Citizen Tacoma

Latest Episodes:

Episode 60: Courtney Love, candidate for Tacoma City Council Oct 04, 2019

Show notes

In Citizen Tacoma’s continuing series of 2019 candidate interviews, we bring you a conversation with Courtney Love.
No, not the Courtney Love who’s a fixture of 90’s alternative rock and so, so many supermarket tabloids.
This is Tacoma’s Courtney Love. She’s challenging City Council Member Conor McCarthy in the race for the Position 7 at-large seat, and she’s a breed of candidate Tacoma has rarely, if ever, seen before.
Love is carving out a unapologetically progressive political profile more in line with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders or Seattle City Council Member Kshama Sawant than anyone currently holding office in Pierce County.
KNKX Public Radio reporter Will James guests hosts. He talked with Love about her route from activist to candidate, her weird calmness during the closest of primary elections (a 12-vote lead secured her a spot in the general election), and what it says about this moment in Tacoma history that a candidate like her has made it this far.

Links

Hand recount in Tacoma City Council primary sets stage for November election

Battle between Love and Johnson headed to recount

Public Disclosure Commission: Courtney Love

Channel 253 membership

Episode 59: Nathe Lawver, candidate for Tacoma City Council Sep 30, 2019

Show notes

In our latest candidate episode, we chatted with Nathe Lawver, who’s running for Tacoma City Council District 1 (the North and West End). We hit on all the usual Tacoma hot topics (affordable housing! Potholes!), but we also talked about mental health. It was maybe the first time anyone has talked openly about their own mental health on the pod, but hopefully not the last.

Also, stay tuned for our next episode, which features KNKX reporter Will James in the hosting chair. Will is an actual professional radio reporter who doesn’t say “um soooo” every other sentence. Enjoy!

Links

Public Disclosure Commission: Lawver Nathe

Lawver adds name to City Council race

Tacoma is for Lawver website

Channel 253 membership

Episode 58: John Hines, candidate for Tacoma City Council Sep 24, 2019

Show notes

We’re deep in our election interviews, y’all. In this episode we sat down with John Hines, who’s running for District 1 (the North and West End) for the second time. John is a longtime educator and Tacoma native who serves on the Tacoma Public Library board.

We talked about affordable housing, public safety, and why John thinks the Tacoma City Council needs to get “back to the basics.”

Links

John Hines for Tacoma City Council website

Public Disclosure Commission: Hines John

Housing, housing, housing. Tacoma City Council candidates address T-Town’s hottest topic

Hines announces switch in bid for Tacoma City Council (2015)

Channel 253 membership

Episode 57: Kristina Walker, candidate for Tacoma City Council Sep 16, 2019

Show notes

Welcome to Episode IV of our candidate interview series. We sat down with Kristina Walker, who’s running for At-Large Position 8 on the City Council (that seat is currently occupied by Ryan Mello, who terms out at the end of the year).

Kristina is the executive director of Downtown: On The Go! and a policy wonk. She probably knows more about transit, transit-oriented development, and parking than you.

We talked about that, how good public transit can promote and support housing affordability, and some things she’d like to see happen on Tacoma’s Tideflats.

*Note: This episode was recorded in late August

Links

Kristina Walker candidate website

Public Disclosure Commission: Walker Kristina

First-time candidate raises second-most cash in Tacoma council raises. Incumbent leads way

Channel 253 membership

Episode 56: Deanna Keller, candidate for Port of Tacoma commission Sep 03, 2019

Show notes

It’s September! That means Election Day is only two months away. We sat down with Deanna Keller, candidate for Port of Tacoma commission, for our third candidate interview to talk about why she says her private and public sector experience (as the president of a company and a longtime educator) make her the right person for the job.

We recorded this interview the same day Channel 253 released original reporting by Sean Robinson that revealed Keller’s company did business with ICE (yes, that ICE) in 2014 and 2017. We asked her about that, and about her views on the environment and what the port’s role should be in protecting it.

Also: We’re going to include candidate Public Disclosure Commission pages in the show notes so you can all check out their election contributions and expenditures. Just some light, nerdy reading before bedtime.

Links

Port of Tacoma candidate has done business with ICE; contracts include covert surveillance equipment

Elect Deanna Keller website

Public Disclosure Commission: Keller, Deanna M

Channel 253 membership

Episode 55: David Combs, candidate for Tacoma City Council Aug 25, 2019

Show notes

It’s the second installment (of many) of our 2019 election season candidate interviews! This time we sat down with David Combs, a Hilltop businessman and political newcomer who’s vying for the District 3 position on City Council. Hear him talk about his vision for the council and his ideas for more support for small business owners in Tacoma.

A note: Your host was really sick the day this was recorded. You can probably hear it. Sorry.

Another note: These interviews are not fact-checked. But you can do some fact-checking yourself: All listeners (and everyone who votes) should check out the the Public Disclosure Commission’s website to see who contributes to the political campaigns of candidates.

Links

Public Disclosure Commission: Browse current candidates by name

Public Disclosure Commission: Browse candidates by year

Combs for Tacoma website

Public Disclosure Commission: Combs, David F

Channel 253 membership

Episode 54: Keith Blocker, candidate for Tacoma City Council Aug 21, 2019

Show notes

Welcome to the first candidate interview of the 2019 election season! We talked with Councilman Keith Blocker, who’s running for his second term representing District 3 in Tacoma, which includes the Hilltop, Central Tacoma and parts of South Tacoma.

Keith grew up in Philadelphia but has lived in Tacoma since he was 25. We talked about the biggest issues facing his district and the city, a few of which we expect to come up a lot this cycle: namely, homelessness and affordable housing.

Keith has one challenger for his seat: political newcomer David Combs. His interview will be posted next. Stay tuned!

Links

Keith Blocker – City Council District 3

Elect Keith Blocker website

Keith Blocker announces bid for re-election

Public Disclosure Commission: Blocker, Keith T

Channel 253 membership

Episode 53: Politics and socks with WA’s next House speaker Aug 13, 2019

Show notes

We were lucky enough to get an hour with Rep. Laurie Jinkins, the speaker-designate of the Washington state House of Representatives a week after she was elected to her new role. She’ll be the first woman speaker, she’s from Tacoma, and she knows how to get stuff done in the Capitol. Goes without saying that Grit City — and the Democratic party in Washington — are pretty excited.

We talked about what the new gig means, how she might differ from her predecessor (current House speaker Frank Chopp), how her sense of humor has helped her build relationships across the aisle, and the direction a few key issues might take in the next year.

Links

WA’s first female House speaker loves a good joke

Washington’s first woman speaker of the House tells The News Tribune about her life

Capitol Happy Hour: Welcome to special session. (What is that?)

Channel 253 membership

Episode 52: What’s the state of tech in Tacoma? Jul 29, 2019

Show notes

Tech companies and startups are that elusive unicorn from the north that the city of Tacoma is always chasing. But positive momentum seems to be building: We sat down with the co-founder of a tech company (Bill Herling of Humming) that recently moved to Tacoma from Seattle, and he had really good things to say. We also spoke with city of Tacoma Business Development Manager Pat Beard and Kristine Grace, an investor from the RAIN biotech incubator to talk about the current state of tech and start-ups in Tacoma.

Herling shared insights on his three chief concerns about moving south to Tacoma. The good news: Since moving here in June, only one of those concerns has borne out.

Check out the episode to learn which one, and hear how Tacoma’s educators and economic developers are joining foces to problem-solve.

Links

RAIN Incubator website

Calling Tacoma a ‘tech town’ is far-fetched. The city could make some in-roads, though

RAIN, RAIN, come our way

Humming, Inc.

Channel 253

Episode 51: Getting to know the Puyallup Tribal Council Jun 28, 2019

Show notes

On this second and very special joint episode of Citizen Tacoma and Crossing Division, we were thrilled to sit down with Puyallup Tribal Council Chairman David Bean and Councilmember Anna Bean (yep, they’re cousins).

We learned the story of the Puyallup Tribe and about tribal government, the meaning of sovereignty, how the tribe has grown in numbers and local influence since the mid-1900s, and what exciting projects and events are on the horizon (hint: That beautiful, shiny new casino is opening sooner than you think!) We also talked about how the tribe’s relationships with other local governments has changed over the years, and what made that possible.

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