I'd like to call to order the city council study session of May 5th, 2026.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Deputy Mayor Bushnell.

President.

Councilmember Diaz?

Here.

Councilmember Heinz.

Councilmember Palmer.

Councilmember Rumba.

Here.

Councilmember Sidalgay.

Here.

Councilmember Scott.

Councilmember Walker.

Mayor Ibsen.

Here.

Welcome.

Our first agenda item is our 2025 Climate Action Plan Progress Report.

I'd like to call on the Center for Strategic Priorities Director, Jacques Cologne to begin the presentation.

Welcome.

Thank you, Mayor, and good afternoon.

Uh Mayor, Deputy Mayor Bushnell and members of Council.

We come to you today with an update on our climate action plan.

But before we jump into the actual progress, I do want to take a step back and mention a couple of things.

The first of which is the fact that right now across our city, the impacts of climate change are already being felt.

In fact, just last week a new fence had to be put up on Rust and Way by Cummings Park because sea level rise has been undercutting the sidewalk there, forcing infrastructure collapse.

And so we're already seeing the impacts very much real and presently in our community.

In addition, we're seeing extreme heat days increase in our city, and we know from studies that the urban heat island effect that we have in our city can produce as much as a 14-degree difference between neighborhoods.

So even those extreme heat days that feel hot in some neighborhoods, they may even feel hotter in other neighborhoods, depending on what kind of tree canopy they have and other factors like that.

And then finally, wildfire smoke is also continuing to get worse, and we're having more days of it.

And this is particularly important for our vulnerable populations like children with asthma, people that might be susceptible to heart attacks, like the elderly, or folks that are living outside.

So these impacts are very clear and present.

And those risks will continue to increase.

One of the things that we hear in the climate world is that this is probably going to be the coolest year that we will ever experience again.

And so these are the impacts that we will not only see this year, but what we will continue to see becoming greater risks in future years as well.

I do want to say though that the city continues to lead on these efforts through the climate action plan and all of the actions within it.

We also see that reflected in the values of the city.

You all are aware that we recently passed a new 10-year strategic plan, Tacoma 2035, and this work is reflected not just in the goal area of climate and environment, but also in the values of the city as represented by resilience.

Understanding that for us to be effective in leading the city forward, we also have to make sure that we are building a city that is resilient to these climate impacts over time.

So thank you for sharing that.

And with that, um pass it to Christy Lynette, who leads our Office of Environmental Policy and Sustainability to talk you through our progress report.

Christie.

Next slide, please.

So what I'm going to do today is um really just briefly again reminder of what the climate action plan is, and then talk about some of the highlights of our our 2030 indicators, our targets and progress, uh walk through some success stories from last year, and then briefly um mention some next steps.

Next slide.

Great, all right.

So uh as a reminder, the city of Tacoma's had a climate action plan for almost 20 years.

We're currently working on our third plan that was originally adopted in 2021.

Uh, for many of you, you might remember that we uh had an update last summer where we um updated the actions.

We have now short-term actions, so actions that we're measuring and hoping to complete between 2025, 26, 27, and that's what I'll mainly be focused on today.

But then we also um included some longer term actions, some department and supporting actions in that plan update last year.

We're continuing to measure the 2030 indicator targets that we have since 2021.

And as Jacques mentioned, we're really again focused on uh these three primary um climate impacts of sea level rise, air pollution, and heat.

Want to make one other note on this slide too.

While it's a climate action plan, it's really about a better and more just Tacoma.

And so it's really about actions that we and our partners can take to improve safety, health, access and opportunity and housing.

And it's really just through that climate lens that we're doing this work.

But you know, climate, you can't really even see it, but you can see these other things about improvements in jobs and emergency preparedness.

Next slide.

All right.

A brief context setting for where we're at with our Tacoma's climate pollution.

That chart on the left there is where our Tacoma's emissions, where they've been in the past, where they could be in the future, and our goals.

So I'll just orient you a little bit there.

We have been doing greenhouse gas inventories for our community for many years.

We usually do them every four or five years.

That we are below our low carbon goal.

So we have a goal of 2050 to reach net zero emissions, which is in alignment with the state and the county and many other jurisdictions.

And we're really on track with that goal.

We had quite a bit of a dip during the COVID years, you know, where a lot of our economy also slowed down, and so did our carbon emissions.

So we're still on a pretty good uh trajectory.

Where our emissions come from as a city are primarily transportation sector, which again is where they've kind of always been and are in alignment with statewide where emissions come from, followed by our buildings, including industrial, commercial, and residential.

You can see that very small slice at the top of that pie chart is municipal, and that's really our own employee commuting, our own fleet, our own buildings.

It's less than one percent of our community-wide emissions, but it is important that we show that the city is taking leadership in our own operations.

Finally, I'll just note that we've got this kind of shadow consumption bar.

Why we can't measure the goods and products that aren't made here in Tacoma.

So if you're buying strawberries from California or shoes from China, those places account for those emissions, but our demand for them creates an impact.

So if we were looking at Tacoma's consumption of goods, our carbon pollution would about double.

So it's importance certainly, but we can't necessarily measure it directly.

Next slide.

All right, so uh the 2025 um action progress.

So again, um we're measuring uh annually actions or progress on our short-term actions, which we reduce those down to just 23 short-term actions, and again, we're measuring them from 2025 to 2027.

And I have to say, in that sour in our first year of working on these new actions, had um really good progress, with the vast majority of those actions having some or good progress.

So, off to off to a fast start, I would say.

Next slide.

All these actions and indicators are categorized under these eight different objectives, and the next few slides is where I'm really gonna go into sharing a 2030 indicator progress for each one of these, and then a success story from last year as well.

Next slide.

All right, so this is uh mobility and land use.

Um our bicycle infrastructure continues to creep up, although not quite at the pace to hit our aspirational 2030 targets.

Uh certainly hopeful that if the streets initiative uh passes that we'll have continued funding to prioritize uh building out that bicycle network that we we really hope to have by 2040.

Also, also just mentioned that our electric vehicles, we are on target there, which is really great news.

We have the last uh the last year or so.

So we certainly can't keep our our foot off the pedal there, but um are on a good trajectory.

I'll make a note about this the success story that last year we received a Department of Ecology grant using Climate Commitment Act dollars, and we're able to join forces with the states in conducting an e-bike rebate program.

And so we were able to uh help provide over 400 Tacomans with an e-bike last summer.

This was with our own grant funds as and then the statewide program.

Uh folks were able to get either a $300 or $1,200 rebates on an e-bike purchase within the state, but we also paired that here locally with training and safety equipment, and you can see some of those participants there.

We'll note that it's exciting that the state is relaunching their e-bike rebate program.

So anyone can register very quickly online, and they're gonna be doing monthly drawings for the next year.

So if you or any friends or family or neighbors are interested, that program is still available.

Next slide.

Great natural systems and local food.

Again, we are headed in the right direction on our tree planting and care in high heat neighborhoods, although maybe not again quite at the pace to hit that aspirational target.

I hope that many of you have heard that when we've last when we did our tree canopy inventory from 2017 to 2023.

We've actually seen an increase in our tree canopy coverage by one percentage point citywide, but most notably our tree canopy increase two to four percent in some of those high heat neighborhoods where we really have prioritized active tree planting and community partnerships.

So we're really seeing the efforts bear out where we've put intentional attention into those low opportunity, high heat neighborhoods.

Next slide.

We've had some really great partnerships with Tacoma Power on buildings and energy, especially with some grant programs that we've received last year to get more heat pumps into homes and do electrification assessments for natural gas customers so they can really see what kind of opportunities would exist if they made it made that fuel switch from uh fossil fuels into heat pumps and electricity.

So again, we were able to conduct energy audits at those homes and provide them personalized assessments on what they can do to take that next step.

Great next slide.

Uh green green economy.

We're making really great progress on EnvironStar businesses, and so I would again encourage any of you if you can certainly go to the EnviroSTARS website and find there's a map and find all the EnvironStar businesses in Tacoma.

If you have a favorite business, you can encourage them to sign up and apply.

It's a pretty easy application, and uh there's lots of recognition recognition that comes with being an environment business.

Community and economic development has really stepped up with a variety of programs, including one where they relaunched a green business uh tour and networking program.

And so this picture here is of one of the tours that they hosted last year at Nocturne Apartments on the Sixth Avenue.

It's the city's first multifamily passive house apartment complex.

And one of the things that really struck me on that site visit is that their electric bills are about five dollars a month in those apartments.

Yeah, pretty remarkable.

Next slide.

Consumption and material management, we're uh slowly making progress citywide on uh per capita waste generation, right?

We want to get that people producing less pounds of waste that ends up in our landfill.

One of the initiatives undertaken last year by the Solid Waste Departments was Beyond the Bend.

Hopefully many of you are aware of that program.

They hosted eight donation programs at the transfer the recycle and transfer center last year, and we're able to divert over 16,000 pounds of gently used furniture and household appliances.

And they are going to be doing more of those events this year as well.

Next slide.

Yeah, climate adaptation.

Again, not something that we were necessarily focused on 10 or 15 years ago, but as Jacques mentioned, we're seeing more of these impacts and really needing to help protect and prepare our community for these changes.

So last year, again, excuse me, through another grant, we received funds to purchase over 200 air purifiers that we distributed at over a dozen community events, including this one here at the Korean Women's Association.

And then one project, again, mostly grant-funded, is the Commensement Bay Restoration Resilience Master Plan.

That's quite a mouthful, but it's a really great partnership between the port, the Piallop Tribe of Indians, Parks Tacoma, the County, Pewda Sound Institute, and many others.

We've got a really outstanding steering committee and a great technical consultant team who are developing this plan that'll be completed by the end of this year that not only is kind of prioritizing Baywide issues and solutions and opportunities, but also doing some conceptual design work for some pilot sites throughout the bay that we hope that we're setting those up for near-term grant applications for implementation, including along Rust and Way where we've had that sidewalk issue.

Next slide.

All right, city leading by example.

We've actually, I'm really proud of the actions that the city took last year in particular on reducing our own carbon footprint here as a city.

So you can see in that chart there that we are almost at our 2030 target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from our fleet.

This is due to a variety of factors across many departments, including uh TPU that includes increased fuel-efficient vehicles, more electric vehicles, and the fuels that were burning.

So one example is that solid waste switch from using compressed natural gas in the garbage trucks to re using renewable natural gas, eliminating tons and tons of carbon but also saving dollars.

They were able to save about 200,000 last year with that fuel switch.

Our fleet have also had a great reduction, not this steep, but I think over 20% reduction in our facility emissions over the last five years as well.

Alright, yeah, next slide.

Governance engagement.

We've uh really been able to help support community groups on their own climate equity and uh sustainability programs, and so this dollar amount here, almost 2.5 million dollars cumulative in the last five years, is from a whole variety of projects that were supporting community groups, everything from Tacoma Creates organizations to make a splash grantees, sustainability grants, and other programs, leveraging our dollars with that community work as well.

And then finally on that graph there, employees trained, right?

We're wanting to educate the community, we're also wanting to educate our own staff as well around what they can do both at work and at home in their communities.

So we've got an online orientation, sustainability orientation training that all employees are able to take asynchronously on their own time, and um uh Tacoma Public Utilities uh has uh had a uh many over a thousand staff take that training last year.

So uh thank you to TPU for that.

I mentioned the pictures here.

We've got a variety of tree planting um programs.

This one happens to be our branch out uh volunteers last year, where they were really targeting some of those again high heat uh low opportunity neighborhoods and really a focused on using the language ambassador and and trusted neighborhood leaders in those communities to get the word out and get get volunteers able to help them plant those trees in their yards and in their right-of-ways.

All right, finally, last slide here, some of the next steps into the four four Ps.

So I'll just briefly mention the programming.

We're gonna continue uh across the city.

Again, this is a citywide plan, it's not a sustainability office plan to continue to look for opportunities to implement those climate action plan actions.

Um it would be obviously wonderful if in two years we were 100% successful in completion of all those actions.

And then you through uh study sessions and then council committees will continue to hear updates on uh progress on those individual initiatives policies and programs.

Uh policy P.

As you know, this is a budget year, and so an opportunity to certainly look for to look at our proposed budget through that climate equity lens.

And so I would just encourage staff and and you all to be thinking about that when you see uh budget proposals coming forward.

Partnerships.

We certainly cannot do this alone as a city.

We have to have community partnerships.

Uh residents, community groups, businesses, everyone pitching in, and so much of our work is doing that engagement with other partners, both here in Tacoma and then regionally as well.

So our office and staff are constantly partnering with different groups to leverage each other to make this work more successful.

One example of that was the Sustainability Expo this past Saturday.

UWT stepped up to run that event this year because our staffing was decreased last year.

Um we asked them if they could take more of a leadership role in that, and they said yes.

So it was a great event, had some really wonderful interactions with the community, and a beautiful uh part of downtown Tacoma on the Prairie Line Trail.

And then finally, uh platform.

This one is uh a little bit special and timely right now.

Is this the state building code council um receives updated proposals for the state building code only every three years?

And there are some draft building codes that could certainly really advance decarbonization and efficiency efforts statewide, and so the state building co council is going to be taking public comment on those draft proposals starting next month, so quite timely for Tacoma to as an opportunity to weigh in on statewide codes that will help advance our work here for new construction.

So that's the end of my slides.

I'm certainly happy to take any questions or comments you have.

I again I'm I'm quite um pleased at the progress that our city and our partners were able to make last year.

We can't, I think, take it for granted the work that we're doing.

We need to keep focused on it and look for those opportunities even when dollars get scarce.

Um everyone's looking for more opportunities to partner when that happens, and so again, if if you hear of opportunities, please let us know as well.

But happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kristen.

Uh, start with Councilmember Rumbaugh.

Um, thank you.

And I want to thank you so much for this report, and I really like the way you showed your measurables, and that was really great.

I just want to call out all the work that you do as a staff person to help support the alliance for Sustainable climate action.

And we didn't really mention that, but it's a regional organized like a regional group of electeds who meet with staff to talk about um object how to move forward a climate action plan.

And I just we wouldn't be able to do it without you.

And uh we are better together if we do this work, and it's been shown that like you know, climate action, these climate um things don't have borders.

They happen, you know, over every part of Pierce County.

And so I'm really excited that we have Pierce County as a partner and they're really involved in this.

And I also want to just call out the state for what they're doing as well for getting their climate action plan done, which was and passed, and that's incredible.

But I just I um I don't really have anything that I want to ask.

I just want to say thank you so much for the work you do, and um I just I look forward to doing more of it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Scott.

Yeah.

I knew I was gonna take a bite of food as soon as my name was called.

Um so forgive me for that.

I just had a couple questions.

Thank you for the presentation.

Um so the action items, are those all based on the the 2030 indicator targets?

They're tied in with them.

Again, sometimes the indicator targets are indicators um of progress, so they certainly are tied in.

You can see more in that the documents, the longer one that you have there in front of you, is that actual progress report, and you can see more how those are tied together.

And then obviously, 2030 is closer than it was a while ago.

Um, so how I imagine like some things are kind of adjusted as as more information comes in, but it is there a plan to like I guess what's the process like when we get to 2030 or shortly before?

How do we decide or where does that information come from to kind of look at those indicators and see what might need to be adjusted?

Yeah, that's a great question.

Um so uh again, we're kind of doing these mini updates every three years with new actions, keeping those indicators for the 10 years, and so we'll probably do a bit of a bigger update with more um focused internal engagement and external engagement, probably starting a year or two out of that.

And so we still have a couple years until that, but we're certainly kind of in the background of our minds thinking ahead what that might look like and looking to see are those indicators still relevant, um, and do we need to add delete, modify those?

Yeah.

Awesome.

Thank you.

I just wanted to make sure I had an understanding of that process.

I appreciate those are all my questions.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Councilmember Sidalga.

Uh thank you, Mayor, and thank you both for for doing this present um today.

It's really important to talk about how we we take this into account as we do policy.

So I have a couple of comments, um, and then I do have an actual question for you.

Uh you know, one of the ways I saw it, um, you know, our ethos of taking climate into consideration would be something like uh home and coma, right?

Um, in a world in which we want to get denser, um, it is a better uh sustainable choice to build new buildings with modern codes um that replace old 1920s or older buildings that are very inefficient, right?

And to do that with an eye towards responsibility with some minimums on trees and other sort of uh uh consideration things that we never really you know um considered.

And and I want to point this out because we do have often uh uh people who who complain, let's say, or detractors that are like, well, in the 50s, this wasn't a problem.

Well, yeah, we had a lot of other problems in the 50s that we're trying to take advantage of uh or not uh not repeat today.

Uh a couple of things um if you'd already covered them, I I apologize.

You know, we as a city in some ways, you know, e have in the past economically benefited from uh having green electricity, for example, TPU, uh often uh we will have a net positive revenue on selling electricity because we have green electricity um uh uh through dams, and we've you know invested in a lot in in fist path fish passage to really reactivate those streams.

Um to places like California that are that are buying those credits, and we are seeing um you know we're already seeing how climate is affecting that with low uh snowfall totals and obviously if you have low slowfall totals you have less access electricity to sell that helps our surrounding areas so I just wanted to point out that we as a city and as a utility are assisting other municipalities who are more reliant on fossil fuels when we have that excess capacity to not use those extra those sources that are more polluting if they can get it from us and if we have those excess like excess capacity.

And unfortunately you know at least in this year it looks like our excess capacity is very low because of low snowfall.

The question I kind of wanted to ask was if I recall in a previous year I don't even know what year it is anymore I feel like there was a statement or or a conclusion that you know really on the on the short medium term uh horizon uh dollar for dollar really the most impactful thing we can do for our carbon emissions is around the world of transportation is that still true this year yes definitely yep so it's the number one source of emissions is our transportation here in Tacoma.

Got it and the reason I bring this up for the rest of my council is this is a world in which several policy positions and several advocacy kind of go hand in hand.

We have been talking about getting light rail down here.

Light rail is a conduit to reduce many trip miles to something a lot more sustainable especially since we have such a large workforce that has to just have to drive you know in my district 82% said they have to drive to get to work and I'm also proud of the fact that 15% say they use an HOV lane so they're at least trying to be responsible but this is about like every mile that changes from a regular gasoline car to one that is either a hybrid electric uh electric bike or regular bike or uh a bus is is a trip that actually has a net benefit for us environmentally so that's still true and that's still true I guess for the foreseeable future I think it will be yeah what you know I think we'll see what electrification does in our transportation sector over the next 10 years but I would imagine that over that time frame transportation will still be kind of the number one priority.

Great thank you I wish I'd remembered this when I was writing my some of my uh statements around why we need to have the uh sound transit come down here um appreciate it thank you.

Thank you customer palmer thank you mayor uh thank you for this presentation I have to say I'm a huge I think you guys know I'm a huge fan of how you how you track the goals and where we're at in in comparison to those goals.

So thank you I think this is like a a huge an an example for I wish we could have it in all of our departments.

I couple or maybe just one major question.

So I know that there's like there's some areas where we're doing fantastic right we're meeting or even above the goal and I'm looking at that green line going crazy right um but there's other places where we're not doing so hot and so I'm wondering is that something that I mean I know there's dollars that come out for different things as far as grants and I'm sure that has something to do with it.

Is there also a possi or an opportunity to say hey we're gonna focus in on this one a little more because we've been focused in over here and we're great.

I I always think there's one of the things that we do with this is you know reflect on where are we not maybe making as much progress you know sometimes some of those grants they couldn't necessarily they have to go right towards a certain type of project or program but um I think always looking to be a little bit more creative around that and again looking for those partnership opportunities.

So and maybe it's not the city putting in electric charging stations, but maybe it's more working with businesses on that front, and that there are grants available even for businesses.

So I think it is an opportunity to really look at all right.

Let's celebrate the successes, but let's focus in on where we need to put some more attention and resourcing, even if it's from other other partners.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Walker.

Um thank you, Mayor.

And um, I don't think I have much to add that others haven't already said, but love the way you all track progress.

Um are we putting this out on the internets and the social medias and all that?

Yeah, it is out on our website.

We also have uh a dashboard, a tableau dashboard that also um accompanies the progress report as well.

Yep.

And a press release went out.

Oh, that's right.

Good.

I didn't know.

We're anticipating that.

Yeah, we're a little late in this presentation in terms of the um the progress report went on our website on Earth Day on the 22nd.

Oh, cool.

Okay.

Um, well, just yeah, reiterating.

I mean, obviously, the progress itself is the most important thing, but I think the communicating it to the public is so important, and this is so great to see.

And I really appreciate um the highlighting of all the partners because I do know we don't do this in a silo.

Um I also um wanted to appreciate that your opening slide on the you know, sort of areas of focus and how it touches everything we do, and I think you've already heard it's kind of gotten the wheels turning for all of us in terms of how we tie this in.

And my hope is that, and I think we're getting there, is that this the climate work that we do as a city becomes as um part of our language as the equity index, and I think we've made progress.

I don't think we're quite there yet, but um, I think this helps.

So thank you for getting it out there and coming to present and taking the time to put this all together.

It's great.

Thank you, Consumer Hines.

Oh, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh, and thank you for the presentation.

I won't believe in my points by just saying that you're probably good work, and I really like kind of the focus on some clear metrics that have some real leverage, recognize the whole climate action plant still exists.

We're still tracking everything, but I think this has been a good presentation.

Um, I know this has been a good presentation, I shouldn't say I think.

Uh my question was when it says decrease per capital waste generation by 14%.

Is recycling or reuse counted in that, or are we looking for people to decrease their can their waste generation in irrespective of recycling too?

Right.

So I think we're that one is in particular what ends up going to the landfill.

So we'd certainly, you know, want it diverted, but it could also be diverted by not buying those things in the first place so they wouldn't end up in any other bin.

Yeah, okay.

So the target is either recycled or don't do it in the first place, or is it just like overall consumption?

I guess I'd say like yeah, the target is a good thing.

Is there the goal to get me not to buy soda cans, or is the goal that my soda cans end up in the recycle bin and not the trash can?

Correct.

So this is really about tons or you know, pounds in the garbage that's what we want to reduce.

Perfect.

Well, I think that's great, and I'm happy to see other ways we can help uh make sure we keep things out of the landfill.

So thank you.

Thank you so much for your presentation, and it looks like uh Council Member Palmer.

Sorry, another question.

I just reminded jogging dog my memory about our styrofoam recycler that we are.

That's fantastic.

It's hot news, boy.

I'm so excited.

So many people excited about that.

How did that come to be?

And how can we how can we continue this to uh get more things that we can recycle?

You know, I I don't know the specifics on it other than I know that we haven't had one for four for about four years.

I think it was the machinery, but I'm not positive that um it might be really niche, I would imagine.

Um, but there is a recycler, I think in Kent is what I was told that now takes that.

So, yeah, it is exciting news.

I I think normal services has some social media posts on it.

Um yeah, it feels like they've been doing a good job getting the word out.

Thank you, Councilmember Rumba.

Oh, can I say thank you, Mayor?

Can I just want to say one more thing?

Um, based on this the styrofoam machine is really great.

But um, I also think like as as we start to try to find ways to have things not go to the landfill.

I mean, really um promoting the other choices that people have there to recycle different types of plastics.

I think that that's I know there's people when I got when I went outdoor bellying who talk a lot about that, but I think that that's really that promotional part of getting to what council member Heinz was talking about.

So I'm totally all about that.

If we can get away from plastics, that would help a lot with the landfill.

Thank you.

There is a survey that's out right now, I think through the end of the year that Solid Voice is conducting, and we can make sure to get the link out to you all that's asking folks what additional items would they want to be able to recycle.

So we can follow with that link for you.

Very good.

Any other questions or comments?

All right, Cynan, thank you so much.

This is incredibly loudable work, and we're really excited to hear more.

Thank you very much.

All right, thank you both.

Moving on to our second topic, our second agenda item is automated enforcement expansion briefing.

I'd like to call on public works transportation planner Kerry Wilhelm to begin the presentation.

Carrie is also joined by uh Curtis King Solver and Eric Hughesby.

Good afternoon.

Do we control it?

Wow, yes.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Deputy Mayor.

Members of the council.

Again, I'm Curtis King Solver with Public Works.

To my left is Kerry Wilhelm, and to her left is Eric Husby.

Um we are here today to give you a brief update on our automated enforcement camera expansion.

Um, just for uh frame of reference, we began installing cameras back in 2008.

We currently have, and that was under kind of prior legislation.

Um, that legislation has changed.

Um we currently have nine red light cameras, we have four schools-on cameras that's at two different schools, Downing Elementary and Stewart, so each direction for those schools.

Then we have one at uh speed camera at Bay Street.

Um, I think at the time that was installed, there was actually approval statewide only for two cameras.

The other one was in Spokane.

Um, just for again for a frame of reference, the the Bay Street camera prior to its installation had about 24 accidents per year.

Umce installation, it's between two and four, just to kind of give you an idea of the behavioral change that occurs with some of this installation.

So I want to turn it over to Carrie right now.

Um, she'll kind of go over the highlights of our expansion, and we're happy to answer questions afterwards.

All right, get set up.

Thank you.

Mayor, deputy mayor, members of council.

Thank you so much for providing us this opportunity to give an update on our work to expand the use of automated enforcement cameras.

Um, sorry, it's next slide.

I didn't know if I used this.

Okay, thank you.

Uh for today's presentation, I'll briefly go into the background and then walk through the methodology we use to select the first phase locations, and then I'll conclude with the next steps in our expansion process.

And I'll try to be brief, but there's a lot to say about automated enforcement.

Next slide.

Is Curtis mentioned Tacoma has had an automated enforcement program in place since 2008, but we were very limited of where we could place those cameras, mainly in school zones or at arterial intersections for the red light cameras.

That changed in 2024 when the state law expanded where speed cameras could be placed.

Uh they could now be placed in front of parks, hospitals, and along high speed, high crash corridors.

The update to the state law also added stronger equity and transparency requirements, including how the revenue can be used, which I'll talk uh about later.

What we need to report out annually to enhance transparency, and then after four years, 25% of that revenue must be given back to the state or given to the state.

This was included as an incentive for cities to eventually remove or move the cameras.

Kind of the stick, I should say, next slide.

With the legislative changes, Tacoma saw an opportunity to expand automated enforcement to support um our vision zero goals.

Recognizing this is a controversial and sensitive topic.

Public works engaged the community to understand how expansion could occur and to hear the concerns early so that we could try to address them up front.

In early 2025, Public Works convened a task force made up of Tacoma residents with district wide representation, along with staff from public works, the Tacoma Police Department, and the Office of Equity and Human Rights.

The purpose of the task force was to advise on the best approach to expanding the automated enforcement program.

Over the course of seven meetings, the task force ultimately recommended a data-driven approach to site selection with a recommendation to first focus on where fatal and serious injury crashes are occurring in alignment with Vision Zero.

The task force also stressed the importance of reinvesting any revenue back into communities where the camera is located, and the need for transparency and continuous outreach and education to support equity and gain trust in the program.

The guidance from the task force was foundational to the methodology I'm about to present and will continue to inform how the program proceeds during expansion.

Next slide.

Automated enforcement will be deployed where objective data demonstrates a safety concern.

Site selection will include consideration of community impacts and equity outcomes.

The purpose of automated enforcement is to advance public safety, not to generate revenue.

Investment in street design.

Revenue from automated enforcement will be reinvested into traffic safety projects.

The program serves as a reactive tool to support safer streets and will be paired with long-term roadway design and traffic and calming improvements, transparency and continuous improvement.

The city will collect and share data so the community understands how automated enforcement is working and how revenue is used.

Through ongoing dialogue and feedback, the program will adapt and approve strengthening accountability, building trust, and creating safer streets.

And finally, for education and awareness, the program will be supported by clear signage and strong public outreach so the community understands where and why cameras are installed.

Next slide.

As Curtis noted, sorry, Tacoma currently has 14 cameras installed kind of throughout the city.

The first phase of expansion will be prioritizing speed cameras to address the most immediate safety risk.

Because speed cameras operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year, they help manage speeding all the time.

And they're on when data shows that we have the most problems nights, weekends, around holidays, and unfortunately in the summer.

Next slide.

To determine which corridors warranted further study and potential camera installation, arterial streets were narrowed down to the 15 with the highest number of fatal and serious injury crashes.

Together, these streets account for about half of all serious injury crashes and most of our fatal crashes, making them priority areas to consider for expanding automated enforcement.

To better understand where crashes are occurring along these top 15 corridors, a heat map was developed to highlight where crashes are most concentrated along each corridor.

To develop this heat map, we applied a three-to-one crash scoring.

So crashes that involve people who are killed or seriously injured were weighted at three points, while all other crashes were weighted at one point.

And then we mapped the crash intensity per one-tenth of a mile.

Next slide.

From there, staff conducted an engineering analysis to determine where automated enforcement would most likely be most effective.

Factors such as roadway topology, land use, and the presence of traffic signals and driveways, because that's kind of a start-stop, start-stop situation, were considered.

Crash reports were also studied to get a better understanding of what types of crashes were actually occurring on that corridor.

We narrowed down locations along the corridor that had free flow conditions because we're looking at speed cameras, and then looked at that the areas that had crashes that seemed to be a result of speed.

From there, speed studies were then conducted at the selected locations to better understand how drivers were actually traveling.

Data was collected over a typical 24-hour period to capture vehicle speeds and volumes.

This information helped confirm where speeding was a consistent issue and where automated enforcement could be an effective tool to improve safety.

And from there, we started to prioritize our locations.

Next slide.

Candidate locations were generally prioritized using two main factors.

So doing all that analysis, we get to this point.

Crashes and speeding.

Crash risk was measured by the total number of people killed or seriously injured in crashes within a half mile of the location we were thinking of installing the camera.

Speeding was measured by the percentage of drivers going six miles per hour over or six miles per hour or more over the speed limit.

We also looked at the existing existing camera locations to avoid concentrating additional cameras too closely together.

For the first phase, five locations have been identified with a total of eight speed cameras to be installed.

We are currently working with a vendor to identify the exact location where the camera can be installed based on access to power.

That's one of our constraints, and a power pool.

So somewhere in this section that I'm reading, there will be a camera.

So South Sprague Avenue between 15th and 19th will have two cameras, one in each direction.

Pacific Avenue between 88th and 96th, two cameras, one in each direction.

State Route 509 around the Sandbar restaurant, one camera eastbound direction, and then Norpoint Way Northeast will have one camera uphill direction.

So those two cameras will be working together.

Portland Avenue at the South 52nd Street School Zone will have two cameras, one each direction, and that will be a school zone camera during the school zone times, and then a speed camera all other times.

Next slide.

30 days before activation, we will be posting up signs to allow let people know that speed cameras are coming in.

And then once the camera is activated, for 30 days, people who exceed the limit will be issued a citation.

And this is a choice of Tacoma, not a state mandate to help address equity.

So for the first 30 days, people will receive a warning.

We're working working closely with MCO to develop our outreach plan because the task force again said this is a very important component to make sure people are aware.

So at a minimum, we're doing postcards mailed to residents within a half mile radius, social media, press release, and we have multilingual materials available.

Next slide, under the new state law, jurisdictions may only use revenue from automated enforcement cameras installed after June 2024 for specific purposes.

After the cost to administer, install, operate, maintain, and enforce.

So this includes reviewing the citations and the cost for the municipal courts.

Revenue may only be spent on traffic safety activities such as multimodal design, complete streets, physical infrastructure to reduce speeds through road design and accessibility improvements, essentially making the street safer.

In addition, the law sets requirements for how long-term revenue is shared, so after four years, 25% goes to the state, and how funds must be distributed to sport equity.

The law requires that revenue be proportionally invested in neighborhoods that need it the most.

Next slide.

Understandably, people have concerns, often driven by limited information where education outreach is very important and some common misconceptions.

Number one is privacy.

Privacy is protected by strict state laws.

Cameras may only capture the vehicle and license plate, not faces of drivers or passengers.

The images and data captured by traffic cameras can only be seen and used by authorized staff who handle the traffic violations.

They cannot be shared with the public, used in any other kind of court case, or shared with another agency, including immigration customs enforcement.

The video or photos are only to be used to review and enforce that specific traffic violation.

So only for speed or only for red light, whatever the violation is.

And if the case is rejected or when it's finished, the data is deleted as soon as it's no longer needed.

Additionally, our own contract with our vendor has specific language that explicitly prohibits the distributed distribution use of any information acquired from the performance of the cameras without the consent from the city.

And then finally, these are not flock cameras.

Just we also hear concerns about it being a money grab.

This is a little bit more challenging to do a rebuttal, but we can say that the amount generated was not part of the decision-making process in any way.

What we laid out is how we made the decision, and that any revenue supported in the program from the program is reinvested into the community.

Another concern is that this is replacing traditional enforcement.

This does not replace our in-person police enforcement.

There is a significant amount of work to do when it comes to traffic safety, and our police have a lot of work on their hands.

Automated enforcement is one tool that supports the broader effort, but it doesn't change the role or need for in-person enforcement.

And finally, the question of effectiveness.

Research compiled by the FHWA shows speed cameras reduce injury crashes by up to 48%, and our own data shows its effectiveness.

With 80% 88% of Tacoma drivers who receive a ticket, they do not receive a second one.

And that statistic is similar to other cities around the state.

Next slide.

And finally, a concern comes to equity.

We are working to balance that greatest need where the fatal and serious injury crashes are occurring the most by but also trying to be cautious and understanding about the concerns for saturation.

We are offering that first month of activation, only having warnings to help address act equity, and then at the state level for qualifying individuals, the first citation is 50% off if your income meets it.

Again, revenue is reinvested into traffic safety improvements, and we also had to conduct a state-mandated equity analysis for each new location.

And that work was supported by the Center for Strategic Priorities who helped us make sure that it really was working for Tacoma and equity focused.

And finally, it's important to note that our data shows that less than five percent of citations go to the residents of the immediate zip code of where the camera is placed.

And in fact, it's looking like 60% of people who receive citations live outside of the city of Tacoma.

TISCISC.

Yes.

Okay.

Next slide.

Tacoma is using a phased approach to our expansion, beginning with a small number of locations to assess the effectiveness, build community awareness, and ensure the city can successfully manage the program.

And we're phasing the phasing, meaning that we will do one location, wait a couple months, and do another location, and that's because when you turn on a camera the first month or so, you have a lot of citations or warnings generating, and then it stops to draft starts to drop drastically and normalizes about the six-month mark.

We don't want to overwhelm those who are reviewing the citations or the municipal courts.

So we're gonna phase it out.

To support the next uh expansion phase, we are looking to purchase citywide speed data.

This will let us better incorporate speed-related risk into how we identify locations.

In the first phase, fatal and serious injury crashes led the way with speed as the supporting factor.

With citywide speed data, we'll be able to more directly identify where speeding is most prevalent and target locations with both that high crash risk and high speed.

And finally, staff will be back to counsel in front of council in a couple weeks with a purchase resolution to amend the contract to add additional funds to support the expansion.

And with that, it concludes my presentation, and we are ready for any questions you might have.

Thank you so much for your presentation.

It looks like we have some council members who've signed in, starting with council member Sidalga.

Oh, I didn't know I won that battle.

You sure did.

You sped towards it.

Good luck there wasn't a camera.

I really thought I was last on that one.

Okay.

Uh I do have a couple of questions.

So this is I think this was actually one of the first um very early things that I uh got a briefing on when I was appointed uh almost two years ago.

Way back.

I'm sorry?

Or parking one of those two.

Um, you know, this was one that, you know, I want to reiterate, I think at first when it first came up, I was a I was pretty skeptical, and I've got to the point where I'm kind of the opposite now.

And it was a couple of reasons, and it looks like you updated a uh statistic on slide 13.

You said less than 5% of citations go to people in that zip code.

And I remember in in IPS that was a much higher number because I think you were using more of a national average.

Um, something about like I I just remember the number 70% of citations and speed cameras do not go to people who live in that area.

In cities, there we go.

Uh yeah, so the the data shows so it is five percent within the same zip code, right?

And then it's about between 30 and 40 percent, depending on when you pull those numbers.

Um annualized, it's about 35% within the city.

So then another 65% come from zip codes outside of the city.

And and so that actually went to one of the first points I had, which is, you know, obviously I knew Portland Avenue is going to be high on that list, and the question was, are we just gonna be finding people that live right over there?

And the answer is no.

Um, and the second statistic that so show that 88% of people do not re-offend in that same manner is uh was really startling to me to the point where I think I had asked you for the backup data and reviewed it, because that also shows that it's it is something that changes behavior for the vast majority of those who receive it, correct?

Am I getting that statistics right?

That is absolutely correct.

Very powerful tool.

Um when you look at the number of potential violations.

So when we go to these corridors, we'll do a speed study, we'll identify who's um speeding in those corridors.

Um, and Carrie had put up a graph that kind of showed the drop in that behavior over time.

At about the six-month mark, we would expect.

Um, and this is working with our vendor and understanding other peer cities, we'd expect a drop of 75 to 85 percent um of that activity just from that camera being there after six months.

In some cases, and it depends on kind of the um the blend of the what the traffic is, if it's passed through traffic, right, versus localized traffic.

Sometimes that impacts that.

But you can see success rates uh we were talking to the vendor the other day.

They have municipalities that realize 99% drop in the overall number of speeding, potential speeding violations just because cameras are installed and stuff.

I mean, if I saw that on Portland Avenue, and I want to thank Councilmember Hines um when we did the when he was doing the walk across Tacoma, I um I accompanied him on the east side, and one of our legs did take us along Portland Avenue and it was one of those where I it was you know, I always knew that it was bad, but until you're walking on a sidewalk right next to Portland Avenue, right around 52nd Street, um you realize just how how pervasive um the speeding is.

Uh that's an area I am I'm very confident or is gonna be ticketed primarily to those that do not live in that area because it is a lot of pass-through traffic, right?

Anything happens on I5, people take 512 to Portland Avenue to get around it in those major areas.

A couple other questions.

As you talked about the vendor, if I recall correctly, um, you know, this is not going to be a contract that's a performance contract in that it's like it's not gonna be paid based on like the vendor isn't getting money for every single ticket.

It's a flat fee, correct?

Flat fee per camera, that's right.

Per camera, you know, regardless of how many how many citations uh really we we end up getting.

Yeah, it's a tiered service.

So, so like in red light cameras, for example, there is a tier where um if you're writing less site, if they're issuing less citations, so part of their service is mailing out the citation and those types of things.

So there is a volume there relative to that.

So a lower performing camera is charged at a lesser rate as a higher performing, but it caps off.

If there's a camera that's over 800 citations, it's just a flat rate.

It's just a flat rate over there.

Got it.

Um I also, and if I recall correctly, the state um law that has expanded our ability to do this because you know they're like, why didn't we do this generations ago?

The answer is we didn't have the right to like state preempted us.

Um also ensures that there's limited to no real active sharing with uh police agencies, correct?

Yes.

So none, it's completely locked down, like Carrie had mentioned in the presentation.

They're um realistically, unless it's involved with the actual citation, the issuance of the citation or a case if somebody is um disputing that particular citation, that's the only way that that data ever gets released.

Um last couple of questions.

Uh one um uh observation.

Um we did mention that less than five percent of citations go to residents in that immediate zip code.

I also contend that you know, in our current uh world of of traffic enforcement through just you know, police, you know, uh finding you in a few red light cameras, but mostly it's police for for speeding, you know.

Uh we do have an equity component of whether those um uh the monies from those citations are really going back into that specific community um uh as well because it just gets peed and buttered across our entire uh uh budget.

So I do appreciate this construct of any excess monies that are collected to basically put that, you know, the point is to put that camera out of business, right?

You use that money, you invest in infrastructure um that can help uh uh change and make it safer, and then you get rid of that camera and move it along.

And that's really important to me because for you know, I I've told people this.

You know, for generations people didn't want to stay uh stop anywhere close to Salishan.

Now we have generations later a road in which people are going 60 miles an hour.

We need to undo that.

We also need the ability to use those funds to undo that through design, through construction, through thinking about how do we um undo the historical and generational kind of um you know bigotry that led to a road that that you can speed on.

Uh lastly, why limit it to five?

And I think you answered the second half of that.

Is there a mobile option for speed cameras?

But it looks like we need power access at all times.

There is a mobile app option, yeah.

That gets a little bit complicated.

We are limited to where we do have um electrical infrastructure that we can easily pull.

Um, limit to five.

Again, I think going back to what Carrie had said, we're kind of pacing this off a little bit, right?

This is our first expansion.

Part of that is the acknowledgement that there's some downstream impacts to other of our partners, right?

Municipal courts and those who review those citations.

Um the numbers can get pretty big early on, right?

With the number of warnings we're issuing and those types of things, and so we want to just be cognizant of that.

Um we keep talking about, you know, the the additional phases is not an if, it's a win when we graduate to additional um phases in large part because this is such a you know impactful safety tool, but we are trying to pace ourselves just because we just don't at this point we don't know what the uptick will be um relative to some of those partners and ability to res review those citations and adjudicate them.

So, great, okay.

We answered all the rest of the question.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Council Member Walker.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, and thank you for this presentation.

We have gotten uh the opportunity to sort of come along with you with the IPS presentations, and I feel like um as council member Sidalga said, we like this is a good um collection of all of our questions, and I think we're we're ready to go.

Um I too was really convinced of all of this by that last statistic that less than five percent of citations go to the residents in the immediate zip code, and when you combine that stat with the data around crashes in any particular neighborhood, it's like this is this is such a um a no-brainer and a win-win.

So um I want to make sure that we uh emphasize that statistic everywhere we talk about this.

Do we I am on the slide with the next steps, slide 14.

Um, do we know when we'll be installing these?

And is there any way the council could be involved?

I know we had fun putting up the 20 mile an hour signs.

Like, like I don't know what the equivalent is for um speed cameras, but if there is a way for us to be involved, I would love that.

Um, well, hopefully, we should know soon when the cameras are gonna go in.

As I said, there are our signal and street light engineers are currently working with the vendor to identify the poll actually this week, later this week.

And um, and when we have the more specific timeline, we can let council know.

And yes, if you would love to be part of a photo op, I always like a good photo off.

Yeah, is there uh back order on this since every jurisdiction in Washington state is now allowed to do this?

Nope.

Uh talked to the vendor today or actually yesterday, and it was their three weeks out when we say go.

So let's say it's a pretty quick turnaround on their okay.

That's that's awesome.

Um, my only question, I guess, just sort of overarching.

I love the guiding principles.

Um, as I said, I feel like the whole presentation is really important because it answers a lot of questions and typical uh misconceptions and concerns.

Is there like a short and sweet statement like City of Tacoma is doing cameras because and I always say to change behavior, like that's you know, the end of the sentence, and then of course I'll give you detail around like how we're gonna implement it and how it works.

But is there one statement that we can say?

I'm not aware of one, but we can work with MCO on that.

Okay.

Yep.

We can put something together.

Thank you.

Very excited about this.

Um, and um I guess I just I feel like it's gonna be great to roll out a few at a time and then over time, um, either you know, move locations or add locations.

Um, but really excited that you're all leaning into the data part of it so that we can learn from those first ones and and increase over time.

So thank you.

Appreciate all the iterations of this.

Thank you, Councilmember Palmer.

Thank you.

Um you guys are killing it.

Public works is like doing amazing work when it comes to public outreach, you know, with the streets initiative, and then here's like you've answered.

I think most folks' questions on what they would have had questions on.

Um, I had similar questions on it being well, I know like others, there's there's there is a mobile option, right?

Like with solar power and that sort of thing, because I'm seeing like the behavior is maybe quelled at like the six-month march mark, right?

And so it it seems like we would want to move start moving them around the city so that they could affect other places.

I so I I've kind of gone back and back my first stint here in public works.

I went back and forth on that.

I think the thing that we've settled on the past, and certainly we can we can try this, but we do want to give warning that we're out there, and so like Carrie mentioned, the signs will go up, they'll go flashing, and there'll be a period of time where we'll give out warnings.

And and so we always felt that having a mobile system kind of preempted that and felt like more of a surprise attack, and I just wasn't comfortable with that.

Um, we can certainly reevaluate that and we can talk to pure cities and see how that's worked for them.

Um, but that's really been the justification for me of why we haven't done that in the past.

Okay, that makes absolute sense.

I guess I'm I'm thinking of it like okay, it's here six months, and then we do the same wonderful outreach that y'all are planning to do with this these locations with the next location.

Um, so maybe there's a happy, happy medium place to come to with that.

But um, thank you so much.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

Thank you, mayor.

Uh, and thank you so much for bringing this forward.

I'm you know I've been very interested in this for a long time, and I really appreciate seeing a lot of the feedback uh from myself and others reflected in what's been brought forward.

Really appreciate the outreach and all the groups that help also inform this um this direction.

Uh I really appreciate the guiding principles.

I think that's really important, and I think it's gonna be really especially important as we roll this out uh for the community to really know what those are.

Um, and it's no surprise that I think we see, especially on the heat map, that a vast majority of the killed and serious injury uh challenges we have in the city are in district four and five.

Um I hear it every single day for my neighbors um all across the district about how speeding is impacting uh safety and and you know, we hear about crashes almost on the daily down there.

Um and so I think this is gonna really improve and change behavior, and I think the statistics uh speak for themselves.

Um and I appreciate the state allowing us the opportunity to um to roll these out.

Um I do have a few specific questions.

Um, one of the things that we had I think I talked about in some of our other briefings is what is it, what is it look like when we've achieved success?

Um, and so obviously we have certain numbers and metrics that we're looking for as close to you know our revision zero program, zero killed and serious injuries within a certain area.

If if these go into effect and we reach those goals, is there a plan for maybe moving it to another location where there is a higher propensity for uh KSI in the location?

So how do we know when we've achieved it?

Is it like we haven't had any uh killed or serious injuries in a year or two years at this location?

So maybe we look revisit that location and see if there's another higher uh KSI area that could use or benefit from that kind of program.

So I just kind of wanted to see if there was kind of a being discussion on that.

Um generally when you look at data, you take it in five years to know that it's actually there, that the fluctuation isn't changing much, and it would be by fatal and serious injury crashes for sure, and then also the speed.

Um, and then if the infrastructure's in place to make it so the driver behavior is kind of controlled through that infrastructure, those to me would be the metrics that we'd make the decision.

Okay, now it's time to move the camera on because there's a chance if you put the camera in and we have it, where I will say the Stuart Middle School school zone, we did recent speed data on that, and that one is working very well, especially now when we compare it to Portland Avenues, which is also both around 52nd.

I think it cut out there.

Um, Portland needs support, that school zone, Stewart's is doing really well.

We just want a grant for that, I think 2.5 million dollars that's also gonna help impact driver behavior.

So once that infrastructure goes in, I think that's a good time to look at that school zone camera and see if it's still needed and if maybe somewhere else on Pacific could use a camera.

Is that outline that that outline specifically within our plan on achieving success, or is that just something internally like oh we'll reassess it as the need five plus years on?

I suppose it's not explicitly written in that way, which we can add it.

I do have a program planning document that we've written to try to cover all of this that it's embedded in there, but we could more explicitly say it within that document.

And then just to follow up on that, the um are we allowed to put these cameras in every single school zone, or are we limited in how many schools we can put it at?

I I it would be my preference that we have it at every single school personally.

You could do it at every single school zone.

Um I think you know, it goes back to that analysis of if it's needed, if it's the right tool for it, and that concern about oversaturation and over enforcement is always there with our community.

Yeah, no, I I I will just say that uh, you know, our young people and and families and everybody else elderly utilize our school areas outside of school hours as well, um, and they're they're playing, uh, and you know that doesn't mean the flashers are always on.

Uh, and so I I'm just concerned about the the safety of the folks that are gonna be utilizing these areas, and I also think about our parks in a lot of ways like that as well.

Um, and so and I I understand saturation and concern around that.

So I think those things should certainly be in consideration, but you know, in terms of like slowing folks down and changing behavior and making sure that uh young people are able to safely get to a schoolyard somewhere, I think is really important.

Um, one of the questions I had, and I've I had a personal experience.

Uh my sister had gotten in a car accident actually on 56 in the south to come away.

Um, and she's fine.

Uh, but but one of the challenges we knew that there was a red light camera there, but one of the challenges she faced is like she was trying to uh you know prove that she had not gone through the red light the other person did, right?

Um, but uh we knew that there was a red light camera there, but we were unable to get any of the information off that camera in order to kind of adjudicate the case, so to speak.

Is there any ability for the public to be able to do that if there is an illegal activity that occurs?

Say say someone say the camera catches someone speeding and they happen to hit a light pole uh during that course of events and it did get captured on the camera.

So it can't be utilized in that for law enforcement or insurance purposes or anything like that.

Nope.

In fact, we have, yeah, I've had a couple of those phone calls where it is just an insurance purposes, and if it's not related to the actual citation, that the the information cannot be released.

I I guess the the red light runner could have been issued a citation, did and the camera taking a picture of them be in an accident in the middle of the intersection.

Is that the that's a possibility, but the but the request for the information would have to come from the individual who had the citation.

So even if it's somebody answering there was a citation involved, um you would not be able to have it.

And it wouldn't behoove them to render that information to their insurance company, I'm sure.

So not yeah, yeah.

Um I so I and it sounds like there's some state laws that prohibit that, but I I'm curious as to um, you know, I'm curious about that because I think that there's there's something there, especially when it comes to uh people being victimized uh and you know, and the issues around that.

Um I'm curious as to how we deal with out of state license plates.

Is there is there a system for that?

I imagine there is.

I'm sure these are questions that have been asked, as well as like missing license plates or mismatch license plates, because that that happens as well.

Yeah, so the system in and of itself will kick out any missing license plates.

So just will not register mismatch as well if there's a mismatch between DOL and what it reads.

So the system itself will automatically um take those out.

As far as out of state license plates, everything gets mailed out to out of state, so there our vendor has arrangements with all 50 states to be able to mail those out.

So rental cards as well, okay.

Great.

Um those are those are my questions.

Thank you all so much for all your work on this and outreach.

Uh I really appreciate um the additional warnings that folks are gonna get.

I and you know, we want to change behavior, and so this is not a money grab.

Um and any revenues go back to the affected communities, especially those uh you know for for slowing down traffic and things of that nature.

Um and then actually one more, sorry, one more final thing.

On East 64th Street, great example of what a complete street looks like.

Do we have kind of information or data on what it looked like before that time and then what it looked like after in terms of like speeding?

Do we have any speeding information data?

Because the assumption is because we have created this complete street, we should see an effect of speeding slowing down.

Uh and so I'm just curious if we have any kind of that information.

So I I won't I can't tell you for certain uh Deputy Mayor, but my assumption is gonna be no, and and the reason why is um when you have a street that's in such poor condition that's never really been built, you tend to not have some of the issues that you would have on a Portland Avenue where it's five lanes wide.

And so, you know, we just design it a certain way so that we can try to prohibit that behavior, but the before studies that we would do on a typical street, we just typically don't do on that.

Okay.

And the reason why I'm asking is because as we make our investments uh from any additional revenues that come from these, um, what are we doing to make sure they're most effective?

Because it's not gonna be, it's not a huge boon, right?

Um, and these info safety infrastructure products are very costly.

And so what's what's the most bang for our bucks, so to speak, in improving uh those uh site conditions to reduce speed?

Um and so that's why I was kind of thinking like, okay, do we have any case studies of before and after?

And I know there's data information generally about you know complete streets and and vision zero and all that that help lend to that, but I was just thinking like, okay, what are some things that low-hanging fruit that we can do to have the most impact on changing that behavior?

Um as part of vision zero, we are trying to get better about collecting pre- and post data.

So if we know that a project's coming in, even if it's as small as a diverter um to our larger road rebuilds, we are trying to collect that pre-data and so we have the post data.

And one part with the hopes that maybe we can lower the speed limit on streets that we put that infrastructure in.

So for example, J Streets, 30 miles per hour.

Um, we'd like to collect post data and hopefully we can drop that to 25 miles per hour with the change that went in.

So we're trying to get better about that.

Great.

Uh and sorry that jogged one more question.

Apologies.

Um, the the diverters.

I I'm also concerned about uh folks trying to avoid certain intersections or traffic cameras and going through neighborhoods.

We already have that issue, especially around Pacific Avenue, uh Pacific and 72nd, where where folks are like skirting the light because they don't want to sit through a cycle.

So is there any plans to like try and help prevent that?

That was a big concern of the task force as well that they wanted us to monitor it.

We haven't exactly figured out how we're going to do that, but we know that that's a concern that uh folks have.

If we did see a pattern, the diversion, um, fortunately, the any revenue or traffic calming can go in to invest to help support those side streets as well to make those calmer.

Um I haven't heard it's actually as problematic as we believe it to be, but we will be monitoring that just to make sure.

Great.

Thank you.

Um, I again appreciate all the work you all have done.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the phases and the role.

I'm sure there's more things we will learn and we'll improve the process as we go on.

But appreciate it.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

Consumer Hines.

Oh, yeah.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh great presentation.

Again, I'm long-time fan of automated enforcement, so glad to see this kind of rolling off the ground or getting more expanded.

I I could just a couple questions I I had was um, is there any plan to get rid of Bay Street at any point in time?

You say to remove Bay Street, yeah.

There's there's not, uh, Council Member.

And the reason why is is you know, we've been talking about what kind of improvements can be done to there's just not a lot of room, very little to work with, so there's not a lot of options for Bay Street.

I mean, I guess that would be something as we're thinking about really giving credence this idea of putting the camera out of business that we have to deal with kind of the issue of base street.

Because Bay Street is basically fixed the problem, right?

Like there's not it's we went from a place where there was a lot of injured crashes, a lot of people being her harmed and even killed, to where I mean the biggest selling point for me to say, here's why I like automated enforcement is the what Bay Street cameras may be able to do for that intersection.

But if it's been successful and it's still there, then is the then is the when we say we're gonna put the camera to business, is that actually true or not?

Right?

Because then it's like, well, here we have one that's been successful, and I think to your point, Kurt, I probably don't need a response, but to Curtis's point, I think is probably the messaging needs to be in that instance, we can't do the type of improvements around the camera that would be necessary to permanently change behaviors without the camera.

Um so just make sure we're clear about that one.

And I I would like to add on to that, Councilmember.

I think when we talk about improvements, you know, there are some spot improvements, some ped cross, some things that can be done, but ultimately these are gonna be parts of larger improvements.

You know, you're you're not gonna uh do uh, you know, a single improvement at an intersection and slow traffic down on a on a corridor.

It's gonna be part of a larger improvement, could be grant funding or whatever to help get those improvements, but it's gonna be something more significant.

Okay, no, I mean I just that that was really a popped into my mind because I've been telling people about how successful the base street cameras been is a good example of like that.

But then if we're that's if we're not actually gonna put it out of business, then we should just stop saying that.

And the cameras are gonna be here forever.

Um, but I I I agree with their point, which is we're gonna work towards it.

Um the 509 camera on Marine Via Drive, do we get the revenue for that even though it's on a state highway?

And then are we then responsible for improvements or will we have to work with the state?

I mean, I guess it how's that work if it's we're if we're um so that section we actually constructed.

Okay, it's actually part of the city.

All right, great.

Um my next question would be it talks about well, so the automated enforcement map, right?

So I guess where I'm looking at the the data, and I think being data driven is really important, and I I agree with everything that's here, but when I look at this map, I see there's there's no yellow anywhere north of Sixth Avenue or west or north of South 19th, which to explain to the public does not mean that accidents don't happen in those areas, does not mean that people don't speed in those areas.

Because I know what's gonna happen, somebody's gonna call me and say, hey John, there's like not like I live on Pearl Street and people go 70 miles an hour down Pearl Street, or I live on Sixth Avenue by the Winco where multiple people have been hit by vehicles and killed.

Or I live on Jackson Street where people drive 70 miles an hour.

Um so can we just explain why they may not be seeing that in this here?

Because it's just it's like a it's a blank space on the map.

Yes.

Well, in a nice way, there's not as many fatal and serious injury crashes that do occur there.

And so that map is solely about fatal and serious injury crashes.

For the next phase, that's where the citywide speed data will be nice, because then we can see the speeding around the city, and I have a feeling other areas in the north will probably pop more, and then we can start from there with that one.

And your concern was a similar concern of the task force.

Some people don't want cameras, and then some people, if they don't get cameras, are mad they're not getting the cameras and they're confused why that's happening.

Also not wanting to send the message that the north is perfect and everybody does everything perfectly because that is completely not the case as well.

So when we get that data, I'm sure we're gonna see hot spots in the north end.

Yeah, I think I'm in that we've had this conversation about the equity conversation too, which is like what when we talk about equity, what are we talking about, right?

What what are what's the focus on it?

Because I've heard the one argument that if we put cameras in lower opportunity areas where there are people driving through the neighborhood are you know lower people, we're basically tolling them for being in their neighborhood and speeding, right?

The flip side of that is like, well, but that's where all the crashes and accidents are happening.

So we're trying to save people's lives in your neighborhood, and it seems that's just kind of a dance, and I I kind of see where we've landed from the city policy wise, but that's just a conversation.

But to your point, if we inversed it and put all the cameras in the north end, I'm sure people in the south end inside would not be saying that's great.

Because we don't want people being ticketed for speeding in our neighborhoods.

Um I will look I ask that only because as I look at, think about further phases.

You know, I'm gonna have folks say, like, well, because there's nothing on the map here, does this mean there's never gonna be a camera north of 6th Avenue in the future?

But the answer is no, we'll look at the speed data.

Um, my only other question then, I guess, is how did the school camera end up with downing?

Because if there's only two, right?

I I just if you know we see we have the steward and then downing.

So I guess Curtis, how did the downing camera get put in there?

Honestly, I do not recall, Council Member.

Um, I don't recall.

I really don't.

I just it seems odd when we look at the other map and then we look at where the current cameras are to why they've landed where they have, right?

Because I would have thought maybe, especially along Portland Avenue where there's schools or other places that those cameras would be deployed first.

So maybe that's something for me to look back into the records for.

Um and then I would just also pause it with Council of Bush now, that um I uh I know that there's a question around oversaturation, but I do really think that school zones should be something we're thinking a lot about because if we think about the equity and who walks and who doesn't, who gets hit in a school in the north end or northeast Tacoma versus who gets hit.

It is gonna be there's gonna be some other concerns there too, right?

We think about who's choosing to walk and go places.

Right.

You're gonna hear more about school speed cameras here soon.

So great.

With and I last thing, I'm not gonna keep to piggyback on Councilmember Walker.

I agree.

The goal is behavior change.

Slow down and you won't have to get a ticket.

Thank you, Councilmember Rumbaugh.

Thank you.

And I would say the goal is to make sure we don't have any fatalities.

And I really appreciate the um the lens on Northeast Tacoma.

I think you know, I appreciate that we listened, and um I'm hoping that we don't have another fatality.

Um, I'm just curious, and I really appreciate this presentation.

And um, this is the first I've heard about it.

What the gotten to see it, so this is great.

Um, I'm just I'm curious when we talk about the reinvestment in the area from the traffic camera.

Um, I'm curious what that looks like as far as when we would see the improvements.

Because I that's really what I want to see is, and I think the community wants to see in Northeast Tacoma in particular in the area of Norpoint, is what does it look like to redesign that street and what's a timeline on that?

So, Councilmember, I that's a tough question to answer, right?

I mean, I don't know if an improvement of I'm gonna say Norpoint way is a million or 20 million.

Yeah, you know, and I don't know what the cameras are gonna generate toward that.

I mean, I think, as you know, most of what we do is grant focused.

Uh I don't know if North Point is a street that actually uh you know, would be something that would be I'm gonna say grant worthy.

It sounds kind of a bad way of putting it.

But that's also what we talk about with Streets Initiative with uh uh to connect to coma level, is the opportunity to do more than just what's grant funded.

Um, but it's it's a hard question to answer because I just don't know what that improvement looks like.

I think once we have a better idea of that, then we can see what how we can cobble money together.

But I think what's important to me again is having seed money for improvements, and sometimes you can phase improvements as well, and so some of this money could be just improvements, kind of in-term improvements to get us by until we have a you know a larger build.

Um so it just gives us that opportunity.

Yeah, I really appreciate that, and um I'm hoping that there's some way to tie the conversation in that neighborhood to these and this enforcement, trying to get people to slow down, but also how important the street initiative is for funding.

And I just I'm I want to make sure they understand that those dollars will go back to that neighborhood to help um fix this street to make this street um a better, a better infrastructure um in our city.

Um the other question that I had is um maybe maybe can't answer it, but I thought I'd ask it anyways.

I know that in district court because traffic violations they have to happen out in the county, and then they go to district court.

Um, there's opportunities to um pay off your your fines and like through district like district court um resource center.

I'm curious if that's something that they offer at municipal court to people.

So I could just see someone getting a huge fine because I mean they drive like on Marine View Drive, they drive like 85 miles an hour.

I mean, you're gonna catch a lot of great people at night who are speeding on that street.

Um so I'm just curious what that looks like.

If there's that option, do you know anything about that?

Yeah, I know.

Well, just a little bit about it.

But yeah, so um citations are adjudicated to the municipal court.

Um they do have a community service program, right?

And they also do offer on the bigger citations uh payment plans, right?

So, to the extent that you need to be able to break that out.

I don't know exactly what the length of time is, but they do try to make it easy for you to be able to chew that off.

These citations are a bit pricier than normal site, right?

145 dollars now, so yeah.

So to be able to have a payment plan is super important.

So yeah, and that's not in school zones, you just have to pay, you don't have the opportunity to go to court in a school zone.

No, you still do.

I thought you didn't.

Maybe that's just King County when I got my ticket in Fitcherway.

It was interesting.

Um, and I am also really appreciate the conversation about school dist school zones.

I think that's also another really big issue.

Um, just because we do have a lot of kids who walk to school, they're not like Browns Point Elementary where everyone drives to school, but other places like Northeast Elementary, they are definitely walking, and so I just it's great if we're gonna look at the whole city and think about what our school zones look like and making it a safe walk to school.

Yeah, so thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Diaz.

Thank you.

Um, and to sort of take the opposite tone of Councilmember Heinz, I would say long-time traffic camera skeptic, uh, rather than enthusiast.

Um, but I wanted to thank you all for the work that you've done to get us to this place.

I think you've really done a good job of helping address a lot of my concerns around the equity of where these cameras will be placed, how that funding is gonna go so it's not predatory, and the concerns I had around the data and the um who has access to the data where the cameras will what they will all be able to see and capture and sort of what happens with that.

Um, I think this is a really critical part of how we approach um vision zero and how we do address traffic fatalities and some of these um real dangerous corridors that we hear pretty regularly about.

So I'm excited about that work, and I just want to thank you both for all the work that you've done to address all of my naysaying and um hard questions to get to this point.

Um it's been fun and spicy, and I really appreciate the work that you guys have put into it.

Um, very, very grateful that we've gotten to this place.

Um, and I think if I had a question, it was gonna be around um, let's see uh just this um sort of thought around how we get these cameras to evolve and move and change behaviors.

Um I think that is good.

We're here in a really good piece of this phase one, um, but I I like all things we are gonna hear from people about I really want a camera here or there or everywhere.

I'm wondering, um, then you know, people like me who don't want them anywhere.

Um I am wondering if we're thinking about not just the traffic data and the school um zones, I think those are really important pieces.

Is there any consideration at all to where bus stops are?

Because there's obviously a lot of people walking to and from where those might be and they are a little bit more stagnant, they don't often change necessarily from Pierce Transit.

Yeah, when we were looking at the analysis, the frequent transit network um is one of the things we look at, unfortunately.

Um pedestrian crashes are usually higher along those types of streets.

So the data also does show it, but transit is one of the um items we look at under land use.

Great.

So not just bus stops or um different modalities, sounder, light rail, all the things, um, but also where our bike lane infrastructure are.

Is that a piece of the calculus at all?

Not a piece of the calculus, but something we're like in consideration when we're looking at the road topography, but it doesn't necessarily boost it right now.

But it would be included in the action review for seriously, Andrew.

Oh, yes, yes, yes.

Very cool.

Thank you for thinking about how everybody gets around and how we make everybody safe.

Thank you.

And I myself have a question too.

Thank you for your presentation.

So on top of using data to determine where these cameras go.

Um, some uh members of the council brought up the proposed street measure.

If if that is in fact something that moves forward, if the voters choose to do so, um, would the same data be used to prioritize more of the vision zero type of infrastructure improvement?

So if we're looking at data where there's uh a lot of reported speeding, wreckage, um, worst case scenario, people getting hurt.

Uh, could those things basically help each other?

What would we work to not just ding people with cameras more, but in those same areas get more east 64th streets, for instance.

Absolutely.

Uh you know, that's the I'm gonna say help it's gonna help guide the infrastructure improvements that we plan to build.

Perfect.

All right.

Well, thank you so much for your presentation, and we look forward to learning more.

Thank you.

Thanks, everyone.

Okay, our third agenda item.

It's a very meaty day today.

Is our historic preservation update.

I'd like to call on planning and development services, historic preservation officer Reuben McKnight to begin the presentation.

Good afternoon.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor, members of the council.

Um I am Ruben McKnight.

I'm here with uh uh Susan Johnson, our historic preservation coordinator.

And uh appreciate the opportunity to present to you today um during this month May, which is every year preservation month.

And um we have uh during this month we have a series of activities and events that are designed to highlight uh historic preservation, the role that it plays in the city and the benefits that it has for our um residents and citizens.

Um and also part of that is to provide the annual historic preservation report to council.

And um so in this presentation, uh we'll be uh providing a brief overview of the landmarks preservation commission's activities for the uh past year, uh recounting the historic preservation um achievements over 2025 and 2026, and then also discussing the coming year's goals and initiatives.

So before I get into that though, I wanted to take a brief minute to um recap the functional areas of the historic preservation program.

And the work that we do uh can be divided, you know, into three broad categories, including identifying and enhancing historically and culturally significant sites and properties throughout the city.

And we do this through data collection such as historic property inventory surveys, um, historic surveys, maintaining inventories and databases of um of historical information for use by the public and also our preservation incentives, which are designed to encourage things like uh historic rehab, reuse of uh existing buildings into new uses, and so forth.

Uh, we also protect historic properties and sites.

Um, this is primarily through our design and development review, including design review for historic districts and landmarks, and also through our cultural resources review um in our planning sub areas and other areas where um historic resources uh are required, a part of environmental review.

And they also educate and inform uh through our ongoing calendar of public activities and educational events, um, walking tours, uh, lectures, and things like I think several of you have been on those in the past.

And so, this year um the landmarks commission, which is a primary you know, element to what we do and provides the our guidance and leadership.

Um, in the past year, the landmarks commission, which is a city charter commission formed with 11 citizens um volunteers appointed by city council uh conducted 28 uh historic design review uh project approvals uh over the course of 18 meetings with uh four uh landmarks designations and nearly 13 million dollars in uh property tax incentives were approved uh this past year, uh bringing our program total over um the course of the historic preservation program to about 322 million dollars of historic development activity within Tacoma.

That's just on the private side that's incentivized um uh through uh through tax benefits and not including any public sector work as well.

And then the commission also conducted uh three site visits last year, including the picture up on the on the slide there, which is the Willamette Casket Factory down in the Nalle Valley, which is being repurposed as a maker space and artist studios and a mix of uses.

And so if you've driven by there and seen that building in the past and wondered, well, that would make a good adaptive reuse project.

That's certainly uh what is happening.

The landmarks commission itself is advisory to city council.

Uh they do um make recommendations regarding historic designations, approving tax and sign up applications, and also advise the city on uh preservation-related policy matters.

Over the past year, um there have been uh several new landmarks designations.

There's currently 194 landmarks on the um city's uh Tacoma Register of Historic Places.

Uh, there are also four local historic district overlay zones and two conservation districts.

So the landmarks commission um has about um 12 to 1,300 properties under its um under its review and protection.

And some of the examples of the recently added ones, and I think council um will recall some of these Wapato Park was one that recently went on the register that was nominated by Parks Tacoma.

Uh the Shures House, which is a private um 19th century residence um in the wedge district that was nominated by the owner and is currently undergoing restoration as well.

And then the Motet and Wheel Lock Library branches, which are both nominated by Historic Tacoma.

The pictures on the on the slide there are two ones that are upcoming.

Uh council will likely be seeing these uh in the near future.

Uh one is the Swanson House, which is a 219 North or South M Street.

This is a historic hilltop house from the turn of the century.

Um, and this is uh kind of an interesting one.

It's reflective of sort of the immigrant history and the and the different populations that have passed through Hilltop during its uh you know formation through history.

And we um incidentally, speaking of the data that we hold in the office that we share with the public that can help you know move uh things forward.

This was um written in part based on what we call the hilltop multiple property documentation form.

So that's uh a context document that talks about Hilltops history through the years, and you can take these buildings and place them into that context, and it helps you sort of orient them and make an argument for the historic preservation.

The North Tacoma Um or North Union Avenue Greenway is one that's actually going to be IPS next week to discuss.

The landmarks commission recently reviewed that, and that's a um uh the planted median strip uh running from about north ninth all the way up to north 30th, um, which I think many people will be familiar with, was nominated also by Historic Tacoma and recently went through the landmarks commission.

So there's some discussion we'll have um next week on that.

Some of the um noteworthy projects uh that we've uh been working on or had a part in over the past year, include the Oakland School Renovation, which will be receiving an award at the historic preservation award ceremony on May 21st.

I'll mention that in a little little bit here.

The old city hall um renovation, which is a long time coming and is uh as I understand, is currently under commercial leasing now.

Um they're doing this in phases, and so they've been through the special tax valuation and center program a couple of times, and we've looked at it for design review a couple of times, and and now they're moving ahead with I think their their first phase.

Uh the Central Administration Building in Tacoma School District is uh working on this envelope repairs, including windows and mechanical work.

Um, and the stadium high school as well.

That uh picture at the first slide, I think, in the presentation showed uh showed one of the exterior walls they're working on.

Um, and the Tacoma School District continues to be a great partner for us.

They own uh quite a lot of historic properties and have um put a lot of effort into uh into maintaining those for the um Tacoma public.

Um, and then slightly shifting gears.

There's the Hilltop Flap Project, uh, which um we provided support uh for this ongoing project to the Office of Arts, Cultural Vitality.

Um, this was also recognized in last year's uh preservation awards as well.

Uh the artist came and was able to uh to um talk a little bit about that project.

Over the past year too, 2025 was a pretty big year for um for policy and code development for historic preservation.

There's a lot of um a lot of discussion and a lot of changes that um that occurred.

Uh and this includes uh historic preservation updated comprehensive plan chapter and amendments to several sections of the municipal code related to cultural resources and historic properties.

The goals for the update um included aligning historic preservation-related policies with other policies in the city, including housing, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and sustainability, um, also alignment internally with uh other areas within the comprehensive plan, which itself has uh undergone uh quite a few um uh pretty significant revisions recently, revising the local nomination process for historic landmarks and districts, um improved review of development activities that impact cultural resources and archaeological sites, prioritizing black history and other historical narratives for underrepresented communities within the city, and improved access to historic incentives.

So at the beginning of 2026, many of these um new amendments are in effect.

Um, some of the outcomes that the um I'm gonna highlight today include increased access to the nomination process uh through um uh inclusive historical criteria and streamlining of the nomination review process, improved access to the delivery of historic preservation programs and services, including the established establishment of a new non-re non-regulatory uh community heritage register, which we're working on rolling out, um, new design review exemptions, uh, new cultural resource reporting requirements that came along with the updates to the tide flat sub-area plan, but also affect other planning sub areas within the city, um, some UR zone activities and shoreline districts, and then opening the special tax valuation program to include national registered properties as well, so they don't necessarily have to go through the local uh nomination process to be eligible for those.

Going forward uh into 2026, we're going to be wrapping up the work that we've been doing over the past couple years for the Black History Survey.

This was a um National Park Service funded um project to document sites of um significance uh to um Black History within Tacoma.

This includes an inventory of sites that are significant and the hopeful addition of the Catalaros Club to the National Register of Historic Places, which is currently under review, as well as a context statement to provide sort of a jumping off point for future research and nominations.

And an example of that was that house on Hilltop I showed a few slides ago, used the hilltop context form, and so we're hoping to have that tool also uh for folks.

And then continuing the implementation process uh for cultural resources review, uh, which as I mentioned applies to all planning sub areas, shoreline districts, and UR zones.

Um, and this um hopefully will also result in a better coordinated review with um with the tribal historic preservation office on development impacts and and related projects.

So just to wrap up, this is my last slide.

I know that we you have all been here for quite a long agenda today.

So I do want to mention some of the things that are happening this month for Historic Preservation Month.

Our theme this year is uh celebrating community heritage.

And so I'm a little late here.

So, last weekend was the uh historic homes tour that the Tacoma Historical Society puts on every year.

Uh on May 9th, um, the third annual Black Historic Preservation Summit will take place.

It was originally scheduled or plan to be in Tacoma.

Um that was part of our events calendar, but um for um changes in circumstances, uh, it is now going to be located in Seattle at the Griot project, and we can certainly provide more information about that.

Um the previous two summits were held um uh in Tacoma at the Evergreen campus on May 12th.

Um the landmarks commission chair, so next week uh will be here to present uh his address to council for a proclamation.

And then on May 16th, uh Heritage Days Days at Joeb Carr Cabin Museum and the annual Queen Victoria birthday celebration at Fort Nisqually will occur.

That just reminds us that it used to be a Hudson's Bay Company facility when it was, I think in DuPont.

Um, and lastly, uh I would like to invite folks to the annual historic preservation awards ceremony on May 21st, which will also be at Fort Nisqually, and we've got an interesting uh slate of award recipients coming up.

So with that, that concludes my my formal presentation.

I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ruben.

Are there any council questions?

Consumer Paul.

Are you looking this way?

Because you knew I was gonna have questions.

Uh thank you.

Go for it.

Uh, could you please speak a little bit about the where is it?

The process of uh the the design reviews.

Um, sure.

So uh design review, a couple of things I can I can talk a little bit about how that works generally, and then um and then some of the changes that we've made recently.

Uh the um the design review process is uh something that's required as part of uh permitting for um exterior alterations to buildings that are on the city's landmarks register or buildings that are within uh our local historic overlay zones, which um are the historic districts uh around Old City Hall, uh around the union um station, and then we have two residential historic districts locally listed uh the North Slope Historic District, which is roughly between um roughly between uh um I Street, um Division Avenue, and Steel Street and kind of meets the apex of Jason Lee, and then across Division Street on the other side is the Wedge Neighborhood Historic District, which is nestled right next to the multicare campus.

And so we have a we actually have a uh basically what happens is is if somebody is going to apply for a development permit um that affects the exterior of one of these, then they'll also apply for a historic preservation or historic design review permit, which we um then uh depending on the scope of the project, we either review it at review at a staff level administratively, or we send it to the landmarks commission for more significant changes.

And within um historic districts, each district has a set of design guidelines that um provide guidance to what the um uh the landmarks commission is looking for, uh what city policy is looking for for the preservation of those areas, or else what's called the Secretary of the Interior standards for you know landmarks that are dispersed around the city.

And those are kind of like our conservation standards, they're um designed to um make sure that changes to the outside of a building are compatible with the existing building um materially and architecturally, uh, that if you're doing things like additions that they can be reversible, say that someone wanted to restore it in the future, um, and that if there's particular examples of like character defining features on a building, like a particular particular motif or design element, those um which make the building uh important or interesting, that those are retained if possible, and if not possible, then they're then they're replicated.

Um usually material but but at least visually.

And so um some of the changes that that we've made recently there over the past couple of years of discussions about the residential historic districts and and um you know how those operate, what the public benefit is, what the goals are.

Um there's been discussion about whether the design review process uh prevents um you know barriers to access or entry um because of the increased costs or time to go through design review, and so as a result of that, the um planning commission uh uh and the landmarks commission, as part of the code update identified um you know additional exemptions or things that are taken care of at the staff level.

In the past um, I would say decade or so, and especially post-COVID, the landmarks commission has increasingly um delegated uh certain project reviews uh to staff to avoid um delays and to reduce costs for applicants as well, and so things like um uh accessory structures um that are you know built off the alley, for example, um, and certain kinds of work on the backs and sides of houses probably don't go to the landmarks commission formally.

Um, and again, it's to make it more akin to the to the typical permitting process if possible.

Thank you, that's super helpful.

Um, does any part of like a design review or landmark designation have anything to do with the inside of the buildings, or is it mostly the outside?

Um thank you, council member.

The mostly it's the ex outside of the building.

There are some provisions in the code that could allow for the historic designation of the inside of a building, such as in public spaces of public buildings, for example.

Um, the there aren't too many examples of this.

I mean, a lot of it's by convention, so like the interior of the auditorium at Pantages Theater, for example, uh the lobbies in this building, the marble lobbies.

Um, but but generally speaking, uh, is only the exterior, and um, and if there is a proposal to also create a landmark designation or or um restrictions on the inside of a building, that would be something to be explicitly called out when it came to council um for a vote.

Um I will say also just while we're on the topic of the insides of buildings too, there's nothing in historic preservation design review or in the landmarks register that does anything to regulate or tell you what you can do with the use of a building or inside of it.

Okay, um the city's interested in you know deconstruction and salvage and that sort of thing, and so I'm wondering um if there's a way to encourage that for, because we you know the outside could be amazing, but there could be some amazing pieces on the inside that we're wanting to preserve in some way or be able to reuse.

Um, so I'm curious about being able to encourage that.

There have been um discussions uh over um uh many years, and I know we're we're kind of ramping up again on that um on the idea of deconstruction, um, which is instead of just knocking the building over and scraping it into a dumpster, you actually um remove um uh character defining elements of the building, architectural elements, and you salvage um uh useful material like old growth timber, uh things like that that you just cannot find anymore.

And the um there's a couple of places where this touches in preservation policies and code currently.

Um we do um uh have policy support for deconstruction, um, and uh the you know the with the idea that especially with like architectural elements they might make their way to the secondary market, um, such as you know the buildings like second use and earthwise and so forth, those kinds of companies.

Um and also within the demolition review um permit process that we have in our code, um, one of the mitigations that's identified right now is um is deconstruction as well.

So you if you have a building that for whatever reason is historic or it's historically significant, but it must be taken down.

It's either you know it's it's too far gone or there's there's some other reason or even public benefit um that deconstruction is one of the things that can be um used to offset some of that adverse effect.

Okay, that's interesting.

Um, one last thing, as far as I I think it's amazing that you know education is part of the program area and that there's uh uh a real um intent on prioritizing um historical uh black and brown neighborhoods, it sounds like um I'm I'm curious if we've connected those two as far as like I'm wondering if we know if there's more historic designations uh that have been awarded in like certain parts of the city, and if there's been at like outreach uh um activities to try and and let folks know, hey, you know, Hilltop has a ton of cool, cool buildings that um could possibly qualify.

Um thank you, yeah.

Yeah, we we have um, so there's actually kind of a longer history to that um uh going back to the the 1990s with the property survey, like in 1994, the city did a hilltop survey specifically, um, and then um and that was updated in uh in the uh 2000s, but the more more recently um uh there's been there's been quite a increased inter um interest in hilltop and black history in um in historic preservation.

And so when I I think it was uh was it um it was three years ago I think we um we got a national park service grant um for um underrepresented communities which was specifically um with the purpose of identifying uh site significant African-American history in Tacoma.

There was a that was sort of a tail-on of a broader state program that was um uh doing the same thing statewide, um also for um for other groups as well.

Um and so when we s we started that project uh and the scope was you know was limited by the funding we had at the time.

But the the idea was that um we would have both uh uh historical research generate uh basically a narrative document that would provide a baseline um for additional historic research um for folks who are interested in pursuing that or learning more.

Um and then the um we also the Cavalleros Club which I mentioned in the presentation was one funded national register nomination we were able to get out of it.

It's not very many.

Um we would like more.

Uh there's certainly more candidates for sure.

And there was a list that was generated out of that that then got winnowed down by by a number of things um uh including you know the you know um owner sentiment, things like that.

Um and the um and then a uh as a part of that there was a working group that was convening uh Tacoma Evergreen um that uh was a black history um uh group that included folks from from all over.

It was like folks that worked in Kicksap County and their museum over there that eventually closed um in Tacoma, um, some of the educators up at Evergreen, um some people from Seattle, and uh and that culminated in the first annual Black History Summit that was a couple of years ago at Evergreen, and then there was a follow-on to that the the next year.

And so it's sort of an evolving dialogue and discussion.

Um there's certainly uh uh many, many more candidates for for sites and buildings um that uh are possible.

We want to continue the the sort of the momentum we've built so far.

Um it's you know it's sometimes challenging, especially in in uh, you know, when there's l a lot of um a lot of things happening right now in the world and and uh economically economically as well, but um but we're definitely continuing to work on that and we're we've developed a uh series of relationships that that we hope to build on.

Another thing I guess I'll say uh on that line is one of the reasons why the community heritage register, which is a separate historic register that was established in the most recent code updates, why that was created was in part to provide a uh uh another path to historic recognition, which doesn't necessarily come with regulatory burden on it.

Um and it's more of a celebratory um awareness style register.

It's got um, you know, one of the things I guess we'll say in the in the industry um or in historic preservation industry but in the field um there tends to be an emphasis a lot because of the way we do historic surveys on the superficial on a building or the exterior, so the the architecture, sorry, the style um and so on, and sometimes that leaves a lot of community narrative out as well.

And so the community heritage register is also intended to be less reliant on things like historic integrity of a building because there are lots of cultural sites and sites where very important social things have happened um that you wouldn't necessarily know it by looking at the front of the building.

Awesome, thank you.

Respectful.

Okay, Councilmember Diaz.

Thank you.

Um I was curious, and I apologize, I probably could have looked it up by now instead of waiting.

Um if you can share more details on the awards night, I've never been in it.

Sounded lovely.

I'm gonna defer to Susan on that, who is our awards expert.

Yes, thank you for the question.

It'll be um 5 30 to 7 30 p.m.

at Fort Nisqually.

Um the admission is free.

There's no RSVP needed, no tickets.

Apologize for my voice.

Um it's free and open to the public, all ages.

We will have some refreshments, but not, you know, dinner, even though it is dinner hour, we'll have some snacks.

Um the program will start with a a short walk around tour with the museum supervisor, Jim Lauderdale.

Because they have some new construction that is they just had a ribbon cutting ceremony two weeks ago for their new facilities.

So and then we'll start with the awards program um shortly before six.

And we have ten eleven, 10 or 11 um honorees this year.

Oh, how cool.

Thank you.

Yeah, you want to.

I suspected it might be a free event, so that's why I was like, somebody someone share more details in case people are interested.

Yes.

Thank you.

Could I also plug um some events that didn't make it into the slideshow because I just found out about them, but um, in answer to uh your question, um Parks Tacoma is having two history pop-up events this week in Hilltop.

Um, Thursday from one to three in Ferry Park and Friday from one to three in People's Park, and they're partnering with Tacoma Evergreen and the archives there, and it's um just kind of casual talking to people who are gonna be in the park.

If people have history questions, um, I'm planning on being there as well.

So, but yeah, it's Park's Tacoma's event, and um I'm excited to see more history happening in Hilltop.

Thank you.

Any other uh council questions or comments?

Oh, Ruben, thank you so much for your presentation and uh thank you for all the work that you do.

Thank you.

All right.

Moving on, we have a few um council items.

Um, we're gonna start with our fourth agenda item, which is a council action memorandum and ordinance relating to the unauthorized use of public property for civil immigration enforcement.

We'd like to call on Councilmember Diaz to begin the presentation.

Sorry, I was looking for my button.

Um, thank you, Mayor.

I am bringing forward an ordinance, see here.

Um, in a follow-up to my resolution from last year, resolution number 417 or 41817, which directed the city manager to clarify the use of city owned property for federal immigration enforcement operations.

Um I wanted to particularly thank staff for their due diligence.

They've been working really hard on this since December to try to get us um both signage language, locations, a triage of of how and where we'll do this within existing resources.

There's just been a lot of staff diligence and work to get us to this point.

The ordinance I'm bringing forward um will make clear that property owned or controlled by the city should not be used without the permission or consent of the city by agents of the federal government, including agents of ICE or Customs and Border Patrol for specifically civil immigration and immigration enforcement purposes.

Um this ordinance also creates a civil enforcement process to allow the city to seek an injunction or declaratory relief in court.

So this is really the teeth behind the signs that we'll be going up.

Um, and this is a good stewardship um a way for the city to do good stewardship of our city resources to ensure that the services are taxpayers fund are delivered efficiently, safely, and without the disruption, um, which remains incredibly important to us as a council and as a community.

Every building, park, and vehicle located or owned by this city exists to serve our specific purposes for our residents, not for ICE or immigration enforcement purposes for criminal activity or for civil civil activity, I should say.

Um at the end of the day, this ordinance is about preserving our operational integrity here at the city.

Um it's gonna be a vital way that we distinguish between the city's local obligations and the operations of other jurisdictions as we continue our ongoing work to serve to community members' needs, Tacoma community members' needs.

Um, this reading will be or this ordinance will be on the agenda tonight for first reading and will be brought forward for second and final reading next Tuesday, May 12th.

Um something I also wanted to specifically make sure I point out is to highlight that this is really in a line with with making sure our city resources are not being used for civil immigration enforcement.

That means that in the event that let's hope there is no catastrophic future floods or any kind of other natural disasters or things that can happen where um a federal government might have an actually functional FEMA agency where those kinds of agents couldn't come in stage or use city properties or do coordination efforts with us to provide different kinds of natural disaster relief or other things that traditionally speaking the federal government has done with us.

This is very tailored to making sure we're safe from ice and custom border patrol agents using our resources and keeping our autonomy and our our city resources safe.

So with that very important highlight, I wanted to open it up and see if folks have any questions.

I also wanted to, sorry, before I do that, appreciate and thank my colleagues, Deputy Mayor Bushnell, Council Members Rombons and Algay for co-sponsoring this ordinance with me and all of our council colleagues for just all of your support in in this time.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Diaz, and thank you for your leadership and in this forward.

I you can definitely count on my support for this as well.

Um moving on to uh councilmember Walker for her comments.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, thank you, Councilmember Diaz, for your leadership on this, and um just a couple clarifying questions.

So um this is the follow-up ordinance to the resolution that we passed in December, right?

You mentioned the signs.

Um I don't have the ordinance language, I just have the cam, but I didn't.

Are those part of this?

The signs or is that separate?

The signs, unless I'm speaking out of turn, are ready to go and ready to go up.

We just have to make sure that we have all of our um enforcement mechanisms also ready to go up.

Oh, maybe.

So they're okay, great.

Um already done.

Okay, that's fantastic.

Or in process, I should say.

Yeah, okay.

So uh I don't know if this is the city.

Did that answer the question?

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

Um it the and in terms of when community members will see them up.

I don't know if that's a city manager, but when I don't know.

Okay.

Um great.

And then um, can you repeat that part that you said at the end?

So this is specific to or it's sort of generally saying our our property is our property, city of Tacoma, but then you made the caveat about FEMA at the end is or any federal agency.

So this doesn't say no federal agent can ever come onto a city property.

This says no federal agents can stage at our locations for civil engors and civil immigration enforcement purposes.

So okay, no setting up Minnesota light camps here.

Yeah, great.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Sidal.

Um, thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, uh, Councilmember Walker for those um good questions.

Uh I just wanted to again thank Councilmember Diaz for her leadership, um, but also to reiterate thanking um uh city staff.

I learned a lot in a lot of these meetings going back and forth, and it just goes to show how intentional and careful we've been as we have you know been leading on on um uh on passages of of laws and resolutions and ordinances of this.

Um and I am just proud to be here right now to um sponsor this.

Thank you.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

Uh thank you, Mayor, and I again I express my appreciation to Councilmember Diaz's staff and everybody for your leadership and and the work around this.

I think it's really important to note that um, you know, we're all trying to make sure there is no stone left unturned when it comes to making sure that uh we are following through and doing our due diligence that uh whatever we are doing at the city level is defensible.

Uh it's grounded in facts and it's grounded in realities that we are able to do and and and making sure that if there is an opportunity for us to make sure that uh we can find ways to um make sure city use resources are not utilized in a in a fashion that we don't deem appropriate that we're able to take those actions.

And so I think this is a really great step, and I know that we will continue to work on any other stones that might we need to continue to turn.

And um, we or will make sure that we're doing our due diligence, and I appreciate the deliberate um uh steps that you're you've been taking, Councilmember Diaz, especially in making sure that we are following all legal uh what what's it within our authority and also being very clear to the public what is within our authority, what's not, um, you know, and what we are able to do.

And I think it's it's important also because we have so many families out there that are in fear of of what's going on, and it's really important that they have all the correct facts and information to be able to make decisions for themselves and their families.

Um, and so I think it it this is just a a really a really strong stamp that that we are doing on that due diligence and not and not running around amok, so to speak, uh, and and making sure these things are appropriate.

Um with that, just thank you.

I'm really happy to be able to be a co-signer.

I will say I haven't done a ton of the work on this, and so I just wanted to be clear with that.

But when I heard that this was happening, I thought this is something I can definitely support.

So thank you, Councilmember Diaz.

Thank you.

Councilmember Rumbaugh.

Thank you.

And I just um I want to thank Council Member Diaz for all her work on this.

And I also just wanna thank you for your follow-through.

I mean, I think that that's um something if community is listening.

That's something I really appreciate because we said we were gonna do something, and now we're doing it.

And um, I think that this is like um for me low bar, because I knew you were gonna do this, I knew this was gonna happen, and I really appreciate being a part of this.

Um, I I really like how our city shows up, and um I really appreciate that you care so much about this community to bring this forward.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Um, and I did want to highlight, I think it gets a little hard when just to be perfectly honest, uh, Councilmember Sidalga and I kind of take take these issues and run with them, and we were really appreciative about all the council members letting us do that.

Um it hits us, um, and council member or Deputy Mayor Bushnell, I think, first hardest often um with our lived experience and our family history.

Um, and this res this ordinance particularly, um, I would have loved to have you know everyone co-sponsor, but I did want to highlight that um Councilmember Rombaugh was specifically asked because a lot of the signs are going into her district because that's where a lot of the city owned properties that are on the triage list are.

So it's not that she sits here and and I love her more.

Um, but it is um just truly a trying to look and be thoughtful, and we we're gonna continue to try to make sure that we're doing that too, because I know that everyone on the council feels strongly and and wants to help, so really appreciative.

Of course.

All right, well, thank you so much for bringing this forward and looking forward to the uh the discussion tonight.

All right, moving on.

Our fifth agenda item is a council action and random, a resolution reaffirming Tacoma's commitment to immigrants and refugees and directing ongoing state and federal advocacy.

And I'd like to call on Councilmember Sidalga to begin the presentation.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

Um, and I want to thank the rest of the council for considering this on such an expi expedited timeline.

Um I especially want to thank my co-sponsors, Councilmember Um Palmer, Walker, and especially Councilmember Diaz, who herself has two very important edits that she's gonna talk about that we needed to put in because that's how fast this uh timeline was.

Um so the cam was included last Thursday in the weekly report.

It'll be on um the agenda for a vote tonight.

Um, you know, don't think that the quickness at which you are all seeing this resolution doesn't imply that it hasn't been worked on for a really long time and with a lot of focus by staff.

I especially want to thank uh former um deputy city manager Sonia Hollam and now um and leading after that uh Andrea Roper.

Um we actually started this process actually a couple of months ago.

Um and with some of the the conversations around um the ordinance we just heard about, plus um uh having, you know, this is also timely because you know, just last week we we stood there with Governor Um Ferguson and Attorney General Nick Brown and scores and scores of community leaders and residents in front of the Northwest Ice Processing Center, um, as we supported the state's um uh uh uh uh lawsuit that they're bringing to order uh the geo group who operates the the center to allow state uh department of health Inspectors in um to really follow uh to basically follow state law and to investigate more than 3,500 complaints that detainees have put in.

Um so beyond that, this resolution uh specifically, and I do highly recommend um if you get a chance to really read the resolution the wherehow whereas is staff did a great job of being really comprehensive with a lot of the work that this council has done for over a decade, or about a decade, you know, um, to support immigrants and refugees in our community.

Um, you know, let's face it, this federal administration continues to promote actions and policies that so fear and anxiety in our communities.

And as Councilmember Diaz pointed out, as a foreign-born immigrant, I obviously I feel that profound anxiety myself, and that is why I'm so appreciative appreciative for the rest of you here on council, um, who also understand and have supported so many uh uh actions and supportive the you know um I'm I'm I feel really fortunate that I'm in a city that we're in that has this value.

Um, um through this resolution um we're you know the city council condemns the broader uh patterns of overzealous, unjust and dangerous enforcement actions carried out during these recent federal immigration uh civil immigration enforcement actions.

The city also reaffirms its loss long-standing opposition to private for profit detention centers and strongly supports the state of Washington's efforts to impose robust and forcible oversight of private detention facilities, including independent inspectors, uh mandatory compliance standards and meaningful consequences for violations.

The resolution also builds upon all the advocacy work we did at this as a city during the last legislative session when the state advanced four bills to uh strengthen protections for immigrants and refugees.

Should we pass this resolution tonight?

The city council we will reiterate our calls to the United States Congress to include meaningful and significant guardrails to the U.S.

Department of Homeland Security and how it operates in our communities, including requiring uh DHS to obtain a judicial judicial warrant prior to enforcement actions, ceasing the use of masked agents during immigration enforcement operations, and ensuring independent and transparent investigations are conducted for all federal agents uh and law enforcement involved deaths.

The city council will also reaffirm our longstanding support for the keep Washington Working Act and call on state leaders to continue close monitoring and oversight of state agency data sharing agreements with federal agencies to perform a formal review to ensure that all state agencies are fully compliant with the provisions of the act and to provide additional training and guidance to local governments regarding local law enforcement responses to activities conducted by the U.S.

Um uh immigration customs enforcement, particularly where they can where concerns arise regarding the legality of such actions.

This last one's really important because um we really do need help from from the state um uh for us as a community of municipalities to understand um you know what we should really be doing.

Uh Tacomans have been loud and clear on this issue and on their desire to see the city council take a stand on these issues.

This resolution is a targeted approach to call on our policymakers and state and federal government with the uh with the authority to take these actions and improve quality of life for all residents in Tacoma.

Uh with that, open to any comments or questions.

Thank you, Councilmember Sidalga, and I too am uh very appreciative of you bring this forward and look forward to supporting it myself.

Are there any council questions or comments?

Councilmember Walker.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, just we'll be redundant, I guess, in saying uh thank you, Councilmember Sidalge, and um, very happy to co-sponsor and um support this.

Um as others have said, I think you know, this is genuinely the least we can do, and also the most we can do.

We keep just pushing on those edges to see what we can do as a city, and obviously within the constraints of state and federal uh government.

My question is um the one piece that I know we keep talking about that I don't see in here is getting um additional information on our website about um what we can and can't do as a city um, particularly TPD when it comes to an individual case.

And I understand that we're talking about that.

Can do you have any more information on that, or can I should I just keep asking that question of staff?

Um we're still working on that.

I've had uh conversations.

I think um, so has mayor actually uh with us and actually maybe it is a phone of friend time period to see if there's an update on that.

Council members, you are correct that we are working on that.

I don't have a timeline for when it may get up there, but it is in process.

So uh we'll see if we can provide you a more robust uh update this evening and give you a timeline.

And and I want to thank you for bringing that up.

That has also been a very specific thing, and and it is my goal that we do update the website with more uh with greater detail around that.

Great.

And it sounds like I but just to be entirely clear, we don't need that in the resolution for it to happen.

No, we can make that happen.

Okay.

Um, and then this also I don't know is a question for you, but I my understanding is that the federal government did just pass a budget that did not put more dollars into border control and ice that that and this may be just something we could mention tonight at the dais, but that's what I'm hearing from the newsletters that I'm on from the federal government.

So, you know, baby step forward, but good news.

It is a baby step, they did not increase the already increased budget that they had passed.

Fair.

Okay, thank you.

I mean, I think that's good clarification, and also just want to highlight and thank our um federal partners from this delegation that they are working, working, working to um in line with our values.

So I appreciate that and want to keep thanking them for what they are doing, even as we call on them for more all the time.

So thank you.

Absolutely great point.

Thank you.

Alright, appreciate it, Councilmember Dios.

Thank you.

Um, I also want to thank Council Member Sidalge for his leadership in originally get this draft getting this drafted with um former deputy city manager Sonia Hallam, um, and helping me help him bring it across the line here.

I think we circled back around and we've come to a good spot, and we've been able to add a couple of things to help make it evergreen as we as um all of this has continued to evolve here over time.

Um, as I worked with him on this resolution, one of our goals was to include a history of the actions the city has taken over the years so that everyone in the community and sort of on the record can see how our current director directives are targeted and strategic additions to our long history of state and federal advocacy here at the city of Tacoma.

To that end, um, I'm gonna bring forward uh new motion and an amendment to it tonight just because um we keep getting a little bit of stakeholder feedback on it and um uh the press conference that many of us attended last week.

So to that end, I will read the two additions that I'm hoping to add.

Um, one will be a motion that adds a whereas clause that reads whereas members of the Tacoma City Council stood in solidarity with Governor Bob Ferguson and Attorney General Nick Brown and scores of community leaders in front of the Northwest Ice Processing Center and residents as they announce legal action against the geo group, the private company that owns and operates the Northwest Immigrants Processing Center, immigration processing center, to ask the court to order the geo group to allow inspectors from the State Department of Health into the immigration detention facility to ensure that it is following state law and to investigate the more than 350,000 complaints from the detainees and about conditions in the facility.

So that was addressed by Council Mr.

Algay, so we're adding that language in.

Um, and then since we were published on Thursday, I got a little bit of more feedback and clarity from stakeholders and the governor's office.

And to that end, I am gonna request an edit to section six in the six, therefore statement that says the city of Tacoma affirms its long-standing support for the Keep Washington Working Act.

I'm not gonna read the laws there, which establishes policies to limit state and local agency involvement and federal immigration enforcement, protect immigrant rights, and support Washington's economy by ensuring the rights and dignity of all residents, and request that Governor Bob Ferguson continue close monitoring and oversight of state agency data sharing agreements with federal agencies and further that the governor perform a formal review to ensure that all state agencies are fully compliant with the provisions of the act.

Um, and so that is just some clarification language there on what currently exists in data sharing agreements and how we might continue that oversight and encourage continued oversight at that level.

And so with that, I just wanted to thank everybody for again their support of this work and your patience with us as we sort of read you into it live because we want to make sure that we're doing that in a public forum, given everyone's interest in trying to not um hit hit quorum in email or in other dialogues.

So welcome any other thoughts, questions for Councilman Stalgay or myself, given he's the sponsor.

Thanks for bringing forward.

Anyone else?

Okay, we'll look forward to having this conversation tonight, and thank you once again for your leadership of everyone involved.

All right, and with that, moving on to our sixth agenda item.

This is brought forward by Councilmember Scott.

It's a council consideration request, which is a resolution reaffirming the potential for high investment corridors to serve as drivers of economic growth and development.

Councilmember.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I've been working on this proposal for a while now, and I'm excited to be sharing it with you all today.

This proposal is uh for a resolution regarding community safety on high investment corridors.

I want to start by noting that various parts of our city have seen robust public and private investments in the past 10 years or so.

And this includes a range of new roads, new buildings, new transit options, new business openings, new public art, and much more newness.

These investments are often clustered together along discrete corridors that generally span several blocks, usually around three to four, but sometimes as high as six or seven in our mixed use centers.

I'm calling these locations high investment corridors, and these types of high investment corridors are vital for Tacoma's economic growth because they can attract considerable community use.

By community use, I mean uh they attract shoppers, renters, transit users, and other sources of revenue for our local businesses and general activation for the neighborhood.

We have seven high investment corridors that are thriving and continuing to drive expanded expanded development around them.

However, we also have high investment corridors that are at risk of stagnation or even decline because safety concerns are limiting the community use of those corridors.

Um, in the CCR, I list a few examples of high investment corridors, but I'm going to focus most of my remarks today on the MLK corridor and hilltop.

The MLK corridor, which runs from 9th to South Ninth to Ernest Brazil Street, should be well positioned for significant community use.

It has large new apartment buildings, uh new transit access with the T line, new businesses, art installations, and more.

This corridor is also within walking distance of numerous office buildings, large medical facilities, has ample parking, and is located by a large public park.

All these features seem like they should be a recipe for success, but they are not.

When you look at this corridor through the lens of our community safety action strategy, you can see a long list of issues that make people feel unsafe.

When people feel unsafe, feel an area is unsafe.

It doesn't matter how much money has been invested into the infrastructure.

Most people just won't go there.

On the MLK corridor, you can see issues like extensive graffiti and litter, overgrown landscaping, boarded up storefronts, and underutilized parking and an underutilized parking lot that is dimly lit.

These are exactly the types of issues that our community told us makes them feel unsafe.

Fortunately, many of these kinds of environmental issues don't require multi-million dollar investments to fix.

What they do require is our focus and attention with existing resources.

I think that cross-dimental uh cross-departmental problem-driven solutions could address environmental safety issues and help create conditions on all of our corridors where people from across the city want to shop, eat, work, and have fun, as well as live.

Uh, without focused problem-driven intervention to enhance community safety, I worry that Tacoma will struggle to harness our high investment corridors as tools to drive economic growth and spread development.

I urge us not to let incredible investments in our city go to waste.

And I'd like to thank Deputy Mayor Bushnell, Councilmember Heinz, and Councilmember Heinz for joining us co-sponsors, and I also appreciate that Councilmember Tia has uh reached out to say that she would also like to join us a co-sponsor as well.

And I also want to thank the economic development committee for all the helpful feedback they have shared with me.

Um, and then I also want to thank our community and economic development department, especially Carol Wolf, for their helpful input.

I'm happy to answer any questions or talk through any concerns.

Uh uh unless there are some major concerns or anything like that that that might need to make some edits on.

Um, I'm hoping that the resolution will come forward uh for a vote on May 12th.

Thank you, Councilmember Scott and co-sponsors for bringing this forward.

Uh it looks like a council member Hines followed by Deputy Mayor.

Uh thank you, Councilmember Scott.

Or thank you, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you, Councilmore Scott.

Um, happy to co-sponsor this.

Just want to take a minute to talk through kind of what what I really liked about this, which is the idea around, kind of already seen through neighborhood planning process what it looks like if we kind of really focus on some of these high high impact areas to really kind of bring neighbors in part as part of the conversation, make investments and really kind of turn around and do continue to improve neighborhoods.

So, you know, I was really happy.

Thank you for being willing to include the uh Sixth Avenue area between Mildred and Jackson.

That was an area that was gonna be identified as part of the neighborhood planning process.

Um, but is that has not moved forward?

Something we continue to kind of focus on the area, also really looking at the Proctor area from 27th to 24th.

Um, these areas where we're seeing lots of city investment already, we're seeing um lots of city assets that are there, but you know, kind of we continue to try try to invest in ways to make them um continually thriving areas.

Um I've been doing this uh doing this course online about looking at kind of what neighborhoods generate the most for the city.

We start thinking about revenue.

And when we think about these neighborhoods that we're highlighting, these are ones that they are walkable, they have more small businesses, they have more people visiting, so we're seeing higher sales, we're seeing higher business uh taxes, we're seeing higher investments, and so really supporting these kind of more dense, walkable neighborhoods, I think makes a lot of sense not only just for the neighbors themselves and the people committed to them, but also for the city writ large, and we're really I'm really excited to see what this looks like in this area these areas, and then as we kind of move forward from there.

So, no questions.

Councilmore Scott, thank you for letting me sign on.

Uh thank you, Mayor, and I just want to appreciate uh Councilmember Scott for her leadership on this and all the work and that you put into this, and I know you're working with city staff and others uh to identify areas, but I know that it's not exclusive to those areas as well.

Um I think that that's a really important uh important um thing to highlight in this is that we have areas that are have great uh bones infrastructure, and there's a lot of need, and there needs to be greater coordination between all the city departments uh in order to help address those needs, uh, you know, combining a lot of our different strategies.

And this is really a firm step in that direction to make sure that we are prioritizing areas that that do have those needs.

Um, and I'm just really excited to support this, and and I think about Hosmer Street in particular, where um it hasn't had a lot of uh investment historically, but I know that there's been a lot of work and it's been a really great example of what compart uh cross-departmental uh work can do in an area, and I think that would be very beneficial for areas like the MLK corridor, areas like uh Councilmember Hines and mentioned.

Um, but you know, to continue that work as well is going to be very important.

And uh we've learned a lot through our neighborhood planning processes, and while we cannot necessarily do it at an intense or as a as uh as a level as that, um there are lots of lessons to be learned and a lot of opportunities to work together to make sure those principles are not lost, and those are things that we can carry on to other neighborhoods across our city.

So I think this is a great uh segue from the neighborhood planning program in order to make sure that we are continuing to use what resources we have to to benefit the communities that we're trying to serve all across our city.

Um so just really appreciate the work on here, and I'm really looking forward to supporting this later.

Thank you.

Councilman Walker.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um I am excited about this idea.

Um, I just want to ask a couple clarifying questions about what it means in practice.

So um the list of high capacity corridors, is that something that is, or sorry, high investment corridors.

Is that uh something that's being determined because of this resolution or something that already existed?

Um they were not named previously.

This is the name that's kind of come up as we've noticed that these pockets exist in different places.

So specific to this, if you have a if you have another name suggestion, we could change it.

It might it might confuse people, but I'm open to thoughts.

Okay.

Um I guess the the reason I ask is it feels like this could be great for every area, and how do we um prioritize the ones that need it most?

Um I appreciate your comments on MLK.

I feel like I've see I see that, and I want I want success for that area, and it this feels like the right way to attack it to you know, do cross jurisdic or cross department work and um, but then what's next, and like how many can staff take on at a time.

That's my only concern is like scope creep because I want to do this everywhere.

Yeah, so I mean a big piece of this um is looking at things that aren't going to take a long period of time to get done.

So looking at things that can be completed and uh I believe we talked about uh I forget the numbers now.

I'm I know it's three, six, and nine.

I can't remember it's 30, 60, and 90 or 30, 36 and nine months.

But so I won't I won't specify that part.

But um projects that are shorter term that aren't gonna that have um that they're not necessarily like ongoing things that can be fixed in a in a short amount of time.

So that helps with um how many of these can things can be looked at by staff in any given time, and obviously it's gonna depend on their capacity in the in the program.

And then as far as identifying uh some of these places, really leaning on the um, thank you.

Christina just gave me the clarification 3060-90 days.

I wanted to make sure I was I was clear on that.

Um but making sure that between you know the knowledge that we all have of our districts, what we're hearing from community members, as well as uh the work that is being done through like our business resiliency stuff and the work that CED is doing as they go out to uh these neighborhoods in there, because this doesn't negate the work that they're doing, it doesn't stop it, and so it's um being able to work together with them as we identify these areas.

Um, some of that I won't we can kind of I'll maybe check in with staff to see more specifically but looking at some of these things, and I think a big piece of that prioritization is um one as it's as based on like as the information that we're receiving from um staff, but also like looking at what those projects are and how how feasible they are to get done in that in that timeline that we're looking at as well.

Okay, yeah, if there's any specificity we can put in the final um resolution just so that we protect our time a little bit.

I think that would be great.

Um, but I I love the approach.

It reads a little bit like the work that um TPD did around like the high crime areas, and I can't remember what we were calling those.

Crime prevention through environmental design, I think is the program that they were doing.

I don't remember what if they had a specific program name for theirs, but that's kind of the same.

Okay, yeah.

So because we did we did Hosmer, and I know that like public works went out and did walkthroughs of like the cross-departmental thing, and it seemed really effective.

So, but I think part of what was effective about it is we did one at a time and then really track progress.

So, super excited about the work.

Just um wanting to make sure that we can deliver on what we say we're gonna deliver on.

So, excited to support it.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Rumbach.

Um, thank you.

And I want to thank Council Member Scott for bringing this forward.

And um, I was curious, um, if you could just talk about the BIA, so the BIA that they're looking at for.

Could you like talk a little bit about that?

Because I just didn't see, obviously, if you're doing 30, 60, 90, that makes sense, and I just didn't see the 306090 in here.

Could you just talk a little bit about where we are on that process?

And the BIA process.

Yeah.

Yes.

Uh so as it stands, we uh the BIA in order to be approved, like brought to the council for us to look at and and potentially approve um the folks that are in the designated area.

That would be um, you know, that would their pro whose properties would be assessed.

We would need uh 60 percent of those to sign in in favor of it before it got brought to us.

Currently, it's not at that level.

Um so we had a contract with Uncommon Bridges who is helping uh to facilitate a community group as well as some outreach.

Um this has been going on for some time, I believe uh their contract was up around the end of April, if I'm remembering correctly.

Um, and so uh as it stands, we haven't reached the threshold for it to be brought to the council.

Uh that doesn't mean that some very you know civically engaged and motivated community member couldn't kind of go out and pick up where that left off, but um, as of right now, there's not necessarily um the city isn't doing like the specific facilitation of that work anymore, and so it's kind of uh in and a bit of a limbo there as to whether it will or will not happen and and when that might be.

Okay, that's great.

Thank you so much.

And then um, I think um, sort of like that in the police enhancement areas, they did that down in Pew Alp Avenue, and um, I totally agree that that would be a great thing for some of these areas, and I like that you called out certain places.

Um, I I really see, I mean, I hear a lot from people who want to be on MLK, and like it's exactly what you said, they just don't feel safe.

Um, it's not great when you have a couch on the sidewalk either.

So I think that if we could spend more time, and I like the idea of 30, 60, 90 days as like a goal for trying to get to those areas, and I think making those a high priority is a really great idea.

So thanks for bringing this forward.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you.

Well, thank you so much for bringing this forward.

Look forward to the resolution.

Moving on, are there any committee reports, members of the council?

Seeing none, we're going to move on to our agenda review and the city manager's weekly report.

I'd like to call on Deputy City Manager Allison Griffith to begin the presentation.

Thank you, Mary.

Mary and Council, for your awareness this evening.

There are three proclamations tonight.

The first is proclaiming Tuesday, May 5th as National Red Dress Day.

That's a day of remembrance and awareness for missing and murdered indigenous women, girls, and two spirited people.

The second is proclaiming Wednesday, May 6th, 2026, the City of Destiny Awards Day.

And the third is proclaiming May 2026 as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

As you heard earlier in this meeting, there will be modifications to tonight's agenda to amend resolution 41905 to add a warehouse clause and revise a therefore statement as presented by council member Diaz earlier in the meeting.

Thank you, Deputy City Manager.

I would like to entertain a motion now to convene to an executive session pursuant to RCW 42.30.110 section one subject subsections 11 and 2 to discuss potential litigation not to exceed 40 minutes.

So movement second, those in favor to convene to an executive session, please signify by saying aye.

Hi.

I was supposed to say nay.

Motion is clear to be a good thing.

All right, so All right, we're all All right.

All right.

All right, man.

All right.

Oh, man.

All right.

Ah, man All right, so All right.

All right.

All right.

All right.

All right.

All right.

All right.

All right.

All right.

All right.

All right.

All right.

All right.

All right.

Oh All All right, man.

Oh, man.

All Ah All All All All Alors, All All right.

Oh