Not nonprofit enough

Every year, the Tacoma City Council is charged with the responsibility of doling out federal block grant dollars to nonprofits that submit applications.

To aid them with these often difficult decisions, the council solicits help from Tacoma’s Human Services Commission, who make recommendations based on the applications received about which nonprofits should get the cash. They made these recommendations to the City Council on Tuesday, March 25.

This year the Human Services Commission took a hard line when grading applications. Applications were scored out of a possible 100 points, and those that didn’t receive scores of 81 or higher were considered failing. The cutoff of 81 was not predetermined. The council has a limited amount of federal block grant money, and in essence, 81 was the score where the money ran dry. The cutoff could have been 78 or it could have been 88. It all depended on the number of applications received and the quality of those applications. According to Councilman Rick Talbert, the city received around 36 applications this year.

“The process has improved so much from years past,” says Talbert of the grading system.

“It’s an objective scoring system that takes away the politics.”

While it may be objective, this hard-lined stance by the Human Services Commission resulted in applications by Centro Latino, the Martin Luther King Housing Development Association, and the Salvation Army all being denied. Each of the aforementioned nonprofits plays a key role in dealing with Tacoma’s homeless population, and each of their applications “failed” by no more than two points. If the council decides to follow the Human Services Commission recommendations, the impact on Tacoma’s homeless could be substantial.

“I’m still hopeful we’ll be able to work something out,” says Talbert, who raised the possibility of finding funding for Centro Latino and others from alternative sources.

“(The City Council) can’t pretend (that denying these applications) won’t have an impact.” 

The council is expected to decide on the recommendations at their May 6 meeting. — Matt Driscoll

Economic Chambers

On Tuesday, March 25, Lakewood City Manager Andrew Neiditz appointed Ellie Chambers to the position of economic development manager. After spending the last four years working in a similar capacity for the City of Puyallup, Chambers will begin work for Lakewood on April 14 and will be in charge of, among other things, helping Lakewood with an economic redevelopment plan, helping existing businesses flourish in Lakewood, and recruiting new businesses.

“She has the attitude and progress posture we need in Lakewood. She comes to us with a strong track record and a real strong understanding of economics,” says Neiditz.

While it’s a little too early to tell whether Chambers will be a good fit in Lakewood, her resumé suggests she’s more than competent. According to a City of Lakewood press release, Chambers has worked “in a variety of executive economic development positions.”

Chambers graduated from Eastern Washington University and completed post-graduate work at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.  She’s also the president-elect of the Washington Economic Development Association.

Neiditz says the biggest issues facing the new economic development manager will be economic redevelopment, especially along the I-5 corridor.

“Lakewood has a tremendous challenge and a lot of potential because the existing I-5 corridor needs to be completely redeveloped,” says Neiditz.

“And she needs to be an ambassador to the business community.”

Neiditz sounded confident Chambers will be able to tackle these problems. He probably wouldn’t have hired her is he wasn’t. For a reaction from her former employer, the City of Puyallup, check out www.weeklyvolcanospew.com.  — MD

Mayor is on aisle four

Olympia city officials have voted to pay to clean up the site of the former Safeway store at 609 Fourth Ave., paving the way for development of a new city hall, which could be completed by 2009 if city officials’ predictions hold true.

Olympia’s city offices are currently spread throughout several buildings downtown. City officials pay a hefty rent on all those spaces. The new city hall would consolidate those offices and turn rent payments into a property investment. The current City Hall would be used as a criminal justice center. The city’s Municipal Court and jail would stay in the same place. The project budget sets aside $40 million — a total that’s likely to change as the cost of construction materials continue to rise.

The clean up of the Safeway property, which rests on land once occupied by a gas station, will include soil remediation and removal of five abandoned fuel storage tanks. City of Olympia will oversee cleanup in cooperation with contracted cleanup crew Brown & Caldwell. The city will send regular reports to the state in hopes of receiving grants that would pay for as much as half the cleanup, which is expected to total $750,000. — Joe Malik