Economic Development Committee - Regular Meeting

Okay. Oh, it's getting muted. Alright. I would like to call to order the economic development committee meeting of 10/14/2025. Please call the roll. Candidaria Bushnell? Present. Vice Chair Diaz?

Yeah.

I'm fine. How are you? I can't tell if you said my name, but I'm here. Okay. Cancel over Scott and share Daniels. Here. Okay. I'm moving out of public comment. Certainly. Please read. To request to speak during public comment for items on the agenda, please sign up in front of the room if you're not done so already. If you're speaking virtually, please press the raise hand button near the bottom of your window or star nine on your phone. Your name and the last four digits of your phone number, we call that when it's your turn to speak. And has anyone signed up to speak virtually or in person? One person has raised their hand online, and the committee also received a written comment that I sent out.

Perfect. Yeah. How much time would you like? Okay. Perfect. So the product is at your house. Oh, yeah. Hello? Hi, Kathy.

Hi. How are you?

Good. How are you this morning?

Good. The reason why I wanted to speak today is I noticed, of course, the agenda coming up for this meeting today. But I wanted to put up some thoughts about economic development and that also mirror what has been presented as a letter from Andy Hogg. I agree with a lot of what she's saying. I am concerned that we make sure that whatever business development, community development we take on in the future is centered around making some of these neighborhoods more complete, offering the services and, retail businesses, as well as employment that all residents need.

We don't need just more housing and more transportation. We need something that people feel like is part of a neighborhood. And I feel that combined with a decreased crime rate would help with attracting more businesses that may want to locate here as well. I also recommend that we look to other cities that have had success stories with attracting food businesses, food stores, household stores. Recent ones, of course, are Federal Way, Lynnwood that have attracted other types of stores that have met grocery needs for the populations that actually live there.

And I remember seeing this also around Chicago when I had visited in some of the suburban areas where they don't have the usual Fred Meyer stores and other stuff. They actually have more personalized but really nice stores that meet people's needs. So I wanted to bring this up that we don't make business, economic development just about attracting businesses that want to be here. We want something that the residents want as well. And that is my point is that we don't want this business focused. We need this resident focused this time. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments this morning. And it doesn't look like we have anyone else signed up. Right? Or online. Okay. Perfect. Well, with that, we will declare the comment period closed. Moving on to our first briefing item. We have Carol Wolf and Debbie Bingham from the Community and Economic Development Department to talk about our twenty twenty six, twenty twenty thirty strategic partner. I didn't.

I just wanted to provide Yeah. Absolutely. We have our director here with us this morning. And if she could, she is going to preface the plan and the first draft review. Thank you, Chair Daniels and other members of the committee.

I just wanted to provide an intro to set the stage for the presentation that you'll be viewing today. Essentially, we wanted to do is we wanted to provide a presentation to the committee to highlight what has been done for the last year. This has been over a year in the making. And essentially, there's been a lot of conversations, a lot of meetings. And so what we really wanted to do here is we wanted to present the framework that we have finalized for this plan.

And so, because it's the responsibility of the committee to really guide us on the policy and the direction of this plan, that's what we really wanted to focus on, really allow you to see kind of a compare and contrast of this is where we were, this is where we're at. This is the feedback that you provided us and the guidance that you provided us, and this is how we've integrated that into the structure of this plan. And so the other thing that we focused on is that Arts, Culture, and Vitality has their strategic plan. Housing has a few plans that they are kind of beholden to. But what we didn't have is we didn't have a plan for community development and economic development.

This plan was made a little bit originally five years ago in a vacuum with a consultant that was hired. And so what we've really done is we've taken all of the input that this committee has provided, and we've kind of checked off the boxes of what has been done, and we've updated obviously based on the economy. And so what you'll see today is just really a presentation of your policy guidance and direction in the format of how this document will look. And what we didn't think was germane to the conversation is getting into the sausage making of all the little details. Right?

I mean, the policy, the direction, where do we come from, where are we going. That's really what's important because that's what we'll be measured on, and that's what you know, so with your guidance, that's what we have created, you know, metrics based on what is important and, you know, the policy direction that you give us guidance on. So really appreciate all of your support, and, you'll be happy with what we've done with it. I thank you for your words, and thank you guys for coming. Share I just let us know at the end how you want us to provide feedback for you.

If you want feedback, you have however you wanna do that. So good morning, chair Daniels and council members. I'm Debbie Bingham with the community economic development department. I'm here with Carol Wolf, who is the division manager of the business services. Business services.

We're pleased to be here to present the 2026 through 2030 draft framework for the community and economic development strategic plan. This plan reflects the lessons we've learned over the past five years and outlines a bold equity centered vision for Tacoma's business growth economic future. Now while as director just said, we don't have, the plan all done, we're kinda giving you a high level frame overview. I did break I'm breaking my own rule, and I did bring some things for you to look at just to give you kind of an idea of where we're going. This is just the focus areas for each.

And then this is we'll talk about it later, but we've definitely worked on measurements. And so this is kind of a draft outline of the measurements for as we gather for each of the focus areas. So oops. No. No. No. I think it's Uh-huh. There you go. Oh, thank you. So Carol and I are going to tag team office presentation, so, hopefully, we won't get you guys motion sickness.

Okay. I can't deal with that. So as you recall, we began this update actually in early twenty twenty four where we did a comprehensive review of what we had done from 2020 to 2025 and how far we've gotten in our plan. From that kind of, quote, state of the strategic plan presentation, we moved into a detailed discussion with economic committee on each of the initiatives that were in that plan. Over the past year, we've engaged with council, with staff, with community to reflect on what's worked and what's changed and where we need to go next.

This process included a deliberate kind of pause to listen and learn period, ensuring that the updated plan is grounded in the current realities, the council driven focus, and the community needs. Hey, Anna. Am I gonna which one do I push then? Just this one? Okay.

Perfect. So, since 2020, both Tacoma and the global economy have experienced major shifts. Obviously, COVID nineteen pandemic really, disrupted supply chains, work environments, technology use, rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, new opportunity introduce new opportunities, and then we have, issues around energy demands as well. So evolving local, state, and federal policies added complexity to the business environment. But despite these changes, community economic developments core commitments remain, equitable growth, sustainability, access to opportunity, and cultural vitality.

These, macroeconomic shifts required reimagining our role, and the updated plan outlines actionable steps aligned with the current realities. It emphasizes clarity, defining jargon, roles, responsibilities. The so as director just said, the scope of this document focuses exclusively on community and economic development functions, and it highlights the community development aspects of community and economic development. And it separate it excludes housing and arts and culture vitality, which have separate plans. This align this update is aligned and with broader city planning efforts we've been involved with and drew from the One Tacoma comprehensive plan, the sub area plan, the climate action plan, and other community forum planning documents.

So kind of some of the things that we've, pulled from council. This this data this plan is more data driven and equity focused than ever before. We're elevating the green and creative economies as central pillars of Tacoma's future. CED is now positioned as kind of a systems level convener bringing together partners, aligning strategies, and driving collective impact. We've clarified goals, metrics, and accountability to ensure transparency and results.

Each section has metrics and distinguishes between what CED owns, influences, and monitors. That's that kind of chart document that I handed out. We heard from counsel that we need to listen to the businesses, including the kind of nontraditional businesses, and to be adaptive and responsive. And and, also, we did discuss how we did have clear metrics. And so those you will when you see the plan in the end, those will be at the end of each focus area.

So Carol is gonna start the next slide. Oh, I am going to start the next slide. So, anyway, so part of what's happening and what's next is we wanna show you just sort of the major themes that Debbie broke out, kind of what changed a little bit from going from 2025 to now what we really focused on. Because what we heard from you and what we've heard from community and also what we've learned through that the post COVID as we continually talk about it really did change markets and engagement patterns in a lot of ways. So from an equity standpoint, our neighborhood business districts have always had that limitation of, like, the 15.

And so you're gonna see that even throughout equity, we're talking about business districts and businesses. Kind of you'll see it kind of break out of maybe program limitations in a way of being equitable and also including inclusionary economic development practices in all that we do. And the data informed approach that Debbie was talking about, it gives us such a breadth now that we can see who we're serving and where we're serving so that we can see where we are underrepresented or where people are under engaging with us. We have that ability now in ways we didn't have before, so it is ingrained in all of our all of our elements going forward. I'm gonna jump ahead a little bit and cover the sum and then have Debbie fill in from the green economy and some.

The creative economy, what I wanted to share with you there, you may have arts and cultural vitality maybe out of this in its own plan because they're so specific in what they do in their funding sources, but place making. And to the comment of the original public comment, people heard about these need to be focused on complete neighborhoods. We do not deal as much with residential stakeholder groups, but our neighborhood business district program and our small businesses, they are the gateway into neighborhoods. They know they are represented. They know they're the brand.

And some of our program work is around that, that complete neighborhood, approach and the creative economy are often our biggest partners in that because they do the place making. So that is how you will see that embedded in there. And when it comes to workforce, that is another area that COVID has changed. It is still settling, but what you will see in the plan is very specific. It's not broad generalities, but we're talking now about our investments are around wraparound support services and targeting workforce investment when we have them to the industry need.

We're gonna get much more specific in the pipeline development that meets industry need. But the community development side, we still invest in some of the wraparound services that are needed at WL. So in 2020 or in 2019 when this was finished, we were still just even talking about putting together green economic development strategy. And so it was kinda just emerging. It's now completely embedded.

It's a central pillar of our work. And, you know, you've heard presentations on the green economy separately. But, really, it it is even when we look at the Tide Pat subarea plan, when we look at all of our zoning and just goals from council and stakeholders, that green economy is is a focus. Right? We're not bringing in businesses, you know, to the person who spoke.

Like, we're not just going and grabbing new businesses who aren't good for this area. We are really looking to attract businesses who are kind of aligned with all of our objectives from climate action plan to job creation to all of that. And so Can I add to that, though, with the green economy, we talk about fully embedded? Our workforce now is gonna be focused on supporting that element as opposed to, you know, a shotgun workforce approach. So that's a really good example of how we're showing.

You'll see that it's more embedded. And then, obviously, the downtown, it is, being reimagined with a focus on resilience, adaptive reuse, and focusing on, activating public spaces and empty buildings that are downtown, which is just a focus with last you know, in 2020, we are talking about getting people to come in and build office buildings. You know? Like, our dream was to have someone build a, you know, spec office buildings, and, we're just changing that focus a little bit to, how can we use what we have really well and how can we grow those the assets that we have and make sure that they're being utilized. So the next so this is kind of going into each focus area and how we refine the focus areas to have a greater impact.

So I'm gonna start and do a few of them bunched together, and then I'll turn it over to Carol. So we've refined each focus area to better reflect today's challenges and opportunities. For example, our business retention efforts are now sector specific with a focus on green, blue, and creative industries. We think that by focusing them, we will be much more effective. As we I just mentioned, the downtown office space is not the high item at the present time.

We're focusing more on transport and development in the Dome District with, you know, the TDLE project that's coming in. It's gonna be a huge focus for the next five years in activating public places as a city, like the new skate park going in downtown and building those place making elements so people will want to be downtown. We're also shifting our industrial strategy to align with the new tied, flats up area plan and focusing on traded sector growth. And one thing that you don't see yet, but is really neat in the plan is that we've added definitions, like callout boxes that have definitions to try to kind of, as we said earlier, like, demystify the jargon. So we have a callout boat that box that defines what the traded sector means.

So traded sector refers to goods or services produced for sale outside of our region. That doesn't mean it's exported. Just export it outside of Tacoma. You know, you could be selling them to Oregon. Growing a city's traded sector economy is important because it allows businesses to grow without competing against each other for local customers.

It also brings in revenue from outside the area, which then can be reinvested to provide services and amenities within the city. So, that is one you've heard us, I think, talk a lot about the traded sector, but we've really called it out in the plan so people will understand where it is and how we're using that. I'm gonna turn over to you. So I'm gonna tell you a little bit about what you're gonna see for small business, workforce, business districts, and, a little bit about the business development climate. And I touched on a little bit of them earlier, but the main thing that I want the key messages I wanted to share that what you're gonna see is our support for small businesses have moved beyond the limitations of the 15 originally recognized neighborhood business districts to more of a response to business owners who associate for the betterment of their business climate.

That's been happening for a long time, and you'll see recognition of that. It isn't about your place in a business district program, but you are people who are coming together to associate, to partner with the city as stewards of your business climate. We learned from engagements. We learned this from our engagements with business groups like the Waterfront Association to the Hosmer Business Association, as well as we saw the needs of many pocket commercial areas and individual businesses outside of our normal engagement. COVID had a silver silver lining of really helping us see how much we were not, and we continue to build upon that in the post COVID environment.

And this coupled with that silver lining of also COVID required us to have much more data because it was so much more crucial to know, is this service getting out? Where did we miss? Who had it last time? You know, have so much more data now about our businesses and how to reach them that this plan will double off. We can be more strategic and surgical in our responses and our strategic plans.

So and our workforce issues, this is another area that's not fully settled in the post COVID system, but what you're gonna see is that the updated plan is the benefit of adding community, as I said earlier, into that plan. You're gonna see more investments tied to economic development industries that Debbie and Paul and our department as a whole really focus on, but also in trying to fill those gaps about barriers to certain individuals getting into our workforce trainings, justice impacted, things of that nature. So we're gonna have you're gonna see more of that in the plan as well as a really laser focus in building a pipeline. Our new our director has really helped us to see that no matter what we're doing, it needs to be developing a pipeline that's gonna lead to serving those industries that are coming to Tacoma, either in the green, blue, or creative economy. And again, to our early import of what's become embedded is the focus on equitable access and inclusionary economic development practice.

When we talk about small business, you're gonna see actually strategies and language about anti displacement. In the previous strategy, we talked about access to capital. In this one, we talked about revolving loan funds that have some dedicated purposes for the micro enterprise. Some of our CRP community reinvestment plan work. Of the beauty of that, we will now have additional revolving loan funds as they're paid back, and those will continue to serve that primary focus of the initial community investment plan.

So you'll see things of that, the focus for small business. Workforce will be pipeline development. Now when it comes to the business development climate, lastly, for this one, you will see more discussion about investing in partnerships. And this is not simply about money, but about time and intentional inclusion at the table. Ongoing support with our permitting colleagues and an integration of the BEST, which is the business engagement solutions team infrastructure, which is a direct result of this committee's hearing our business climate survey in June '24 and said you need to develop business response, business solutions that are more responsive.

We've developed the best infrastructure. We'll be working with you to debrief you about that. The council committee towards the end of the year may not allow for a best update here. We'll work with you about that, but we'll be doing debriefs that all council members have an update before the November on the BEST team. But you'll see that which integrates with a responsive to the business climate in terms of compassion, engagement, and an efficient response time that utilizes existing resources the best that we can.

And we'll come with some, early on, examples of how that infrastructure model is working. In addition to this, what I want to in some of our support, they're directly tied to the business climate survey. We came to you in June '24. You'll see, additional in the 2025, '26 budget proposals. We did an emergent needs business loan fund that was in responsive to that.

We begin to implement some proactive and safe for BREs, business retention visits that are more proactive around safeness and cleanliness. And later on after this presentation, you'll see the connection to a refreshed neighborhood business district program that really also speaks to some of this need for us to be more responsive and update our models. And you'll see that also embedded in that for the business climate in our updated community and economic development strategic plan. And I think one of the things from this, like and we've talked about kind of aligning, but also being more kind of reactive or and nimble is things like the, you know, the feedback loops. Right?

If we hear something from the businesses, we need to be able to change to to give them what they're looking for. So I think, that increased communication we've talked about. Right? And, also, Carol, I know that, you know, you're working really hard at coming up with these, like, anti displacement programs for local businesses, and that ties into both of our divisions because we we we don't have it all, you know, framed out yet. But the idea of when we put up new multifamily housing, if there's retail in the bottom, and we hear every single time from developers, they can't fill the retail.

Why shouldn't we be working with them together in partnership to say, okay. Well, we have businesses who want to stay in the area or need space in the area, and could we work in partnership to fill those retail ground for retail? Since the business since the developers are basically assuming it would be empty. But there's a lot of that, like, how can we work together and, you know, create those places for local businesses to stay or to come. They don't have to be from there, but, you know, to really be able to thrive in those two neighborhoods.

And in just the time from June till now that we've kind of really focused on that increased communication through that kind of business engagement solutions team infrastructure, but also all the offshoots that it has when you start to bring people at that management level together, they can activate resources quickly. Just the offshoots from that. We're already seeing the payoff, and that's what we get excited about just sort of individually updating you because you all may have questions related to your district or area. But you can already see the payoff. So the increased communication internally always results in better communication externally and a faster response time.

So that's what we're shooting for there. I think just, you know, an example, and this may seem like like a silly example, but, you know, this week, Theresa Panhosley's husband, you know, called me, and they all she owns a travel agent down, on Trilev Avenue, and they she and her husband are the ones who started the Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation. And, they've got a beautiful mural on the side that's, like, one of the original OG murals from, like, twenty years ago that the city paid to put in. And he called me, and he's like, Debbie, it got tagged really bad. What can we do? You know? In our department so I walked I said, hold on, Larry. I'll and I walked down. I talked to Rebecca in our arch department. I'm like, Rebecca, do you have a way to get this mural fixed?

And she's like, yep. No problem. Can we have some pictures of it? You know what I mean? So I was able to call Larry back, and that affects their business because people you know, obviously, you want your business to look nice and and clean, and then also just, that kind of relationship. And and he knew that he knew in the back of his mind that arts had something to do with putting it up, but he didn't know who to call. You know? So I probably tried you and you you know? And another really good example just yesterday. So there's a rest there's a business that's right up the road from us here where we sit today. And during the time of COVID, they exercised that permit to put a sidewalk cafe that was temporary. And like many businesses said, that's the way to go, so they're extending that. Now we're realizing, oh, it was put over something that is infrastructure. The city needs access to it. It needs access on a regular basis.

Our standard practice, just because what it would be is they would receive a notice that they were in violation and they'd have to move it, and there would be maybe a little bit of upset about, Wait a minute, we were doing good, and this is wanted. And so as a result of us all just knowing each other, within minutes of knowing it, I have my director and Real Property Services, and we're all talking together, and we make sure that the individual, they had a really positive experience. And now they're working with us on relocating to another part of not relocating, excuse me, adding additional locations in other parts of the city because they love Tacoma. Right? So those are the kind of the small ripple effects of just being formulated in this way because that's no longer an issue, and it could have been.

So and then those are kind of really good, like it's super important, like, one phone call examples in this, other kind of, like, when we talked about being a convener and working in partnership and knowing that we do better together. We and, like, a kind of a larger example is the co manufacturing incubator. So, you know, we're we're building on what works. And as an ecosystem, we can achieve much more than the city can alone. So we partnered with the chamber of commerce, the manufacturing industrial council, Clover Park Technical College to bring the Tacoma manufacturing incubator to life.

And this incubator unites a wide range of partners with a proven with proven track records. The this the cluster of in, in cooperation with supporting organizations is committed to innovative production and workforce development as well as economic development. And this manufacturing incubator works to reduce barriers in manufacturing sector, workforce, industrial land supply, and manufacturing spaces that allow businesses to scale under the same roof. So the cluster prioritizes a collaborative ecosystem driven approach in support of business and workforce development. The cluster has demonstrated that cold locating startups with established businesses while providing access to support services and workforce development is a powerful strategy to create jobs.

And in this specific instance, manufacturing jobs. So in this building, there's gonna be they're already underway 15 new manufacturing studios. And the program, it is going it's a cohort based program. They're gonna call for their first round of cohorts in January, and models kind of after that SpaceWorks model of the cohorts by in incubating or in manufacturing, and there's 225,000 square feet to grow into. So it's just a really amazing program that was put together to support small businesses and using those best practices to help the businesses scale in place rather than starting over.

I mean, we know we can learn from people who are who are the experts that are already doing this, and the city could just step in and be a good partner. And we had to partner on permitting. We partnered to help make the, curriculum, and also take businesses there to show them off the bill because in case they want to move to future. It's a pretty it's a really neat, place. And then some charting the path forward together.

So the future so looking ahead, we're aligning workforce development with key sectors and quality jobs. We're promoting, again, the creative economy in all of its meanings, the green economy, the blue economy. We're investing in business district resilience and thinking big in downtown. We're also recruiting developers and anchor tenants to expand Tacoma's industrial capacity, and we're telling Tacoma's story and highlighting what makes us a great our our city a great place to live, work, and invest. This plan is a road map, but it's also a call to action.

It reflects our shared vision for more inclusive, resilient, and prosperous Tacoma. And, with your feedback on this framework and continued support, we really do believe that we can bring this vision to life. I just wanted to kind of put a little bit of a ribbon around the the Canadian economic development strategy and give a little bit of a broader context just as a launching point for future discussions. Something else that we are really focusing on with the team is providing counsel with a cohesive vision. And what the cohesive vision for the department looks like is that in the future, you'll be getting, you know, collateral that you'll be able to actually use in your districts and use in your conversations about what the city is doing and community economic development.

You will also understand that, you know, we have a clear pipeline of what our work is and who our relationships are that we're building those relationships with. You'll also see that we have a more proactive and focus as as Debbie and Carol both mentioned, proactive and focused approach. So it's not just kind of reactive like, oh, a business is interested or oh, there's an issue here. Right? We're we'll be much more proactive in kind of the work that we do.

Also, you'll see a lot more metrics. And so the metrics will be, you know, shared with you by quarter, so you'll understand also with more transparency about, like, what are the deliverables, you know, and and depending on the the project or the program, it might be, you know, perked out by district, you know, or by city. But, again, you'll have more tangibles that you can bring back to your constituents. And then the last one is also we're focusing on, as I mentioned above with, you know, more collateral, but, like, more sound bites and more things that, you know, like, that was a lot of information. And so what we're going to really make an effort on is to be more mindful of, hey.

If I was a council member and I, you know, was interacting with the community, like, how can I package what I just learned in this presentation in a way that, you know, is something that is usable for me that I can show that we are really, you know, making an effort in the city? So, you know, a shift, I guess, and more cognizant, more conscious, you know, about providing you things that you need and things that, you know, will really support your efforts. Yeah, that's it. Well, thank you. Thank you so much for giving us this overview.

So I'm excited about this. I wanted to talk to my colleagues first to maybe ask questions or give feedback so that they know how to finalize this. Thank you, chair. Thank you all for this presentation. It's really a wonderful update.

Clearly very hard at work. Not that I ever, like, doubt that. You guys are always hard

at work.

But I think there's a lot here that's just really responsive to just how Tacoma has grown over time and changed over time, how we've been impacted by the pandemic. And as we, you know, we've heard it we heard it here today, but we've heard it before just in general about, like, building out our communities and really having, you know, spaces that are reflective of the part of Tamarind, but then also that overall, like, when we put all the pieces together that this is Tacoma. And there's just a there's a lot that is that I think is really going to be good as we look at the next few years, and we're trying to build things out. And so I don't immediately have any questions. I'm still kind of processing some stuff, but I just really want to say thank you.

And I really this is very yeah, just very in-depth. And it was I know it was more of a bit of a high level overview of what's to come as you finalize things. But yeah. No. I just really I I really appreciate the thoughtfulness and kind of how this was set up, and it gives me a good idea of, like as I'm thinking through what what my my feedback or other questions I have, what kind of, you know, how the pieces all play together. So I appreciate it. Thank you. Council member. Vice chair, do you have any comments or questions? I do not. Thank you. You have two? And she said, thank you. Nope. I don't have any.

Thank you. Thank you. Sorry. I you said you have two. Possible question then.

Thank you, chair. Thank you for the presentation, and I appreciate all the work that's led up to this point. Particularly appreciate the the kind of the focus areas of the neighborhood business districts being kind of expanded a little bit. As you've mentioned earlier, think there's a lot of commercial nodes around the city that can certainly use neighborhood district like support, but they didn't necessarily fit within that definition. I think that kind of organizing and supporting those that are organizing is trying to support themselves as a city can help support.

And I can't it goes back into that complete neighborhood concept that was commented on which you brought up as well. Yeah. I think of it not too dissimilar to, like, our complete streets. Right? We wanna there are certain aspects of a thriving neighborhood that I'd like

to see here. Those are things that would want to kind of integrate together.

And I even know that some of those associations do kind of have integration into neighborhoods as well. I I've noticed community members also coming in and attending those business association meetings because they do it kinda impacts each other back. I think it's really great to see that. I'm really happy to hear about the manufacturing incubator. I think that's really cool. I think there's a lot of innovation happening in that sector and a lot of opportunity. And I'd be curious. I've never been to that building. Curious to check it out.

After you set up a tour.

Yeah. And then to your point earlier, Tanya, the kind of having talking points because, you know, we as council members, you know, we're we're looking to, you know, find a way to entice and encourage and build up people coming to Tacoma. We we network with a lot of folks, from small businesses to large businesses to this, that, and the other. It's really great opportunity for us, to be able to help connect those folks to the the department and also be able to talk intelligently about what direction the city's heading in. You know, I had a great conversation with the with the general manager at aerospace manufacturing on on an on a plane.

And, you know, and when you're stuck for, like, three hours on a plane together, you have a lot to talk about. And so even though you know? So I've actually helped him connect with one of our local robotics teams here about trying to support them in their So there's there's fun there's little different ways because they they as a company, we're trying to look and find ways to support young people. And and so this company now is is we're we're in early stages, but they're they're talking to each other. Right?

And so that that can be done not just for aerospace, but all kinds of other companies as well. And even if they may not move within Tacoma, maybe there's other connections that can be made in Tacoma as well that helps different sectors. And then the to that to that point, I think the customer service orientation is really important. The best team, I think a great example is with the culture of Fred Meyer. We kind of I think that's kind of test, right, is how how best can this team come together.

Mhmm. And then we've really heard from businesses, small small and large that, you know, they wanna come to the city to help find solutions for their problems and and, know, not necessarily and sometimes it's the city that's kinda creating the problems for them, right, through regulation or other things. So how best do they navigate it? And I think having that customer service orientation would be like, how do we get to yes? How can we make sure that the city is doing its due diligence, but that can also supports business to be success as as possible.

And so I really like that. And then just a a plug on just putting Takoma on the map. I'd really love this, and I I brought this up. I really love to see some sort of, like, made in Tacoma, like, or something like that that that you know, obviously, anybody that makes something in Tacoma could put it on there if they want to. But something, like, uniquely to go, because I've seen it, like I've seen it in other cities, like, made in made in Albuquerque or whatever, but, you know, there's, like, a stamp that that is it's universally recognizable.

And, you know, as people see that up around and beyond, it kinda puts us up puts a little bit more focus. So just something that maybe I don't know if that's something the city coordinates or maybe it's something the chamber can do.

I will work on that. Yeah. That is a brilliant, brilliant idea. You have made a chambers here. Yes.

That is, like, awesome idea. Yeah. We have we have tons of tons of things that are made to and export it won't work. And so what does it look like to have? And, obviously, it's voluntary. You know, companies, they can only have a space to do some cost as well. But, like, what does that stand look like? It's like even if you're outside to go, like Oh, I see. Recognize that. Just take a glance.

So just that's it. Thank you so much for this work. I'm really excited to kinda get to get to work on oh, and then one thing, I like the own influence monitor. There's kind of there's expectations of what we what people think that the CE does and the city does. But then we're very clear on what our goal is, what we can actually do versus what people think that we can do. And I think this is really gets at that own influence launch. Here's what we're tracking. Here's what we can influence, but not necessarily own. And then here's the things that

we can do because we have that. And then council member, you know, one of the things that we thought when we looked through our other, when we looked in detail again at the twenty to twenty five plan, it was like CD was supposed to do everything. Like, you know, and really we were like, we can't control all of these things. And so we really wanted to pare it down to what can we actually do. And then, like, I mean, this is kind of from Carol ten years ago. Like, really, what do we all have to monitor? And and to spell that out. You know? Of course, we can count what we you know? But, some things we can just monitor, but we can't make sure they happen.

So And I thank you for that. There's two things I really wanna say, and I'm just as staff, normally, our goal is that you guys get the information and you're excited. I haven't had the experience I've had today. We're hearing responses, and I get really excited. So I wanna say thank you for that.

That's really cool. But what I wanna say is, Debbie, what she just pointed out is an example of how we're all being pulled not pulled, but we're coming into the future and is taking all of us because that what do you own, what do you influence, and what do you stay informed of? That was something that came from our previous director, and it was actually Sherry Hart who would remind me all the time when I was trying you know, to go, we we need to stay in those buckets. But then it took Paul who is helping us reframe that to put it in to bring it into this document because she saw its relevance. And I just wanna say that's kinda how we're working now.

We have this past that we know is the parts that need to stay, but we're bringing them into the future kind of through just the market, but also the post COVID, which really just accelerated market change in the way we talk about it now. It just accelerated market change. So I'm just really excited about that. The other thing is, I'm not a good acronym, so the best business engagement solutions team was something that we really worked hard to make it be responsive to what we heard you wanted. What how you just used it, never thought of.

It's how how best can this team come together, and, I just want how best can they navigate the city. I just wanna tell you, you have totally changed my attitude about acronyms. Mhmm. Then r when we upgraded the ARGUS shirts. Now I might have bought this, so thank you so much for that. It's absolutely accurate. I just wanna say thank you for that. And the last comment, if Kathy Raines is still on focus area four, this is an example too about what we own. We may own investment in business district resiliency, but the objective of supporting a complete neighborhoods that are through inclusive economic development, place making, partnerships. That's where we have to kinda influence, monitor, and have an own.

But sometimes that complete neighborhood really takes us all working together. That's mission accomplished if we invest in business district resiliency. So that's kinda how this is working together and so on and point that out as well. And thank you, miss Raines, for letting us know that we we at least got that one right. We appreciate that.

Mhmm. I can't figure out where to start. I just I guess I would just say on the own section is where I kind of think about how the strategy is set up, and this is where I kind of see all of our feedback over the last year playing out. And I don't have one single note about it because it's it is what I expected it to look like, and I'm just really happy to see I'm happy to see it laid out this way because I think I think a couple of you just brought up there are things that we are responsible for as an organization to do, and that's what I see as own. But then there are things that we are responsible as a vocation being the city, and that's what we have to monitor.

And that's how I kind of understand regardless of what we are at, what if the team is responsible to do, we as an as a city, are responsible for overall what does business look like here. And to the public and to businesses, they don't always know the difference. Whatever it is, we're responsible. Right? And we don't do all of the things, but we are responsible overall.

So I really, really appreciate this emphasis on monitoring even if there are things that we can monitor things regardless of if we are making a direct impact or if we are if it is actually our within our sphere of influence just because it's important to know what's going on, and I think that can help us guide what our influence where where we could have more influence. Just a couple of notes on different sections. Again, monitoring. Oh my gosh. I'm so glad to see, like, just I love to have data that supports what we're doing.

For the focus area one, net businesses net business openings and closures, talking about business retention, expansion, attraction. I think everything there makes sense. The only thing that I would add there is when Pierce County did a presentation to us about wage growth and what were the highest, like it was like, what are the the the most jobs coming to this community? What were they gonna be in? What are those sectors, and what is that person gonna make?

And to me, I understood that chart as, like, oh, livable wage jobs in your community. Are they going up? Are they going down? Are they and and what sectors are they in? So I kind of thought about that as how do we need to train our students and who do we need to attract based on what we like about that chart or what we don't like about that chart.

And so I beyond the unemployment rate, I think it does tell us a story about what's going on with people that are that don't have jobs, but I think we have an underemployment issue here, personally, and specifically in Tacoma. And I'm curious about how we can use business expansion and attraction to, like, boost that. Just Yeah. Kind of serendipitously, I just had a second strategic meet with Central on exactly that topic this morning, so it's something that we are working on, and then we also meet with, we call it formally the g test, like, like, everyone from Oh, yeah. Right?

So and so that's something that we are also bringing to the people of that group. So definitely on the radar. Yeah. So in terms of influence, the only thing I would add, because we have it on our yes column of things that we actually can do, I wonder if it's incumbent upon us to I also saw legislation somewhere. I had a question about it.

But so legislation and then permitting and cost, and I think that there's a lot about how we want to help businesses expand and attract new ones or retain their businesses. And there's things that we don't have control over in CED, but we do have control over what we're hearing within permitting, like continuous improvement things that we've talked about, maybe about breech traps, all the things that businesses are saying. Like, I wanna expand. I wanna move or I wanna come here, but it's too expensive to do business, and I'm not able to sell more if this is getting higher, but this isn't. And so I think we could have, some influence, in how we just like we're between sectors with the health department and then with our own kind of permitting department.

Feedback on that as well. Yeah. So we we actually took some of your advice on that, and so we have had some conversations with environmental services. They are working on, for example, you know, looking at the code and looking at possibilities for Greece trials. And so really with our role, informally, just say, you know, to to our team and to businesses, anyone who listen, you know, consider us your concierge to the city.

A lot of those that feedback that we're getting, we also, you know, through the Vets team and through other teams, we are integrating that into our conversations. I think the Vets team is I mean, it's absolutely brilliant concept, you know, that that was developed because that allows, like, a direct instead of someone coming to me here or coming to you, right, you go to, you know, that middle management who's the ones that actually make things happen. So that's something that I think you'll see a lot more of. There's a lot more feedback and response. And I think those are things that council wants to hear.

Yeah. You do have a sphere of influence with us to help us understand what you're hearing on the ground. And more importantly, not just like one off conversations or incidents, but, like, overall, these are the things that people are having trouble with. And so you'll also think about how you want to how what you wanna do about that if anything. And here's some options that you, you know, could hear some suggestions or things that you may guys I think that that would be good to capture as a part of the work that you do. Absolutely. And I think to add to that, the metrics that you'll be seeing now and, you know, the more, kind of proactive that will really help, I think,

to provide you with that information more readily. Okay.

So, small business entrepreneurship, employment for small business, commercial vacancy rates in big business districts. I'm really glad to see that on here. I didn't really see it in my mind. I saw it on a different place on here. I I saw it under resiliency, the the vacancy, but I also see why it's in small business because you're counting how many people are leaving. But I guess in my in my mind, I was thinking about district resiliency and kind of overall. So I see it there as well. One other way that oh, they brought it on here. The grant dollars of loans distributed. I think that I don't know if you monitor that.

Well, you do monitor that because talk about it all the time. Yeah. About how much how many dollars we are Distributing. Lending and all of that stuff. So okay. So if I'm to understand the monitoring as things that are outside of what we own. This is like, okay. I see. I see. So it's doesn't need to be stated if it's on this side.

Okay. So the last one that I support. In terms of vacancy and adding that into business resiliency, one question that I have as we are doing work around as the best programs to work around, not just vacancy, but general cost. Mhmm. What is the what does it cost to support our businesses, and what is like, one thing I think it's important to capture is when we do have vacancy, we do have to do a bit of work financially and work wise for, like, all hands on for people to do that or for to make sure that the business district is full still.

So if it's paint, if it's Mhmm. Organizing trash, if it's organizing all of these, I wonder if something to monitor there could could be the the the general cost to vacancy in in the city. The impact of they have the cost, yes. And so I I just don't think anybody else is monitoring that in the same way. And I think what it the story that I think it tells is, like, if we are not paying attention to businesses that are on the verge of leaving, it costs us more in the end if we if we're not able to support them and doing whatever it is that they need.

And so that's just something that I think we could keep our eyes on. I don't know exactly. And even, like, it makes me think even, like, how much does it so say Lincoln Hardware and and Mhmm. Right? That business that building's been empty. So how when it finally gets a new owner and is all thriving, like, how much time and energy I don't know if you but has it taken from the city side and other to get to that point. Right? Yes. Someone's looking at it again now, but we went through the whole original people who were gonna use it and but, like, kind of somehow quantifying that is a really that's the even though the problem we have to do with everyone, but even if we had case studies. Right? It would be great to try to keep track of. And I'm I was getting excited. So, again, it's pretty exciting. Normally, presentations don't generate this much, like I'm thinking, wait a minute. We could do that.

What I'm thinking is so we are reassigning some of our not reassign, refocusing. The next presentation, you'll see a little bit of that refreshing the business district program. So one of our longtime members of our team, Sherry Hart, sitting by me, a lot of her focus is gonna go into property owner relationships. Right? And that is going to dovetail on the proactive work of the best infrastructure. Right now, when we talk about sending letters out to Manitoba and Northeast Tacoma, just two areas that aren't in a district, rarely get talked about. Property owners, you just wanna know us. Here's who we are. Sherry's leading that effort. She'll kinda click.

Now who do we have updated information from, and who does want to know? That's that proactive in the best team model. But in our business district model, you know, we're gonna do a, again, property owner proactive outreach, and we could start to refine it by what are some building owners that have vacancies that we know if it's vacant. You know, you can start to prioritize that because it's an overwhelming task to have property owner relations with everybody. But I believe we can refine some of those metrics into how do we start, where do we start, or, like, Pacific Avenue, very large.

Where do you start? Let's start in the areas where people want to associate, and let's start in the areas where there's vacancies around 72nd Pacific where you wanna monitor if people are being impacted negatively. Do we have a role? So I could see that fitting nicely there, and I think that connection will fit nicely. So I think you and you actually already have it on here as a crime and code enforcement trends. Mhmm. I think I just in my mind, I I kind of connected it and Yeah. Quickly to vacancy, but there are other reasons why we have crime and safety. But just the I I guess the cost of supporting businesses, I think, is something we should be Yeah. Just keeping our eye on.

Anything else is great? Oh, the last one on business and development climate. The permitting timelines, if we are to monitor not just the timelines, but the ease and the cost of that, I think are also part of the the difficulty. And I I don't know which permits we're talking about. Don't know if we're talking about business permits or Commercial. Probably and residential for everything. Commercial or residential, commercial, con biz commercial commercial. Well, housing community housing division. Right? So monitoring those with the developers of those and, you know, Debbie has NFFTP, so multifamily and know, careless.

Yeah. So Yeah. It's a lot of them. So Yeah. I guess my question in in in asking was which ones you know, which are we gonna talk about, or are you gonna monitor for costs and barriers or for what people are saying are they're having issues at permitting.

Right? Like, so Yeah. Beyond just the time that it takes, one of the things that we heard when folks came in and they're doing a food business is, I'll have to talk I have to get 10 different permits, and this permit person, the health department doesn't talk to this department, and this department doesn't talk to that department. And so beyond just the cost or the the timeline, it's just accessibility to getting the permits completely. Yeah.

I think a lot of it is also education, because a lot of, you know, ways that these people come into the business, it's, you know, not really, like, a class on Right. You know, how do you process. So I think it's a lot of education. I think Debbie wanted to share some Well, I gonna say one thing we've talked about. I'm not sure if it's actually in the plan, Carol, or not, but was bringing like, having, you know, taking on responsibility of getting businesses more often to come and to have conversations with counsel so we can ask questions.

Like Yeah. About the pre shop and other things. And I think too with that case, like, it would be great to separate out or have both, like, larger, more sophisticated developers versus, you know, like, smaller businesses who are just starting because they definitely have different pain points. Right? And and being able to track those trends from, okay, small businesses, how's that going versus large businesses. And then I think, you know, for I don't think that it's in the budget now, but, you know, forever, we've talked about having a specific small business person in permitting. Right? So they could someone you said is the first time we're opening a business and that permit specialist would be your helper. You know? And I don't think we can do that yet, but if we gather those stories, you know, maybe sometimes we'll have the case to be able to do that.

There's it's really difficult to figure out what the vibes are. Right? There's no, like, way to just monitor, like, well, how's everybody feeling? But if you have the the climate survey, I think that's an easy place to ask questions about ease of permits throughout the city or, you know, whatever. Just I don't know. I'm just thinking of different ways we can take polls in in ways that are formally or informally. Just, you know, just trying to understand what what's going on. I don't I I think you all are aware, but there is a pilot program going on, with permitting. So it's on a smaller scale with residential. And so I think this is just me talking from being in three other cities.

What I've observed in Tacoma is that it's a very collaborative environment, especially with, you know, regarding feedback, regarding, you know, how things work. But also, what I've observed is that I think we hit it on the nail on the head 80% of the time. A lot of the things that we're also hearing is is kind of edge cases. So, you know, if we look at kind of the the greater, city, you know, my experience so far, I've only been here for six months now, it is really positive that, you know, we are very creative, very responsive. And and, you know and there are state mandates now, you know, timelines, things like that.

And so, of course, if you have a strict timeline, you become very creative on how are able to, like, change things to make sure you hit those deadlines. So I think a lot of positive trends is all I'm trying to say. We haven't got to see the the pilot yet, so I think we're all, like

well, obviously, I'm always Yeah.

Heated on permitting. But, yeah, I think that that's gonna be really positive. And I think just getting a pulse on the work that's happening, some takes pulse on it. We just kind of watch it, and we know that there are things happening, but I don't know if

they're taking off the thing,

how it affects the actual business. Yeah. Well, it's so funny, though. So I I'm copying all anybody who's working with the health department,

I get copied on all

the permits coming through. And just yesterday, there was a whole one about someone was emailing the city saying, well, just want you to let you know if we had to move our three compartment sink here. It's still within 25 feet and blah blah blah. Let us know if that's okay. And that could've easily just sat because that has nothing to do with the city. Right? But our city permit, Sean, who does the the he's so great. He, like, he mailed them back. He's like, hey. Just so you know, I'm copying the health department because this is really their area. But, like, that person doesn't go back to your point and even as much as we try to. So it's more as many people like that we can have, we're trying to help them even though it's not the city's problem. We could just be like, it's not our decision. You know? But but I think that, you know, we do have good people who are trying to help people. You know? Yeah.

Good work.

It also dovetails into the faster for people in government. So that's something that we really talk about a lot in that's how we can find that consistency and how do we you know, trust is built on. Yeah. I always know I can call the city, and the city will have the answer even if they don't know who it is. And so that's kind of what I was alluding to before about, you know, just treat us, like our team is, like, the concierge to the city. So we just want businesses to trust. Hey. I can call Debbie. I can call Carol and, you know, concierge service. Like, I I'm not the person, but, you know, I can figure it out for you.

So that just is a way that we're trying to build trust and belief in intangible tangible ways. I think that partnership goes really, really, really long with getting to to want people to want. Well, thank you, ladies. Thank you for entertaining all of the thoughts and things. I tried to give you the most, but you know not gonna be here a long time, but I wanted to make sure I got all of the things out. I'm gonna move us along to the neighborhood business business refresh, if that's okay. Yes. Okay. So that I will recall on Carol Wolf. There you go.

That's just changing. You gotta bring it hot next time. I know. I'm more of a teacher when we do those. We have some ideas for the best teachers for

you. Yeah.

Well, I've been on board with that. Thank you very much. Anyway, so good morning, chair Daniels, council members. I'm grateful to be here. My name is Carol Wolf.

I am the division manager for the business services and workforce division. So business services is where a lot of this works today that we'll be sharing with you. And beside me is Sherry Hart, and she is our business program lead for the division and manages administers a lot of the program services that go to our business district program. Before I begin, though, I wanna give a big thank you to the Cross District and the Neighborhood Business District members that are all volunteers. Not one of them gets paid, and they have been working side by side with us since the early nineties to try to work on the same we call business climate and complete neighborhoods.

And and I just wanna say they're not here with us today because this is part of that beginning. They've been a long ticket to this point, but sometimes middle of the day conversations with council doesn't always fit into their schedule. But I wanna thank them and also our liaison partners because this program is based on convening people and bringing liaisons. So the police and the TPU and the chamber has come to so many of our space works. There's just so many partners and where this program is rest on their back as well.

And then also council member Sedolke, who has been a new liaison to the Cross District, and, you know, he's been very invested and involved. And so we appreciate your involvement in those key programs, Julie. Help us stay on track and know when it's time to change course like today's conversation is about. So I just wanna say one more thing before we begin is that this program, I am so excited that you we are finally really embedded in a community and economic development strategic plan. And that is not because we weren't in it before, But some of the business district program and why it needs to be refreshed is some of the work that we do in there is not ours to own, but it's that complete neighborhood.

It's that sense. We're the first door that they come into. And so being able to have a community and economic development strategic plan, you can't solve all of but you know that it's elevated, that your job is to help that neighborhood thrive and to get it to the right place for the community benefit even if it's not in our lane. So move it to the influence or the monitor lane, but stay on top of it. That plan really allows us to do so.

And I just want to say one more shout out. This program was inspired by Mayor Karen Bial, and it was actually developed and introduced to the city through the inter entrepreneur and previous council member, Bill Evans. And I just wanna give a shout out to that because sometimes as we go and refresh, we forget to to those original legacy people that's put the seed in the ground and then really, watered it and watched it grow. But now when we adjust it and refresh it, we just wanna give claim to that because we wouldn't be here today without looking for those individuals in your guys' leadership. So thank you for that. Anna, you're ready to go, Anna? She moves me first then? Okay. So the first thing we wanna say, why are we here? So we're refreshing to the future, but first, we wanna take a look back.

Wanna just reiterate. The neighborhood business district program was created in the nineties. There was 14 business districts, neighborhood business districts, and I'll try to remember to state those distinctions, what it was codified in 2008. So we're part of your administrative code like the sister cities program, like neighborhood councils, well as the neighborhood business district. It was at a time when Hilltop was branded as Upper Tacoma.

Now everybody, when they hear that, stomach kind of flops, but that is it was at a time when that's what we were trying to do, like almost remake business districts into something they weren't as a way to bring them forward. That has changed. And the Dome District, and one of the first district managers is actually here today from the Dome, Julie Andrews, back from those early days. Oakland Madrona, Fertil, and South Tacoma were the most active association, right, at the time that we did this back in 2008. One of the things we're also doing, though, is we're refreshing for relevancy.

I would like to say now after hearing that previous, would say, you know, also refreshing for responsiveness. Complacency. Over time, and there's many reasons for this, but over time, the program has come somewhat complacent, resting on swirls from the past and not really updating to the future. Refreshing for capacity. The use of public funds is so difficult. There are so many challenges, and we need to refresh it and remove those challenges and make some fixes of some things that may be broken in the past. That's something we need to refresh towards. Improve our responsiveness. I think, you know, the complacency leads to doing things the same way because it was right then, but it's not really the best practice forward. And so we've recognized that.

By utilizing the local small business advocacy, we've heard it what you were saying. I made a point here. The permitting and the early know, getting in earlier upstream with people so we can fix them before their problems or before their problems too big. We have the business district program were that voice for so many years. Right? And we don't need they're no longer the only voice. Tacoma has really grown around business, you know, kind of engagement, but we need to it's underutilized from our business district perspective. There's an unmet demand, and this is one that has the most cost and the most processed challenges with the special event in place making. Just because you're in the right of way, you're doing something that has cost, and it generally needs to be maintained, or there needs to be somebody making sure it's publicly secured. You know?

So those costs, that's an area we need to we we need to come up with plans to meet that unmet demand. And there's been some unclear roles between the cross district, the business districts, the Tacoma neighborhoods together, which was founded to help them with some of these funding stream model issues. And then also our department, what role are we playing? So there's been some confusion, so we're refreshing to simplify and clarify those. And it's also because it's time for our business district programs. It's just time. So it is now a business district, or it will be as we move forward, but that's that's the direction we're headed. The other thing is we need to refresh for impact. And because of that, we need to build the capacity to convene, advocate, and deploy funds. This is a stakeholder based program.

It is not us going out in there and telling people what to do. We are responsive. But then the capacity, we have to build build that back. They need to advocate. They have to can't be one person representing one district advocating for one thing, and also deploying funds has become much more difficult.

And in a post COVID reality, convening people at the right time, the right medium, the right way, we refresh need that and have the impact people are looking for. We're impacting some admin we're piloting some administrative and operational support models right now the use of Tacoma Neighborhoods Together and trying to fund things maybe in different ways to see if going forward we can continue that. We need to increase our technical assistance for special events. The funding model is something that I'm not sure how we'll deal with the fact that to do something in the right of way to deal with the public safety cost, they have basically gone up from back when council allocated $20,000 for barricade relief for five districts that up to $2,000 a special Those $2,000 special events now cost $7,000 just in barricades. Right?

And some of that's because the type of barricade that's needed. It is not somebody pushing up costs. It's in the day and age of public space in a road. You need to stop a car that's traveling either because of an illness, someone's at capacity from drugs and alcohol, or they're trying to run through the event. And unfortunately, that's the barricades that are sometimes needed on some of our materials. That cost has gone up. And also technical assistance for having these volunteers meet our deadlines and meet our processes. We need to refocus the CDA needs to be business district end users. They became places where they convened just to talk to us. And as you can see, that's not a reason to convene.

And so we want to refresh back to that impact about being focused on the end user, which is the business owner or the commercial owner. And we need to we need to reframe how we meet the needs of the districts by these best infrastructure and also so much department staff expertise and our partner expertise. We really we we need to not be siloed and have the program be focused on only what we can provide with the staff and the resources that we have. And this is the fun stuff. Like, we're refreshing for the power of association.

And Anna changed my slide, and I know she did it for good reasons, but I do wanna show you, I had pictures up here from back in 2008 where you can see they were bad though. But you saw when the people came at 6th Avenue aren't on the average, saw the impact of the farmers market. These were put on by business associations, that power of association. And I also wanted to show you these were some of the district banners that we put up when they were branding themselves. And if you look, I took an X out over at Upper Tacoma and I think it's maybe not even up there, but we put Hilltop over that.

Right? Lincoln, we didn't realize that there was a lot of people in the community that didn't like the historical reference to Lincoln with what they saw as a snake around it, not realizing it was combining. You know, there were some people that didn't like that imagery. That's no longer we kinda combine that. Fernhill Estate's tried and true. McKinley Estate, tried and true. But just to show you that there's been a real difference since we first have operated this, but always that power of association. And how we got here? We got here by reviewing past business district feedback. From 2016, we had approached a refresh back then, and what we did is we what the districts wanted was to be more autonomous and for us to realize we wanted to simplify the process.

We did that by a bit pulling away a bit from that autonomy, not realizing or we realized that now that there's some level of technical assistance support they need that's not necessarily us, it's not them, and we're trying to figure that out. But that was even back in 2016, our approach was to provide that autonomy, and it worked in a lot of ways, but it didn't work in some ways. So we reviewed some of that feedback. We surveyed across district associations, business districts, liaisons, and even some dissatisfied customers. I sat down with some people that aren't involved and said, why?

That was some of the best interviews that I had was to realize that. And then we're piloting some Tacoma neighbors together, engagement with the business districts. There's some problems that we realized in capacity that no matter how much they like Sherry or me, we're still the city. And sometimes you need an intermediary that understands the issues that they're in, but is also not us and the confidentiality so we can get to root cause, and that's been really helpful. So that's how we've gotten to this place.

And going forward, we are really focused at changing the speed of capacity and trust because when you know, we have a great program. It's been complacent a while, so now we have to spend some time, but also the world out there doesn't have a lot of confidence in it sometimes with government engaging. So we really want to make sure that we're moving at the right pace. And on September 17, we confirmed this direction with the cross district. We were open to additional feedback through the tenth, and that was just after we got to this place.

There was a lot prior to that, but the more formal. We got some more feedback. From October to December, we'll be creating an action plan to plan for some of the capacity and the funding distribution challenges that seem to get in the way. We're gonna come up with a plan and fix that, and we're gonna confirm the elements of a refresh business district program. It's not a small thing to take neighborhood out.

It's not a small thing to say that there are 15 that gave us limits, and now it's endless. Not endless, but, I mean, the need. So we we need to take some time between now and December and then actually co create the updates to the program in '26. And by co create, I mean, this is where the language will be much more extensive with business owners, with people that have been involved since day one, but also adding in those elements that need to be added. So in '26, we'll take some time.

So you wouldn't expect to see anything that was legislated until '27. And it also allows some of those budget churn and everything you're really focused on now and some of the other issues at hand so this can get the attention it deserves as a stand alone issue with so when it's kind of post COVID, post federal. So having said that oh, I did have my final slides here. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have shared. I or I don't know.

Well, thanks. Julie can add some from the don't. I'm gonna defer to my colleagues first. Thanks, chair. I would I just can you talk a little bit about the Tacoma Neighborhoods Together? I don't think I know. Yeah. So when the city of Tacoma actually invested in establishing a five zero one c three nonprofit status for an entity called Tacoma Neighborhoods Together. And it was formed indirectly in it by law to support the CDA. But because it's a nonprofit, was about all Tacoma neighborhoods, it would do art, beautification, and landscape, place making type activities.

And it was stood up in a volunteer model that was one that over time could not stand the test of time. It had Elton Gatewood, Marion Lee. You guys may not recognize these names. I'm getting some chuckles back here. But it had neighborhood council, and it had business district folks on it.

So you had the the presidents of some business districts with the community council of Tacoma president and, the staff that served the community council, which was Elton. So you had this board that really was meant to make sure that it was about place making in like business districts, but for a neighborhood gateway purpose, if that makes sense, it was for them. And it was established and also the business districts at that time, they wanted money to do their own thing. They've always wanted to be autonomous. So the TMT gave them an arm by which they could sponsor from outside entities, special event sponsorships.

But it didn't really that being based on a volunteer model and staff for a while would would even though they were autonomous, they would meet at the city. We would keep all the records. We would make sure they would know that you know, because they didn't have that administrative capacity. When special events was moved into TVE, that was Caledrali's rule, that went away because that no longer through the special event lens, the TNT was really important because a lot of the nonprofit status was needed for a special event. That kind of went away.

And so they, again, became autonomous and really wonderful, well intentioned, but they just kind of got did what they just did over and over again and didn't expand. And so it didn't meet the needs of the city. It didn't meet the needs of Tacoma creates. It didn't meet it didn't grow and develop. So now as we're coming back to the future, what we realized it was another capacity issue, and the city doesn't own that nor does it even does the Cross District, but its legacy was formed to support the Cross District.

Now we're revisiting it and they've adjusted their board. We're working with them on some of the challenges of capacity and funding because of the nonprofit status. They're a fiscal sponsor as well, they can be that fiscal sponsor. But their unicorn and rainbow scenario, taken from our director, is that the people that are on the board are all business, have bad business district backgrounds. They know that there's Procter Treats and Art on the Ave and Hilltop Street Fair and Old Town and Old Town, and they understand the challenges these entities have had, and some of them have in more confidential ways shared with them the realities of the difficulty that they might have a hard time sharing with Sherry Riley because they know us, and we've been working with her for twenty years.

So that is what it is serving. It is serving as a technical fiscal sponsor to help us and the districts identify what their challenges are with capacity for funding. And from that, we're also identifying the improvements that can be made in that convening and advocacy voice. That's the role they're playing right now, but it's stemmed back from the future. We have some nice documents with timelines, council member Scott, that I'll share with all of you after here, and the talking points on the Neighborhood Business District program that are in draft form.

But they give you some of this in a more concise sound bite way. And if it helps the committee members together as a five zero one c three, which comes with different funding opportunities, that in our business district associations are five zero one c six business leads. And so the associations have a different purpose. And so and and simply, if you make a donation to a five zero one c six, it's not an IRS deduction. If you make a donation through the five zero one c three fiscal sponsor, it it can be an IRS deduction back in the day.

I didn't know tax bill now, but that was the difference. So the TNT was stood up as the five zero one c three arm to the associations, and they weren't limited just to the business districts. The TNT historically had been the fiscal sponsor for Maritime Fest and other they weren't limited to just the business districts. They were citywide. So that was the first step up.

That was

the difference.

And most recently and thank you so much for that, sir. Mean, to cut you off because most recently, because there are autonomous and computer stuff that they have a focus here, they led the Blue Mouse's capital campaign to update all of its chairs. I think it was a $50,000 campaign that they were able to have run through because the Blue Mouse is not a nonprofit. Right? Now that to me, when I heard that, I got home. Could you get outside funding sources through this? I'm gonna call it oh, what? This is too big a word, but a donor advised fund. Somebody says, I want it to just go to the business because I love McKinley, and I want it to be for events in McKinley. That is ways that so that is future looking, but right now where we're at is a capacity.

So some of that's why it's moving at the speed of trust and capacity because these are all great ideas. But right now, we have a cross district association that has about three regular members, and two of them are sometimes unclear why they're there besides because it's a requirement. And I say that to let you know that that that is an underutilized use right now. That's a small space where they're at right now, but not where they need to go. The cross district one, is that also level one? Six. C six. Okay. And so they're all at various stages, but they're all they're all meant to be nonprofit partners with the city. They are they're at various stages of their nonprofit status at the state level.

The only federal level is. Thank you for asking that. That big part of my head originally, so I appreciate you breaking that down. It's like a booster club for our businesses. Mhmm.

We've always want I've always asked why we don't, like, get more free stuff and get more stuff for them and, you know, some of our other demands that we have. We'll talk about later, but there's just you know, there's ways that we can do things that the city can't by, you know, using other entities and yeah. So a lot of curiosity. Very well be a lot of revenue stream for the business areas. It could very well be helped in that area from their targeted, you know, small scale to a degree.

Maybe even larger scale, like, they could have, but that's different. Our focus with them here is the component that they are I call it they are pledged. Is it maybe the wrong word? Pledged to the well-being of the cross district and the business districts because of their origin story. Yeah. That they're not required to be limited by that. That's pledged to it this way. You said earlier that back in the day they would do other things in addition to what they had done before. So we'd just be interested to hear more about it to see if there are other ways to engage. Our mission is generally focused on events and place making beautification.

Yeah. Would say beautification. And so yeah. Council member or vice chair, do you have any comments or questions? No. You.

Thank you. I'll make it quick. I appreciate this. I think it's very timely. I can do this refresh, and I think that there's some great opportunity. There's some great legacy to build off of, and there's a great opportunity through this refresh. Yeah. Particularly, I know some of our business district areas have kind of struggled to stay afloat, particularly Burn Hill, South Dakota, Upper And Lower Pacific. And so I think this is really just I I really wanna find ways that we can support them and to help them build their own capacity. You know?

While some have have struggled, others are thriving. Know, hospice association specifically, they're they're kinda on the rise, I feel like. And but I think it so that's kind of what I'm thinking about right now is, like, how we get everybody into the authorized, so to speak? Part of it is just that all lines are volunteer based. Capacity is really, really stretched. That's kind of things that on top of my mind. But I really appreciate this conversations. And thank you for

saying that, councilor Bushnell, and Hosmer is a great example. And the reason I wanna say Hosmer is a great example, back in the day, probably ten years ago, there was a fledgling Hosmer group, but it was reactionary to crime. Right? It was whatever the crime elements they had. Over the time, the city invested in a crime reduction plan, and there was a lot of work in that crime reduction plan. Said, once these things are done, then it needs to be infused with, like, commercial and business and neighborhood activity. So that's where we start to get involved. And then council members, in a timely way in the last budget cycle, put additional money into our budget that said, we want you to focus on the nonbusinesses. We want you to have resources. Okay.

And so now we use that a couple times, and now we're moving forward. It's been a great model for this. But the what I wanted to point out, it was ten years, and it was over time. So sometimes people being ready to associate beside beyond an issue, which is like a best team approach as opposed to they say we want to associate for the long haul, which is more of a business district program approach. This flexibility will allow us to get there, but it takes time, and that's why I end it with the speed and capacity and trust.

And it isn't just the community. It's also inside these buildings, and I'm not saying that as a budget request for yeah. I'm not saying it's just a reality because trust and time take time and trust. Right? And so I just wanna share the capacity internally as well as externally, and that's not meant to deflect our accountability to change, but in reality, about the time that it takes. So I especially when you're adding districts because laws are amazing, but it is people won't start where laws started, but that was ten years in the making just to get

to this point. Just wanted to share that with you.

We are a wealth of and history. I think some of my favorite things to learn are that, like, you haven't done the bike is nothing you ever do is new. It's already been done. And we have so many folks that work in the city and around the city that we're here for all of it. So I know you guys have to have juggles when, you know, new things come. You're like, oh, that's cute. Remember when we already did that three other times? But not with the same tools and not with the same the same people. Yeah. So yeah.

Or you forget you have that tool, and you walk in it like, oh, remember that we do have that. We could do that. Yeah. You so much for the presentation. Did you have do y'all have anything you wanna add before I move us into the last part of the committee?

I don't think so. I'm just excited for the opportunity to put this program forward. And I I again, I just think we learned so much, because it was so the lining of COVID and the challenges that that gate to the community, to the businesses, to the associations, and then helping them recover. And this program is timely in helping them recover through that and exploring other opportunities. And I would particularly like to thank councilmember Bushnell for kind of the continued push for Harsmar because I think that model really helped us look outside and and taking and and removing neighborhood out of the business district program isn't saying that the business district that neighborhoods aren't important.

It's just that that neighborhood business district program was built on Main Street, physical requirements. And so I think sometimes if you change something enough, you need to change up the name a little bit. And so it's kind of shifting to a different business districts are important for different reasons, and they may not meet the Main Street requirement. And, anyway, so there there can still be neighborhood business districts, but the program is going to expand in the community where it's at, particularly because of all the data we've collected and all the relationships we've built through the challenges of COVID. I appreciate all your efforts and commitment to helping

us to this. I think

it's all interesting. And I just wanna close and just always say hear myself say it is an absolute privilege to get to do this work, and I just thank you guys for the opportunity to do it. It is truly a privilege. Thank you. Okay.

Well, with that, topics for upcoming meetings. Would like to call on N O E, our committee liaison. Right. We have two meetings left this year. We will be doing individual debriefing or brief briefings with counsel on the best team and business district between now and November.

Okay. Partly for the challenges. It's just it's a challenge time to get on a schedule right now. Okay. So we will and I would like to ask, if I may, is your preference individual or groups for briefs going forward? Or I can work going forward. I'm not sure what the preference would be. My preference for now is I think it's if we like to do things in at least three if we can to save your capacity and hours. Just wanted some direction. Thank you. Because we'll start scheduling. It's time to get short. Thank you. Thank you. Okay.

Are there any other items of interest? Nope. Not immediately. I know we talked about, getting back on the calendar with Fred Myers, but maybe just making sure that we're not gonna do that before the end of the year. Maybe we do that at the very beginning of the year. Whenever they're I know we're waiting for something specific. Yeah. We can we can provide further. Yeah. I was coordinating a little bit also in conversation with, council member.

We, we so I apologize. It really was a lot of sausage making the last, you know, two months with, getting the right contacts, getting meetings on the schedule, you know, then having meetings rescheduled or finding the right people to have a meeting with. And so, we do intend to provide, in the next, let's just call it the next week, the compilation of our kind of where we're at right now. But, in hindsight, you know, I could have just kind of kept telling you guys, hey, you know, we're we're still in meetings. We're still waiting for this, but I didn't.

And that was a mistake on my part. So you will get a comprehensive kind of like, here's everything in one kind of document, another update, you know, as we did originally with the, BEST team and their work with the vacancies. Now the second is just kind of like, you know, what can we do? What can't we do? Who's doing what? And, you know, where we have. Or did they already complete their negotiation? No. It's a little more complicated than that. So yeah. As you can well appreciate with development. So Yep. I knew it would be. And Yeah. So there was no, like, you don't have to come back until it's done unless you feel like there's something that if there's something to report on.

Yeah. In the next, yeah, the next week ish, I'd say that it'll be, like, a lot more comprehensive. And, again, apologies, because I I can imagine that it was it was frustrating. In hindsight, it's just kind of yeah. And I I could right. I could have said that, and I just I did, and I I yeah. Okay. And I'd like to add part of the way that Tanya and I are approaching this economic development side is truly the long ball game. Nothing to report is gonna be quite standard for how long. I shouldn't tell long, but it's a longer process, long ball.

The community development side that sort of I'm sort of working with some of the community. Those are some things I think that we can get into a cadence because just what you heard about the best well, you didn't hear about it yet, the best team. We've we've done a rapid rapid rapid mural program. It's not for food removal. It's a rapid mural program.

And we've invested in that to take care of some of the issues we see in Lincoln because we reacted. But during that time, we also know the community is really wanting to have some of those you know, wanting to feed themselves in buildings a big so that could we're looking at, hey. When you go to Lincoln, please go to 72nd Pacific, look at that site, and go, what could you do there, and how could community be involved? So those are things that are the sausage making that's not a there or there yet, but it's part of that community alignment, just like economic development alignment. And I think I can start to feed that to Tanya in better ways that it may not be economic development, redevelopment, nothing to report, but here's three things we're doing to keep the community engaged or or the we'll have the health department kinda taking some of the lead on some of the human questions that they have and and things of that nature.

So I'll work better with Tanya with that so she can give you also reports of that nature. Maybe So we just leave a very short period of time at the beginning or at the end of the next couple of meetings that you can report on. Anything that you want to report on as far as fast renewals, good things, great things. I know you'd like to. Yeah. Just yeah. I think that'll be cool. Sure. Yeah. Happy to happy to do

that. Okay.

Well, with that, I guess I would like the final, mention. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed signify by saying nay. The motion is declared adopted. You stand adjourned.