Tacoma City Council Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

Tacoma City Council lowers enforcement priority for psilocybin, similar substances

By Lauren Gallup January 30, 2025

Psilocybe ovoideocystidiata, a type of mushroom that has psilocybin, a psychoactive compound, photographed in Issaquah, Washington. The use of entheogens like psilocybin has been shown to treat some mental health conditions. Photo by Alan Rockefeller, courtesy of WikiMedia.

Tacoma has joined a number of Washington cities and at least one county in a growing movement to make enforcing activities related to the use of psychoactive substances, such as psilocybin mushrooms, a lower priority for law enforcement. On Tuesday, the Tacoma City Council unanimously passed a resolution to lower enforcement priorities for entheogen-related activities. Read More

Tacoma City Council moves forward with budget, directs additional $2.5 million to fire department

By Lauren Gallup December 11, 2024

Tacoma's old City Hall building. (Courtesy: Joe Mabel / Wikimedia Commons)

The Tacoma City Council adopted its next two-year budget, after months of working with city staff to balance for a predicted $24 million structural deficit. Read More

Tacoma City Council will direct city manager to make layoffs to balance budget

By Lauren Gallup December 4, 2024

Tacoma firefighter, Ryan Pregent, spoke to a crowd gathered for a press conference on Monday, Dec. 2. (Credit: Lauren Gallup // NWPB)

As the city of Tacoma works to manage its $24 million budget deficit, council members have been making decisions on what to cut. At Tuesday’s council meeting, the electeds considered two amendments. The first amendment was brought forward by Council member Jamika Scott, who worked in collaboration with Council member Joe Bushnell to find a way to protect the city’s cash Read More

Tacoma City Council moves forward with zoning changes

By Lauren Gallup November 21, 2024

Old homes in a denser neighborhood near Tacoma's busy Sixth Avenue.

The next phase of Tacoma’s attempts to address housing shortages will soon be implemented, as the Tacoma City Council has voted unanimously to adopt the second phase of the Home in Tacoma zoning package. The package of changes to city zoning standards aims to create more opportunities for different types of housing across the city, including by allowing more units to be Read More

Tacoma City Council member joins state pipeline safety committee

By Lauren Gallup October 7, 2024

Tacoma City Council member Sarah Rumbaugh.

Twenty-five years ago, the Olympic Pipeline ruptured in Bellingham, Washington, killing three people. In the aftermath, Washington state created its Citizens' Committee on Pipeline Safety, meant to advise on regulation to keep communities around pipelines safer. The committee still functions today, but Amanda McKay, who serves on it, said that increased interest and Read More

Palestine supporters block Port of Tacoma to protest U.S. military aid to Israel

By Lauren Gallup November 6, 2023

Since early Monday morning, hundreds of protestors have been blocking the three road entrances into the Port of Tacoma in an attempt to stop workers from loading a United States military supply vessel, the Cape Orlando, with weapons and military equipment. Read More

Final push to include Tacoma Tenant Bill of Rights on the ballot

By Lauren Gallup June 13, 2023

Zev Cook, far left, prepares canvassing volunteers in South Tacoma on Friday, June 9. Photo by Lauren Gallup.

With the deadline looming to secure enough signatures to get their initiative on the ballot, volunteers with Tacoma For All canvassed across Tacoma Friday. Zev Cook, field manager for the campaign, led a group of eight volunteers in the late afternoon around a South Tacoma neighborhood. Read More

Supporters of tenant rights bill make their voices heard at city hall

By Lauren Gallup May 26, 2023

On May 25, a number of supporters of the Tacoma For All initiative for tenant protections, rallied in front of the City Hall building. Photo by Lauren Gallup.

Organizers from the housing justice group Tacoma For All and their supporters gathered with signs and megaphones Thursday afternoon to show their support of the initiative, known colloquially as a tenant bill of rights, which Tacoma For All hopes to get on the ballot for voters this fall. The rally took place before a meeting of the city’s Community Vitality and Safety Read More

Home in Tacoma For All says they will fight Tacoma camping ban

By Lauren Gallup October 14, 2022

Ty Moore, with the Tacoma & Pierce County Democratic Socialists of America, holds a sign in support of Home in Tacoma For All at a rally for housing justice outside the city municipal building. Photo by Lauren Gallup.

The Tacoma City Council passed an ordinance to ban camping within 10 blocks of emergency shelters in the city. Zev Cook, a staff organizer with Home in Tacoma For All, says they’ll be taking the city to court over the ordinance. Read More