Fed up with crime, hundreds of business owners gather in Tacoma to demand city action - KIRO Seattle

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PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — Hundreds of people from across Tacoma gathered at the LeMay - America’s Car Museum on Wednesday night to raise the alarm on problems affecting their businesses.

From break-ins of employees’ cars to vandalism to homeless encampments, business owners demanded action from the city to address their concerns.

The event was organized by Tacoma Safe, a community group that formed last year in response to repeated complaints from business owners about crime and lack of police response.

The meeting was attended by high-ranking public figures, including Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards, new police chief Avery Moore, Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier and Pierce County Prosecutor Mary Robnett.

Meanwhile, a few dozen people gathered outside the museum to protest a potential camping ban that has been supported by members of the Tacoma Safe group. Cathy Pick, chair of the Tacoma Tenants Organizing Committee, was one of them and said the focus should be on housing people rather than increasing police and putting people in jail.

“Those of you inside who have the resources and the skills to build buildings, let’s just forget this camping ban and let’s start breaking ground all over the city and get these people off the streets,” Pick said.

Angela Connelly is a leader of Tacoma Safe and longtime Tacoma resident, married to well-known Tacoma attorney Jack Connelly. Connelly said Wednesday that the event is the beginning of a new path forward where the voices of business owners are going to be heard. She said business owners from across Tacoma were represented.

“We’re not going to go back to having no voice,” Connelly said. “And it’s not only the businesses, it’s the citizens …We are a family in Tacoma. We’re a family, no one gets left behind. And we are all going to be at a crowded big table.”

City leaders said Wednesday that they’re working to address concerns by businesses. Mayor Victoria Woodards said the city is working to create incentives for hiring more police officers and that she is planning to bring forward a package of programs next week aimed at helping businesses.

“I am so encouraged by the number of people who turned out tonight and the number of people who really want to work on solutions,” Woodards said Wednesday.

BUSINESSES FACE BREAK-INS, VANDALISM

A video was played at the event showing various Tacoma business owners and employees talking about what they’re facing.

One of them was Jessica Johnston, director of Court House Square on A Street in downtown Tacoma. Court House Square is a historic building housing two restaurants, a coffee shop, a 2,000-square-foot ballroom, a large community space and dozens of local businesses.

Johnston said just that morning she had to put the building in lockdown due to a man with a gun downtown. The man was later apprehended by police.

“The one thing that I do ask from the city and the county is that we have some sort of recognition and resolve as to what we should do if we see a fire — should we call 911? If we are pushed out of the building, should we call the police, or is that our responsibility now?” she said.

Johnston, like many other business owners, said she hopes some solutions and healing come out of Wednesday’s meeting.

“How are we going to thrive and be the community that we can be — supporting commerce, supporting each other — without some sort of plan of attack?” she said.

Tacoma resident Eric Cederstrand is the president of Commencement Bay Development and a real estate broker for Neil Walter.

For more than 20 years, he said, he’s worked to help make Tacoma better, but in the past couple of years has noticed worsening problems at his multiple properties and developments across the city, where he’s trying to attract businesses.

“The garbage, the graffiti, the windows — I mean we’ve spent over $60,000 in 2021 on broken windows … As soon as I replaced the window, it’s cracked again,” Cederstrand said.

He added that employees are having their cars broken into and are being harassed by people who are mentally ill and do not have a place to go.

“Criminals aren’t going to jail. Not everybody needs to go to jail, but we have no enforcement — our streets are being taken over at night,” Cederstrand said. “I just feel like the wheels have come off the bus, and it’s very frustrating.”

Pete Bristow, owner of Bristow’s Auto Repair in South Tacoma, said businesses are fed up and starting to look to move elsewhere.

“I have wheels stolen off of customers’ cars. I have catalytic converters stolen out from underneath customers’ cars. I’m over this. I’m over $35,000 in theft and damage. That’s just me,” Bristow said.

According to an end of year crime report from the Tacoma Police Department, the city saw an increase in both violent and property crimes in 2021 compared to 2020.

In 2020, there were 4,467 reported violent crimes, including more than 4,021 assault offenses and 30 homicides. In 2021, there were 5,242 reported violent crimes, including 4,813 assault offenses and 31 homicides.

As for property crimes, there were 21,569 reported for 2020, including 134 arsons, 2,059 burglaries and 8,638 thefts. In 2021, there were 25,534 reported violent crimes, including 241 arsons, 2,270 burglaries and 9,487 thefts.

DEMANDING ACTION

Connelly said that the Tacoma Safe group would continue to meet and look at how to increase police response across the city, which was a recurring demand from people at Wednesday’s meeting.

“How do we give police incentives to get more police hired here? How do we look at how other communities are doing this to get more police? How can we get more community liaison officers?” Connelly said.

Tacoma Safe members say they also want to ensure that 911 calls are answered, police are dispatched when called and that it’s mandatory police take reports on every crime reported by businesses. They also want to see a police liaison officer to work directly with businesses.

“We do want specific solutions,” Connelly said. “We want quicker response times. We want more police. We want more support for the police on every level while we are having transformation, which is very good. We want both ends, and we’re not going to settle for either/or anymore.”

Tacoma embarked on a transformation of its police department in 2020 after police accountability protests that summer. So far, the city has which implemented body cameras for its police officers and is looking at possibly implementing an alternative response team to respond to people having a mental health crisis, homelessness-related issues, and certain types of calls for service traditionally handled by police officers.

Henry Betts, a detective with the Tacoma Police Department and president of Tacoma Police Union Local 6, said police are frustrated, too.

“When you call 911 and wait four or five hours for a response, is that acceptable? It’s not. We have failed you,” Betts said. “I can give you a list of excuses. I can talk about the pandemic. I can talk about police accountability. I can talk about the reduction in staffing. Do any of them change it when you wait four hours for a police officer to get there?”

Betts said the city needs more officers. In October, the Tacoma Police Department had more than 40 unfilled positions out of 264 commissioned police personnel in the budget.

“On behalf of the officers and detectives, we didn’t sign up to be there four hours late or the next day or to not catch the guy,” Betts said. “It’s not what we signed up for. We like to catch the guy. We like to high five and talk about the chase and the capture and the arrest. We want to do that, but we need help and resources.”

Tacoma Safe members also stressed addressing homeless encampments in the city that businesses say have been negatively impacting them. The group said they support safe camping, parking and housing for the homeless and have previously supported a camping ban to remove encampments on the streets.

“There’s homeless encampments, right where I want to do business,” said Michael Okoro, owner of Limitless Apparel on Hilltop. “If I look outside of my window, I can see people, abandoned cars, people sleeping, etc, etc. There’s more businesses in my area that have the same thing where they can’t feel safe during the day or at night.”

Okoro said he’s ready to defend himself and his business if it comes to that.

“If some of these problems aren’t addressed, I think that it’ll cause regular people, regular citizens, regular business owners to kind of take matters into their own hands. Think of Batman. Think of vigilante justice,” he said.

PROTEST AGAINST CAMPING BAN

The idea of a camping ban in Tacoma is what drew people to protest outside the car museum, including Pick, chair of the Tacoma Tenants Organizing Committee.

“We’re just here to make the point that what they’re advocating for is not what the city wants and not what the city needs. What the city needs ... is shelter space,” Pick said.

Pick said a camping ban would be unconstitutional, pointing to the Ninth Circuit Appellate Court ruling in Martin v. Boise that says a city can only ban camping if there is enough shelter space for all unhoused individuals.

Beverly Allen, a longtime practicing attorney in Tacoma who was also at Wednesday’s protest, echoed that a camping ban right now in Tacoma would be “flatly unconstitutional.”

“I think you can look around Yakima Avenue, different parts of our city, and conclude that there’s simply not enough shelter space or that the shelter space that is available, has too many requirements or too many restrictions,” Allen said. “It’s not a long term solution for those folks, which is why they end up back on the streets. And so I think it would be very difficult to prove. I think it’s theoretically possible to defend it, but I don’t think (the city) has the housing right now to do that.”

David Galazin, chair of the housing committee for the Tacoma-Pierce County Democratic Socialists of America, also came out to protest. He said the meeting hosted by Tacoma Safe “seems like the most powerful people in the city and the richest family in the city getting together to talk about what to do about the poorest family in the city.”

“I don’t want the business owners and the wealthy people of Tacoma to not have a voice.” Galazin said. “I certainly think that they should. But we’re here today because too often the only voice we hear is from people who are well connected.”

Pick told protesters to stay on public property outside of the museum, but some protesters also came inside the building with a sign calling to “listen to the workers” and not landlords. They were escorted out of the building by museum employees.

Later that night during the event, a woman at the protest outside the museum was struck and injured by a pickup that drove away from the scene. The woman was taken to a nearby hospital. Police are investigating the incident.

LEADERS RESPOND

Following Wednesday night’s event, Tacoma leaders responded to the complaints by businesses.

Avery Moore, Tacoma’s new police chief, told members of the audience that he would make a point to visit the businesses who spoke during the meeting and will dig into claims about police not showing up.

“I promise you we won’t fail you anymore,” Moore said.

Woodards said she was encouraged by the number of people who showed up to the event and said she has committed to bringing back a business advisory council that was started during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure voices of businesses are heard.

Woodards added that at the next City Council study session she will bring forward a package of programs to respond to businesses concerns.

“It takes time to hire officers, but we are in the midst of trying to get incentives,” Woodards said. “And so we are working on all the things that we can do to address this issue, but it’s just a good feeling for a community to recognize that we all play a role.”

Council member Conor McCarthy said Wednesday he hopes the meeting will create the political will needed to take swift action on some of the topics raised, like violent crime and encampments. McCarthy has previously supported increasing police patrols and a public property camping ban, the latter of which was shot down by a majority of City Council members in December.

“I think meetings like this help create a sense of urgency, which maybe it’s not lacking, but there hasn’t been a great enough sense of urgency to get the job done,” McCarthy said.

This story was originally published by The News Tribune.

©2022 Cox Media Group

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