5views.com

In January of 2007, the Tacoma City Council redrew the boundaries of what they refer to as ‘downtown’. But the new boundaries don’t make sense to me.

Map of area designated as ‘downtown’ for the purposes of the Angelou study

Here’s a link to the City of Tacoma Web site from January 5, 2007 which says that the area changed:

City Council defines downtown footprint
The Tacoma City Council recently defined the footprint of downtown Tacoma and designated the following principles for planning future growth: Protect neighborhoods, critical areas, the Port of Tacoma, industrial, and manufacturing uses, and increase densities in the downtown and neighborhood business districts.

(more…)

A summary of the reasons that I think Tacoma’s offer to Russell is bad for the city:

• It’s too expensive - Keeping one company in town for $140 million ($65 million of which has to come from a city struggling to rebuild its downtown) is just too much to pay.
• There was no apparent consideration of alternatives - That money could be used to attract a number of smaller businesses to downtown Tacoma.
• It was poorly negotiated - Public showmanship is not how you negotiate this type of deal when your competitors are keeping quiet.
• It appears to be politically motivated - None of the current city council members want to be the next Gary Locke.
• Building a financial district around Russell has already failed - There’s nothing to indicate that this deal can change it. Tacoma’s problems are systemic and need a systemic solution, not a flowery trim and better drainage in this imaginary ‘International Financial Services Area’ (IFSA).
• The decision was made while consultants were still gathering data that would be used to help determine if it was the best course of action (that is, assuming there was ever any question in their minds when they hired the consultants).
• The deal came from a policy that wasn’t discussed openly by the city council, nor was there a public vote of a quorum of council members. According to this thread at a TNT blog, there was only a ‘tacit approval’ by city council members, whatever that means in this situation.
• The deal depends on some money that is set aside for an Empowerment Zone, but will be used in an area that is being set aside for wealthy financial services companies (the IFSA).
• The financial district pipe-dream is probably responsible for the rejection (or hindering) of numerous viable companies that might have moved in downtown. I think it’s time for its proponents wake up from that dream and smell the coffee roasting (if they allow roasting in Tacoma).
• There’s no guarantee that all Russell employees will choose to relocate to be nearer to a Seattle or Federal Way Russell headquarters. Employees who choose to stay and commute to the new HQ would keep their personal portion of their ‘economic impact’ where it currently is, in Tacoma and environs.
• The B&O portion of Russell’s economic impact, as I understand it, is under $10 million, yet the city will spend many times that to keep them here.
• The deal includes a targeted tax cut for Russell for the city’s B&O which is being justified by saying, ‘if they leave we’ll lose it anyway’. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s nothing more than corporate welfare. The city should consider a broader cut or even a repeal of that tax to help bolster smaller businesses, including those who relocate downtown.
• Russell’s desire to relocate isn’t a big surprise. They’ve considered it at least once before (in the 90’s) and they have already revised their leases to expire in the same year. Even this huge deal might be too little, too late.
• Most anyone who is honest about it will admit that Russell and Tacoma are not exactly a good match (for Russell). There are many other companies that are a good fit with Tacoma that could use a boost from the sources cobbled together into this Russell deal.
• I think that it’s time for Tacoma to rethink its goals for downtown. I believe that the current plan has become more of a problem than it’s worth. Maybe some of the people who won’t let go of it need to step aside, or be voted aside, so that something new and viable can come together in our city.

My personal opinion is that this offer should be withdrawn and revised to exclude the IFSA and the goal of building a financial district downtown. It should be done in such a way that it doesn’t damage the Haub or Ilahie proposals.

Keeping Russell here is a good idea as long as the price isn’t too high and the offer to keep them here is above-board in all aspects, including the motivation behind it.  This offer doesn’t even pass the smell test.

Feel free to check back.  I might think of some more reasons.

I just got back from the presentation by a consulting firms hired by the city of Tacoma to (supposedly) help them figure out what to do about the floundering downtown area. I was encouraged by a few things, discouraged by some others and I can still smell Freighthouse Square on my clothes.

There were two basic parts to the discussion: Survey results and economic impacts. Both were on slide shows and the economic impact portion had a flier at the door. Oh, and there were some average grits for snackin’.

Here’s my bullet points.

On the upside:
(more…)

A TNT article reveals details about the meeting between the ‘Tacoma Partnership’ and Russell consultants regarding their potential move in five years. The title of the article is telling,”Will Russell catch Tacoma’s Hail Mary pass?”

The first thing I noticed in the article is that the writer, Dan Voelpel, is probably shilling for the local politicians, comparing them to the heroes of an old western movie:

This Magnificent Seven, led by U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, represented a new affiliation that calls itself the Tacoma Partnership. They arrived early on this crisp morning for a 9 a.m. meeting.

The Magnificent Seven of the 1960 motion picture of the same name came together as underdog gunslingers aiming to save a poor Mexican farming village from 100 banditos who wanted to steal its food stocks.

Aside for the blatent butt-kissing by the writer, I think he tried to reverse the roles. He’s putting Russell and their consultants in the role of the banditos and making these politicians the heroes. But Russell isn’t robbing anyone. They have a business decision to make.

In my view, it’s the politicians who are stealing from the poor farming village by using our tax dollars, to the tune of $140 million or more (not all coming from local taxes), to fulfill their pie-in-the-sky pipe-dream of an ‘International Financial Services Area’ (IFSA) in downtown Tacoma.

Now the part that gave me a chuckle:
(more…)

What a disgrace. The American flag is a rallying banner for everyone who loves this nation and all the good it has done for its citizens and for freedom around the world. The same flag that symbolizes their right to free speech.

Eli Sanders at the Stranger describes what a Democrat caucus looks like in a liberal wasteland like Seattle. The highlight, or should I say lowlight, was:

At the mere mention of doing the pledge there were groans and boos. Then, when the district chair put the idea of doing the Pledge of Allegiance up to a vote, it was overwhelmingly voted down. One might more accurately say the idea of pledging allegiance to the flag (of which there was only one in the room, by the way, on some delegate’s hat) was shouted down.

(more…)

And there’s the pitch…

Project Destiny, now known as the Tacoma Partnership, unveiled their sales pitch to Russell Investments Group to keep them in Tacoma. How much will it cost taxpayers? $140 million. That’s right. $140,000,000. Just to keep one company from moving down the road a pace or two, probably close enough that most of their employees might commute instead of move.

Those making the pitch included Congressman Norm Dicks, City Manager Eric Anderson and Bruce Kendall, CEO of the Economic Development Board of Tacoma. And I’m sure they had the blessing of the City Council as well.

Did it work? They don’t know. And they don’t know when they’ll know.

But let’s be honest. That money isn’t about influencing one company. It’s about keeping a political pipe-dream alive. A pipe-dream that has has been failing since it was first dreamed up. A pipe-dream that has shaped downtown Tacoma into what it is today: an Economic Empowerment Zone.
(more…)

Finally, a plan to keep Russell that I think I might like. The reason? It’s mostly private and less public.

There’s a plan described in a Dan Voelpel piece from last week (The future of Russell Investments in downtown Tacoma) that sounds pretty good on the surface. It centers around a Seattle company called Ilahie Holdings. Here’s a link to a list of their current holdings. I don’t know their financial picture but the project talked about in the TNT piece looks to be bigger than anything they currently hold. I hope they’re up to it.
(more…)

A recent resolution by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), which represents about 600 of Tacoma’s longshoremen, at a West coast meeting. The resolution calls for an 8 hour work stoppage to protest the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

There are several major problems with this resolution.
(more…)

Tacoma police lieutenant Alan Roberts is suing for $500,000 claiming he was harassed by two superiors. The story ran in the Tacoma News Tribune and was the source of stories in several other area papers and media outlets.

There weren’t a lot of details given in the news story and there was nothing to indicate the motive for the alleged harassment. Off the top of my head I’m going to guess it wasn’t race or sexual orientation because both the lawyers and the media would have focused on that little tidbit.

Cronyism and favoritism seem to have always been a big problem for TPD. David Brame seemed to have landed his position as police chief because of his association with the (previous) city manager. I’m sorry to have to put it this way but that’s how Tacoma city government has run for as long as anyone seems to be able to remember.
(more…)

The fight against giving the USS Ranger a home in Tacoma

Several years ago a group was trying to give the decommission aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV61) a new home in North Tacoma. Several liberal groups, some of whom the city council looks to for direction, obstructed the effort. Since then the group has given up and decided to look elsewhere.

The USS Ranger Foundation, a nonprofit group trying to find a retirement home for the decommissioned aircraft carrier, decided recently that it couldn’t overcome opposition to the Foss site, said Dan Mills, president and chief executive of the foundation. And since they couldn’t find another place to park it in Tacoma, they plan to look elsewhere.

(more…)