Ahead of the Aug. 5 primary election, candidates running to become Tacoma’s next mayor have joined several candidate forums to discuss issues like housing, homelessness, public safety, business and more.
According to the state’s public disclosure commission, the city’s mayoral race has been the seventh-most expensive race in the state so far, with close to $300,000 in expenditures across all candidates. The King County executive and Seattle mayoral races lead the way.
John Hines, currently representing district 1 on the Tacoma city council, has raised the most money with $174,564.42. He is closely followed by former district 1 city council member Anders Ibsen at $167,427.84. Candidates Whitney Stevens, Steve Haverly and Jesus “Jesse” Carlos follow, with $21,658.16, $13,601.41, and $10,109.71 in funds raised, respectively. Candidate Anthony (Tony) Ginn follows, having reported zero expenditures and contributions.
The News Tribune attended and watched mayoral candidate forums this month so you don’t have to. Here’s a roundup of some of what candidates had to say on housing, public safety, the city’s budget and business.
Housing and homelessness
Housing and homelessness were top of mind for forum attendees and candidates alike. In a housing-themed forum co-sponsored by groups like Tacoma For All, United Food and Commercial Workers 367 and the Tacoma Ministerial Alliance, mayoral candidates discussed their tactics to address homelessness in Tacoma, housing affordability and tenants rights.
Candidates at the forum — which all but Ginn attended — separated into a few different camps in response to questions about Tacoma’s Tenant Bill of Rights. Stevens and Carlos both said they were renters-turned-homeowners and small landlords in Tacoma, and both expressed concerns about how Tacoma’s Tenant Bill of Rights could deter small landlords in the city.
“We want more [Accessory Dwelling Units],” Stevens said at the forum. “We want more small individual landlords. We need to make sure that the system in place is allowing that type of housing to exist.”
Haverly said the city needed to find a “happy medium” that eliminates landlords who are abusive to tenants, and tenants who take advantage of landlords. Hines said he wasn’t a proponent of the Tenant Bill of Rights, and said he felt it pushed existing affordable housing out of the market, which he said was the city’s bigger problem.
Ibsen, on the other hand, said the measure had room for improvement in the realm of licensing, potentially requiring landlords to have business licenses for their rentals.
“I’m speaking a little bit, actually, as a bit of a traitor to my class. I’m actually a landlord who’s not endorsed by the landlord lobby, running for this position. One of my opponents is, though,” Ibsen said, likely of Hines, who is endorsed by the Rental Housing Association of Washington.
Public safety
Candidates seemed to somewhat converge on their stances on public safety. In response to a question in TV Tacoma’s mayoral forum — which Haverly and Carlos were absent from — about how they would improve community relations with the Tacoma Police Department, “community policing” and improving response times was a popular refrain.
Ibsen was among that group, as was Hines, who added that he wanted to solicit feedback from community members to find out what the department could do to help Tacoma residents feel more safe. Ginn also suggested encouraging officers to spend time in the communities they work for.
Stevens outlined similar plans, emphasizing transparency and increased communication with Tacoma residents and Tacoma police officers to identify their needs.
“Accountability starts at the top. It means that the mayor, the city manager, whatever form of government, those leaders, the police chief, are talking about this every single day,” Stevens said at the forum.
Business
Business was top of mind for attendees at Tacoma Rising’s mayoral forum and watch party, in which candidates answered questions in a pre-recorded video and answered follow-up questions at the forum.
The discussion, particularly that around the proposed Workers Bill of Rights, drew clear lines between candidates. Organizers with the Tacoma Democratic Socialists of America and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union 367 recently took the next step in getting the proposal on the ballot, which could among other things set a $20 minimum wage in Tacoma.
Ginn said he supported it, and Carlos said he didn’t. Ibsen and Hines said they were in favor of the sentiment behind it but could not support it “as it’s written.” Haverly made the same argument he made at the housing forum regarding the Tenant Bill of Rights — that both employers have been abusive to their employees and employees have taken advantage of employers, and that the city needs to come up with a plan for both to meet in the middle.
Stevens, on the other hand, said she was the only candidate who signed the petition to put the Workers Bill of Rights on the ballot — “not because I endorse it, and not because I even know if I’m voting for it, but because I understand the motivations behind it,” she said at the forum.
Tacoma’s budget
As the city of Tacoma faces a budget deficit, questions about cutting costs and boosting revenues were among the top subjects of discussion at mayoral forums.
Ibsen and Hines both appeared to agree that the city will likely need to put another property tax hike on the ballot after the recent failures of Tacoma’s streets initiative and a levy-lid lift for the city’s fire department. Hines emphasized that putting effort into drawing more businesses to the city could boost its revenues, and Ibsen said the city would need to look for non-traditional revenue sources, like having Tacoma Public Utilities rent out empty space to local businesses.
Haverly said the city will have to rely increasingly on the state government to help boost Tacoma’s revenues, given instability at the level of the federal government. In response to a question about how to address the city’s budget deficit, Ginn said he wants to focus on Tacoma’s youth, and ensuring they get the education they need.
Stevens took a different approach as she has in other forums, making the case that the city can address its revenue shortfalls by making childcare more accessible to allow for more parents to join the workforce. She also said police accountability is also a budgetary issue, given the amount of money the city has spent on lawsuits related to police conduct.
“That should stop, because that is money we cannot afford to lose,” she said at the TV Tacoma forum.
Carlos, at the mayoral forum on housing, said the city needs to “democratize the capital” that it needs to invest in new programs, like efforts to encourage affordable housing in Tacoma.
“I know that people have their feelings about what NFTs and blockchain technology can do,” he said at the forum, drawing audible surprise from audience members. “I’m serious. I teach it at Harvard, and it really is a way to democratize the funding of social housing projects.”
