Tacoma Business Council announcement.
Now is the time to speak up about potential cuts to public safety. On October 4th, the City Manager will propose the budget for ‘23-’24. Because the City projects a $24 million deficit, it plans a “2.5% spending cut to the public safety departments and a 8.5% cut to all other departments.” That would amount to approximately an $8.7 million loss for public safety. That is unacceptable. Tacoma is in the midst of a devastating crime wave. Now is the time to increase spending – not cut it.
While the crime wave has many causes, without question one is how woefully understaffed our police force is. To deter crime, there must be a belief that crime will be met with swift and certain consequences. Sadly, no one believes that about Tacoma.
There can be no dispute that TPD is understaffed. The City’s own paid consultants in 2020 recommended that up to 39 additional staff be added to TPD. 2020 Matrix TPD Staffing Study. However, that report has been disregarded in favor of an “alternative policing model” that has yet to be deployed.
It is time to act. We are asking that you help in this cause throughout the month of September. This week please write or call your council member and each of the at-large members to voice your support for an increase to the TPD budget and, if you have time, ask to meet with them on this. Here are some tips for your email:
- Write to one councilmember at a time (not a group blast).
- Tell her/him where you live and work (if the business is in Tacoma)
- State your concern for public safety
- Mention that you are aware of the budget deficit of $24 million.
- Ask them to increase spending for TPD and find places elsewhere to cut.
- Conclude by stating how important it is that we get the crime wave under control. This is your top priority. Nothing is more important.
Here is the contact info for the Mayor and the “at large” members: Mayor Victoria Woodards victoria.woodards@cityoftacoma.org, Olgy Diaz odiaz@cityoftacoma.org, Kiara Daniels kdaniels@cityoftacoma.org, and Kristina Walker Kristina.walker@cityoftacoma.org.
The others emails are the following: John.hines@cityoftacoma.org (Position 1), Srumbaugh@cityoftacoma.org (Pos 2), Keith.blocker@cityoftacoma.org (Pos 3), catherine.ushka@cityoftacoma.org (Pos 4) and jbushnell@cityoftacoma.org (Pos 5).
You can call them all at (253) 591-5100. Thank you for caring about your city!