Shifting to mass transit is not only critical to staving off an ecological crisis, it is also key to getting out of our economic one: the expansion of rail and bus lines drives development, creating jobs while making it easier for the rest of us to get to our existing ones. The reverse is also true. The dismantling of mass transit has, like cuts to other public services, erects a massive roadblock on the path to economic recovery. While the private sector adds jobs, public sector austerity is driving the American economy off the tracks.

This past November, voters rejection of Proposition 1, a measure that would have funded Pierce Transit by raising the sales tax 3 cents for every $10 spent. Its failure to pass by barely more than 700 votes means service reductions, including limited bus service on Saturdays and Sundays and no holiday service.

Plenty has been written about the failure of Prop 1. The bottom line is, people will lose their jobs due to the cuts. That's were the Weekly Volcano chooses to focus this week.

Elizabeth Corcoran Murray reports on how the Pierce Transit cuts jeopardize employment for people with disabilities.

It isn't easy to get a job; harder still when you have a disability - and virtually impossible without transportation. The 28 percent cut in service announced by Pierce Transit on Feb. 11 will devastate most individuals with disabilities trying to find work or to hold on to their job.  

"People lost jobs with the last round of cuts (in 2011) and more will lose them with this round," said Debbie Graham, the director of Centerforce, which links people with disabilities to employment. "We support people who work janitorial shifts at night and weekend shifts at places like Walmart. Employers change the schedules week to week. The most vulnerable people in our community will be impacted." Indeed, 55 percent of Pierce Transit's riders come from households with annual incomes below $20,000 and 45 percent of riders have no cars.

Read Murray's complete report on how the transit cuts will affect people with disabilities in the Weekly Volcano's Mudroom section.

Tacoma likes to believe that in the last 20 years it has grown more socially tolerant. The economic downturn has blended many communities in financial equality. The city's numerous festivals have started to resemble a certain 1971 Coco-Cola commercial. And much of the intermediate neighborhoods of the New Tacoma and Central districts have seen astounding renaissance.

Regardless of all our forward thinking, we the citizens of Tacoma, still live with a striking symbol of our disunions. Along the Division Avenue line separates north from south, new from old, affluent from disenfranchised. The image and idea of the divide has grown so much a part of the city we live in that we just accept it.

Mayor Marilyn Strickland describes her experience in realizing the divide. "The first time I traveled north of Division was when my first-grade teacher took me to the Shrine Circus with her family at UPS. After that, a volleyball match against Truman when I was at Gray Jr. High. As a kid, I wasn't aware of social class.  As a teenager, I had friends who went to Wilson and Bellarmine. Visiting some of their homes made me aware of socio-economic differences. We had a nice yard, a picket fence and a garden. They had huge homes with views of the water and large outdoor patios."

The issues involved in socio-economic are not new to our city. For over a hundred years a symbol of our city's disjointed social issues runs the mile stretch that is Division Avenue. This article is about how the people, the real estate market and local government have contributed to this divide.

Read the rest of my findings in the Weekly Volcano's Mudroom section.

There was a time when the Weekly Volcano covered local policy and politics, writing about issues ranging from transit cuts, to marriage equality to education. Our weekly coverage of politics and civic issues came to a halt in 2009 when the economy tanked and ad dollars shrank, gutting our newsroom. We threw all our focus toward a hip take on culture, food and music flavored by a lifelong love of the South Sound.

Today, the Weekly Volcano ventures back into the newsroom with the launch of our new blog, Town Hall Tourist. Why venture into politics and policy now? The short answer is because we believe that there is a lot to share about the who/why/what/where/how of local civics that isn't being shared or adequately explained by our our local partners in print.

That isn't meant as a barb or a diss, quite on the contrary actually. We've always been, and will continue to be, fans the other media outlets in Tacoma. We believe with so many crucial policy debates continuously ongoing in our community our eyes, ears and voice can help keep you that much more hip to what's going on at City Hall and elsewhere.

So what can you expect from Town Hall Tourist? Our goal is simply to help explain public policy debates by analyzing and critiquing them through a smart, critical and urban-centric lens. 

Spend a few minutes analyzing how Tacomans voted on recent issues like the TPS school bond, marriage equality or the proposed transit tax increase. It doesn't take assistance from James Carville to identify what our community values are and what we expect from our public policies and politicians.

With that in mind we won't hesitate to approach policy - and elections - from the standpoint of community members who value public K-12 and higher education, transit, density, inclusiveness and social justice.

Our goal is to help you cut through the bullshit and keep track of what the folks we elected are up to. We'll go into the weeds of local debates like link expansion, education reform and MLK restoration and, using research and reason, we'll call 'em how see 'em. 

We'll be a new voice in some debates that already have many, but hopefully just as often we'll help kick-start new ones. We're convinced that in our little polis opinions should be welcome and the citizenry informed. And we think we can help.

Join us. Please visit often, and follow us at twitter.com/TownHallTourist.

Each fall, local governments set priorities for the upcoming session of the legislature. In this and subsequent entries we'll look at how it's going.

Thanks to Tacoma Government Relations Officer Randy Lewis for much of this information. Additional updates will follow, as well as Mr. Lewis' view on the outlook for K-12 funding.

Two - or two and a half - big issues hang over the Legislature: education funding, both K-12 and higher ed; and the statewide transportation system. The City has a huge stake in these issues, obviously; but it also has some narrower interests.

Money.  Several of Tacoma's priorities are either direct requests for funding ($1 million for the pool at People's Center, $4 million for groundwater at the City gravel pit) or relate to keeping tax revenue (the State or the City).

The March 20 state revenue forecast was, uh, OK. That is, the State's problems don't look any worse than they did three months ago. Plenty bad, but not worse.

The Senate will introduce a budget by March 27. By April 3 bills being considered cross-chamber (House bills under discussion in the Senate, and the reverse) must be reported out of committee - or die! This can be gruesome; we are preparing a report on zombie bills.

Action on these two dates will help predict what happens to the City's money priorities.

But not all Tacoma's priorities require funding. Some essentially ask permission or encourage the State to do certain things. It's clearer how some of these are faring.

Metal Theft. Bad guys steal metal from construction sites and sell the metal to recyclers. House Bill (HB) 1552 will make it harder. The bill passed the House and will be heard in the Senate. This is progress.

How to Pay for Fire Hydrants. Traditionally Tacoma Water paid for hydrants but a recent court ruling shifted the burden to general government. The City wants help; HB 1512 would provide it. The bill passed the House and will be heard in the Senate. This is  progress.

How to Pay for Emergency Services. Voters approved a permanent levy of $0.50 per $1,000 valuation to pay for EMS. Several cities now want the ability to raise this to $0.75. HB 1136 did not make it out of committee, however. This is not progress.

Where Offenders Live. The State Department of Corrections provides housing vouchers for offenders released to live in the community. Senate Bill (SB) 5105 would encourage such housing to be "fairly" allocated across the State, as promoted by Tacoma and other cities. This is progress.

Where People Work on Cars. Many people work on cars at home. If the car is more than 30 years old - or being used for parts for such a car - it's called restoration. The City wants active restoration, a) limited to three vehicles, and b) done out of sight of adjacent property. SB 5121 would weaken the "out of sight" requirement and allow "active restoration" to be loosely defined. This is not progress.

Nuisance Abatement Liens. The City may clean up "nuisance" property and then put a lien on the title, so when the owner sells the City is repaid. There's a disconnect between the County and City lien authority and SB 5323 would reconcile the two; HB 1367 doing the same thing has already passed out of committee. The state banking association wants an amendment related to notification to banks; this could slow things down so much that nothing will be done. This may be progress.

So ... if we ignore money, education reform and the transportation system, the City is doing pretty well so far. Ignoring is bliss.

Ken Miller came to Tacoma as a community organizer in 1970. He's worked in corporate and small business, nonprofits and government.

Increased access to the Internet has fundamentally changed the way individuals, businesses and governments interrelate. Unfortunately public education, as has historically been the case, remains behind the curve of new social innovations. Here in Tacoma, our public schools have jumped at many opportunities to incorporate the Internet and change the way the district communicates with its students, parents and the communities which they serve. Yet still, many of Tacoma's populations that could benefit from these tools are left to the wayside.

The transitional bilingual and non-English speaking populations of Tacoma Public Schools are specifically marginalized. These populations represent roughly four percent of the student body and a diversity of more than 40 different languages. While these figures seem small as an aggregate total, they do not reflect students enrolled in the general population with bilingual or non-English speaking parents. Although Internet access for this population is increasing at a rapid rate, vital resources intended to connect parents with their children's schools continue to be published solely in English.

A primary example of under translation is the annually published Parent and Student Resource Handbook which outlines many of the critical rights for students, lines of communication, available programs, and general expectations for participation in Tacoma Public Schools.

Although this 61 page document does contain a tag in six different languages declaring that, "Attached is an important document from your child's school. Please have this document translated for you. Thank you." it assumes these parents will have reliable access to translation or that their child will be capable of interpreting it on their behalf.

In most instances however, adequate translators are not available and the inequitable distribution of resources persist.

Other examples of English only documentation include school disciplinary policies, calendars of events, emergency contact guidelines and, perhaps most importantly, grading policies. This burden is being left to the bilingual and non-English speaking parents and is yet another barrier preventing access to a quality, success bound education for many of our students who are most in need.

Fundamentally, under translation is an issue of equity for our students with parents whose desire to be involved is limited by language barriers. The solution is simple: provide the translations and make it easily accessible online. The internet is in the process of reforming schools all on its own; we should be using it as a tool to make our schools inclusive spaces that foster success and support for all.

Aaron T. Sherman is a M.Ed. in Education Policy candidate at the University of Washington specializing in issues of equity and student development.

Everyone in Tacoma Has a Link Opinion

Who can remember the last time this town had such a big debate about public transit? Pierce Transit has been dealing with devastating budget cuts for years now and I don't recall a two week period where activists and elected officials alike have been, at the same time, as riled up about transit as they've been these last two weeks over possible link extension plans.

The basic two week, 5-point plot has been this:

1. Sound Transit announces that based on their research they'd like to receive community input about three potential Link extension routs what would connect the current downtown link to the Hilltop, Sixth Avenue or the Eastside.
2. Debates erupt all over town (actually mostly on Facebook, but also on exit133) about which plan is "best for Tacoma." (In quotations because nine out of 10 activists and electeds have just been advocating for the plan closest to where they live).
3. Tacoma City Councilmember David Boe introduces his own "hybrid plan" that attempts to reach all three of the communities targeted by the three proposed plans. (The Trib ed-board summed up the pros and cons of Boe's proposal nicely in this editorial)
4. Local transit advocates criticize Boe's proposal for being far too expensive and for its potential to delay the extensions approval.
5. The city of Tacoma formally asks Sound Transit to consider Boe's proposal (at which point I'd like to imagine Boe ripped the sketch out of his pad and handed it over to Sound Transit CEO Joni Earl).

Read more...