It took like 10 years.

I'd like to call to order the City Council study session of July 21st, 2026.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Deputy Mayor Bushnell?

President.

Councilmember Diaz.

Councilmember Diaz is here.

Councilmember Heinz?

Councilmember Palmer.

Absent Councilmember Rumba.

Here.

Councilmember Sidalga?

Here.

Councilmember Scott?

Here.

Councilmember Walker.

Absent Mayor Ibsen.

Here.

Our first agenda item is the Tacoma Streets Initiative 10-year report.

I'd like to call on Public Works Assistant Director Corey Newton to begin the presentation.

Welcome, gentlemen.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Council members.

My name is Corey Newton.

I'm the Public Works Deputy Director and City Engineer, and we're here today to celebrate some successes of the Street Initiative in a decade of progress.

Next slide.

All right, so today's presentation, it's a little bit long, uh, but we'll try to go through some of the slides rather quickly.

Um, but we definitely want to chat with you about a lot of different things that were uh real uh example of success as part of the street initiative.

So we'll go over background, um, the important stuff, the community impact and the accomplishments we achieved, uh, our financial stewardship of taxpayer dollars, uh, and an economic analysis of the great work uh and the uh examples of a success on the economic analysis front.

And then we'll talk a little bit about remaining needs and then what's next.

Next slide.

All right, so I always like to start off with a question of why.

So why was the street initiative created?

Well, basically, if you remember the condition of our residential streets in particular, at that time, uh they were basically some form of deteriorated street.

Uh the PCI rating overall was very low, uh, which is the pavement condition index or how we evaluate our street system.

And then uh council started passing lots of policies around the right-of-way in uh different modes of travel.

And so, in order to meet council's transformational goals as well as the infrastructure status uh and create a predictable and dedicated investment, uh we developed the street initiative and voters passed that in 2015.

Next slide.

With that, I'll turn it over to Joe.

Yeah, thanks, Corey.

Uh good afternoon, uh Mayor Council.

My name is Joe Franco.

I'm the special assistant to the director here for public works.

Um we're gonna go over background.

So in 2015, uh Tacoma Voters approved Proposition 3 and Proposition A.

Uh together, these measures funded residential street maintenance, capital improvements, uh, and also safety enhancements along Tacoma Streets.

Uh at the time, the measures were expected to generate about 175 million dollars uh in new local revenue, which supported roughly 325 million dollars in total transportation investments.

Um importantly, the funding was always intended to sunset after 10 years and was supposed to be used specifically for transportation uh purposes here in the city.

Uh and looking back, the investment really has exceeded many of our original expectations.

Um next slide, please.

I'll just add on to that.

Uh the tenure thing was really important.

We did a few, you know, um community surveys, and one of the things that we really heard from an accountability standpoint is that 10 years was really important to our community, and so um we we made sure we made note of that.

Yeah, thanks, Corey.

Um so moving in the community impact and accomplishments.

Uh the Streets Initiative became much more than just a residential paving program.

Uh for your every dollar that we've helped attract uh approximately three dollars were made in grant funding.

Uh so we've been very successful in the grant match uh arena.

Also, we've secured more than 144 million dollars in state and federal grants, which has been well above our original goal of 90 million dollars.

Um also we've been able to build really great intentional partnerships with our uh with our local partners in environmental services, uh Tacoma Public Utilities, Pierce Transit, uh, you know, Tacoma Public Schools, private developers on our a lot of our capital and residential projects.

Um eighty-three percent of our expenditures were directly supported uh through the contract of maintenance and construction work, uh which really generated jobs down here in the uh you know uh Pierce County space.

And then also, you know, we've really maintained strong financial accountability.

Uh we had no findings uh from the state auditor's office.

Uh we're also uh producing a community impact report, which will be posted here in the next month, uh, which is a written report uh with all this information that you'll also uh be sent.

Uh Corey, anything else you wanted to add?

Yeah, I'll just want to touch a little bit more on that partnership.

Um I guess me personally, when I think of good government, uh this is the exact type of partnership activity that I think of.

When there's different agencies in our community that we're able to partner with uh and do, I guess use uh taxpayer dollars very efficiently and build amazing projects for our community.

This the street initiative has allowed us to have that success and really build those partnerships and those relationships with our uh affected stakeholders.

And I'm gonna pass this over to Eric Sloan, our pavement manager for this next slide.

Mayor members of council, I'm Eric Sloan, uh pavement manager in the public works department.

Um this slide represents kind of what we delivered through the Streets Initiative.

Uh most of the lines there are green because it's uh work that's been completed, though we still have a good amount of work in progress and uh some future work that's planned, uh both maintenance and some capital projects.

Um most of this work uh is in the maintenance and preservation area, so lots of seal coats and uh maintenance on streets to keep them good, but 30% of it has been actual paving.

And so that covered about almost a hundred miles uh throughout the city.

And one of the things that you won't see on the map here, just because it kind of clutters it up, is we also had a lot of little projects that had a big impact, uh safety improvements and things like that that are corners and corridors and things like that that we can't really represent on this map.

Um, but they're out there, and we're working on better ways of uh representing that to you and the public.

And I'll just add in uh that's a good example, like a curb ramp project, for example, doesn't show up on this map, but that is extremely impactful uh to safety for pedestrians, for example.

Uh also just uh to add on to this a little bit, Eric, sorry, start to steal your thumber, but um about 70% of our residential street system we were able to touch as part of the last 10 years.

Correct.

Yeah.

Uh well we're on track to meet our goal of about uh well, it's about 5600, so we're almost there now, and we will exceed that uh given that we have uh funding left over for next year and those other projects that are coming.

Um so about almost 80 capital projects uh supported so far.

And uh yeah, more to come.

Next slide.

So, Corey, uh I guess we'll go into our capital project accomplishments.

So, you know, while residential maintenance formed the backbone of the streets initiative, uh major capital projects transformed key corridors throughout Tacoma.

Uh these next several slides exam uh highlight some of our examples from different council districts and also demonstrate the variety of different improvements that uh were delivered through the Streets Initiative.

All right, so E64th, uh just an absolutely uh outstanding example of a great transformational project that we can do for our community.

I actually just watched walk this um corridor with one of our constituents.

They were asking me questions about it.

I was like, hey, let's go out and meet on site, let's uh let's chat through everything.

Um and just walking it.

I mean, honestly, I was absolutely amazed with what we were able to do.

Um this is a three-phase project.

You some of the reasons we break these things up into phases, uh, just if anybody's curious on why we don't do one big project.

You know, when we go after grants, a lot of the grants have dollar restrictions or caps on them.

And so we, you know, we we couldn't necessarily go for one big project because we wouldn't get enough or we wouldn't be able to maximize our state and federal dollars.

And so a lot of the strategy around the street initiative has been maximizing our local resources and leveraging those to get more state and federal dollars.

And so this is just a good example of that.

So we split this up in three phases.

Um we have uh done phase uh one and two and phase three, I'm happy to announce we should be going to design work here in about a month.

Next slide.

And then just uh that picture really just showed a lot of uh the examples of what we can do.

Again, picture speeds a thousand words, but um again, able to leverage different dollars, partnership dollars uh with both environmental services and Tacoma Public Utilities.

Next slide.

Yeah, so this is the Lincoln District Streetscape project.

Hopefully some of you are familiar with this.

Um, but you know, this demonstrates how transportation improvements can also support neighborhood revitalization.

Um if you could hit the next slide.

Um so this was uh one of our capital projects, one of the main sources was also streets initiative funding.

We invested about nine million dollars in this corridor uh for the Lincoln District, uh, which has also sparked a lot of uh capital development along this corridor.

Some of you are familiar with the Patsy Sur place, which is right along uh Lincoln District, um along 38th there.

Uh so there's there's opportunities uh there for folks when we invest, when we're able to invest in in uh transportation projects, we're able to uh bring in additional investments in a lot of these neighborhoods.

Um but some of the project improvements that you'll see, uh, you know, new pavement, uh crossing curb ramps, uh, my favorite portion of this is the Yakima Festival Street.

Um if some of you have been out there, uh but many businesses uh are also located around there too, many BIPOC businesses.

Um so you know, very uh very great corridor for us.

Uh can we actually go back to the previous slide?

I just want to make one comment.

Um you know the this picture obviously there's uh a huge difference.

Uh and the some of the things that don't show up easily on this picture is you know you can just see from the condition of the infrastructure that this was an underinvested area, right?

So there's crack sidewalk, there's moss growing.

But what's harder to pick up on is that you see there's poles scattered throughout this, and then there's trees scattered throughout this.

And when you think of when we're trying to activate pedestrian spaces, these types of obstacles prevent that.

And so basically creating the corridor that we did, allowing these these uh vibrant pedestrian areas, um, and and really, you know, as part of this project, we know that we created kind of a design corridor and a feel for this area.

And that type of air uh activity or design really helps activate this these types of projects.

And so just another example of an outstanding project we were able to do as part of street initiative.

Next slide.

One more.

All right.

Go ahead.

Yeah.

All right.

So uh this is actually a combination street initiative LID project.

Uh but again, you you can kind of see the status of our infrastructure back in 2015.

So if you look at that street, you kind of see the before photo, you kind of see the you know, the failed street, it's uh a mixture of oil mat and some asphalt patching.

Um there's no sidewalk.

Um, and what we're able to achieve after with this type of project, you see obviously a new paved surface, it's smoother, it's safer.

Uh you see curb and gutter installed, sidewalk installed.

Uh again, when you look at the before and after of what it's possible with the street initiative, this is the type of investment that basically improves the quality of life for our community.

Next slide.

And again, like every slide, you kind of see the same theme over and over again.

What we have been at Public Works has been really successful at doing is leveraging these local dollars.

We we multiply some.

It's basically a force multiplier.

We've been able to maximize the dollars we've received from our partners uh and leverage that and build more for our community with the dollars we received.

Next slide.

So this is East Roosevelt Avenue.

Uh East Roosevelt was really focused heavily on safety improvements.

Uh these improvements included sidewalks, crossings, uh curb ramps, school beacons, landscaping and storm uh water upgrades.

Uh this project really improved access for students at the local elementary school families and also everyone traveling through the corridor.

Eric, was there anything you wanted to add to this one?

Yeah, one thing I would like to add is that uh it's a great example of how the Streets Initiative presented opportunities for us.

So this kind of started out as uh residential project uh as most of the streets initiative projects did.

But knowing that the utilities needed to get into Roosevelt to tie things in for those residential streets, we started looking beyond that and even into you know the further safety improvements and working with the safe routes to school program and all of that.

So it expanded uh from what it was uh to get a and we were able to obtain a grant to get these more comprehensive improvements.

So thanks.

Uh next slide.

And here you can see more of the funding sources uh and you know, project improvements.

So we've been able to do uh next slide.

All right, and then the last capital project that we wanted to highlight as part of the successes uh presentation is the Larchmont project.

So this is just uh a really good example of a partnership project.

So environmental services led this and partnered with Public Works as part of the street with Street Initiative dollars.

We're able to go after ecology grants.

This is actually uh Porous asphalt roadway.

Um so we are able to implement uh some green infrastructure.

Uh and then part of the design work for this really sets up uh sets us up for a future uh greenway.

So uh again, just uh you know, a forward-thinking strategic way that we've been able to leverage local dollars to build these amazing projects.

Next slide.

And then again, it just highlights the type of funding that we were able to utilize.

Um, and again, you can kind of see every project as slightly different.

There's different grants that we can go after, there's different funding sources.

But what we have public work staff doing is really looking at the different opportunities out there, and when we see an opportunity to build a project, but we go for it.

Next slide.

So go ahead, Corey.

I was just gonna turn it over to Eric.

Oh, Eric, anything else?

Uh no, I think I'm gonna take on the street maintenance accomplishments now, though.

Go ahead.

Uh next slide, please.

Uh first wanted to talk a little bit about pothole Palooza.

So it's something that we've been able to do for the last few years, and um it really gets to the heart of what maintenance is.

This year we were able to take on uh repairs at 10 locations throughout the city.

Uh nearly 16,000 square yards of pavement was replaced.

And that is equal to 9,000 individual pothole repairs, so four by four repairs.

Um what I find uh kind of cool about that is that uh back when I was a street maintenance worker, um we were you know doing about 8,000 of these a year.

So uh our program has allowed us to expand, and we're doing you know that on top of you know these 9,000 individual repairs in one shot.

So and we covered uh ground all over the place.

And you know, they're not full improvements or anything, but it's the maintenance that we need to do to keep things going.

Um so on your left, you can see uh North 21st Street section that we did, and then uh Nor Point Way, we did the uphill uh lane uh up to 29th.

So next slide, please.

So our residential programs out of street maintenance or street operations uh have covered a lot of ground.

And one thing I do want to point out as I'm talking about all of the work that they've performed is that this is the this is the maintenance that again that we need to do to kind of keep things going.

So this is low cost and uh high impact as far as longevity for your streets.

Um the bulk of the money from the streets initiative, over 80% of it actually went to capital projects and contracted work, which is great because we're keeping our contractors busy and keeping the community employed.

Um but again, our residential programs down at street operations cover a lot of ground.

So they do like maintenance paving.

Uh we partner with environmental services and the other utilities on those uh to get you know the basics updated and you can see that the transformation from the left to right on these uh before and after photos.

Um the other thing I would like to point out is that every dollar that we spend on maintenance today, it kind of it prevents us from having to spend 250 dollars in maintenance in the future.

Um when we let something go all the way to failure like that and have to reconstruct it from the ground up, it costs 250 times more to do it.

So I just want to add on to that a little bit because I think that's a really important fact, and there's a reason we put it here.

So sometimes if you see a road that we haven't completed, but you see public works crews doing some maintenance activity on a road that was recently paved, it's because of this fact right here.

If we're able to maintain our infrastructure, and that's part of good government too, is making sure that we maximize our investment.

So if we're able to maintain that infrastructure, we can extend the lifespan and the longevity of that.

And so there's a reason that you see those maintenance activities occurring.

Next slide.

So uh next couple slides we're gonna go over financial stewardship of the uh streets initiative.

So um, you know, beyond delivering projects, we've really focused on how can we best steward the taxpayer dollar.

Um so you know, this will summarize a lot of our revenues and how they were generated and investment invested here in the community.

Um so over the life of the initiative revenues exceeded original projections.

So with these higher anticip than anticipated uh tax collections and other revenues, they helped strengthen our program and uh helped uh leverage us uh for more additional projects we've been able to perform out here um on the streets here in Tacoma.

Um in total, the Streets Initiative has generated approximately 231 million dollars in local revenues, uh which is about 113% over the original projected revenues that we had come up with back in in 2015.

Um but you know, these local revenues became the foundation for attracting uh you know substantial outside funding.

Um, our like I talked about earlier, our grant match programs are uh really key to us delivering uh a lot of the improvements that folks will see on on roadways.

Um next slide, please.

And then uh for expenditures.

So uh you know, the largest share of expenditures supported our residential maintenance um and also capital projects, as you can see here on the screen.

Um capital investments continue as multi-year projects progress through design and construction, and some of our capital funds remain committed through existing contracts and future construction.

So overall spending has remained consistent with council priorities that were laid out and established when the initiative was first approved.

So you know we have continued to found there was no audits through state auditors uh report.

I mean, we've uh been able to spend these monies specifically on transportation projects.

Um Eric, was there things you wanted to add here?

Yeah, um couple things.

Just the residential maintenance category.

Um again, I just want to point out that a lot of that work was contracted out.

It's just lumped together because it's the maintenance portion of it.

Um the active transportation uh bucket is is getting caught up.

I mean, because we're getting to the end of this, so you know, as you go for grants, I mean it takes time to design, get into construction and things like that.

So that's why you see that kind of lag there in the arterial and freight category.

We've just got a lot of bigger projects out there still uh in design and uh that are ready to go.

Thanks, Eric and turn it over to Corey for the next slides.

All right, so um, so how did this uh I guess affect our local economy?

So, you know, we kind of uh generated an analysis uh and then basically after all the economics was analyzed by a consultant, this uh program basically generated a net positive for our community.

So some of the facts that I was absolutely astounded by uh is um it generated an additional 26 to 31 million in economic activity.

Uh and then again, households earned cumulative five five to six point five million dollars more uh in household earnings uh than without this.

And so when you add that all up, the benefits for our community for a package like this, um it was a great success on an economic front as well.

Not only just our infrastructure, but also on an economic front as well.

Next slide.

And then just a little bit about this.

So council is aware that we have uh various programs uh in place as part of our capital projects, uh including LEAP.

And so you can kind of see that how you know when we have these funds available and we go and build these projects, these projects have requirements placed on them, and we're able to really generate um some great action as part of that.

So you can see 41,000 apprentice hours as a result of the street initiative, 9.3 million in local wages, 144 million and counting and grants that we've been able to pull into Tacoma as part of the street initiative, and again, 136,000 hours of local employees uh working on our capital projects as part of this.

Next slide.

All that was tied together in the uh that in the report.

Um and so that was just some of the highlights for you.

So a little bit about our remaining needs.

Um this may look familiar to you, um, but uh we still have uh about 680 million in deferred maintenance.

And what I mean by that is that every street is gonna need some sort of maintenance at some point, and if we take that uh snapshot in time right now, um we have about six hundred and eighty million dollars of work that needs to be done just to maintain what we have.

On top of that, we have about a 1.4 billion dollar reconstruction backlog.

Um, and that is the streets that are well, they have a PCI of 40 and uh and lower generally, and they're beyond general maintenance, so they have to be reconstructed.

So it is a big number, but uh things are costing a lot.

And the other thing I want to point out is that this represents a one-time cost.

I mean, you can't really effectively just throw that money at it and fix the problem all at once because you just couldn't be couldn't be able to do that logistically.

But uh it is focused mostly on the pavement as well.

So um what I don't have in this is uh you know street trees and things like that.

That we we do include some sidewalk connections in the mix on our um on our capital work uh that uh the number that we use, but it's not like full improvement, so those would be on top of this.

All right, next slide.

So what's next?

Um so you've kind of heard from Eric that there's a need for more infrastructure funding.

Um we've demonstrated as part of this presentation that there is uh been some successes with part of the street initiative.

And so the next step is uh as you all know, council voted to place uh a um resolution on the ballot August 4th, the Connect Tacoma Safe Streets and Sidewalk levy.

Uh that levy uh we have distributed information on uh facts and data for the different investment themes.

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

As part of that, we will definitely have oversight committees for the levy, and then um one of the lessons learned in general, regardless of the August 4th levy, is um we've heard a lot about outreach communication and reporting, and public works is embarking actively on improving our outreach and engagement activities, uh better communication, and really just responding to the needs of our community.

Next slide.

I'll turn it over to Joe.

Yeah, so um we do have some continued projects that are going through the end of the year.

So this is the list of projects that we're uh planning throughout the rest of the 2026 construction season.

Um so there's a list right there, but you know, we do still have additional projects that are scheduled through 2027 and 2028 because Streets Initiative still has money in it that we still uh need to invest in the community.

Um we'll continue to do that until the the program and money sunset.

So uh this is the active uh construction list.

Eric, was there anything you wanted to add to this one?

Um sorry.

Um yeah, just that we have a lot of, I mean, we still have a lot of work that's planned and in design.

Um and if you go to the next slide, we've got a couple of projects that uh we pulled out that we wanted to highlight.

Um this is Streets Initiative Package 18, again, another one of those that kind of started as a residential project that um kind of grew on us just based on utility work and things like that.

And it has experienced some delays, you know.

We kind of put this together back in COVID, so it kind of got slow rolled out, but um, as you know, that's a boundary street for Tacoma.

So we've got other agencies that we're working with, and with the streams and everything down there uh on the west slope, we also have a lot of permitting and things like that to take care of, but that is coming up and um should be put out to add this year.

Uh next slide, please.

Um and another project that we're excited about is South 12th Street.

Um this honestly started as uh an effort uh on my part to get more arterial work done as a part of the streets initiative and uh environmental services had a couple of uh sections of pipe that they um needed to replace and it kind of grew from there.

We also did some work uh uh in phase one of this uh around Peck Field partnering with uh Metro Parks Tacoma, but uh we expanded the South 12th work um and obtained a grant.

Um and as you can see from the rendering up there, um, it's gonna be transformational.

So we're excited about that one as well.

Next slide.

And then we just wanted to close with a big thank you to our community.

Um, we were able to put out a lot of projects, really change a lot of uh different infrastructure and transform our community.

Um we also today provided some little handouts uh for the street initiative and celebrating the 10 years of successes as part of that.

And with that, we'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, team.

Any council questions?

Councilmember Scott.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you all for this update.

It's always cool to see what's been done.

Um we get a peek at various things either when you invite us out to Pot Hopalooza or just in the neighborhood.

I live on the hilltop, so I've seen quite a few changes.

Um so just appreciate the hard work and I appreciate the update.

Um but I was going to ask on slide five.

Um the lines.

So you have completed work, work in progress, plan and plan future work.

For the plan and future work, are these specifically projects that are tied to the dollars from this from this initiative?

Okay, it's not like we want to do this in the future, and that's gonna depend on just wanted to check.

Councilmember, yeah, just there's some residual funding that's left over, and so we're pro we're actively programming that right now.

Got it.

Uh so yeah.

Cool.

And then the last question is about looking at the upcoming work.

Um the links to opportunity, that is that along the T line, the link, is that what those are?

Okay.

Do you have any insight on like what we can expect from that?

Uh councilmember, so LTO4, I think is what you're referring to.

Uh, and yeah, I mean, so we're we've awarded it.

Um, it's been awarded.

And so I mean, that process will take a little bit, and then we'll get into construction, and it's kind of more of the same of what we've seen.

So just more.

I can't.

Eric you know the NTB or no.

No.

Okay, I don't.

We can find out Councilmember.

Yeah, I don't need it immediately, just being nosy.

Thank you.

All right, Councilmember Sidalga.

Uh thank you.

I only have a couple of questions.

Uh first a comment.

Um, you may not know this on slide 13.

I am actually in that picture.

Really?

On East Roosevelt Avenue.

I'm all the way to the right of a little orange dot, but that is not why I call attention to this.

I call attention to this.

It's one of the ones that had um that shows how much you know community really appreciates it, because I was there for the ribbon cutting uh when we when we walked down East Roosevelt, so many parents talked about how appreciative they were to have a safer road for their young children to be able to get to school and um feel safer, and that's a really big portion of this.

Um and that actually only shows a small percentage of the individuals in the in the neighborhoods that came out.

Um the only real question I have second comment.

Um I know there's a lot of economic impact.

I do also want to point out there's the economic impact that's really difficult to uh uh uh put a a real number on, but which is the when you improve the look and feel of a neighborhood, you have greater economic kind of activity occur, for example, the Lincoln district, right?

And many other portions of this project, when you improve the look of that community, it raises property values, it gets people to want to come there, it gets uh uh investors and and and by and large, most small businesses in Tacoma are owned and run by people who live in the community, want to invest and open up a shop, open up something there.

So that's also an important consideration.

But really, what I would love for you to do is sing the praises of of the team that has come together over 10 years, because I think one of the biggest successes is the grant matches.

And that is so so important to talk about because when we go to these conferences and talk to our peers, whether it's uh in in Washington or nationally, they don't have a way to even present some of these ideas, let alone apply for these grants.

And we've really created, and and quite frankly, this the city has created a amazingly talented group of individuals uh collectively who've been able to apply for and win grants.

Can you give me more color around how that came to be over 10 years?

Well, council member, I I'll just have to say uh it's no coincidence that um we are uh uh being awarded grants and also receiving awards for various projects that we're doing on.

Our public works operations uh absolutely amazing.

The staff involved, the dedication, the commitment to their jobs in our community is absolutely amazing.

Um and you're absolutely right.

It takes time to build that level of talent and that level of workforce to understand where to go for grants, how to apply for grants, and most importantly, how to be successful for that.

So again, this is part of um of a continuation, and in order for us to continue to be successful, we continue to have to have um the right, I guess, um player, I want to say players, but it's not right and done using sports.

Right mix of experiences and skills.

Yes, the right in-house and to order be successful on these things.

And that's really important because we employ engineers with stamps.

Yep.

Whereas when I've talked to uh other jurisdictions, they have to rely on consultants to come in and do things.

We employ people who can write grants, whereas other um municipalities don't even know who they can go to to write their grant for them.

These are all really um uh amazingly important considerations in how we have run this program um to be able to win uh uh you know all the funding we have.

I do want to point out a double-edged sword in doing that.

Often, and one of the criticisms that I have uh gotten from um uh residents, and it's really about explaining and and educating, is why are you spending all that money on these fancy things?

It's just a road.

Fix the potholes and you can do more roads.

But ultimately, in in talking to you and others, we realize that those additional features that we put in are one the way we win grants, and two, free for us, for our coffers, correct.

Like there's a lot of design features that grant um uh uh reviewers are looking for for for municipalities to incorporate.

Absolutely, council member, and I'll just tie it to your earlier comment too.

It really becomes about a quality of life issue.

So you kind of talked talked about how you know you know we transform areas or whatever.

It really we're improving the quality of life.

And so when you see those new projects uh in you know, Larch Mount or um, you know, Roosevelt, I'm just thinking some of those.

When when you when you walk down those streets, it's a whole different field today than it was ten years ago, for example.

And so that quality of life component is absolutely a huge part of this.

Thank you.

And it is a small, small minority of my constituents who complain that we have too many nice things.

Uh and usually I can win them over by saying, but they were free.

So okay, thank you.

Who doesn't like free and nice things?

Thank you.

Councilmember Rumbaugh.

Thank you, Mayor.

And thank you so much for all the good work you've done on our streets.

And I think being good stewards of the money that we get from taxpayers.

I really appreciate that.

I just was curious if you could just delve in a little bit more on safe routes to schools and how and talk about the partnerships that we have and how we've worked with partners to also get a lot of this work done.

And if you could specifically talk to CrossFox, I've had a lot of questions about crosswalks.

Yeah, thank you, Councilmember.

So just a little bit about this.

So a lot of these safe rods to school projects that we've completed are not possible without street initiative dollars.

But even more important those street initiative dollars, or I guess equally important the street initiative dollars are the partnerships that we've built with our agencies.

Exactly what you said, Councilmember.

Parks Tacoma, Tacoma Public Schools.

I can't tell you the difference in the relationship the city has with those agencies today than 10 years ago.

And a lot of this has you know, with any kind of uh infrastructure, there's the potential for conflict points, right?

And when the city has dollars available to partner on something and really improve it, you know, so um the school district, for example, they get great feedback from you know uh children who attend the school.

And when they're able to reach out to Tacoma us and say, hey, is there an opportunity here?

And we have our you know safe for us to school program, which we can assign someone to that and then work with them to find an opportunity to do a project, absolutely amazing.

Yeah, so um I just I think there is a component there that talks about like jobs and these other um other partners that are also like they're tied to jobs that we have.

And so I think I wanted to kind of show people that it's not just about the city having a job, it's about private industry having jobs that's related to the street initiative to like the funding and also to these private to these public entities that also are part of this.

So we are all like a system and um everyone benefits and we have good roads and we have good crosswalks and sidewalks.

Um it it all works together.

So I just I want to say thank you.

And then last week I made a statement that we had that we had fixed something, but actually it was the public schools that had actually fixed the issue, and I wanted to just call out the public schools for um being such great partners with us.

So thank you.

Yeah, agreed.

Uh you know, I'll just say um Morris, I I love the relationship I've built with him over the years and solving problems.

Uh so definitely agree.

I I'll also call out Tacoma Public Speels schools as an amazing partner.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Thank you.

Councilmember Palmer.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh bravo.

This is so cool uh for Tacoma to be uh leading in a lot of the somebody who grew up here.

Um like looking at a lot of these like the before pictures is what I remember growing up with and just looking around and seeing all these amazing projects now.

Like I'm super proud of my city and super proud of like thank you.

Thank you for all the work that you put in.

Thank you also for the updated outreach on the new streets initiative, um placements, however we want to word that.

Um I was out there this weekend with Porch Fest and hanging out, we had um a booth for the initiative, and then we had a booth for public works just out there answering questions for people.

Um I think that that was huge to just have that access and availability to answer those questions.

Um I'm really interested in this Larchmont project with the new permeable pavement.

Um I'm guessing it was maybe part of the grant process.

Um, but how do we see like learning from this and maybe continuing some of the this uh using these materials in future projects?

So, council member, that's a dangerous question because I absolutely love pavement design.

And I could go on and on about this.

But um, you know, honestly, just green infrastructure in general.

So, you know, what's the benefit of us doing a poorest asphalt residential road, for example?

You know, um why is there even stormwater rules in the first place?

It's it has to do with urban flooding, right?

And even more than that has to do with how we can um you know do things differently for our environment.

And so these poorest asphalt roads, they're we're learning, and we've built a lot of them.

We're learning, they're really effective in a lot of residential areas.

Uh you know, there's some alternative and different maintenance, so that it's a little bit of a lessons learned for us in public works about okay, we have to do operations differently, um, we have to do maintenance cycles differently.

But these are are really good roads, and uh again, yeah, when we're able to uh receive ecology grants, for example, and bring dollars in from the state to our community to help build these um really good opportunities for us.

That's great.

Uh the other question is I I love that we have information on um the revenues and the economic benefits of like to the areas and to Tacoma.

And so I'm wondering, can we put numbers to that, or is that something we we have?

Yeah, Councilmember.

So the report actually is I think a regional impact report that we did.

Um, but we just tried to highlight some of the things out of those report.

Um I think the ones that we selected were are the specific to the city of Tacoma.

We tried to touch, but some of those might have included some regional impacts too as well.

Because I know that um this is a tax or would be a tax that maybe it it involves up folks that maybe outside the city.

Um and so I think it's important to highlight that you know it's still a benefit uh to them as well.

I will also chime in, council member.

It was uh regionally uh surrounding about Pierce County uh and the South Sound area.

So was it wasn't necessarily just the city of Tacoma itself, but you know, we we saw the effect that households had around uh the city itself too.

So thanks.

Thank you.

Yep.

Thank you.

Councilmember Hines.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh thank you again for the presentation, uh, gentlemen.

This is great.

Um I do think that the best graphic is the one that's on page five, which is all the work that's been done.

See kind of clearly see everything you all have done to kind of improve the streets in our city, and I think the before and after pictures are really good.

Um I've been really appreciative is this kind of how much you all are are being real proactive about kind of um explaining what the city is doing, right?

Because I think there was a period in time where just having a uh a well-run, effective, efficient public works department that fixed the roads on a timely manner was sufficient.

Um I do think we're in a place where we not only have to do the work of public works, but also tell people we're doing the work of public work so that once we've told them we have to remind them that we did the work that we said we were gonna do.

And so I've been really excited about what I'm seeing is more just kind of outreach and awareness and communication about this, what we've done and where we're going.

Uh, we've come a long way from just you know putting a little sign up next to the project on the street.

So I just want to say kudos to all of you for that work.

Uh council member, I'll just add on to that.

Um I don't know if Director Chavez is here, and but a shout out to him.

So we're currently working on a strategic initiative related to this capital project's outreach effort.

Um and you're absolutely right.

It's you know, maybe previously just doing a good project was enough, but that's not enough anymore.

And so we've learned over the years that we have to engage differently and we have to engage more often.

Um before we may have just held in a town hall or something, but you know, we're looking at how do we do things differently?

How do we actually meet with people individually uh and really solicit that feedback so make sure our community feels heard?

Thank you for that.

Yeah, and and I mean you all have the benefit of uh I don't want to say selling, but selling a product, I am gonna say selling a product that you is clear.

Like the road was broken and now it is fixed.

There was a pothole and now it is gone.

Um so much in our world is is there's an objective reality that's hard to communicate, but this what you all are able to do, I think is great.

So I really appreciate that.

I also just really appreciate the leveraging of the or pointing out how much we've leveraged local dollars to bring on additional dollars.

Um so I that I think has been really a good thing to explain to the public is it's not just about what you're paying, but how much we're able to leverage what you're paying to get more out of it.

So I think that's been really good.

Yeah, councilmember, and I I do want to add that we're doing a lot more storytelling.

Uh I think that is what we're trying to accomplish.

Uh you know, what I passed out earlier during the study session is a mailer that uh is actually going to be sent here in the next week or so um detailing the you know streets initiative, celebrating the success that we've been able to have through this.

So we're doing more of that.

We're doing a lot of social media as well.

Um so more posts online about you know the the successes and your more before and afters because like you said earlier, it is you know pretty dynamic, the the story that uh this is provided for the community.

So yeah.

And I also, you know, we hire public works employees because they're engineers, they build really good roads and they're very like very technically strong.

And I know sometimes we're asking you to get out of that lane a little bit and talk more part in the punt.

Uh get out of the lane a bit a little bit and like start talking about all the stuff you're doing.

I think that's it's been really good.

Uh you know, and I think Joe to last point, uh the narrative I think is the critical component of this, right?

Um, taking the disparate pothole that was filled quickly, the road that got paved every you know last year, the chip seal that happened two weeks ago, and how do we craft that into a story and a positive story that sells all that we're doing, talks about all that we're doing to the public because I on the to our detractors in the world, like they have a narrative too, right?

And they're constantly looking for evidence by which to fill that out.

And I think we just have to on our side also continue to tell our story and and be the you know the source of that.

Uh the only question I the only question I did have, other than just kind of talking about how much I appreciate the work I'm seeing here, and from everyone that's here, um, is the project, the Street Initiative Project, not to be just like a you know a local politician, but you know, uh South 19th, SI 18.

So that is funded through streets one, and we'll even though the work will continue after streets one is concluded.

Yep, that's correct, Councilmember.

Okay.

And part of this a while ago was that Walters Road, it looks like it's part of this conversation too.

Am I reading correctly on the map that Walters Road is part of?

No, that's Seashore.

Seashore.

Okay.

But there was a Walters Roads project that was related to environmental services a while ago, but or but is that still did that happen?

Is that still there, or is that the No, that one uh the funding wasn't secured uh fully and uh it was around COVID, and so we didn't move forward with that, which part of it was maybe a blessing in disguise, just because it I mean that's a good street to take a better look at, like holistically.

There's a lot of stuff going down there right of way and things to Yeah, and I think you're right.

Is that when we first talked about that project, it was just going to be a repaving project of stormwater.

But if you talk to the neighbors down there, they want sidewalks.

Right.

And that is gonna be a very complex street to add sidewalks because of all the right-of-way encroachments.

Yes, that was that was a big part of it is that I mean, we kind of in the early phases of design, we're trying to figure out some alternatives to get a pathway or something into it, and kind of just figured that, hey, look, let's wait until the right opportunity comes at this point and get it built out whole, you know, the whole thing.

Yeah.

Well, I think that's uh that's great.

I know I've talked to a few residents that are very eager to see what's going on here.

So I'm and you know, if there's ways to communicate or help continue to bring people on board, make sure they're aware, I'm happy to do it.

Otherwise, those are all my questions.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you.

Uh thank you, Mayor, and thank you to all of you and the team and just ditto and echo all those things.

Um I don't have any questions, but I did want to just kind of talk about you mentioned quality of life improvements, and I just wanted to kind of highlight how impactful these projects are throughout the city.

Um and Larchmont in particular.

Um I had first visited with neighbors in that that area, they were very concerned about the state of the streets in their neighborhood.

Um and we Larchemont Elementary is right there as well, and so there's a lot of significant use uh trying to get kids there.

Um and then after this project, I've had an opportunity to to meet with the neighbors again and just to talk about some of the transformation.

Uh not only is it safer for the kids to get to the school, but there's also uh more people playing out out in the street as well.

I I I travel down there pretty often.

I see kids on bikes, um, and also talking with some of the neighbors down there, um they they're meeting with each other more often because they're they are utilizing those sidewalks, they're like, oh yeah, I live down the street here.

Uh they're that those connections that never would have been made before are being made.

And so not only are these um uh these making uh connections uh safer for people to physically get to where they are, but they're making neighborhood level connections happen organically as well, which improves the quality of life of the areas.

And so I just wanted to I just want to highlight that because neighbors are meeting each other out on the sidewalk and talking to each other, and that's that's something that you know amorphously I think a lot of folks have talked because the feeling of community has kind of been felt disconnected, especially uh you know, exacerbated by COVID and things of that nature.

But this provides more opportunities for connection for on an individual level and building community.

And so I think it's just super important, and I wanted to highlight that and just thank you for all the partnership with the grants, all the different environmental services.

Um and then the permeable pavement stuff is really fantastic, and I think there's a lot of great opportunity to use it, utilize it.

And I do know there's a different um repair and maintenance regimen that is required of that as well.

And so I think we're gonna definitely do a good job and and staying on top of that.

So thank you.

Deputy Mayor, I'll just uh add in I I totally agree with you.

Um so when you build infrastructure that's inviting, it really changes community.

You really start to build community, you invite people in, and you start to have conversations.

Um I'm a people person, and I definitely noticed that is you know, when you have an inviting space, people tend to engage with each other.

So absolutely agree, Deputy Mayor.

Thank you.

Uh Corey, I I'm very grateful for your presentation and all the great work that's gone into the accomplishment of these past ten years as well as the uh the outreach we've been having with the current effort.

So uh building on Councilmember Rumbaugh's question about local partnerships, um you you did a a really detailed analysis in this presentation about uh the direct deliverables that we've seen, like the three to one ratio of matching grant dollars, for example, to the local dollars.

Uh can you explain just a little bit more high level about not just the grants but also the local partnerships.

So, for example, say for us to schools, uh partnership, even just in-house with our environmental services utilities and TPU.

So, for example, if GPU happens to be tearing up a street to put in a new main, for instance, then why not complete the other half, for example?

So, what's been going on there as well as uh what opportunities that might be in the future down the road, like um further partnerships, uh maybe more depaved projects with the conservation district and others.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor, for that question.

Uh I'll highlight a few different things.

So um, first off, Tacoma Public School Schools, uh, Councilmember Rumble pointed this out.

I just think it's uh it's uh worth uh mentioning again.

So when they go to do uh school construction, either a rehabilitation or a reconstruction or a new building, um, you know, they often have improvements and they have to mitigate some impacts that they create.

And so what we have been able to do as part of the partnership effort has really been to partner with them and do more.

And so rather than seeing an incomplete set of crossings or pars partial paving, we've been able to partner with them and build full roads out, complete crossings, uh, enhance our safe routes to school.

All of those type of infrastructure improvements are really possible because of the street initiative.

In addition to that, um uh much appreciated um TPU water carry, for example.

Uh, you know, I've had a lot of great conversations with her about what we can do with Tacoma Water uh to partner more.

And you're absolutely right, Mayor.

Um, you know, the community really likes to see these complete projects bill.

And it would be inefficient for us to let half of a road be paved without the full road being paved.

And so um we have established great partnerships with both environmental services as well as Tacoma uh public utilities uh and specifically Tacoma Water uh to really partner more and build these complete projects.

So you'll see instead of seeing half a street replaced, you'll see a full street replaced.

Um that's in the combination of where we contribute to one of their projects or they contribute to our projects.

And so yeah, this street initiative has really allowed us to leverage those dollars, exactly what you said, Mayor.

Uh maximize the local use of dollars and really just yeah, good efficient government.

Fantastic.

All right.

Well, seeing no further questions, thank you so much for your presentation and keep with the great work.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

All right.

Moving on to other items of interest.

Our second agenda item is a council uh consideration request for Eastside Community Center Wayfinding Signs, for which I'd like to call on Councilmember Sidalgay.

Uh thank you, Mayor, and thank you, everyone, for considering this uh contingency fund request, and especially to my co-sponsors, Councilmember Diaz and Councilmember Walker.

Um so this council consideration request is for 1,225, a very specific amount uh to fund production and installation of up to three wayfinding signs near East uh 56th and Portland Avenue, specifically for the Eastside Community Center.

Uh as you know, uh the Eastside Community Center was built through years of grassroots advocacy and shared commitment to creating a safe and welcoming place for youth and families.

The center reflects the resilience strength and aspirations of a neighborhood that worked tirelessly to secure greater access to quality public amenities.

Today, it is uh more than just a recreation facility, it's a cornerstone of Tacoma's Eastside um community, and ensuring more residents can benefit from this vital resource will strengthen neighborhood connections, improve health outcomes, and continue the vision that brought the center to life.

So why do we need this?

And uh quite frankly, this has come from community.

I've had scores of individuals at um events at the Eastside Community Center tell me they had either a no idea it existed, because from Portland Avenue it is um basically obscured by a grove of trees.

Um, several people have told me most recently, even um at the community event uh outreach event for Portland Avenue redesign of instances where they have missed the turn, uh got into the wrong parking lot, for example, the one next to the armory, and it's very dangerous to make a left turn back out of that.

And if you go further south, it's also really hard to kind of uh come back around.

Um these wayfinding sides would add um greater visibility right where people need to take a very important turn to get to um the Eastside Community Center.

Um Parks Tacoma has also expressed support and excitement for the installation of these wayfinding signs.

Um their long-term goal is to identify funds to erect a monument sign similar to the monument signs outside of the Star Center and uh uh the center at Norpoint that helps people kind of identify that it's right there.

Um these wayfinding signs um would be an absolute great start.

So I look uh forward to any questions you guys might have.

Thank you, Councilmember Sidalgay.

Councilmember Rumba.

Um thank you so much, Mayor, and thank you, Councilmember Sidalge, for bringing this forward, because I've had the same issue.

And I don't live in the East Side and I come there and it's easy to miss.

And we do have one at North Point Community Center, and I feel like this is an equity issue and that there should be one.

So I really appreciate you bringing this forward.

I would have loved to have co-sponsored this.

This is just right up my alley.

I think wayfinding signs are so important.

Um I don't know if you have other wayfinding signs all over the east side, but we have them in Norpoint and it out in um Northeast Tacoma.

And I think it's really helpful for population that's coming there.

First off, it's really fun because if you live there, it just is sort of celebrating what's really great about where you live.

But also for people who visit, it's really gives you the markers for where the library is, the community center, some of the schools.

Those are like basic things that people are trying to get to.

So I really appreciate you bringing this forward and really support it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And I too am very supportive of this.

Thank you for uh your leadership.

Bring this forward.

So with that, seeing no further uh comments or or questions on this, um seems really straightforward.

Thank you, Councilman Sidalga.

Moving on to our additional council consideration requests, Councilmember Rumbaugh has a C CR to bring forward about the Grid City Gala.

Thank you, Mayor.

I just had to get organized here.

Sure.

Okay.

All right, so um I'm asking for your support for a council contingency fund expenditure of um $7,000 to sponsor the Tacoma Farmers Market Grid City Gala.

And I'd just like to say that um the Grid City Gala has been going on.

I think it's this is their third year.

And um I just it's a fundraiser for the Broadway farmers market, um, and they have it, and the idea is that they cook a meal, they have a chef who cooks it, a special chef who comes out, and different vendors volunteer their time, and this event allows small entrepreneurs, many of whom are underrepresented in our business community, a place to shine their talent and showcase what they do best.

Um the support of the Grid City Gala aligns with our 2025 strategic goals through placemaking and cultivates Tacoma's unique identity and cultural diversity.

Um by enhancing public spaces, community experiences, and neighborhood character, fostering a sense of belonging and civil, civic um pride.

Okay.

So the support of the Grid City Gala, let's see.

Okay, so the city will receive for this benefit a 10 by 10 booth at the Broadway Tacoma Farmers Market for six dates in 2026 and 27, which is really great.

Um, the city logo listed on this Grid City Gala event signage and event website, the city logo linked on the Tacoma Farmers Market website through 2026 and personalized post on Facebook and Instagram.

Um and I just like to say that I just think this is such a great event.

I don't know how many of my council members have been to this, but it really showcases how placemaking is um extremely important in our city.

Um once a week um from April to September, the market is um there on Thursdays from 10 to 2, really helping small uh sometimes home-based uh businesses shine um by allowing them to have a booth there and sell their um usually it's um their uh farm goods or uh smaller project projects like candles or other uh um things like flowers and I think that like um this is an important part of what makes Tacoma special and I love that the farmers market happens downtown.

Um we do have a farmers market in Proctor as well, and I think that these are really great places for community to come together.

So I really appreciate what the Grid City Gala means to the farmers market, um, and I I'm really hoping that you'll all support this.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Rumba.

Councilmember Walker.

Thank you, Mayor.

Just wanted to quickly say thank you, um Councilmember Rumba, for your leadership on this.

Um as you know, I'm a huge fan of this event um for all the reasons you just said, but I think uh just want to reiterate the point that you made that it's it's about this event, but it's also about supporting the farmers market so that they're successful all year long, and that makes a huge difference in downtown, which makes a difference for everybody who's you know live, work, and play downtown.

It's not just about this one event or the one market.

So really appreciate it and glad we can support them this year.

One question, and I can't remember we might have talked about this.

This is the first time we've done council contingency for this particular event.

Yeah, that's true.

Thank you.

Great, thanks.

Okay.

Can I add one more thing?

I'm sorry, um, Mayor.

I forgot to mention that I want to thank Councilmember Diaz and Councilmember Walker for co-sponsoring this with me.

Thank you.

All right, thank you for bringing this forward.

Seems like a great cause.

All right, moving on.

Our fourth agenda item is an additional council consideration request.

This is also from Councilmember Rumbaugh supporting the St.

Leo Food Connection Pilot Partnership.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, and I just want to say uh thank you so much for this opportunity to bring this forward.

And um I've been talking a lot about um food access in Tacoma and in especially in places where kids are located.

And I've done a lot of research on, um, talked to a lot of partners, and I'm excited to share um with you all this how um how this year I've been really I looked out and I found um an opportunity at the Tacoma Public Library for St.

Leo's Food Connect to pilot a partnership there.

Um I've been meeting with stakeholders across Tacoma to learn about the great work happening to enhance food access for our youth.

I'm so deeply thankful to the amazing people who dedicate themselves to this cause.

It's essential.

It actually reaches outside of Tacoma into our county, which has been really interesting to learn about different um models that are available at our Pierce County libraries that happened with um physicians, pediatricians who actually come and support with food as well.

Also um know that there's more that we could do.

And one key problem I've heard and seen has been in our libraries.

Um we've been it's been so great to have these libraries, but one thing that I noticed is that there's a lot of young people at the main library, and it's a safe place to be, and they spend a lot of time there.

But um I noticed that there wasn't any food.

And so that's been an issue, and I want to thank Amida, our library director, for engaging in this conversation and exploring options for how we can address this issue.

It's taken a while.

Um, I also want to thank St.

Leo Food Connection for leaning in and bringing creative solutions to the table.

I actually wouldn't have found out about this if I hadn't been a speaker at a hunger summit that there was here this recently, and I went and I posted about it, and then St.

Leo's reached out and said, we could help you with this.

And together they've launched a pilot partnership that includes serving summer meals at the main library, providing healthy snacks at three library branches, and exploring the feasibility of a pop-up pantry at the main library to increase access to nutritious food for children and families.

Um this contingency fund request invests in this work and helps address unanticipated costs of setting up a new pilot.

Um thank you to my co-sponsors, Councilmember Hines and Councilmember Scott.

This will be coming for a vote on August 4th.

And I also just want to say that I did try to find every other way I could do this before I came to you with this ask.

Um I really thought I could find something else.

And I just think it's so important that we we stand this up to see who next can help us make this sustainable.

But thank you so much for your support.

Thank you.

Oh, Councilman Palmer.

Uh I love this.

Um thank you for doing all the work and putting this together.

Thank you to St.

Leo's for stepping up when they saw and they're seeing a need.

Um I think this is really important as also a uh call out to how libraries are becoming these community.

They they're more and more becoming even more so than they have been in the past, community centers, community hubs, and I think that this is just a natural progression of people are not just going to libraries for books, they're going uh for services and for community.

Um I think you know it's it's in the city's purview to look and see that that's a trend and how can we support the way that people want to get together and have access to the resources that they need.

So I love this.

Thank you for bringing this forward.

Thank you.

Wonderful.

Well, um, thank you so much for bringing this forward, Councilman Rumbaugh, and for uh supporting such a great cause.

With that, are there any committee reports to share?

Seeing none, I'd like to call on Deputy City Manager Alison Griffith to begin the weekly city manager's report.

Thank you, Mayor, Mayor and Council, for your awareness this evening.

There are two ceremonials on tonight's agenda.

The first is proclaiming July 2026 as National Disability Pride Month, and the second is recognizing our fellow creatures by Teiruco Nimora, which is our new artwork here in the chambers.

Um there are no modifications to tonight's agenda.

There is one opportunity for public comment this evening.

That's under public comment, which is regarding motions, resolutions, and ordinances on tonight's agenda.

Please let us know if there are any questions related to tonight's agenda and attached to the study session agenda is the weekly report to council.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

I'll now entertain a motion to convene to an executive session pursuant to RCW 42.30.110 subsections 111 and 2 to discuss potential and pending litigation not to exceed 30 minutes.

So moved.

Second.

Move and second all those in favor to convene to an executive session, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

That call back to order this city council study session to adjourn.

Thank you, everybody.

Have a great day.