1. City’s budget improves, but troubles loom
Budget talks at Tacoma City Hall were not pretty in 2013. The city had to find cuts and layoffs and shifts to avoid a projected $63 million deficit. The cuts were made and the budget was balanced, but all the bad news didn’t end. More cuts are on the way because the city has to face a complex challenge to manage the “structural deficit” in city finances. Basically, the city’s expenses associated with salaries and benefits for staffers are growing at a rate that is three times faster than the tax revenue used to fund those positions and benefits. Expenses are going at a rate of about 6 percent while revenue is growing at just about 2 percent. Toss in the bills for years of unfunded repairs that are now desperately needed, and the budget is a mess.
The city is projected to have a general fund shortfall of about $26.3 million in 2015 through 2016 and another $38 million during the following biennial budget for 2017 and 2018.
The Financial Sustainability Task Force of volunteer accountants and specialists tasked with developing recommendations issued a list of 28 suggestions largely focuses on cutting city salary and benefits to keep pace with the rate of revenue growth.
“The city needs to make it a priority to bring the growth of expenditures and revenues into better alignment, so that we can stabilize service levels for residents and businesses,” said Lyle Quasim, task force chair and co-chair of the Tacoma-Pierce County Black Collective.
Those recommendations are under review for action in 2014.
2. State Farm brings hope to downtown
Downtown Tacoma has its share of “for lease” signs, but the one sign most businesses and city officials have been watching was that of the former Russell Investment Group building that once housed the area’s success story before it headed to Seattle.
Good news came when State Farm announced it was taking over the building and bringing hundreds of jobs to downtown by filling up the former Russell Investment building and four floors of the Columbia Bank Center. Full employment translates to about 1,200 people.
New tenants to an anchor building in downtown mean new tax dollars to the city as well as a sign that the long-stalled resurgence of a vibrant and livable downtown. State Farm is currently renovating the building and installing furniture as well as going on a hiring binge to fill those desks in 2014.
3. MLK route selected for Link expansion
Sound Transit Commissioners followed the city’s recommendation for the next expansion of the Link rail line by continuing routing options to run the line from the current station at the Theatre District to Martin Luther King Jr. Way. The actual route is under review and might even include a split in the route and changes to the existing route to tackle the Stadium Way hill.
The Link will no longer be free once the route opens. Tacoma Link riders will start paying $1 per ride starting next September and then $1.50 per ride in late 2016. The decision to start charging fares came after Link ridership topped the one million mark, suggesting that ticket sales would generate revenue to help pay for operating the system. The fare collection system is expected to cost about $550,000 to install. That means ticket sales will take about four years to pay off the cost of collecting fares once the 2016 hike kicks into effect. It would take almost two decades of charging just $1 to pay off the ticketing system. That is longer than the system is projected to last before needing replacement or significant repairs. Once paid off, the collection system will generate $791,000 in total annual fare revenues, yielding $262,000 in annual net revenues at the $1.50 fare rate.
4. Tacoma readies for marijuana retailers
Following passage of Initiative 502 in 2013, Tacoma will have as many as eight pot retailers while all of Pierce County will have as many as 31 stores. One wrinkle is that Pierce County Council approved a ban on marijuana stores out of fear that it would put the county at risk of federal investigations. That raises its own legal questions since there is nothing in the state rules that allow communities to simply reject marijuana retailers from locating within their borders.
Some 334 retail stores will be allowed around the state, with cities and counties being allotted set numbers based on their population and projected customer bases. The federal government, which still regards marijuana as an illegal drug, has stated it will not enforce federal laws in Washington. State regulators hope the normalization of marijuana use will drive pot buyers to licensed retail stores rather than street-corner purchases, since the licensed shops will have quality controls not found at “dime bag” dealers. Even with the state tax on marijuana in licensed stores, prices are expected to be about $10 to $12 a gram. That is roughly the street prices on the illegal market, without the tight quality and production oversights.
5. Murray Morgan Bridge reopens
The Murray Morgan Bridge reopened to vehicle and pedestrian traffic Feb. 1. Final work on the bridge will continue through February. The bridge had been closed to all traffic since November 2007, when a Washington State Department of Transportation inspection deemed the bridge structurally deficient. In January 2011, the City of Tacoma kicked off the almost two-year project of rehabilitating the bridge and restoring it to its original color.
The Murray Morgan Bridge serves as a vital link between downtown Tacoma and both the East Foss Peninsula and the Port of Tacoma. It provides an emergency route for the port, fire and police services. Bridge access also fosters economic development on the East Foss Peninsula and will improve access to businesses on the waterfront.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Murray Morgan Bridge, which opened Feb. 15, 1913. The renovations to the span have made it clear that it will remain a 253 landmark for years to come and serve as a legacy to the namesake historian for generations. It also proves as a symbol that citizen activist can make a difference, since the bridge had been set for removal before political pressure changed minds.
6. Hilltop Regional Health Center opens
Starting with the ceremonial tossing of dirt from gold-painted shovels at this past April’s groundbreaking, construction of the Hilltop Regional Health Center went full steam ahead. Located in the heart of the “medical mile” between Tacoma General Hospital, Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital and Group Health on one end and Franciscan Health System’s St. Joseph Medical Center on the other, the $26 million community health care center serves as a one-stop shop to provide urgent care, routine medical exams and procedures and specialty care to patients based on a sliding-fee scale to keep costs affordable to low-income patients and people without health insurance. Early projections estimated that the center would serve some 200 to 300 patients daily, or about 48,000 visits in a year. The 54,000-square-foot building houses nearly 60 exam rooms between the general clinic and specialties clinic, 15 urgent care exam rooms, a pharmacy and laboratory, family practice residency programs through a partnership with St. Joseph Medical Center and classrooms for physician training, as well as a parking lot with 270 spaces. The center formally opened its doors last month on Nov. 2 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tours of the new facility.
7. Pastor Ron Vignec dies
The city mourned the loss of a compassionate and gentle leader on Nov 7. Pastor Ron Pierre Vignec – Poet of the Eastside, Bringer of Peace to the troubled, Forager of Food for the hungry, Speaker of Truth to power, Sharer of Burdens with the hopeless and Santa Claus to those who choose to believe – passed away Nov. 7 with wife Nancy by his side.
Vignec became a Lutheran pastor in the 1970s and from there led a life of service and gratitude. When his church established the Salishan Lutheran mission in Tacoma, he accepted their call to serve it. Ron founded the mission and Nancy worked for Lutheran Social Services. They started by learning the community and identifying its natural leaders. They got training for those leaders, and invited them to serve in associations and on councils. Pastor Ron, as everyone called him, took to keeping a stash of non-perishable staples in the mission van so that he could offer hungry families immediate help.
When Tacoma Housing Authority gathered the money to tear down the old Salishan and rebuild it as a community that includes privately owned homes, the Vignecs had dozens of supporters waiting to help with, and invest in, that rebirth. When Associated Ministries started its Moments of Blessing to reclaim the places where murder victims fell, Pastor Ron was among the first clerics to join. Since then, the program has filled pole after pole with ribbons bearing the names of victims throughout Pierce County.
In 2007 he was awarded the Greater Tacoma Peace Prize for his life's work as a peacemaker. In 2009, he retired from his ministry. He never retired from his mission.
8. Tacoma brings back Military Parade
On Aug. 24 the streets of downtown Tacoma rang with the happy sounds of patriotic celebration as people of all ages turned out for Tacoma’s first military appreciation parade in 50 years. The Daffodil Festival’s first annual “Celebrating Military Service Parade and Concert” flowed along Pacific Avenue with on-lookers waving little paper American flags (the McDonalds on Hilltop purchased 13,000 of these flags and eight employees were there to give them away), along with cheering and running out into the street for hugs from the men and women in uniform who marched by looking as if they were fully enjoying this special summer evening dedicated just to them. A gigantic American flag flew above Pacific Avenue from the tops of two Tacoma Fire Department truck ladders and parade watchers and soldiers gathered in Tollefson Plaza to enjoy the 56th Army Band from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and its sub-group the Sockeye Salmon Dixieland Band. Medal of Honor recipient Joe Madison Jackson 90, was the parade’s Grand Marshal. Approximately 65 contingents, individuals and organizations marched in the parade and a variety of tactical vehicles and equipment rolled by. “At the staging area there was a celebration, there was camaraderie – just so many components you can’t explain. You can’t compare it to anything,” said Daffodil Festival Executive Director Steve James.
9. Repaired Pagoda reopens
With its charming Japanese style and harmony with everything around it, the Pagoda in Point Defiance Park was the loveliest, newest streetcar station in the state in May 1914. Built of brick, old-growth timber and topped with clay tiles, its walls of windows looked out over the park and the entrance to Commencement Bay. Generation by generation, Tacomans have loved the building through all its changes – the switch from streetcars to buses in 1938, the partnership with Capital District of Washington State Federation of Garden Clubs in 1962, the switch to a rental facility in 1983 and a renovation in 1988.
Then everything changed on April 14, 2011 when The Pagoda burned, torched by a teen who forced open a window and lit up a pile of stored items in the basement under the kitchen. Firefighters valiantly saved the building from complete destruction, and the wheels starting turning to restore The Pagoda back to its former humble glory. The effort demanded imagination, innovation, perseverance, luck, 21 months and $7 million. On Jan. 12, 2013, The Pagoda was reopened with a public celebration for the community to once again enjoy this cherished architectural icon.
10. UPS, Lincoln High celebrate milestones
Two iconic educational institutions in Tacoma celebrated birthday milestones in 2013. University of Puget Sound turned 125 years old with a series of celebrations for the community. Since 1888, and starting with just 88 students, the University of Puget Sound has grown to become the city’s premier center of higher education and one of the Pacific Northwest's top liberal arts colleges. The university is an undisputable asset to Tacoma in the development of a number of museums and cultural institutions, and it partners with the city and public schools in a variety of other projects.
Lincoln High School celebrated 100 years this past summer, and alumni gatherings were held a numerous venues in downtown Tacoma. The school held an open house and car show and many converged on Cheney Stadium to watch the Tacoma Rainiers vanquish the Iowa Cubs – and to see 97-year-old Eunice Huffman, the school's oldest living grad, toss out the first pitch. Then more Abes took over Tacoma Comedy Club for a special alumni show, and they also gathered to reminisce at Meconi’s Pub & Eatery, 502 Martini Bar and Lounge, Tacoma Cabana, Office Bar and Grill, Matador and Dorky’s Arcade. The festivities culminated in The Turkey Bowl, a football game between Lincoln and Stadium.