A popular community forum credited with revitalizing Tacoma’s downtown, forming the city’s Neighborhood Councils, and creating a strategic plan for the city 15 years ago could take place again as early as next spring, according to a discussion during yesterday afternoons City Council Neighborhoods and Housing Committee meeting.
The idea is spearheaded by committee chair and Mayor Bill Baarsma, who commented, “The timing for a community summit could not be better.”
Indeed, as the city wrestles with its moratorium on group housing, management of the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts, and a long-term plan to cut costs in its biennium budget, many Tacoma residents, former politicians, and City Hall staffers are pushing for a forum to map out goals for the next 20 years.
Tacoma’s first community summit occurred in October of 1990, when residents and city leaders initially met to address concerns surrounding violent crime, illegal drug activity, derelict properties, and abandoned vehicles. Through polls, surveys, and group discussion during the summit, city leaders identified key issues and built a strategic plan centered around economic development, the environment, public safety, diversity, and more.
“We were hearing things from everyone,” said former Tacoma Mayor Karen Vialle, who served the city during the community summit, and spoke at the committee meeting yesterday. “We really needed to do something to get the city moving. Everyone was talking about how Tacoma needed to start moving forward.”
Vialle told the committee that a key to the summit’s success was its grassroots neighborhood support. Residents and business owners from across the city led the charge, according to Vialle.
“If this summit was going to work, it couldnt be tainted by staff or politicians,” she added. “We got updates and briefings at City Hall, but we stayed out of it.”
A major outcome of the community summit was the creation of Neighborhood Councils. Though the councils had similarities and ties to the United Neighbors of Tacoma, Neighborhood Councils were a new idea aimed to represent the city’s eight districts. Today, the councils share resources with the Community Council — a non-profit organization that serves as a forum for discussion of issues related to neighborhood planning. Both councils inform the City Council of neighborhood issues, conditions, and concerns.
The idea of planning a new community summit was expressed publicly last week, when Mayor Baarsma mentioned it during the council study session Nov. 29.
During yesterday’s meeting, the committee endorsed the idea of a community summit, and made a unanimous motion to forward the idea to the City Council.
