction or going out to bid later this year or early next year.

And we have $7 million, roughly $7 million that is is unspent.

Um and so we're still going after grants.

We have a grant right now that we're going after for it's $2.5 million for Pine Street from Center to 47th, uh $2.1 million from Man Elementary Safe for House to School, and $3 million for South 12 free from Cedar to Puget Sound.

So we're still working at it.

You know, that $41 million project cost is or revenues is going to grow, and certainly our local grants are gonna uh grow as well.

So by the end of this year, um we believe we'll be at about 6,000 blocks of residential streets.

What we had committed to to our voters was that we would improve 70 percent or 5600 blocks, and again, we believe we'll far exceed that about 6,000 blocks.

We've secured currently 144 million dollars in state and federal grants.

Again, I think that will continue to grow.

I don't know the final number, but it'll be more than 144 million, and certainly more than the 90 million that we were hoping for.

Uh we've put out 77 projects, I checked this morning, it's actually 81 projects uh to our contracting committee.

This is important.

You know, um there were concerns that we would be kind of hoarding all this work, and that was never our plan, nor could we do that.

Uh but this is work that goes out to our contracting community that supports jobs.

We've inve uh every dollar we've invested has given us a large return, leveraged three dollars in total project value.

We developed strong relationships with environmental services, TPU developers, to come public schools, Parks Tacoma.

We partnered with all of them on different projects.

One that comes to mind is um Wilson, now Silas.

Uh we uh partnered with the school district when they were rebuilding that school to improve their streets.

They had a lot of half streets that they were gonna have to repave.

Um we did the same thing with Parks Tacoma, and we've done some other of the private development just at the street, St.

Helens, the developer uh was going to be building rebuilding half the street, and we partnered with them to rebuild the other half.

And so if I could make one point, it would be no more half streets.

Prior to this initiative, we were frankly had a lot of half-streets being developed or being reconstructed, and the reason being is um when Tacoma Water and Environmental Services who partner up on a lot of projects when they would reconstruct or their infrastructure, they're only required to rebuild typically half the street, especially on a residential street.

And the reason being is they're a rate-based utility.

Their job is not to repave our street system.

Um we just never, or shouldn't say never.

We rarely had the funding to partner with them so that we could do the other half of the street.

And so prior to the initiative, we actually had, I think it was over 20 blocks in North Tacoma that were reconstructed, and they were, you know, half the street was brand new, the other half street was uh nowhere near brand new.

Um and and you know, ideally we'd of course built their other half with them.

Um we just didn't have the resources, and frankly, you know, the committee doesn't understand that and doesn't realize that, and it's frustrating for them, and it's frustrating for us.

So we have not done that in the last 10 years.

We have been able to partner with them, construct the other half of the street, which I think is just a significant improvement uh of where we were before.

84% of the funds that we uh we've taken in has gone out to our contracted community.

Again, that supports local jobs.

And we passed every audit.

Uh no the money collected, all of it went to what was promised, none to the general fund or to other areas of need.

All of it, as promised, went to improving our street system.

Go ahead, Joe.

Yeah, thank you, Curtis.

Uh good afternoon, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Joe Franco.

I serve as special assistant to the public works director.

Before we talk about where we're going, uh I also want to ground us in what we've learned from both the original streets initiative and the 2025 proposal.

As a reminder, in 2015, voters approved the streets initiative with a 1.5 gross earnings tax and a 20 cent per 1,000 assessed value for a defined 10-year period.

That structure and that clarity set a strong foundation for delivery and accountability.

Through the 2025 effort, we heard several clear takeaways.

So, first, uh the proposed funding structure, which was the 2% gross earnings tax you see here on the screen, and the 25 cent per thousand assessed value for property tax.

Um uh, you know, given a lack of defined duration did not align with our community's expectations, uh, particularly given broader economic pressures across households.

Second, um, we found that awareness of the streets initiative and the projects delivered was lower than expected.

Um that told us that we need to do a better job clearly communicating outcomes and demonstrating value.

Uh third, we heard strong alignment on our uh community priorities.

Uh community wants us focused on the fundamentals, which are arterials, uh, safety, traffic calming, and improving connections across neighborhoods.

And we continue to see that work uh already delivered.

For example, projects like you see on the screen here, like the North Mullen Street uh show the type of neighborhood level improvements people value and want to see more of.

Importantly, we also heard that the levee development process itself matters.

Uh moving forward, that process needs to be grounded in community-oriented engagement, clear and accessible communication, and transparent decision making.

Um lastly, uh all this work is guided by our adopted city priorities, including Vision Zero, Safety Goals, the Climate Action Plan, the Transportation and Mobility Plan, and the City's Equity Index.

Together, these lessons set a foundation for a more focused and responsive approach.

Uh so with that in mind, I'll walk through how we're responding to those needs.

In response to what we've learned, we've been developing a framework that is more focused, more transparent, and more aligned with community priorities.

Across our engagement, we heard consistent themes, the need for safer streets, better maintenance, improved pavement conditions, and a system that works for everyone, whether people are driving, walking, biking, or taking transit.

That's reflected in the core investment areas shown here, which are safety improvements, maintenance and pavement preservation, multimodal access, and addressing our critical infrastructure gaps.

Uh these aren't abstract categories, they reflect real everyday experiences from deteriorating arterials to missing link sidewalks and unsafe crossings.

Uh the images on the slide highlight examples of that work from residential improvements like the Streets Initiative package on South Trafton Street to larger system connections like the Tacoma Spur Stadium ramps.

Together they represent the range of investments needed to keep the system functioning and improve access across the city.

Uh to ensure this framework stayed grounded in community priorities from the beginning.

Uh we established the community levy committee as an advisory committee.

So, more information about the community levy committee.

Uh, the levy committee played a central role in shaping our work.

Uh this is a 23-member committee that represents a broad cross section of Tacoma.

Uh this included labor, real estate, private business and construction, community-based organizations, and public partners like the Port of Tacoma, Park Tacoma, Tacoma Public Schools, and Pierce Transit.

It also includes voices representing accessibility and equity, such as disability rights advocates and organizations like the Asia Pacific Cultural Center.

Their role was to reflect community perspectives and ensure that we were incorporating considerations around access, opportunity, and belonging throughout the process.

They reviewed engagement input, validated key terms, and provided feedback on investment priorities and draft materials.

In addition to the committee, we've also been conducting and continuing to conduct targeted one-on-one conversations with key stakeholders.

This includes organizations like Safe Streets Campaign, our city commissions such as the Commission on Disabilities and the Bicycle and Ped U Pedestrian Advisory Group, as well as community partners like Degrees of Change, Cascade Bicycle Club, Disability Rights Washington, Hilltop Action Coalition, and Reach Tacoma, and many more.

Together, this helped ensure we were both hearing both broad community perspective and more detailed issue-specific input.

And that work was supported by a broader set of engagement efforts, as you can see here.

So we've uh taken a comprehensive and intentional approach to community engagement to help shape this proposal.

Um to gather both broad public input and deeper stakeholder informed perspectives, building on the feedback we received during the 2025 proposal.

That included targeted one-on-one conversations with advocacy groups, neighborhood leaders, transportation partners, and organizations representing historically underserved communities.

We also hosted a Connect Tacoma community listening session in an open house on April 2nd, a couple weeks ago, uh, which had strong participation with over 100 attendees and more than 120 comments collected.

That provided real-time feedback, was critical uh in helping us identify key themes and community priorities.

Curtis, was there okay?

In addition, we supported this work with ongoing digital engagement, coordinated communications, and upcoming website content to ensure information is accessible and reaches a broader audience.

Taken together, this represents a robust and thoughtful engagement effort.

The framework we're bringing forward today is directly informed by what we've heard from residents, stakeholders, and community partners across Tacoma.

So taken together, this reflects a more intentional, transparent, and community-driven approach built on what we've learned and grounded on what we've heard.

I'll turn it back over to Curtis.

Thanks, Joe.

So after lessons learned from 2025 levy, working with the community levy committee, receiving feedback from our town hall, one-on-one conversations and other feedback, we landed on what we're calling the Connect Tacoma, Safe Streets and Sidewalk Levy.

Summer of 2015, we ended up with a proposal proposed levy that combines, combined with grants and partnerships would raise approximately $320 million over the next 25 years or twenty ten years.

And again, similar to 2015, where we had three investment themes, those being residential street maintenance, arterials and freight, and mobility.

We now have better neighborhood streets, safer streets for everyone, and improved connections.

Better neighborhood streets will focus on enhancing the quality of our neighborhood streets and nearby places.

Safer streets for everyone will focus on improving our busiest streets and key arterials.

And improved connections will focus on providing easier access to transit, schools, parks, libraries, and neighborhood business districts.

The first theme, better neighborhood streets is similar to what we did in 2015 for residential street maintenance, but will allow us to do more than just maintain the residential streets.

As I said before, in 2015, our primary focus was residential street maintenance.

We committed to maintaining 5,600 blocks or 70% of our residential streets.

Because that's what we promised, that's what we did.

We didn't fill in missing link sidewalk, we didn't add traffic calming or any other safety measures.

We simply maintained as many residential streets as we could possibly do to meet or exceed our goal.

This levy will be different.

However, our first goal will remain the same.

Uh and it's maintaining residential streets.

After spending the last 10 years focusing on maintaining residential streets, it would be responsible to let that investment deteriorate over the next 10 years.

So what we did is we ran our payment management model.

We wanted to make sure we could maintain that investment over 10-year period and determine how much that would cost.

And that number is $85 million.

We believe $5 million would come from the uh the initiative and 10 million would come from partnerships.

But the main difference between the 2015 initiative and what is being proposed today is we would be adding traffic calming, sidewalk, and other safety improvements as necessary.

It wouldn't be just strictly about maintaining residential streets.

The focus will be ontaining improving residential streets to make them safer, calmer, and more accessible with better sidewalks, traffic calming, and safer routes for all ages.

The picture you see here is is really what fits in this category, and it's what we constructed as part of the 2015 initiative, but it will be similar to what we would do in the next initiative.

The the picture on top is what we call the Streets Initiative Package 32.

It's South 12th and Ferry Street looking from or toward looking south, excuse me, toward Peck Field.

It was eight blocks and it was completed in 2024.

And this was done in partnership with our LED program, Environment Services, and Parks Tacoma with their improvements to Peck Field.

The second project, the one on the bottom is A Street about halfway.

You're looking about halfway in between 84th and 96th Street.

It was 18 blocks and again completed in 2024.

This was led by environmental services in partnership with streets initiatives using grant from or grant money from Department of Ecology.

This was a green stormwater infrastructure project near Larchmont Elementary School that was constructed with permeable pavement and sidewalks along A Street.

It also incorporated the section improv intersection improvements out South 84th Street for a planned A Street bikeway, which will be constructed in the near future.

The second investment theme, Safer Streets for Everyone.

This is where the bulk of our resources will be focused.

This is again what similar to what we did in 2015, where we set aside 30 million for our Tierra and Freight, mostly for grant match.

The Connect Tacoma Safe Streets and Sidewalks Levy would set aside 85 million for grant match and other priority projects on our busiest streets and QR materials.

Our goal would be to leverage this money to receive another 74 million for a total investment of 159 million dollars.

These funds will be used to improve arterial streets that are vital for moving people, goods, and services.

These are the streets that connect neighborhoods, jobs, business, transit, parks, schools, and libraries.

And again, these are projects that would be similar in the next package.

The first one is streets initiative package 15.

This is East 34th Street at McKinley looking east.

It was 13 blocks and it was completed last year.

This project incorporated intersection improvements at 34th and McKinley added bike lane on the East 34th and made connections to pipeline trail.

The project at the bottom is East East 64th Street Phase 2.

This is East 64th at I Street looking west toward McKinley.

It was also completed in 2025.

This was the second phase of E64th Street from McKinley to Portland Avenue.

This was full reconstruction of 64th Street utility improvement sidewalk and protected bike lanes.

The third investment category is improved connections.

Again, similar to mobility in 2015.

These funds will be used primarily for grant match in hopes of generating another 36 million over the next 10 years for a total of 76 million dollars.

This is safer routes to schools, sidewalks, improved accessibility, and again improving connections to trails, transit, schools, parks, libraries, and our business districts.

It's making it easier for and safer for people to walk, bike and take transit while connecting neighborhoods to the places where people want to go.

The pictures you see here, it's water ditch trail phase three.

This is South Tacoma Way looking east towards the intersection of South M.

This project is actually nearing completion.

This is the third phase of the historic water dish trail connecting South Tacoma to downtown.

And the bottom picture is East 40th Street Green Stormwater Infrastructure Project.

This is East 40th Street Pipeline Trail.

East 40th Street was completed in 2018, and Pipeline Trail was completed in 2019.

This was two different projects.

The East 40th Street project was permeable pavement led by environmental services in partnership with Streets Initiative.

The project also installed a shared use path on East 40 connecting to Salishhan.

And then Pipeline Trail runs from East 48th Street to D Street overpass connecting the East Side to downtown Tacoma.

So what are we proposing today?

As I stated a few slides ago, we're hoping to raise about $320 million over the next 10 years.

$200 million of that would come from Connect Tacoma Safe Streets and Sidewalks Levy, 90 million in grants, and another 30 million in partnership contributions.

Excuse me.

What we are proposing is a property tax increase of 20 cents per thousand assessed value.

For an average home of just under 508,000, it would be an increase of $8.46 per month.

This is the same property tax increase voters approved in 2015 that has now been removed from the property taxes.

We're also proposing a 1.5% gross earnings tax on utilities.

This would cost the average rate payer an additional $1.97 a month.

This is again the same increase voters approved in 2015.

The total increase would be approximately $10.43 per month, all of which would be used for better neighborhood streets, safer streets for everyone, and improved connections as outlined in our three investment themes.

One thing I want to add before uh as well as the exemptions portion of this, uh seniors and people with disabilities who qualify under the existing property tax relief programs will be exempt from this property tax increase.

Thank you, Joe.

So in closing, after working with our community levy committee, gathering comments from our town hall, one-on-one conversations, additional outreach and conversations that we've had.

And using what we learned from 2025, tonight I'll be bringing to council proposal to go to the voters this August 4th in support of our Connect Tacoma Safe Streets and Sidewalks Levy for what we hope will be proposition one for funding transportation safety improvements.

We're happy to take any questions you might have.

Thank you, Curtis.

No one will ever be angry about a six-inch presentation, so thank you for that.

Um are there any council uh questions or comments on this presentation?

Deputy Mayor.

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

Um I've heard really loud and clear from a lot of folks across the community that um safe streets uh and missing connection sidewalks are very important.

Um I really appreciate um the prioritization of trying to finish those missing link sidewalks, as well as um safety improvements, particularly around our schools and other connection points, parks, and other places where uh you know young people and families and our elderly like to go in order to enjoy life.

Um and it's really important that everybody can get there safely from A to B.

Um I also really particularly appreciate that um the community panels, the the town halls, and the the levy committee to really understand and receive that feedback from the community.

Um and I see it really reflected here with this with this package.

Um one of the questions I had is um I just wanted to just reiterate the the 2015 assessments that uh were done are gonna be the same assessments uh for this proposition language, is that correct?

So so Deputy Mayor, you're correct.

So in 2015, uh we requested and and received a one and a half percent increase on gross readings tax on utilities, and we requested and received a 20 cents per thousand on property tax.

Um what we're not asking for, and this is council approved, I want to be transparent about this, is the transportation benefit district, the other proposition.

That was approved by council.

I'm not I think it was in 2024.

I was gone at that time.

Um so this is this is exactly what we we requested in the 2015 proposition.

Got it.

Thank you.

So um it's essentially a replacement for the that levy um that that's expired.

Um and it's the same assessment as last time, um, but with just a slight change in focus, because previously it was really about residential streets, because that's what we had heard at the time, and we had followed through on those obligations.

Um but we want to make sure that we're continuing to maintain those investments, uh, but then also find ways that we can connect neighborhoods better uh and improve our arterial streets, which have deteriorated over time, which I think we're all noticing.

No, you you're correct.

And I think it's important to know that that what we did is uh mentioned we we wanted to look back at the you know what it would take to just maintain what we've done on residential streets and the mood to need a little further because there's still work to be done, and that's really what set that original bucket of 84 million dollars.

And then we the remaining dollars we knew the focus needed to be on on our Terrier Street Network.

And so that's where that 50 percent of that went, and then the remaining went to the improved connections, which we think the the difference between this levy and the last one is again, we were very descriptive in where we could spend the resources.

And so when we were doing arturial projects, um we did not in a in some streets uh add different amenities like pedestrian crossings, um safety measures that were not included strictly in that project.

And so we were taking money or uh grants also from that other bucket of money for mobility uh to actually cover those costs.

We won't be doing it this year.

You know, when we or this time, when we are building a project under the arterial side, the safer streets for everyone, that'll be complete.

They will have all those amenities, accessibility, everything will be done.

That leaves that other, I'm gonna say bucket of money for improved connections, strictly for making those improvements.

You're talking about sidewalk, safety improvements, the things that get us to our business districts, to our parks, to our schools.

We'll be working again hard with schools on what their plan is with parks to make sure we're connecting to trails, the things where people want to go.

Yeah.

I I really appreciate that.

I one of the sentiments that I always have is if you're gonna go out there and do it, you do it right the first time.

And this is a really great philosophy that you go in there and you complete the street uh as it as it needs to be done.

Um I think it maximizes the impact on the local community um and really you know you may you might be able to not be able to go quite as far in lane miles, but I think having the right type of infrastructure um really is really important.

So I think thank you for that.

And I'd say that's a lesson learned as well.

Absolutely.

Um and then just uh one more kudos is the um and I'm hoping that we're as successful in leveraging these grant matches uh to leverage one to three uh dollars for every dollar that we spent as taxpayers in the city of Tacoma.

We more than doubled three dollars came back, and that really just kind of goes to show how really competitive uh the team has been at getting those grants and and being successful at them.

Um and it really um allowed us to be able to leverage those dollars to go further and do more uh with less, and so you're maximizing the taxpayer dollar.

Uh really appreciate that, and I'm really looking forward to that continuing uh if this passes.

And thank you, Deputy Marion, if I could comment please.

Um, I I think I've said before we were very aggressive at going after grants, um, and we've been incredibly successful.

We've learned a lot, and I think we'll we'll do better even now.

But I do want to point out something different too.

There are the last initiative enables us to do things that we've not been able to do in the past.

It sometimes there's projects that just aren't gonna be grant funded.

They just don't score well.

Uh Lincoln District was one of them, but we were able to use streets initiatives.

I'm I'm gonna explain that it was through a mixed sort mixed sources.

Uh this was general fund, REIT, LTGO bonds, utility contributions and streets initiative for a total of $8.9 million.

Um it enables to do those types of projects.

We have projects that we would still like to construct.

Doesn't mean it's not something we should construct.

And so there's projects that we want to we want to work on that this will enable, you know, hopefully to do some of those projects as well, even though they may not get grants for them.

Yeah, I think that's a really great point.

There's still a lot of well, a lot of really uh desperately needed road repair and and replacement all across the city that may not qualify for those grants, and having this bucket of money is going to be able to help us do those things that might not have otherwise happened.

Great.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

Councilmember Diaz.

Thank you.

Um I wanted to pick up, I think, probably right where Councilmember or Deputy Mayor Buschnell left off there around what wouldn't be funded.

Um slides 11 and 15, it they both talk about um better sidewalks.

And I know I hear a lot about the need for more sidewalks that just like connect existing sidewalks, but also the need for more curb cuts.

So I'm wondering if that is included in either of those sections, or if that's just something that we as a council and um yeah, as we as a council need to be thinking about how we're prioritizing in our budgets and public works going forward, regardless of whether or not this passes.

Um, because it is it's a it's a big thing that comes up a lot.

Yeah, thank you.

Um Council Diaz.

So I'm gonna say that that that's that's actually gonna be covered in both of those funding themes.

Um in particular ADA accessible uh accessibility.

We really must say it this way.

Um it's required, and I don't like saying that because it sounds like we don't want to do it.

Um, but it's required.

We're going to make those improvements.

I think the big difference is really the the missing link sidewalks.

Um in both those safe streets for everyone and improved connections, that's gonna be a lot of that work.

Excellent.

And then I'm sure that later on should this pass, there'll be um conversations or policy work that happens around how we prioritize which missing sidewalks come in.

I don't I don't know how the sausage is made there.

I don't know that I need to know that now, but I'm just assuming that will come later.

Um, in terms of I I don't know that there's a neighborhood in Tacoma that I haven't driven past or walked past or been in that doesn't have a missing sidewalk or missing curb cut or um things that were done that aren't up to now ADA code.

So I just think you know, different than what we had in 2015.

You know, we have vision zero, you know, we have Safe Ross to school plan.

Um, we want to further those.

We have um I think the ability now if this pass is to do a lot of that work.

But I I would say that in general what we want to do is is we want to focus on transit connections.

We want to focus on schools, libraries, parks.

Um we want to make it easier for people to get around this city and go to the places they want to go, access to business districts.

And so some of that will be missing link sidewalks, some of it will be sidewalks that are just damaged and need to be replaced.

And then you'll see some projects.

I think Sheridan was one, I apologize my memory just isn't what it used to be, where it was really a sidewalk project.

Um you'll see some of that as well.

That's really exciting.

Um I just want to none of that was a critique of what's before us or what we've done so far, but it's just really a reflecting the things that I hear in community or I hear in email is um folks talking about that.

So I just wanted to really kind of highlight how much that's really baked into here.

It's clear that it is, but I I wanted to really sort of put a bigger spotlight on it.

Um and then I did sort of wonder around, I think also both of those slides.

Um we have Safe Ross to school as a as an important um aspect of the work, multimodal options.

There have been folks um around town talking about how we talk about trees as a part of our infrastructure in our network, and some wondering um if you can talk about how that is also baked in there because we also have a state route safe route safe tree routes to school program that Tacoma Tree Foundation does.

So to what degree will some of that landscaping element be incorporated in the streets that are completed?

So it's it's gonna be a factor in in particular on the safe uh safe.

No, I forgot my second category.

Safer streets for everyone, I'm sorry.

Um we're gonna we're gonna follow the actually what the council has adopted.

You know, we're gonna be investing in trees in those projects.

On the residential streets, it's a little different.

It'll be a little more case by case.

It depends on how much room you know we'd have, but we want to we want to further our tree canopy.

Um and so as part of our projects, that's what we we plan to do.

Those dollars may come from other resources to support this.

I mean, this is primarily about streets, but when we're doing the the arterials, that's you know mandated by by a council action.

Yeah, and I think I guess what I want to highlight in there is maybe it'll unlock some opportunities to apply for new and different urban canopy grants as well as we're doing that work because we do have our tree canopy goal, and I think this really helps feed into that.

I think what it does is it allows um your urban forestry program to do more of their great work in partnership with us and it frees up their resources.

Yeah.

Super.

Um and then two just sort of technical questions I had for you.

I believe I'm reading slide seventeen right where it says the total is 320 million over 10 years.

So I read that to mean that this is a 10-year levy, so we'll um have a future council, probably none of us voting on something else different in 10 years, depending on where we're at on streets.

Um you're correct.

You know, Joe mentioned it earlier that one of the things we learned from the 2025 initiative was well a couple of important things.

One is perpetuity is a long time and people uh want us to be held accountable and and so that's why it's a ten year levy.

We also heard that uh I mean you hear me mention this last time we got together was you know, we just didn't do a good enough job of explaining the work we are doing and promoting the work we were doing, and and so our goal will be to to do that much better over the next 10 years, and that includes coming back to this council um probably every year and explain the work we did, how it falls into these investment themes, um, how much money we've received from grants and and all that work so that we can kind of continue that conversation year by year.

We want to be better at at letting people know what projects that are out on the street are actually street relate streets initiative related for this levy.

Um that's just stuff we've got to do better.

And I think then we'll come back and hopefully in ten years you know we'll have a better conversation.

Yeah, that's great.

And I think it also is helpful to have sort of almost like a capstone, right?

You finish it, you get a say, here's what we did in the 10 years.

So that helps inform what the next conversation will be because in 2015 there was a different conversation about what was needed versus what we're what's before us now.

So I think it's probably just a good way for the public to understand and uh for us as a department to adapt what we're doing to meet whatever the 2035 need is gonna be.

Yeah, I appreciate that.

Yes.

Um and then my other technical question is on this same slide it says that um seniors and folks with disabilities who qualify under existing property tax relief programs would be exempt.

Um I know that that's um a program that's administered by the county assessor.

I'm just wondering if that currently also applies to the existing streets levy, or if this is a new exemption that we'll be adding for the future.

I don't know the answer to that.

I'll have to get back with you.

Okay.

Seems like a great bonus if so, and if not, we're already doing right.

So you know, Joe.

Thank you.

I yeah, I I don't know, Councilmember.

I'm looking at the city attorney though to see if maybe he knows.

But uh if not, we will do our homework and get back to you.

Uh yeah, I just be if that is new, I think that would be a really exciting and important thing for us to highlight for folks.

Yeah, I know it was it was part of the 2025 package, but I don't know if 2015.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Diaz.

Councilmember Sidalga.

Oh, thank you.

Okay.

All right.

Councilmember Palmer, the artist formally knows.

Um thank you.

Uh you know, I've heard a couple of times where you said we heard, we heard, we heard, and I think that the work that your department has done is really shown that, and not just your department.

You know, we we know that other departments have been working hard to bring community along with the work.

You know, MCO is making these amazing videos that are highlighting the work that's been done over the last couple of years.

And so um just great job overall.

Um I did have a question about the ballot language, because we're using words like increase and additional, and and I'm wondering, you know, because this is really a replacement, it sounds like of you know, funds that are are already being people ever are already paying um into taxes, and so I'm I'm curious if if those are the the right words we want to use uh if it's giving the right impression to to folks.

I think it's a it's a great question, and and you know, one thing interesting about these propositions is ultimately you get about 13 words out of it to to use.

I think I will ask our city attorney if you want to elaborate on that.

Uh it's a good question, council member.

Um there are limitations in state law on what can be contained in a ballot title.

There are also word limits, and so we have to be very concise.

And it has to be factual information uh that's in the ballot title, and it's also subject to review and challenge, so we have to make sure that it meets statutory standards.

So we choose the words very carefully.

Um and remember the ballot title is not an advocacy statement.

It is a statement of what it would do if passed.

And it's not a statement of what exists now.

It's a statement of what this particular initiative will do.

And so we feel confident after reviewing the ballot title that it represents what state law requires.

And obviously anyone that is out campaigning for or against it can uh add to that statement.

This is what the limits are of what the city can do.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Council Hines.

My microphone over here.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

And thank you, Curtis and Joe.

I had a couple questions and just and then a couple comments.

So the first one is when we look back in 2015, we had the partner contribution set at 30 million dollars, but then when I see us looking at the 2026 version, we still set at 30 million dollars.

Is that just us being conservative about that?

Because I would imagine costs have gone up, projects have gone up.

I mean, we would expect maybe the partner contribution to grow and commensurate with the amount of investment required.

I think your example about Silas is a good one, right?

Which is we have schools being rebuilt, we have parks, facilities being rebuilt, we have port facilities being rebuilt, of which they have to contribute some cost to the infrastructure.

So I guess maybe why we landed on the 30 million dollars to the partner contribution.

Council Mr.

Hines, I mean uh if it's we're being I'm trying to not over sell.

Yeah.

Uh you know, I think that we will get more in partnership dollars.

Uh, but we are being conservative and we're being conservative as well in the 90 million.

You know, obviously we collected way more than 90 million in in grants.

Um, but we're being conservative.

Okay.

I that was just the one that jumped out at me that it it remained exactly the same between 2015 and 2026, though.

I know that a road doesn't cost the same to fix as it did 11 years ago.

So but to your point, we'll be building less as well.

You know, we won't be able to construct as much, and so we won't have as many opportunities to partner as well.

Okay.

Well, no, I I think that's good, and I think that's a great example of kind of how we continue to be good stewards of public funds, right?

So we're looking at not just how just our project or just our road project, but how we can partner with others to kind of build out the kind of full compliments of what people expect when their uh roads get rebuilt.

Uh the so that was just my one question.

My comments, though, I think would just be I appreciate all the broad community support that kind of went into this second round.

You know, um when the ballot didn't pass 2025, I think we definitely did some soul searching and kind of looked inside and said, okay, so what are we gonna do to bring this forward?

Because as I went through the community, as I know many of you went out in the community the last couple years, um, no one told me the roads are great in the city of Tacoma everywhere.

No one told me I've never missed hit a broken sidewalk in the city's coma.

No one told me every intersection feels safe.

Um everywhere I went, and I you know did that walk across the city back in 2024.

I mean, I heard from people all the time that said exactly what you all have identified.

There's too many missing link sidewalks, there's too many crossings where I don't feel safe for my kids like going off on their own and crossing them.

There's too many roads I drive down every day that are full of potholes that need to be rebuilt.

And we knew the first package wasn't going to fix all of them.

We knew there was still more left to be done.

So when it didn't pass in 2025, the question is like, well, what happened here, right?

Because the public has identified this need but didn't support it.

And I think what you all have done to really kind of dig in on that has been really good.

To kind of understand, you know, people want some accountability in the form of a sunset, that it's not a permanent levy, that people are concerned about increases when they feel like a maintenance will get them most of what they want to see, right?

Keeping the rate the same.

Um I think that looking into the public does want their roads fixed and repaved, but also they have a broader conception of what safety is and what they want to see.

So I just want to really appreciate the work you all did for the broader communication of community engagement.

And I know that's not just you and Joe and Curtis, it's a lot of people in this room that have done a lot to get us here.

So thank you for that.

Very much so.

Um I also just really think I appreciate the buckets of what you figured out here, and I just want to call real clear attention to the sidewalk conversation and kind of the multimodal how people move around the city.

You know, Councilmember Walker and I changed the transportation benefit district uh in 2025 when we updated the one-tenth one percent to dedicate 15 percent of those funds to sidewalks and you know, offside uh projects for multimodal um uh people moving around the city safer, not just in vehicles, uh, because we heard that from the public.

You know, they said we want to see more of these dollars go towards these sidewalk and you know, um not you know improvements, and so it's good to see that not only is that work going to be carried forward um through the transportation benefit district, but also through this, and I think that's really good.

Um I'm really excited about all that we're gonna do to kind of help make sure that's happening.

I also really like the improved connections.

And I think we have a lot of partners, schools, parks, port, peer's transit, of which Council Martin's and I think well with Council Walker tend to be board members, where we're really thinking about how do we not only get people down our streets, but how do we improve the connections in their lives?

Which is something I heard during the uh conversation uh when I did the walk across the city, which is people are not just looking for a road to be rebuilt, they're looking for a community to be restitched.

There is somebody's paying attention, write that one down.

Um, the importance of when you rebuild a road with the sidewalks, the crosswalks, all the safety improvements, you're not just bringing the you're not just fixing the road, you're rebuilding and restitching the community.

And I think that is something we should be thinking about when we connect Tacoma through safe streets and sidewalks is not just rebuilding roads, but recreating and restitching communities.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you.

Councilman Brombaugh, thank you.

And I just I want to thank Curtis and your team and um MCO and all the different departments that have really worked hard on figuring out what was the best route forward on this next um Connect Tacoma, which I think is a great name.

So I think the title really fits with what we're trying to do as a city.

Um I had a question that I didn't think about when we were meeting separately to talk about this.

Um it's more about when environmental services does like a stormwater project, and that's sort of the example that kind of sticks out for me is when they have to go rebuild the street and there's a sidewalk missing, or there should be street trees added.

Um is this gonna be but money that we can use for that, or is is that still gonna be separate?

And we're gonna have to work out like maybe look at policies of the city to see how we how we might fix things like that when those projects take place.

So so different than in 2015.

Uh this will definitely be used to fill those gaps.

Um that was uh a bit of a lesson learned, you know, and uh and a struggle for us is when environmental services was doing a lot of their work.

We were partnering partnering with them on the road piece, um, but we didn't set aside dollars really for that for what you're talking about, which is really missing link sidewalk or just sidewalk in general.

Um the money that we set aside for mobility was really for grant match.

We did a great job.

We we took 20 million and turned it into 55 million, but the missed opportunity was what you just talked about.

Yeah.

Um and that is specifically what we're changing in this initiative.

Okay, that is fabulous because I think that that was sort of a missing part for those contracts that we didn't think about that.

So thank you for addressing that.

And then just um I want to thank you so much for bringing our point way out.

We've had a lot of you know people from Northeast Tacoma concerned about that street, and I know it might not reach the same level as some of the other streets, like I always bring up Portland Avenue as one of the ones I think is the most important to fix, and it needs places for people to cross, and it needs a median, and it just needs everything to make it safe.

And so um it's not the same level, but it's still I I really feel like it's significant, and thank you for mentioning that.

Um I had one more question, but I will wait and ask you later.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Rumbaugh.

Curtis, I just want to sincerely express my appreciation for all the hard work that you, as well as the volunteers who have been part of this conversation have really put into this.

Uh this this has been an exercise in active listing.

It's no secret that this is an uh a core issue that so many people in our community care about, um, infrastructure, public safety, uh, and also just the economic development angle, too, of connecting neighborhoods, activating spaces, uh helping our small business community.

And for me at least, this isn't even just simply about streets or even just about being responsive to these chief concerns, it's about rebuilding trust and about showing that local government can be a force for actively responsively owning these issues and making people feel prouder of their city.

So just wanted to really give a big kudos uh for that.

A lot more conversation to happen.

Uh but thank you from the bottom of my heart and looking forward to uh continuing this conversation.

Any other comments or uh questions from the city council?

Curtis, any final comments?

No, I appreciate your time.

Thank you.

All right, very good.

Well, this uh conversation will be something we discussed tonight.

And with that, thank you very much for this presentation.

Thank you.

All right, with that, we're moving on to other items of interest.

Are there any other items of interest from the city council?

Seeing none.

Are there any committee reports to share from the council?

So I have one uh myself.

Um myself and uh Councilmember Sidalga actually represented the uh the uh city of Tacoma over overseas.

Um we were um we were part of a delegation representing the city of Tacoma, the Port of Tacoma, our sister cities delegation, and uh other community partners uh representing Tacoma in China, which uh we have one sister city, the city of Fuzhou, and uh three other friendship cities as well.

The purpose of our trip was commemorating the 55-year anniversary of Ping Pong diplomacy, which began the normalization process between China and the United States in Beijing, uh, as well as um working with uh very important stakeholder groups like uh some of our major port trading partners, as China is uh roughly 50 percent of all of our imports and exports at the port of Tacoma.

So we uh a lot of this was the basis of future economic development and trade conversations, as well as just people's hunger for normal outcome-based uh results-focused uh communications just in the wake of all the uh international dysfunction that we're seeing right now.

So it's good to have some cooler heads talking about things that really matter, like jobs, the economy, uh, and sharing stories of innovation.

Um that I think that was a very productive uh ten days that we spent.

I'm still quite jet jet-lagged, but um the work must go on, and I think it was a very good use of our time.

Uh Councilmember Sidalga, is there anything you'd like to share?

Sure, thank you, Mayor.

Um Yeah, it was an eye-opening um trip uh to go through four different cities and several different jurisdictions actually when we were in these cities uh all over China.

Um but what I also want to uh emphasize and something that was really meaningful for me was to be on this journey with Lincoln High School, who was also there.

Um they were doing um uh uh a flag football um um kind of tour uh with the girls team that won, actually, and and the boys team was there.

Um that was really meaningful for me because it's really it's really important that people connect with one another around the world.

You know, there's a lot that goes on on high levels.

I mean, we're the lowest level of government, right?

But government levels and the levels in which people live, you know, they're different.

And to have connections that are forged.

Um realize the people wherever they live are generally um the same.

Um we shared a lot of stories with our counterparts over there and understood that their fears and desires are similar to ours, and they were proud of their uh uh what they've done and welcomed um you know input from us.

Uh also to see the name Lincoln High School in uh print in uh more than one museum area uh because it is actually relatively well known.

Um was amazing to see our students uh represent us.

Um I was really quite proud.

Um so that was that was a key takeaway that I was uh really keen on.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Scott.

Okay.

All right, very good.

Okay.

Just working with this new normal.

Okay, very good.

Uh seeing no further no further committee reports.

Uh I'd like to call on the uh deputy city manager Alison Griffiths to begin the city manager's weekly report.

Thank you, Mayor, Mayor and Council, for your awareness on this evening's meeting.

There are three proclamations.

The first is proclaiming April 13th through 17th as Black Walnut Week.

The second is proclaiming April 12th through 18th as Cambodian Genocide Awareness Remembrance Week.

And the last is declaring April 2026 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

There are no modifications to tonight's agenda.

There are two opportunities for the public to provide input to you this evening.

The first is under regular public comment, which of course is regarding motions, resolutions, and ordinances on this evening's agenda, and the second is community forum, where speakers may discuss items over which the city council has jurisdiction.

Um please let us know if there's any questions ahead of tonight's meeting so we can set everyone up for success, and finally attach to the study of study session agenda is the weekly report to council.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Deputy City Manager.

Um I'll now entertain a motion to convene to an executive session pursuant to RCW 42.30.110 section 1G to review the performance of a public employee not to exceed 30 minutes.

So moved.

Second.

Move and second.

All those in favor to convene to an executive session, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Those opposed to say nay.

Motion is declared adopted.