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In the last ten years the city of Tacoma general fund grew from $378M to $641M, a 70% increase.  Even adjusting for inflation and population growth the spending still grew 17%. Despite all this money, roads and parks are falling apart. School quality is poor and police are absent.  We are spending more money and getting less for it. We need change.

If elected, I will focus initial effort on three key areas.

1. Homeless Camps

I’m fed up with homeless camps in our parks and on our sidewalks. Leaving people to die outside is not compassion. It's laziness. Let’s get people off the street and into shelters. We should cut programs like anti homeless rocks and fences. We should get people into shelters where we can provide real help.

2. BASIC SERVICEs

We’re underfunding basic services.  Our roads are so awful they’re the subject of Reddit memes. Sidewalks aren’t much better. Animal control staff was cut from six people a decade ago to two today. Meanwhile, academics in our schools are poor while money is wasted on a fancy new administrative building and vacations at Suncadia.

Basic services aren’t glamorous. They are, however, the basic stuff of running a city and we’re failing at them.

3. Bayside Trails

I want to reopen the entire Bayside Trails system. The trails were built in 1975 for $138,000.  They run along Schuster Parkway providing great views of Commencement Bay.  The city has failed to maintain our trails.  Instead of spending thousands per year on maintenance of the existing trail, there’s a plan to spend $49 million on a new trail that runs parallel.  There are many examples of government waste in Tacoma but this one stands out.  By applying some common sense we can do much better.