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>> Mayor: I would like to call to order the Tacoma
city council meeting for October 9, 2012.
Please silence all electronic devices at this time.
Clerk, please call the roll.
[ roll called ]
>> Mayor: Please stand for the flag salute led by
Council Member Ibsen and remain standing for a moment
of silence.
[ American flag pledge recited ]
[ moment of silence observed ]
>> Mayor: All right, we now have the consent agenda
before us for consideration.
>> I move to adopt the consent agenda including
resolution 38546.
>> Second.
>> I move as a substitute resolution number 38546.
>> Second.
>> Mayor: All right, a motion has been made and
seconded.
I would call on Ric Teasley at this time.
>> Thank you, mayor, members of the city council, I'm
Ric Teasley, housing division manager.
It is not often I get to come before you especially in
this economy.
I would like to tell you about a sizeable grant Tacoma
is about to receive.
Before we begin, I would like to tell you a story
about this.
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Submitted the proposal to the Ag's office and not sure
exactly when we would hear the results of it.
I heard September, October, not sure when.
Sitting at my desk one day, the phone rang in early
September and a lady from the Ag's office said we had
been rewarded our $6.8 million grant that we had
written a proposal for.
I was stunned and grateful for that and said we would
be receiving more information later in the day so I
thought this is great, I'm really excited about that.
So as the day wore on and I didn't receive any
information, I wondered if one of my associates had
played a little trick on me perhaps and called up and
said that just to get me going.
But any way, fortunately as it turned out, it was a
real phone call.
I called the next day, said I pinched myself, is this
real; she says, yes, it is real.
>> Mayor: Excellent.
>> This is a resolution for the city to accept
3,860,000 from the Washington state Attorney General's
office and allocate these funds to the Tacoma
community redevelopment authority for the east side,
Hilltop and south Tacoma.
These are the areas with the highest foreclosure rates
according to realty track.
I would like to begin with some background information
about these funds.
They are part of a $25 billion nationwide foreclosure
relief settlement with the country's largest five
mortgage companies, chase, wells Fargo, Citi, Gmac and
bank of America.
Washington State has received nearly $49 million from
the settlement to be divided in six key areas across
the state.
Supplementing amounts paid to homeowners, funding for
housing counselors, funding for foreclosure
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assistance, funding for foreclosure hotlines, funding
for mediation programs, funding for legal assistance
and funding for housing remediation and anti blight
projects.
The largest portion of the funds was awarded to
organizations to provide direct mortgage relief to
consumers.
In addition, a large portion of the funds will be used
to provide legal representation to more than 30,000
low and moderate income homeowners who have faced
foreclosure in the last few years or more than 135,000
additional homeowners whose homes have been foreclosed
already in the past four years.
Funding was also provided for anti blight projects in
Seattle, Tacoma, parts of king county ask to provide
training for volunteer foreclosure mediators.
As you can see, much of the 4 nearly $4 million will
be put to good use.
Unfortunately, not every home can be saved from
foreclosure.
Fortunately, Tacoma was awarded .86 million for the
blight prevention program involving vacant housing in
the three Tacoma designated areas.
We will do this by using our stabilization program
model.
First, the TCRA will provide down payment assistance
to approximately 40 buyers to purchase and live in a
foreclosed vacant house in the designated areas.
We'll also use a portion of these funds to administer
and provide program oversight.
Second, funding will be provided to our program
partners, homeownership center, habitat and housing
authority to continue to carry out activities begun
with the Msp money.
They will use the funds to acquire, resell and
refurbish homes in the designated areas.
It is expect these funds will benefit an additional 35
40 homeowners.
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The goal of TCRA and our partners is to recycle these
funds as best we and can get the best bang for the
buck.
We have met with the Washington state housing finance
commission and the representative from the federal
reserve bank as well as our partners, Pierce County
and Lakewood to all work together to see if we can't
get more use out of these funds, working together.
I want to thank you, Mayor Strickland, the city
council and our city manager for your support in our
efforts to win a portion of these funds.
Your support was instrumental in our ability to win
this award.
I also want to extend our thanks for the Washington
state attorney general's office in selecting
Washington for the proposal and helping us generously.
Finally, I would like to show you some examples of
what we previously accomplished using the Msp funds
and what we previously accomplished using grant funds.
To do that, I have a few slides showing past and
future.
This first slide shows how we intend to use the
settlement grant funds.
Those will be divided, as I mentioned, across the four
partners, the TCRA, homeownership center, the Tacoma
housing authority and habitat for humanity.
Some of the community redevelopment authority will
continue to provide down payment assistance to help
home piers get into foreclosed homes.
The homeownership center, Tacoma housing authority and
habitat will use their funds to purchase, refurbish
and resell 45 additional homes.
That is how the settlement funds are intended to be
used as well as the TCRA funds when you see on your
screen right now.
The homeownership center and Tacoma housing authority,
each assisting 11 or 12 buyers to purchase homes and
habitat purchased a large home to provide 13 housing
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sites and it has turned out to be a very nice
neighborhood out there.
That slide shows the location of the houses assisted
by the funds.
As you can see, houses were assisted in all of the
areas across the city.
Can't tell very much by the slide up there but down
payment assistance, housing authority, homeownership
center, all had houses in designated areas.
So I would like to show you some slides now at what
each of these programs accomplished with their funds.
First of all, the Tacoma redevelopment authority, as I
mentioned, they used $750,000 of Msp funds to assist
37 home buyers with down payment assistance funds.
They mortgaged 37 buyers and assisted with escrow,
appraisals and many other real estate activities.
Next, the homeownership center used their $1.2 million
of Msp funds to leverage another $.6 million of
private capital.
They purchased and refurbished and resold 12 houses to
date and got some special funding from wells Fargo of
$50,000 and contributed in kind labor on the project
showing its good will.
The housing authority leveraged $1.1 million in
private capital, they purchased 11 foreclosed homes,
restored them and resold them as well.
Last but not least is the habitat house which you can
see was a large blight on the neighborhood.
I don't know, you may have seen the Komo 4 newscast a
while back which interviewed one of the neighbors and
she couldn't express enough how happy she was that not
only had this house been eliminated and 13 new habitat
houses built on the site but that sighted been a
dumping ground for tires and appliances and other
items for throughout the city so she was just
delighted.
So this is an example of what will be used with the
funds turning vacant and foreclosed homes into models
in the community.
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Be happy to answer any questions you have.
>> Mayor: Council Member Walker?
>> Council Member: Thank you, Ric.
This is highly competitive, the funds for these homes
and it shows great work for the state to get the funds
here and we know how nice homes add to the stability
and the foreclosed numbers are really high.
We know it is the whole community but happy you are
doing this work.
As I read the documents, I just asked what period of
time are we looking at for the $3.86 million?
>> We applied for a three year period to accomplish
this and basically used the Nfp model which was a 3
year period for the funds.
That was the model I used and what I believed the
realistic time frame to reclaim these foreclosed
houses.
>> Mayor: Thank you.
Council Member Campbell?
>> Thank you for this, the little map you had up
earlier with the dots on it, I didn't get to see that
earlier so if off copy of that, I would appreciate it.
>> A copy of what?
>> Council Member: The little map.
>> Mayor: Any other questions at this time?
This vote is for the substitution of 38546.
All in favor, please signify by aye.
Those opposed?
The motion is adopted.
We now have the substitute resolution before us.
Any additions, corrections to the consent agenda?
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Okay, all those who are in favor of adopting the
consent agenda including substitute 38546, say aye.
All opposed?
The motion is adopted.
Now I have a proclamation to read.
Whereas people with disabilities demonstrate every day
the skills and talents they contribute to the
community.
And whereas disability awareness month is a good time
for Tacomans to recognize those contributions from
people with disabilities as well as employers who hire
those people with disabilities in the workplace.
Whereas a strong workforce is an inclusive workforce,
what can you do emphasizes the importance of
emphasizing inclusion of people with disabilities to
be fully integrated in the 21st century workforce.
Whereas businesses and rehabilitation partners have
organized activities to increase awareness and change
the barriers that exist in our community, I therefore
Mayor Strickland on behalf of the city council, mayor
for the city of Tacoma call this observance to the
attention of all of our citizens that October be
recognized as month of disabilities awareness.
>> Thank you, mayor.
This is exciting that we are bringing awareness to an
issue that is pretty pervasive in the community.
Whether it is intellectual disabilities or physical
limitation.
Really, everyone deserves a chance to be employed and
for the most part, disabilities don't usually prevent
people from doing that, it just prevents them from
getting a job, whether it be physical limitations on
the site or just unfamiliarity with certain physical
ability, how it will impact someone.
So spending a little time thinking about how we as a
community can make sure people with disabilities have
a place to work is a good use of our time.
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There are lots of great organizations and businesses
that employ those with disabilities and I think they
find it is not as much a burden as it is a benefit.
The supermarket I go to, a couple of the checkers have
a couple of them with disabilities and are incredibly
dedicated.
One takes three buses to get to work and it makes
everyone work a little better with their enthusiasm
for the job.
As a community, we need to make sure we are not
limiting people with what they can do because of the
facility.
My kids go to a school that will be renovated soon but
someone with a wheelchair would not be able to be a
teacher there and it is a pity to know that maybe the
best person with the job won't be able to get the next
job that opens there because the facility is not
adequate so thank you for the awareness and urge the
awareness of everybody.
>> Mayor: Thank you, please come forward to accept
this proclamation and let's give him a round of
applause.
[applause]
>> Thank you, mayor.
In your absence last week, I talked a little bit about
my journey to our city sister city of Fuzhou and I
want to present the laquerware vase from the secretary
of the municipality, Mr. Yung, who presented this to
me for the city and for you, mayor.
Laquerware is something that Fuzhou is well known for.
This is a beautiful piece it.
Looks heavy but it is not, it is very, very light and
when it was handed to me, I was prepared to receive a
very heavy vase but was surprised at its lightness.
The trip was a wonderful opportunity to see a city
our sister city halfway around the world who is
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battling and working through a lot of the same issues
that we're working through as they renovate this
district of Gulang which is what we were there to tour
and attend a ceremony for.
They have planted thousands of trees, working on road
projects.
They are working on balancing the modern world with
the ancient history of this district so historic
preservation and balancing ecology issues with those
with both the renovation and restoration of that
district as well as the hope that it will be an
attraction for tourists.
So it was really, really interesting to get a chance
to see a lot of parallels halfway around the world and
see that and of course we're happy to receive this
amazing and beautiful vase that is a part of that
culture and certainly of that region.
So on behalf of the party and Mr. Yung, I present with
you this vase.
>> Mayor: Thank you, deputy mayor and thank you for
representing us well in Fuzhou.
It has been two weeks of sister city activity in
Tacoma.
We were celebrating the moon festival.
We had a group of Cuban musicians here performing and
then we had a group from Biat France so these cultural
and economic exchanges are important to the city of
Tacoma so I gladly accept this vase and thank you.
>> I move to suspend the rules to consider 38547 at
this time.
>> Second.
>> Mayor: Motion has been made and seconded, all in
favor signify by aye.
Those opposed?
Motion is adopted.
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Resolution 38547, clerk, please read.
[ clerk reading purchase resolution ]
>> I move to adopt purchase resolution 38547.
>> Second.
>> I move to consider item number one of the purchase
resolution immediately following the appeal.
>> Second.
>> Mayor: We are going to consider these separately.
There is going to be a quasi SKWRAOUT TKEURBL hearing
on item number one so all in favor of breaking these
out, please say aye.
Those opposed?
The motion is adopted.
>> I move to return item number 2 of the purchase
resolution to the regular agenda.
>> Second.
>> Mayor: A motion has been made and seconded.
All in favor signify by aye.
Those opposed?
The motion is adopted.
Moving on to public comment, clerk, please read.
>> City Clerk: This is the time set aside for public
comment on items on the agenda.
Speakers are asked to identify the specific agenda
items they wish to address and comments will be
limited up to five minutes per person.
Comments will not be accepted on the appeal on
tonight's agenda or ordinances and communication items
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forwarded to the city council by the hearing examiner
for which a public hearing has already been held.
There are no items on tonight's agenda forwarded to
the city council by the hearing examiner.
Additionally, comments will be held in Abeyance on
purchase resolution 38547, item number 1, pending the
outcome of the appeal.
>> Mayor: So to remind people of the audience, we are
taking public comment on items on the agenda, there
will be a quasi hearing and there are three parts to
this.
I would like to remind everyone to keep your comments
relevant and on topic.
There is a clock to your right so you can keep an eye
on your five minutes.
I ask you be respectful of other speakers so right now
we start with Connie brown followed by Jerry Holman.
>> Good evening, mayor, city council members.
I want to speak to a couple of issues and I will
introduce myself first, Connie brown, executive
director of the consortium housing for Pierce County
and I am speaking on a couple of items, the first
proposition 1.
There are thousands of people who absolutely depend on
public transportation.
Those of us with cars maybe aren't in touch with that
but thousands of people have no choice other than
public transit to get to work, to get to school, to
get the kids some place, to get to church, to get to a
doctor's appointment, grocery shopping, whatever it
is.
That is the choice.
I find it unconscionable that we would not consider
this.
I figured out if a person spent $500 a month on what
are largely discretionary items that are largely
taxable, that would amount to a dollar and a half for
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additional taxes for this proposition, three times 1%
of $500 is a dollar and a half and so I think we need
to be while understanding our tax structure in the
state of Washington is difficult, it is regressive, it
needs overhaul.
This particular item is not going to push us over a
Cliff, nor is it going to push poor people over the
Cliff.
They have to pay for the bus ride and put some in the
kitty for the taxes so we have in my organization
roughly 25 people 25,000 people and I would venture
to say nearly all of those people rely on public
transit.
I have an intern working for the consortium.
She is hardworking, going to school at Clover Park.
Responsible for her family and keeping up with the job
at our place and she realize on public transit.
She will come sometimes and say there is just no way I
can get from home to school and then over to your
office without spending an hour on the bus or more
than an hour on the bus.
So that is that.
The other issue is referendum 74.
You probably know that I have been in a committed
relationship with Katherine Cumming for 20 years.
We have two children that are just fabulous, and they
are straight if anybody wants to know.
Our daughter just got married a couple of weeks ago
and that was very, very cool.
They are self reliant.
They are successful in their college careers and they
are successful in their professional careers.
I just couldn't be prouder of our kids.
My partner is also an ordained minister who performs
wedding ceremonies and believe me, she performs a lot
of ceremonies for straight couples.
That is not an issue and it is not an issue for them.
They like her.
She does a good wedding.
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So I am looking forward to she and I renewing the vows
we took 18 years ago this month in a legal marriage
ceremony, and I certainly hope that the city council
will support that move.
Thank you.
>> Mayor: Thank you.
Jerry Holman followed by Melvin Woodward.
>> Good evening, mayor, city council members, my name
is Jerry Holman, Tacoma, Washington.
The reason I am before you today is I would like to
discuss a little about referendum 74 and why it is
important that this referendum passes and hopefully is
endorsed I have no doubt will be endorsed by our
city council today.
I wanted to bring up just a couple of things and the
first is the word marriage and why marriage is so
important and why that word is so important.
The couple of examples, the first one was actually
kind of funny but it is awkward and it is not always
easy being gay and it is kind of a hard thing in a
business, to be a business owner.
I am also an officer as many of you know, newly
promoted to lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserves
and I am out at work and think it important that
people in the Army see there is leadership they have
that they can come and speak to.
Seems like I am always coming out and it is a tough
thing sometimes but I like to stick on my principles
and be honest with people.
Last week in my office, it was Wednesday and I will
not say her name in case she is watching, don't want
to embarrass her, older lady came in with her husband
and wanted a consultation.
They saw the ring on my finger and she put her hand in
my hand and she said oh, that's sweet, honey, are you
married and I looked at her in the eyes and thought I
don't know where this is going to go but I told her
no, it's kind of complicated and I thought for a
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second and said I am actually in a domestic
partnership and she looked at me and I promise you,
she did not even blink and she said I support that.
We outsource way too many jobs overseas.
I didn't know what to say.
[laughter]
>> So I did agree with her and told her I think we
outsource way too many jobs overseas as well and then
I explained to her that I was in a committed
relationship with another man.
And she fortunately didn't leave or get upset.
She laughed and seemed a little upset.
Her husband just grunted and we continued on but it is
things like that.
Little things.
Life is hard enough without having to continually
explain your relationship and unfortunately a ring
without the word behind it isn't always the same to
people who look at it and see it.
It means something to the person wearing it but the
reason we wear the ring is we want other people to
know as well.
Another incident, I would like to say this is without
exception well, I'm sorry, one exception.
Every member of the city council, even Victoria
Woodards who is not here, has been married at least
one time.
So those of you were able to get married for a reason.
I hope it is because you fell in love with somebody
and at least that is the reason I want to get married
and I really hope that this passes so we can bring it
from 79% to 100% of the city council and that is
something that would really mean a lot to me.
The other thing is and it is a little bit above.
It is about Tacoma in general.
I didn't to want move to Tacoma when I first moved to
Tacoma.
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I lived in DuPont and was stationed at JBLM as an
active duty officer and I came to Tacoma kicking and
screaming.
I grew up in Olympia and Tacoma was not a good place
to go when I was in high school in the early '90s and
we avoided Tacoma like the plague.
When I started to Seatac see Tacoma the way it is
now, they couldn't get rid of me.
They value their neighbors, their friends, the
strangers they meet.
Can't tell you how refreshing it is to have someone
roll the window down on the street and ask which way
is Frisco freeze.
I hope I send them in the right direction but it is on
nice to see that everybody in the city values what we
are destined to become and what we have become.
Endorsing 74, the council doing that, does nothing
really legally to show that you support what our
legislature and what our governor signed into law last
June sorry, the date is wrong.
I believe it was March or April.
But it means a lot because that shows those people
that the governor and the legislature, that they are
doing the right thing and the city should support them
and that eventually will show the nation that the
state of Washington is doing the right thing.
I am almost out of time but want to touch on why this
is important to me as a military officer.
I don't of rights in the federal government either and
it is really a challenge.
That word marriage is very important and I ask that
you would endorse it.
Thank you.
>> Thank you, Melvin Woodward followed by Debbie
Regala.
>> Greetings, mayor, deputy mayor, council members.
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Melvin Woodward from the Hilltop of Tacoma after 35
years of exile and many places.
It was almost 300 years ago that my ancestors John and
Nancy Clinic left Ireland for the Americas.
They left because the Church of England was closing up
dissenting Protestant churches in England and refusing
to allow the pastor there to perform marriages and
they moved to Pennsylvania because they had freedom of
religion.
They had two sons who fought in the revolutionary war
to make sure we would have an agreement that didn't
enforce the faith of one group over another and I
think my ancestors would be astonished to know I am
standing here today fighting that battle still.
I have served eight churches in the Puget Sound basin
in the last 40 years I have been an ordained Methodist
minister.
My first church was on Capitol Hill and had a
number of gay and lesbians there.
In those days, the closet is where they all lived.
What I discovered in that first parish is my gay and
lesbian members were just like all the rest.
They laughed when they heard a good joke.
They delighted in their kids taking their first steps.
They wept when crisis came and one got ill or lost a
job or died.
But they had some special challenges.
There was the couple where one died and his family who
had never approved of their relationship smuggled the
body out to the Midwest to be buried in secret, never
allowing the life partner to know where the body was
laid to rest.
They kept their relationship secret because they could
lose their jobs, they could lose their friends.
They were misunderstood.
And I learned very early the two things I needed to do
with my Lgbt members was to treat them like everybody
else when I counseled them because their lives were
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pretty much the same, but to keep secret, their
secret, about themselves.
For 37 years, I have been working for marriage
equality in my denomination and my state and I was
there when the governor signed that into law and I
rejoiced.
Because as a Christian, I believe it is my
responsibility to witness and bless the relationships
of my congregants and I rejoice that the state is
finally lending the same kind of legal support to
those relationships that they do to my marriage with
my wife.
There are those that say what difference does it make,
they have all the same rights already?
If it didn't make a difference, we wouldn't be here.
The difference it makes is dignity.
The difference it makes is acknowledgement.
The difference it makes is saying you don't have to be
invisible anymore.
I have stood over the 17 year old body of a high
school senior who committed suicide, multiple,
multiple awards in multiple athletics, almost a
straight A student, afraid to leave home and go to
college, bearing his secret that he was gay.
I have counseled members of my current congregation
who were afraid of losing their jobs because someone
had outed them at work.
Six weeks ago, I had a young woman come to me in
tears, suicidal because she had been outed at her job
at a Christian congregation and had been fired and her
parents were disapproving.
I want us to support 74 because it says to all of the
citizens of Tacoma and Washington State, you are
equal, you are loved and my congregation wants you to
support this so that our practice of our faith is not
subjugated to the restricted positions of other
denomination.
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>> Mayor: Thank you, Debbie Regala followed by Bill
Evans.
>> Good evening, mayor, I'm Debbie Regala and here to
ask you for your support in support of referendum 74.
I want to tell you why I am a supporter of referendum
74.
As you all know, not long ago in the history of our
country, there were laws that prevented marriage
between people of color, of different races.
When my husband and I decided to marry in 1968, some
family members and other people that we had considered
friends pleaded with us not to get married.
They made all sorts of predictions about the terrible
things that would happen if we did.
Some even told us that it was against God's will for
people of two different races to marry.
Well, I am happy to tell you tonight that none of the
terrible things that people predicted actually took
place.
What did happen is my husband and I found in each
other a life partner to share our successes and
failures and provide support in crisis and tragedy.
A partner to be with us in sickness and health, to
help each of us grow as individuals to become better
people and a partner to really share all the joys of
life and we grew together as a couple.
That is what marriage is from my perspective and
really what 74 is about, giving same sex couples the
opportunity to share marriage.
As you have heard, some say the current domestic
partnership laws will provide that opportunity but
they are not the same.
I agree with one of my colleagues in the legislature
who said domestic partnership sounds something like a
maid service and you have heard tonight that there is
definitely confusion out there about what a domestic
partnership is.
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Most people have no idea what it legally means and
what the aspects of it are.
But everybody knows what marriage is.
Marriage is something that all parents hope for and
dream for their children.
Marriage is something most young people dream for
themselves.
Marriage is the commitment of two people to love and
cherish each other for the rest of their lives.
To be there for each other and in good times and in
bad, sickness and health, richer or poorer, you all
know those vows that we take.
Referendum 74 allows that special bond for same sex
couples, the ability to make that commitment and to
share that special bond.
You know, in 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court in their
ruling with regards to loving versus Virginia which
ended race based legal restrictions on marriage
clearly stated that marriage is a basic civil right.
And I want to make it clear that that is what our 74
is about.
It is about the civil legal right for the people of
the same sex to have marriage and as the description
in your agenda so clearly states, referendum 74 does
not alter religious freedom at all.
Churches and clergy are protected.
They still have the right, as they always have had, to
determine which marriages will be recognized under
their religious traditions and the nondiscrimination
laws that are already in place in our state are not
altered by 74 either.
So what R 74 does is provide an opportunity for same
sex couples to stand before their friends and family
to make the commitment to love and honor and support
their partner for the rest of their life.
Isn't that what we want for everyone?
To be able to marry a person, to be their life
partner?
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Just like many of us here tonight who are blessed with
a partner, who loved them in sickness and health, good
times and bad, providing mutual support and happiness
the rest of their lives so I urge you for the approval
of resolution 38548 and thank you for your time.
>> Thank you, senator Regala.
Bill Evans?
>> Good evening, madam mayor and members of the city
council.
What an honor to speak in conjunction with all these
other tremendous speakers and I am here tonight also
to speak to your resolution 38548, expressing support
for and urging all Tacoma voters to vote yes on
referendum 74.
By voting on referendum 74, voting yes, we obviously
vote to allow all and that is capital A L L, all of
our citizens of our city and our state to express
their mutual love in marriage.
And we allow people the freedom to marry, to express
publicly their love for one another in something that
our society calls marriage.
And that is terribly important, I believe.
My wife and I Ann and I have been married for 40
years.
We met each other, expressed our love towards one
another and we were allowed publicly that freedom to
marry and we did those 40 years ago.
Well, of all of our children, one is gay.
Now, I know that our gay son... our gay son doesn't
get up in the morning and say I think I am going to be
gay today.
He is what he is.
And he has been living for 13 years in a committed,
loving relationship with another man but he cannot,
they cannot marry.
They cannot publicly express their love for one
another in marriage.
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And that is a social injustice.
That is wrong.
And so I think that's what we have to think about as
we talk about this referendum 74.
We have got to do the right thing for all the people
that we love and who love us and it has been brought
up, the subject of religion this evening.
We had the wonderful words from the minister.
Ann and I kind of look upon our word as practicing
Christians but I am sure practicing Muslims and
Buddhists have pretty much more or less the same
message and Ann and I think of our religion and the
message Jesus gave us as love one another.
Just three very simple, basic words.
And that is what this resolution, this referendum,
rather, 74, is going to do.
It is going to allow all of our brothers and sisters
to express their mutual love for one another through
the freedom to marry.
Thank you very much.
>> Mayor: Thank you Mr. Evans.
Heather Kolimoto.
>> Hi, mayor, council members, I am going to speak and
then my partner Kay will also speak.
Hi, I'm Heather Kolimoto, third generation
Washingtonian and very proud to be here in Tacoma and
hope with your support related to referendum 74 will
be the first state in the country to have voter
approved freedom to marry.
When I think of marriage, I think of the values of
love, commitment and family and when I think of those,
I think of my grandparents and great grandparents who
were forced to leave their farm and their home because
they were Japanese in World War II and what they took
with them was love and family and commitment and that
sustained them.
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Because they were married, they were able to stay
together and not separated and kept together as a
family and that is what I hope for myself and Kay and
we ask you to approve referendum 74 and have your
support.
Thank you very much.
>> Hi, I'm kaylyn castor, born and raised in
Washington and been a resident of Tacoma since 1989.
I was raised by two loving parents who shared a long
committed marriage for 32 years till my father's life
was cut short in his battle with cancer.
The love and commitment my mother and father had for
each other was an incredible example for me and a role
model of the type of relationship I wanted for myself,
the marriage I wanted for myself and shortly after I
met Heather, Heather and I met nearly 15 years ago.
I knew she was the person I wanted to commit my life
to.
We have had a loving committed relationship for over
14 years now, like the kind my parents had in their
marriage.
One built on love, built on commitment, caring for
each other in sickness and in health, all of those
things, building a life together.
We bought a home here in Tacoma together and have been
working for the past 12 years to make that house into
our home, to upgrade it.
And we do all the same things.
We have our daughter, Kayley, her parents, just like
my parents, she is an amazing smart talented 9 year
old.
She is a Tween and not a young child as she is quick
to remind us these days.
She loves school and goes to grant elementary and
we're really involved in her life.
We're a part of the Pta there.
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I had the great honor and, I don't know, moment of
craziness to agree to chair the last auction that we
had at grant and so we're really involved in her life.
She is currently learning how to master the monkey
bars and skip a bar.
So we're like every other family.
Yet we have not been afforded the freedom to marry, to
make our commitment public.
And kayley tells us that family and friends are the
most important thing in her life.
She wants her moms to be able to marry because to her,
marriage means we are a family.
So again, with Heather and kayley, we really thank you
and urge you to support referendum 74 and the
resolution.
Thank you very much.
>> Mayor: Thank you.
Beverly bowen Bennett?
>> I had spoken to you all before.
I have to congratulate you on being chosen Tacoma's,
what was it, best not political figure, did you see
it in the weekly?
>> Mayor: Yes, I did, thank you.
[laughter]
>> Mayor: But we need to stay on topic here.
Thank you.
>> So congratulations are in order.
[laughter]
>> And I usually come up here and am kind of witty but
for me this is a very serious subject.
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I grew up in rural Pierce County where Bonney Lake now
is.
It wasn't like that then.
And I am going to be 70 next year and when I was the
age of the young lady standing here a discussion
having anything to do with sex rarely happened but
even more rarely, homo sexuality.
I grew up knowing nothing about "those people", other
than they were scary.
I moved to Seattle in 1972 and I had probably the best
nursing job I ever had.
I was working in an infant daycare as a nurse, getting
to feed babies and there was a young woman who worked
there whose name was Jody.
She was a sweet young thing, a really nice young lady
and a very huggy type of person.
She was one of the people I hugged every day at the
beginning the day and goodbye in the evening.
And one day, she asked me for a ride home and I gave
her a ride home.
And she said would you like to come in for a moment,
so being polite, I went in.
And her partner met her at the door with a big kiss
and it was a woman.
So I was standing there with two women kissing,
something I had never seen before.
Fortunately for me and the people I have come in
contact with, my mind made the leap of the Ephiphany
for me that, oh, Jody is gay and she's okay.
She's a nice young lady.
Maybe some of the other gay people are okay, too.
And it was the beginning for me of seeing that set of
people as I have seen all other sets of people in my
life.
I am quite an Egalitarian person and it is a very good
thing because about 13 years ago, my daughter came
out.
I have one daughter and she's gay.
And she's in a committed relationship.
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Some of you know I have been making phone calls for
referendum 74 since march and one of the things I say
to voters is when you are looking at your voters
pamphlet, and you are trying to decide whether you are
going to vote for referendum 74 or not, you think do I
really want Victoria to marry and the answer is yes,
then you vote to approve referendum 74.
Because marriage says family and commitment and love
like domestic partnerships never could.
So I am very pleased to be here tonight to encourage
you, the people who represent me in the city of
Tacoma, to put forth your approval of referendum 74.
Thank you very much.
>> Mayor: Thank you, Ms. Bennett.
Anyone else in the audience wishing to come forward at
this time to speak to any items on tonight's agenda?
Please come forward and state your name for the
record.
>> Good evening, Justin lateton, citizen of Tacoma,
here talking in support of the resolution for
referendum 74.
Three years ago, 2009, I stood here and talked about
your support for referendum 71 and I told my story and
my story was about how I came out of the closet and
how nervous I was to tell my mom and when I told my
mom, she said oh, okay, that's great.
What are you doing for dinner tonight?
And I had built myself up to this moment where it was
going to be some show or dramatic moment and I
realized that it wasn't my mom or my parents or my
siblings 'activities they did to make me feel that
way, it was the society around me that made me feel
that I couldn't come out, that I couldn't be who I was
and feel who I was, that it was society's pressures on
not being accepting and the reason I spoke about
referendum 7 at that time was because it was one more
leap forward to a society that was and to maybe open
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the door for somebody that is, today, thinking about
coming out to their parents or their community.
And just like referendum 71, referendum 74 is that
leap forward again.
We will continue fighting for more things.
My partner, as many of you know, lives in Canada and
marriage equality here in Washington really doesn't do
anything for us.
But that is okay, bus because it is that one step
forward to a national employment.
Many of you know I travel once a week to Burbank where
he works and that is what acceptance is about.
What marriage is about.
Accepting one another in the community.
In 2006, I felt the need to go back in the closet
again, society making pressure on me that I couldn't
be who I was.
Scared of these high school kids and what they thought
of me, I soon learned that it didn't matter and I put
a picture of my partner and I on my desk at school and
there were some staff people who said Justin, why
don't you put that picture away and they said it is
making too many conversations about awkwardness and I
said is it awkward for you or awkward for me?
Because it isn't awkward for me at all.
If it is awkward for you, it is making you ask
questions about what you think society is and what it
isn't.
So I left the picture on my desk of my partner and I
as a symbol that even after December, we will be one
right closer.
So I thank you for the city I chose to live in putting
this forward and I appreciate your support.
Thank you.
>> Mayor: Thank you Mr. Lateton.
Anyone in the audience wishing to come forward to
speak to any item on the agenda?
Please state your name for the record.
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>> Good evening, I'm Jane Moore, resident of Tacoma
and, while I agree and hope you support resolution 74,
I am here to speak about resolution 38549 related to
proposition number 1.
I know you are aware of the need for transit to serve
those who don't drive, low income who can't afford a
car, disabled, the elderly and the very young.
I would like to speak about the importance of public
transit to choice riders, people who ride the bus
because they choose to.
For us to have a vibrant economically dynamic
community, we need to appeal to those people as well.
Younger people as they finish college are not buying
cars.
They want to live some place where they can get around
without a car and transit is essential to that.
I live in downtown Tacoma, walk many places but use a
bus for places further than a mile and a half to two
miles.
Depending on how much time I have, I will walk that
far but having the buses, having regular routes is
important to be able to choose to ride the bus.
That is important also because it keeps me from
driving my car by myself for short trips around town
which is one of the worst things for the environment
and the city has felt that keeping the environment
healthy is important.
It has shown that with the adoption of the climate
action plan and the establishing the office of
sustainability and the Tacoma commission which I serve
on.
So by supporting public transit, we help to support
the environment by reducing the number of people that
drive alone in their cars, particularly for short
trips which are easily done on the bus that runs with
any kind of consistency.
So I hope you will adopt resolution 38549 and support
proposition number 1.
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Thank you.
>> Mayor: Thank you, Ms. Moore.
Anyone else in the audience wishing to come forward at
this time.
Please state your name for the record.
>> Yes, my name is bliss Moore; I am a resident of
Tacoma.
Good evening.
Mayor Strickland, council members, first again, I, too
would count me in on R74 without a question and it
was really quite moving testimony.
I, too, though, am here to say a few brief things
about prop 1 and urge to you support it.
I know you have had a briefing from Pierce Transit on
the ramifications of not passing prop 1 and which I
have had, too.
It is catastrophic if it doesn't pass, I hate to say
that.
And there's so many people that are so dependent on
living their lives and I don't need to tell you all
about that.
I would like to add another reason.
I am also in the sustainability commission with Jane
Moore. For supporting prop 1, as you all know, the
city has a climate action plan that was adopted a few
years ago where the city committed to meeting some
goals and strategies for sustainability, environmental
sustainability, reduction of Greenhouse gasses.
And we have done very well so far, meeting our 2012
goal fairly easily.
But our next goal is to reduce gas emissions from 1990
by 40% by 2020 and that is going to take a lot of
work.
I just want to say that if prop 1 doesn't pass, we're
going backwards.
I was in before the sustainability commission was
established and the office of sustainability
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established, and I was working on the Green River task
force and I was actually the transportation coach
there.
And I know Council Member Mello was one of the co
chairs of that Green River Green urban task force
and we came up with all these strategies and goals for
reducing Greenhouse gasses.
You know, over 50% of our Greenhouse gasses in this
region are from transportation and so if we start
if we drastically cut further the service of Pierce
Transit, we're just moving backwards, going in the
wrong direction.
More cars will be on the road for people having to get
around, more congestion, more idling, more Greenhouse
gasses will be just moving backwards and are it is
very hard to get the service reestablished if it does
fail.
So enough said about that but I just want to strongly
urge your support for prop 1.
Thank you.
>> Mayor: Thank you, Mr. Moore.
Anyone else wishing to come forward from the audience
to speak on any items on tonight's agenda?
At this time I will declare the public comment period
closed.
We will move on to our regular agenda and to let you
know the flow of this.
We have three resolutions, three ordinances and then
will go into the quasi judicial hearing so everyone
knows as far as the time.
Resolution 38547, clerk, please read.
>> Awarding a contract.
[ reading resolution ]
>> Mayor: Any comments?
Start with Council Member Boe.
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>> Council Member: Thank you, mayor, I recuse myself
from any voting for an apparent conflict of interest.
>> Mayor: Any other council comments?
All in favor of adopting 38547, item number 2, signify
by aye.
Those opposed?
Item number 2 of resolution 38547 is adopted.
Moving on to 38548, clerk, please read.
[ clerk reading resolution ]
>> ~I move to adopt resolution 38548.
>> A motion has been made and seconded.
Any comments from the council members at this time?
>> Council Member: Thank you, mayor.
I appreciate those who came forward to express their
support for referendum 74.
Most of the testimony was very compelling and more
than I will be this evening and brave testimony by
many.
Growing up, people told me you are sort of
conditioned to believe what people tell thought
happiest day in your life is when you get married and
maybe the next happiest day is when you see your
children succeed, see them graduate from high school
or college or see them get their first job or when
your kids get married and growing up, I knew I was a
gay person and never thought I would be able to live
that happiest day.
The ability to get married because society sent signal
after signal to me that I was not accepted, that I was
different, that I was other or less than.
And you know, society sends these kinds of signals in
all kinds of overt ways and obvious ways, many that we
have heard this evening.
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One of those obvious and overt ways are by not
allowing people to marry or at one point in our recent
country's history, not to be able to openly serve in
the greatest military on earth.
And in less obvious ways every day, employees not able
to have a picture of their loved one on their desk or
not feeling come to believe talk about the hike you
took with your partner this weekend or all the yard
work you did together over the weekend or the tractor
blow plowing that you did perhaps for the entire
weekend.
Extending the freedom to marry is not redefining
marriage.
Extending freedom to mayor to gay and lesbian couples
is the natural evolution of marriage explained by the
guy senator Regala this evening where once people of
different religions or races from not allowed to marry
in America.
For sometime, many religious leaders and politicians
backed these positions and kept that law in this great
country yet over time, we have evolved.
We have since changed those laws as the senator
indicated in Virginia and religious leaders and many
every day people like you and I, we are demanding the
continued evolution of marriage because we know
marriage is not an exclusive institution in our
society, marriage has always been simply about love,
commitment and mutual concern for the person you wish
to spend the rest of your life with.
And when someone tells you they are married, you know
absolutely exactly what that means.
Off sense of two people's commitment to each other,
their ups and downs, you know what society and the
state grants those two individuals.
Not so much with domestic partnerships and civil
unions.
Our country has tried in the past to create
institutions that are separate and unequal.
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Separate water fountains, separate schools, separate
buses.
It didn't work then and certainly does not work now.
Separate has never been equal and marriage is the
universal word everyone uses to describe a committed
and loving relationship.
I always knew that I wanted to get married when I was
younger but the value of marriage never mattered more
to me than when my partner Jerry called me at work in
early July of this year to let me know he just got
deployment orders as an army reservist to the Middle
East and he only had two weeks notice.
This was completely unexpected even though he served a
full tour in Iraq in 2006 because he was in the
reserves and his unit was not training for a mission
to the Middle East.
What the heck was going on?
We were instantly in all kinds of chaos to making sure
I was on Jerry's life insurance policy, making sure
our bank accounts were in both names, buttoning up the
details and figuring out what would happen to Jerry's
business and property should the unthinkable happen?
None of these issue would be a worry had we been
allowed the freedom to marry.
Could we get domesticly-partnered?
Sure, that would take care of some of these problems,
some but not all.
They aren't universally understood.
They don't travel from state to state and they cause
confusion are different where it is not necessary.
Story after story we heard tonight shared with us
couples in crisis, hospital, insurance company, first
responders not knowing what a domestic partner is.
Again, marriage is universally understood and valued
and as law abiding citizens, we where full citizenship
and the ability to stand up in front of our friends
and family and in a church that we choose and declare
we are domestically partnered not that we are
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domestically partnered or in a civil union but that we
are married.
Love this country because we can pursue happiness for
all and these are core American values.
If we can pay taxes, own a gun, serve in the military,
start a business, maybe we should grant them freedom
to marry the person they love.
I realize we're all in a journey and in that journey
as it relates to the freedom to marry.
Some of us have been thinking and drinking about it
since we were little boys and little girls.
Not sure how we would have been able to attain that
joy.
Some over the past several years or several months
have thought long and hard or prayed a lot about how
important this issue is to their neighbors, friends,
coworkers and have evolved to a place of acceptance
and love for their neighbor.
Others are still continuing on this journey.
To those who are still on their journey, I simply ask
to you think about what you want for yourself and what
you want for your kids.
If you want nothing but the best, nothing but joy and
success, fairness and treating others as you wish to
be treated, I urge you to vote to approve referendum
74 and vote for the freedom to marry.
Thank you, mayor.
>> Mayor: Thank you, Council Member Mello.
Any other council comments?
Deputy Mayor?
>> Deputy Mayor: Thank you, mayor.
We have heard a lot about acceptance, diversity and
understanding and I pray that you grant that to me.
I will be voting I am torn.
I do not believe that this falls under the city's
jurisdiction except we put it on our agenda and now it
is our jurisdiction.
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We have seen this with many EURBGS, first in Arizona.
Now if someone came to our forum and wanted to talk
about a state issue, we would say this is not
something the city has control over and we should not
be hearing that.
But we have then put ourselves in a position to voice
our opinions on issues we don't have direct control
over.
I will be joining 29th district representative Steve
Kerley in voting against referendum 74 or our
endorsement of ref referendum 74 here tonight for many
of the same reasons.
I had a chance to pull up the abstract and look at the
district I represent on referendum 71 which was our
most recent poll on this issue, albeit three years
old, and it did not pass in the 5th district.
It was opposed by 54% of the people there.
And so I will represent the people of the 5th district
as directed by my oath of office and as my effort to
represent positions, even sometimes when I don't agree
with them.
But that is my duty as a representative in this
representative form of government.
And if by chance this resolution passes, because I
believe that we'll have a 7 1 vote here tonight, if
this resolution passes or referendum passes in Tacoma
by more than 87 1/2%, well, I wasn't representative of
the city.
But I don't believe that will be the case and I
believe that in order to be representative of the
city, 100% is not likely representative.
So with that, I will declare my intention to vote
against this particular resolution and I would pray
that you would afford me the same courtesy that you
ask me to afford you.
Thank you.
>> Mayor: Thank you, deputy mayor.
Council Member Ibsen?
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>> Council Member: Thank you very much for those of
you who showed up to share your personal stories.
That was very PWOURL powerful.
I want to thank Council Member Mello who I have had a
chance to work on with many issues.
In my opinion, this is a civic issue considering what
marriage really stands for which is bringing people
together and building community.
Speaking as a city councilman, I think the city should
very much be involved in the work of building
community.
The way I see this, the lieutenant Colonel, reverend,
many people made the point that marriage is more than
just a license or a bill of legal rights and abstract
concepts, it is love and not just private love but
civic love and love you recognize and proudly proclaim
and that comes with civility and dignity and it is not
just your ideals that bind together a society.
I think of my own marriage, a woman I have been
married for five years and love to death, all the
great times we have shared together and can just
imagine how lost I would feel if I were not able to
share those experiences and feelings to the same
extent
[ microphone cutting in and out ]
[ inaudible ]
>> Mayor: Thank you, Council Member Walker, followed
by Council Member Boe.
>> Council Member: I was honored to be married for 30
years.
My husband was a minister which made me a minister's
wife.
And what he found, like the pastor from the united
Methodist church is that there were gays and lesbians
that were worshipping at his churches in the 19 1980s
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in the midst of the aids crisis, he realized he needed
a support group for the gays and lesbians of his
church.
Through all the positions he served, we were all very
supportive of those in our congregations who were of a
different sexual orientation.
We all deserve the honor of marriage and leadership,
whether it is of a city council member level or at any
level, it is about honoring our people.
So I urge you to support referendum 74 because it
truly is about honoring our people.
>> Mayor: Thank you, Council Member Boe?
>> Council Member: Thank you, madam mayor.
I want to thank Council Member Mello probably first
for bringing this forward a couple of weeks ago.
He sent out a draft of the resolution and wanted to
get input and my response was, well, personally I have
a view and endorse and support passing the referendum
but how does this have a nexus to the city council?
What I believe personally is one thing as a council
action and then I think it is too bad the whole
resolution was not read into the record because this
goes back a few years and goes back to 2002 where the
city council passed legal protection from
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, et
cetera.
And then it went to the electorate in 2002 and passed
by a margin begin of 59 41.
And in the most recent election of 2009 and being an
at large member, I will take the deputy mayor's
analogy that I represent the entire city and it won by
a margin of 53 47%.
So I still I was still having trouble getting there
and then the more I looked into it, the more I see it
as a city issue, as a state issue, relative to hate
to say it, business development.
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You look at the business leaders who have come out in
support of this referendum across our state, Rei,
Seattle chamber, Microsoft, Vulcan, Amazon, why are
they all supporting this?
And it is really akin to the fact that they are,
especially the larger ones and I feel myself as a
small businessman, all competing for the brightest and
the best.
And as soon as you start to make discrimination, you
are not getting all the brightest and the best.
And I see in Tacoma and state of Washington this just
makes good business sense and for us, where we look at
all the different policies, the city of Tacoma does,
be it business master plans or walkable neighborhoods,
business issues including prop 1 on which we will have
a discussion shortly, you have to look at the business
aspects as well and that is where the tipping point
for me was.
Yes, I can take my personal view and see where this
relate to the city municipal government and I see
those alignments so it will be my pleasure to support
this resolution.
>> Mayor: Thank you, Council Member Campbell?
>> Council Member: Thank you, mayor.
R74 affect my I want to get the quote right.
I have a little fever tonight and a little out of
place here.
R74 violates my Sanctity of marriage is what a woman
told me at my doorstep when I was outdoor belling.
She lives at a house bought by her second boyfriend
and she lives with her daughter who lives with her
boyfriend and a daughter from another marriage and she
couldn't understand why I was perplexed by what she
was saying.
[laughter]
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>> Council Member: And I, like council members
Lonergan and Boe, struggled with is this something
that should be coming before the city and I always
hesitate weighing in on anything that is a little off
but it is where we are asking for voters to approve
this and it falls under "of course" for me, of course
we should be doing this.
As a business owner for 20 years renting out videos, I
often had an opportunity to talk to people throughout
the city and when people are talking about movies, you
have this other thing that can bring an entire dynamic
to the conversation and I had people come in to me and
because of a movie they had just watched, they were
inspired and on two occasions, I had people come out
to me because they were inspired by the movie that
they watched and they were just people in our
community that I didn't know before.
They were no different afterwards.
For a long time, when we had our films throughout my
video store, people would put them in a separate
section, over there and then we had other people who
were happy that we didn't because they were not happy
to be seen standing in front of a section known for
Lgbt films because what if they were a teacher and
their student came in?
So the best thing about our store is we brought them
altogether so you could see the depth of film that
really struggled with the topic of being guy in
America, being TKPWRA*EU in France or the world but
putting it all in one place where you would have this
reflection of films that explored what people were
going through.
Some of them were on the topic of marriage and really
some of the best film ever made in America and it just
brings me back to the "of course".
And I am really quite hopeful as I hear people talk
about this is a civil rights issue, I agree to where I
hope I know those at home can't see this but over
on the wall, we have something called a freedom shrine
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which is some of the most important documents in
American and Washington history that have provided
freedom and I am hoping after R74 passes at state
level, that a copy of that could be placed on that
wall to be placed in honor of some of the most
important documents in U.S. history.
>> Mayor: Thank you, Council Member Fey?
>> Council Member: Thank you, Mayor Strickland and
Council Member Mello.
Just another reason why I am so glad that we voted to
appoint you to the city council and what you bring to
this body and in terms of leadership on very important
issues.
This one is not we deal with some hard issues and
some easy issues here and I just to want remark about
the fact that we had some great stories here, that
people were willing to step up and talk about it in
such a passionate way about what their life had been
and what marriage, the hopes and dreams of marriage
means to them.
And what I had been paying attention to in the last
several months is what I see, is something that is
very good which is the genuine acceptance and
understanding of this issue and that is one of the
things that I think referendum 74 has brought to
society in this state at least is the good discussion
about this and comparison to other issues involving
equality.
The positive thing about people wanting to be happy in
life.
Here is a story about people wanting to love one
another.
What a great thing to be talking about in an election
season with all the other types of advertising going
on and I must compliment people who have managed this
campaign on referendum 74 about the way in which they
have personalized it, the stories and generally, I
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think, an uplifting message about what marriage is all
about so I am hopeful that this will pass and I think
that this is just part of what I would call a natural
changing of attitudes that occurs in society over time
and we start at one place and each generation brings
some things forward that really enhances society and
how what a wonderful thing which we will have in a
very short time, about 1000 additional happily married
couples.
Thank you, Mayor Strickland.
>> Mayor: Thank you and I will make final comments
here.
There are two aspects to this that I will discuss and
I think everyone here from the testimony to my council
colleagues have talked about the institution of
marriage, love and commitment and those things are
incredibly important and at the heart of this but this
is about legality and a civil right issue, protection
by the law.
That is a fact and by denying couples to marry, that
is a violation of the law.
In 2006, I was part of the commission and the chamber
of commerce paid a man to come to Florida to talk
about makes cities great in the future.
He talked about the three T's, talent, tolerant and
technology.
He talked about the fact if you are a community that
is not tolerant, you will not attract the kind of
talent you want from thriving cities.
So purely from an economic and employment standpoint,
this makes sense.
And from equal rights and protection, this T should be
law.
I also don't believe this should be put up to a vote.
Segregating schools.
A lot of things that had they gone to a public vote
may not have happened for a very long time.
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And finally, I want to talk about the diversity of
thought.
I want to thank my colleague, the deputy mayor, for
having the courage to talk about his personal belief
and while I don't agree with what he said, it takes a
lot of courage to talk about what you believe in.
So even though I don't agree with you, I respect you
and glad I serve with you and consider you a friend
and that has not changed bit.
And finally while we talk about this particular issue
and having diversity of thought, if you are having
questions about whether this is the right thing to do,
you are entitled to have your beliefs but I don't
think you have the right to stand in the way of others
who want equal protection of the law so with that
said, I think it will be time to take a vote.
All in favor of adopting resolution 38548, signify by
aye.
Those opposed?
The resolution is adopted.
Moving on to resolution 38549, clerk, please read.
[ clerk reading resolution and proposition ]
>> I move to adopt resolution 38549.
>> Second.
>> Mayor: A motion has been made and seconded.
I will start by describing this.
On the ballot in November will be proposition number 1
which is to request a .3 of 1% sales tax to keep our
shuttle and transit similar viable.
We are one of the few municipalities that doesn't use
our full taxing authority and having talked to a lot
of people in the community and business owners and
people trying to get to jobs, if you don't have access
to get to your job, you don't have power in the
community.
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I know many small businesses are supporting this and
very glad to see their support and if we think about
the community we want in the future, we have to have a
viable communication service for as many as possible.
There is the aspect of providing transportation to
those who are homebound or disabled, but it is about
making sure there is access to jobs and that is a part
of our economic recovery.
I urge people to support this and will start with
Council Member Fey for comments from the council
members who I serve with on the board.
>> Council Member: Thank you, mayor.
You spoke very comfortably about the economic issues
involved with this proposition.
I think what is at risk with this vote is whether
Pierce County is going to have a 21st century transit
system or whether we will have something spiraling
downward and becoming something for many people that
is not viable.
What I want to talk about though, I guess, is an
appeal to people who don't ride transit and obviously
there is a congestion benefit from the folks who are
riding transit versus in their cars and makes the
travel for other people easier.
But really when you sit on the Pierce Transit board
like the mayor and I do, you see a lot of people who
have no choice and where their lives will be
dramatically upset by having minimal or no effective
transit service, whether it is to get to a medical
appointment, to get out to go to an event at a senior
center or some other place, not being able to do that
and having to sit in a convalescent home, wherever
they may live and for those people who are struggling
with lower paid jobs, not being able to get to their
employment because it takes too many transfers if not
convenient, doesn't work out for the hours in which
they work.
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Any modern society nowadays needs to have a good
transit system.
This is not going to be a deluxe transit system, this
is going to be still in many respects a basic
transportation system that really serves substantially
people in need, people are less income, people are
disabilities.
So my heart goes out to those folks.
I am going to vote in favor of it obviously and I hope
that people will take a look at the impact this will
have if not approved and carefully consider their vote
when it comes to election day.
Thank you, mayor.
>> Mayor: That you think, Council Member Mello?
>> Council Member: Thank you, Mayor Strickland and for
your leadership on the Pierce Transit board along with
Council Member Fey and for bringing this issue to our
attention because of how important it is to Tacoma's
economic future.
Many folks in the previous time something like this
was on the ballot to protect Pierce Transit service,
there is those voters out there who didn't think
Pierce Transit was lean enough or made enough cuts to
where they hurt enough and there were voters out there
for whatever reason want to see other people hurt and
all those kinds of things in these times.
And we know because Pierce Transit has been before
council many times, they are the leanest operating
system around in Puget Sound.
Over the past few years, Pierce Transit has had three
rounds of layoffs, 1% reduction in management costs
and unfortunately 31% reduction in management
costs and unfortunately because of falling revenue,
33% service reduction.
People standing in the cold waiting for their bus to
get them to work or school so looking for people for
Pierce Transit to hurt, they have hurt.
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They are incredibly lean and the slimmest operating
transit system in Puget Sound.
In my pone position, this is a steal, the best deal
in town.
It would be just be $330 additional $3.30
additional for people to get to work and to medical
appointments and helps with congestion for those who
continue to drive or use some other mode of
transportation but gets other cars out of the way so
you are not stuck in traffic.
Real simply, this is about our economic future and
about proposition 1 passing.
It means we will continue to have convenient on time
service that we can depend upon.
No one would choose to use bus service if it is not
convenient and on time.
We will continue to have weekend service and if it
passes, we will also have to have a lot of the other
services that this community has come to enjoy like
Puyallup fair service, freedom fair service and other
special event services which in the reduction, have
been cut.
Unfortunately if it doesn't pass, we don't get those
things, reliable on time service, weekend service
dramatically reduced and no special event service as
well as other unfortunate things.
Our community deserves this.
23% of riders use transit service to go to work.
22% use it to go to dialysis or medical appointments,
20% of our riders choose to use it to go to school or
college and the rest use it to shop, go to the grocery
store, other basic needs.
So I think they have made by far really dramatic cuts
and really important we protect this vital service for
our economy and our city.
Thank you, mayor.
>> Mayor: Council Member Ibsen?
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>> There are a lost arguments heard before and against
this particular measure and I would like to speak to
one misconception.
It is not overtly stated but something I think is
hiding beneath the veneer of stability and that is
this notion that public transit is a welfare system,
something only those people use and that is completely
inaccurate.
My experience completely disproves that.
Speaking as a west end representative, someone who
represents west Tacoma, one of the most connected in
terms of transit services throughout the region.
We have Tacoma community college, a major transit hub
not just for people throughout the city but many
people who live in Tacoma and as I used to do back in
the day, commute to Olympia dressed up like I am right
now to go to their job at a state agency for example.
We also have in the western end of Tacoma the largest
concentration of nursing homes and assisted living
facilities in the city.
We have Narrows Glen, Merill Gardens among others and
many of the seniors use transit, the Pierce Transit
shuttle and use it to go to their doctor to preserve
the quality of their life, get some groceries, see
friends, see the town, enjoy themselves and those
services are at risk of being cut.
Another example I am sure you never thought of and
that is school children.
We are in an open enrollment district which means in a
lot of respects, you have a choice to send your kids
to the school of your choice which is great but not if
your kid has to wake up at an unGodly hour to get to
school at the right time.
I have heard horror stories about parents of kids not
happy about their kids making three transfers, as well
as the risk to their safety and that is something we
hope to alleviate by restoring services.
Transit is something all people use either directly or
indirectly by enriching our community, making it more
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acceptable, enlivened and something people need to get
behind.
I urge your support for this and am happy to vote for
it.
>> Mayor: Council Member Walker?
>> Council Member: I hear regularly from our neighbors
about their need for public transportation.
When they are a professional using public
transportation by choice or whether they are low
income or disabled, they are already reeling from the
cuts they have experienced through Pierce Transit.
I think we would all agree that the sign of a healthy
city is having a good public transportation system and
it is not new.
When you look at old pictures of Tacoma and Pierce
County, you see buses and street cars in a city that
we have all relied upon for a long time.
I have had the good fortune to live in bigger cities
whether it was Seattle or Boston or Linden where my
husband was going to graduate school where we relied
on public transportation.
We didn't have a car for one of those years and then
shared a car for other years and our children were
reliant on public transportation to get around as
well.
Pierce County has a very good public transportation
system in its buses and its paratransit and we need to
support that.
So I am going to vote for this tonight and urge you to
support this on the ballot as well.
Thank you.
>> Mayor: Thank you, Council Member Boe?
>> Council Member: Thank you, madam mayor.
I agree with the sentiments of my colleagues.
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A great city is defined by hits transit system and
transit options.
That is a no brainer.
You can't even argue that point and that is always a
challenge sometimes in Tacoma because we still have a
somewhat suburban mindset when we need to have a more
urban one and as we look at development and creating
density, got to get that word back as we use it every
week now
>> Mayor: That's right.
>> Council Member: A good transportation system is
vital.
From the business standpoint, I get the sales tax.
You know, it is not just .3 or .9, it is when you add
it all up, you know, that big number.
We could have a big argument about how that is
antibusiness to have a high sales tax especially on
large items you want to purchase because that can make
the difference but you have to look at it another way,
too.
I think it was very not planned but we had a
presentation at economic development committee from
the general manager of the Tacoma mall.
Our sales tax economic engine for Tacoma.
16 million customers, he says, go through that every
year.
That is a lot of people.
It is one of the top 25 of the mall groups that the
Simon group owns going up against Atlanta and New York
and really large cities.
It has a transit station on Tacoma mall property
across 48th street so I asked the question of how have
the cuts impacted the mall.
And he says it has had an impact especially among
those who work there.
In many ways, I believe Pierce Transit did too good a
job with their cuts because they were so surgical in
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their cuts that some businesses didn't experience
hey, I didn't experience a problem with my workforce
coming because they came in at 8:00 and left at 5:00
and Pierce Transit made sure those vital cuts weren't
affecting those with a maximum flow of transit riders
to work.
But those that didn't operate in those hours, those
that had to get to school early, those that worked the
10:00 shift, they lost their jobs as the general
manager said.
They no longer could go to their job at the mall so it
is not just a straight up business tax.
It is, we all foe that, we're not in kindergarten here
and we understand that impact but I think the bigger
picture of what will make Tacoma be a good among those
looking to settle and among the many things we have
voted on here tonight, it is important to have a good
transit similar.
It is regressive, a regressive tax but it is really
important to push the ability of the city to be a
great city in America.
>> Mayor: Thank you, and I will just wrap up by saying
to your point that we actually, in Washington state,
have a regressive tax system but it is the only tool
we have right now and we have the responsibility to
people who rely on bus service.
And when I hear the business case about the sales tax
issue, I remind folks that Seattle had the highest
sales tax in Washington state when Russell left Tacoma
to go there and it didn't keep them out of Seattle and
it is not keeping Wal Mart out of Tacoma.
So with that oh, deputy mayor?
[laughter]
>> Deputy Mayor: Thank you, mayor.
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I will be swearing this resolution but I think one of
the important things and it has been said to some
degree, but this concept of choice riders.
We don't have a lot of choice riders.
We have some in Pierce County, in cities we heard
mentioned like Boston, Washington D.C. and others.
There are thousands or maybe even millions of choice
riders, people who choose to ride transit and the
reason we don't have choice riders is for a lot of
folks, it doesn't make sense.
I would have chosen to ride the bus to my previous
employment but it would have taken me an hour, hour
and a half on the transfer from Lakewood to get from
Southeast to central Tacoma and on occasion, although
rare, I needed my car at work and it just didn't make
sense for my family to take an additional two hours a
day or a net of an hour and a half a day out of my
time with my family.
So if we don't keep a system that's serviceable, we
won't have a system at all.
And we will have a lot of people who aren't choice
riders, who are riders by necessity who won't be able
to get to work.
Won't be able to get to doctors' appointment, who
won't be able to get to school.
Even my household, we take my son to school every day
even though we're right across the street from the
line for our area.
Even if we were in the catchman area, we would be too
close because this school won't bus in a 1st grader if
he is within a mile and that is too far for him to
walk and there are dozens of parents driving their
kids to school every morning for the same reason.
So we have to have a bus service that is serviceable
to build on and once we build on that system, we will
start seeing the choice riders and then we will see a
bigger and better system.
And it will be a rising tide rather than a death
spiral and I fear that if this particular proposition
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doesn't pass, it will be a death spiral for our
transit system in SKPAO*ERBG that is not acceptable to
me and I have heard it is not accept to believe my
colleagues, either so I will be supporting this.
>> Mayor: Thank you, all those in favor of adopting
resolution 38549, signify by aye.
Those opposed?
Resolution is adopted.
We're getting closer.
Final reading of ordinances, ordinance number 8091,
clerk, please read.
[ clerk reading ordinance ]
>> Mayor: Any final council questions or comments?
Seeing none, clerk, please call the roll.
[ roll called ]
>> Mayor: The ordinance is passed.
Moving on to ordinance 28092, clerk, please read.
[ clerk reading ordinance ]
>> Mayor: Are there any final comments or questions?
Seeing none, clerk, please call the roll.
[ roll called ]
>> Mayor: The ordinance is passed.
Moving on to first reading ordinances, ordinance
28093, clerk, please read.
[ clerk reading ordinance ]
>> Mayor: At this point, I would like to call or our
city manager, T.C. Broadnax.
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