All Roads Lead to... Downtown Tacoma
During the study of traffic patterns on St. Helens Ave between 7th & 9th, the City of Tacoma discovered the narrow street is the natural entry to downtown for a large percentage of travelers from North Tacoma. On Tuesday, May 22, the Council voted 6 – 3 to make St. Helens a one way street southbound (downhill) to ease traffic congestion, essentially creating a funnel into downtown from the Stadium District.
Fresh off the change, the Tacoma Council began looking for other heavily-used access points to downtown Tacoma that they could convert to one way feeders.
According to Mayor Baarsma, “The decision to convert South Tacoma Way, Center Street, and 11th St into one-way streets into downtown was easy. But then we realized that we were neglecting the motherload of streets. The most commonly used access road into downtown, and we almost missed it! That’s why I’m proud to say that at a special meeting last night the Tacoma Council unanimously voted to convert I-5 and the 705 spur into a multi-lane funnel into downtown Tacoma.”
“The Council made the decision,” Baarsma continued, after a meeting with the downtown merchants Thursday night (the meeting was at 6:30 so that all the merchants could come after they’d closed for the night) who supported their decision.
One merchant told Exit133, “After so many years of feeling like the city is ignoring our needs, to have them bring this proposal to us … well, it brings tears to my eyes.”
According to Councilmember Bill Evans, the Department of Transportation expressed significant concern about the changes. “You see, they built I-5 where they did because they wanted to bypass downtown Tacoma. That was the whole point. But merchants don’t want freeways going by them, they want freeway off-ramps all to themselves.”
After some difficult negotiations, the WSDOT agreed to allow all traffic to be re-routed one-way into downtown Tacoma in exchange for the City of Tacoma building more off-ramps to better allow drivers to choose their destinations.
A spokesperson for the DOT confirmed, “Freeways are all about getting where you want to go. Sure, they used to be about getting places quickly, but after all the construction we’ve been doing on I-5 near Tacoma, we realized that routing commuters off the freeway and onto city streets wouldn’t take them any longer than sitting in traffic like they have been doing. With this new plan, the commute time doesn’t lengthen plus we get to support local retailers. It’s a win/win!”
Now that the DOT has given up on trying to make the freeways fast, a whole new way of getting people downtown opens up. Said the same spokesperson, “With this new plan, businesses will be able to buy freeway off-ramps right to their doors. And because we’ll be heavily subsidizing the construction, businesses shouldn’t have to pay much more than they would pay right now to buy space on a state-run road sign.”
So far, the Harmon, BKB Galleries, Indochine, and the University of Washington Bookstore have all secured off-ramps that lead directly to their business in the Union Station area alone. (The three museums have partnered to create a special off-ramp that goes to all three museums, but is only open on Wednesdays.)
The logical next question is, “How do people get out of Tacoma?”
“If such people exist,” said Mayor Baarsma, “drivers in downtown who want to get back onto I-5 are advised to take Pacific Ave to 56th and turn left or right, depending on whether you want to go north or south. It’s not that far out of anyone’s way.”
Councilmember Connie Ladenburg, however, is advocating forcing drivers to follow a scenic route before leaving Tacoma. “What if people going from Portland to Seattle had to drive through downtown, then maybe down to Ruston, and out to Five Mile Drive even. We could put a toll at the Zoo so they had to get out and look at the new tiger exhibit. By the time their 3 hour tour of Tacoma was done, they probably wouldn’t want to keep going to Seattle. I bet they’d want to stay right here for the weekend and maybe … forever!”
Editorial note: While Exit133 usually isn’t in the habit of endorsing projects such as this one, we are 100% behind making I-5 one-way. With all those people merging onto 705 … well, we know what exit they’ll be taking.
Disclaimer: We may occasionally stretch the truth or make things up on Fridays… but only when there’s a disclaimer. Everything else is absolutely true. Trust us.
7 comments
L laura Hanan July 21, 2008
I know from first hand experience with individuals that were arrested, released, rearrested, and convicted that many return to this neighborhood because I see them again on the street. Not all of them are transients – many of them have lived in the neighborhood but been evicted.
They return to this neighborhood because they can get away with it. They are here to recommit crime, especially drug dealing. It is basic supply and demand – they go where they have been successful in their business.
Commerce is one of the busiest streets in Tacoma and it’s not because it is a scenic drive.
L laura Hanan July 21, 2008
I meant to add to my comment that I think that the answer is a combination of the community, businesses, and the police actively working together to reclaim neighborhoods and blighted areas.
Much nuisance behavior is tolerated by the police and the community which erodes the fabric that makes up a safe, diverse, and inviting place to visit, shop, and live.
I intacoma July 21, 2008
^ lets all start a youtube channel and post “crime” videos ha
E Erik B. July 21, 2008
Interesting study.
On an initial positive note, at least there is some kind of effort to reduce the relatively high crime rate in Tacoma and Hilltop and examine the role roaming jail releasees contribute to it.
Perhaps the report can lead to preventing crime instead of simply reacting to it.
In 2007, the year with the highest total number of SIPs, 210 people were rearrested in the study area, only 6.6%
I am not sure if they should have used the term “only.”
If the study area included all of Tacoma, the number of people being re-arrested would have increased. The smaller area looked at drives down the number.
A better question may have been how many people are re-arrested in the City of Tacoma who came in from outside the city.
Based on records, it appears approximately 30% of repeat arrestees are homeless or transient.
Not surprising since many released felons and sex offenders identify themselves to the state as being transient.
N NSHDscott July 22, 2008
Rearrests aren’t the only measure of negative effects. First of all, not all repeat offenders will be rearrested. Second, the mere presence of criminal types can encourage others to break the law, and discourage people like us from spending time in the area, thus limiting its potential for improvement. They don’t have to be actively breaking the law (again) and getting caught (again) to have a negative effect.
Ultimately, do we really need to conduct studies to know that rounding up law-breakers from all over and turning them loose in one area is a bad thing? Isn’t it just common sense?
R Rollie July 22, 2008
I am a member of the Pierce County Criminal Justice Task Force. After we were presented with this report we had the chance to discuss its findings and methodology. The report consists of two memos, the second answers questions raised by the Task Force in its discussion of the first. The summary posted here on Exit133.com does not include several of the most important facts and findings from the study:
1. SIPs are by definition charged with minor offenses (over 43% were driving related, for instance driving without a license).
2. SIPs in the study population who were re-arrested were all charged with minor offenses.
3. “Frequent Flyers” (including especially those who are transient/homeless) are for the most part repeatedly arrested for minor offenses (the more serious offenses on the list were more likely to have been committed by one-time offenders).
In other words, there is no mention of the types of charges to which the SIP release method is applied, and no mention of the fact that chronic offenders for the most part are arrested over and over again for minor charges, as is the case across the country. We were also informed that the jail does not SIP individuals at times of day when Pierce Transit is not operating in downtown Tacoma.
We discussed at length the findings that a large percentage of the Frequent Flyers are listed as transient/homeless and what that means for the County:
1. The lack of available services to address mental health and drug/alcohol dependency needs is a major problem for our county.
2. Programs such as Housing First help to provide ties for the transient/homeless to the community. Those with strong community ties are less likely to commit crimes.
I must admit that the results of this study surprised me (and I believe a number of other Task Force members). After spending time around the jail both by myself and with the Tacoma Police Department I felt that the “Catch and Release” process did cause harm to the area around the jail and the Hilltop. The data does not support this assumption. I suggest that everyone reads both memos fully prior to drawing any conclusions.
S Sally Perkins July 22, 2008
The fallacy in the data is that it focuses on “arrests.” Many crimes are committed for which an arrest is never made. Just ask those of us who call 911 with regularity—how many times does our call result in an arrest? Not very often, as TPD must personally observe the illegal activity to make an arrest. 3000+ SIPs dumped onto Tacoma Avenue and into the Hilltop do indeed contribute to a high crime rate and a sense that in this area, a person can get away with just about anything—and even if s/he gets caught, will be SIP’d out of the Jail (again). Using arrest data to “prove” anything here is not valid.