Move to Tacoma Podcast

Carla Santorno is the beloved Superintendent of Tacoma Public Schools. Seven years ago she moved from Denver to Seattle to take a position as the Chief Academic Officer for Seattle Public Schools. After three years in Seattle, she came to Tacoma to lead Tacoma Public Schools as Superintendent. Carla and her husband have had four children of their own and moved to Tacoma’s Brown’s Point neighborhood.

When Carla moved to Tacoma, the graduation rate at Tacoma Public Schools was 55%. As of 2016, the graduation rate at Tacoma Public Schools has risen to 82.6%. Carla hopes (and is working hard with everyone in the district) to exceed 85% by 2020. This year Carla was nationally recognized for the incredible successes Tacoma Public Schools have had during her period of leadership and awarded the 2016 Women in School Leadership Award from the American Association of School Administrators.

The post Tacoma Public Schools Superintendent Carla Santorno appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

T’wina Franklin is a Director and Board Legislative Representative for the University Place School District. Nowadays T’wina has four children, but she originally moved to University Place 15 years ago with her daughter and husband when he was stationed at Fort Lewis.

Through her time working with different schools in the University Place and Tacoma School Districts and teaching at Stadium High School, T’wina has started a program called Ladies First to empower young women. Join us for her story!

The post University Place Schools, Tacoma Public Schools, and the Ladies First program with T’wina Franklin appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

Can vegetarians and vegans live and eat happily in the City of Destiny? Today’s guest Keryn Giguere is here with tips and tricks for vegetarians and vegans in Tacoma. Whether you’re interested in dining out somewhere fancy or everyday eating,

One of the most challenging parts of eating vegetarian or vegan anywhere is other people’s judgement. “People have a stereotypical idea of what I eat,” says Keryn. “I eat what you eat, just without meat. The hardest thing about being vegetarian or vegan is other people’s perceptions of it.”

When you’re starting to eat vegetarian “Do what works for you, it’s ok to mess up,” says Keryn. “It’s ok not to be perfect.”

According to Keryn, Tacoma still needs “mainstream vegetarian and vegan junk food” like Pizza Pie in Seattle, but we also need a date night restaurant like Seattle’s Plum restaurant (from the owners of Quickie Too!).

Show Notes:

Keryn Giguere – Windermere Professional Partners

China Study – The book Keryn read when she became a vegan

Quickie Too – Vegan Restaurant in Tacoma’s Hilltop Neighborhood

Marrow – Has lots of Vegetarian & Vegan options

Viva – Vegan and raw food

Happy Belly – Great smoothies, vegan banh mih sandwich

Little India Express at Freighthouse Square– Lots of Vegetarian and Vegan options

Marlene’s – Natural food grocery store

The Food Coop – Tacoma’s only cooperative grocery

Metropolitan Market – Located in Proctor, specialty grocery items

Hong Kong Super Market – Located in the Lincoln District

The post Vegetarian and Vegan Life in Tacoma with Keryn Giguere appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

We had Steph Farber in for an interview last month to talk about his family’s Jewelry Store LeRoy Jewelers that has been in Downtown Tacoma since the 1930s. Now he’s back to tell us more stories about Tacoma’s past.

Our delightful and meandering conversation explores topics such as “Why is it called the Murray Morgan Bridge?” and “Where did Tollefson Plaza come from and who is it named after?” “Who was that guy that held the Tacoma Elk’s building hostage forever and why did he do that?”

As a lifelong Tacoman Steph has a wonderful historic perspective on Tacoma’s attitude, angst, and perceived struggles. Seen through Steph’s lens, Tacoma is a place with tons of history where many of our mistakes have been made before, and many of our struggles have been felt before.

Steph has a theory about Tacoma. “In Greek Mythology Sisyphus was a guy who did something to anger the gods, and his punishment was that he would need to push this big rock up a hill and then it would roll down and he would have to go down and get it and push it back up again. I have the theory that there is much of Sisyphus in Tacoma.”

Did we anger the gods?

“Well, there are reasons to think that we did. The treatment of the natives who lived here. The treatment of the Japanese during World War 2. The Chinese workers, especially.

“In Tacoma it’s a little bit different than Sisyphus. In Tacoma you push the rock up the hill and it’s hard, and it’s steep. In Tacoma you get to the top of the hill- you get to the very top and you look over the edge and you see a golden valley.  And you see commerce, and you see industry, and you see education, and you see frolicking children and you see families having picnics… You see the golden land right before you. And just as you’re about to push that rock that last half a millimeter to finish it up the rock rolls back down the hill. But first it rolls over you. But that’s not the worst part of it. The worst part of it is you finally get yourself up and you turn around and you look at the rock and you say, ‘Huh! It’s not as far down as it used to be. It’s gonna be easier this time!’ Then you start pushing it back up. And you get to the top, and the same thing will happen.”

What is Steph’s advice to people rolling their rock up the hill? “Keep pushing!” 

To hear Steph’s first interview with MoveToTacoma.com “The Best of Times and the Worst of Times in Tacoma” click here.

Show Notes:

An picture of the drawing of the Tacoma Civic Center Steph describes in the interview. (Thanks, Julie Anderson!)

Sisyphus – Greek Mythology

The post How Every Tacoman is like Sisyphus- More Stories w/ Steph Farber of LeRoy Jewelers appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

Top of Tacoma bar owner JaimeKay Jones is a Tacoma legend. From opening one of Tacoma’s best bars in a business district that was hardly a destination at the time to opening one of Tacoma’s most popular restaurants, Marrow.

JaimeKay Jones moved to Tacoma after an extended period of travel in 2001 and ended up working at a number of iconic Tacoma bars including JazzBones, The Offbeat, and Magoos. Jaime lived in a variety of neighborhoods blowing glass during the day and tending bar at night.

After years of bartending she opened the Top of Tacoma Bar on Tacoma’s east side in 2007.  While it’s been open for less than a decade Top of Tacoma is one of Tacoma’s most beloved and iconic bars. A few years later she opened Marrow in Tacoma’s 6th Ave Neighborhood to great acclaim. Recently she sold Marrow to the team from Hilltop Kitchen.

Join us to hear Jaime’s advice for launching a successful bar or restaurant in Tacoma. Spoiler Alert: Sign a good lease and be ready work REALLY HARD. And hire great people. “Part of my magic has always been my staff. I’ve got a really special crew,” says Jaime. “We have a mutual respect. I try to honor them all as individuals and we all have our own personalities, that’s for sure. Treat your staff well.”

The post Open a Great Bar with Top of Tacoma’s JaimeKay Jones appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

Join us as we continue part 2 of our interview with Matt Martinez, Director of Content for KPLU 88.5FM. After moving to Tacoma’s Proctor District and taking his job at KPLU this summer Pacific Lutheran University’s leadership decided to sell off KPLU to a Seattle station on November 12th.  The sale was stopped after an outcry from the community – and KPLU now has just a few short months to secure funding to buy itself from the university.

The cost to purchase the station is $8,000,000. The community has until June to help them raise that money. The crazy thing is, they’ve already raised 1.5 million dollars!

Join us as Matt talks about the importance of locally sourced news for Tacoma, and why saving KPLU is good for Tacoma, in Part 2 of this episode we will talk about what losing KPLU would mean for public radio, news programming, and music programming in the puget sound region and what you can do to help.

Click here to learn more about how you can help support KPLU.

Visit the following link to attend a Save KPLU event:

http://events.publicbroadcasting.net/kplu/events.eventsmain?action=showCategoryListing&newSearch=true&categorySearch=226682

If you missed Part 1 of this podcast click here:

Save KPLU 88.5FM with Matt Martinez Part 1

The post Why Saving KPLU Matters for Tacoma with Matt Martinez Part 2 appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

Matt Martinez worked is way up the chain at NPR’s All Things Considered until he was the Senior Producer (the person who runs the show from day to day). He was happy and living the NPR dream in Washington D.C. until he came to Tacoma to visit a friend and fell in love with it.

Matt got his new job as Content Director for KPLU 88.5FM and moved to Tacoma’s Proctor District. Unfortunately, this was right before Pacific Lutheran University’s leadership decided to sell off KPLU to a Seattle station on November 12th.  The sale was stopped after an outcry from the community – and KPLU now has just a few short months to secure funding to buy itself from the university.

The cost to purchase the station is $8,000,000. The community has until June to help them raise that money. The crazy thing is, they’ve already raised 1.5 million dollars!

Join us as Matt talks about the importance of locally sourced news for Tacoma, and why saving KPLU is good for Tacoma, in Part 2 of this episode we will talk about what losing KPLU would mean for public radio, news programming, and music programming in the puget sound region and what you can do to help.

Click here to learn more about how you can help support KPLU.

Visit the following link to attend a Save KPLU event:

http://events.publicbroadcasting.net/kplu/events.eventsmain?action=showCategoryListing&newSearch=true&categorySearch=226682

To listen to Part 2 of this interview click here:

Why Saving KPLU Matters for Tacoma with Matt Martinez Part 2

The post Save KPLU 88.5FM with Matt Martinez Part 1 appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

How is Tacoma dealing with environmental issues as a city? Today we spoke with Tacoma City Council Member Ryan Mello (position 8). Ryan is also the executive director of the Pierce County Conservation District. PCD works with the community to improve water quality, promote sustainable agriculture, create thriving habitat, and build a just and healthy food system for all.

I asked Ryan to come on the show to talk about air quality and the recent passage of Prop 3 and Prop A (road and pothole repairs in Tacoma)- but as we were prepping, Move to Tacoma Podcast Sound Guy/Producer Doug Mackey urged me to ask Ryan to explain what is happening with the Methanol Plant that a consortium of Chinese investors has proposed building on the former site of the Kaiser Aluminum plant in the Port of Tacoma. Ryan was happy to talk about what he knows about the plant, and more importantly gave great information and insight to help Tacomans like Doug that oppose the Methanol Plant find points in the process where it can be disrupted.

The first 15 minutes is focussed on air quality and de-paving. If you’re interested in potholes you can skip ahead to about 16 minutes into the podcast. If you’re only here to hear Ryan talk about the Methanol Plant, start the podcast at 29:50.

According to Ryan:

There’s not a very black and white way for those who want to build the project to build it, and there’s not a very black and white way for those who want to oppose the project to oppose it.

It’s elected officials job to help concerned citizens navigate this complex process to educate themselves and ultimately oppose it if they choose.

The port of Tacoma is an independent government separately elected. The Port of Tacoma follows Tacoma’s land use laws but they are elected, the port owns the tide flats, they have their own economic development strategy, and they do not answer to the Tacoma City Council. They answer to their constituents.

Ryan would like to see concerned Tacomans lobby the Port Commissioners to produce a more progressive economic development strategy.

Our water comes from the Green River. (I didn’t know that.)

The City Council will NOT get to vote on the Methanol Plant. The city permits and regulates the plant.

        The current zoning allows for a Methanol Plant at the port.

The city staff will study all concerns and questions brought forward (for about a year) and then deliver a draft environmental           impact statement. Water use, power use, combustibility, pollutants- there is so much on the table for the City of Tacoma to             investigate.

If Tacomans are going to effectively lobby against the plant, they need to understand who the decision makers are and what the process is. The decision makers in the process (at this time) are The Port of Tacoma Commissioners and the City of Tacoma Planning Director. The planning director is charged with analyzing the risks and whether our infrastructure can support this project.

If you’d like to learn more about the Methanol Plant check out this info:

Seattle Business, “Chinese Investors Propose to Build Three Methanol Plants in the Region”

KPLU 88.5FM “Tacoma Residents Will Get A Chance To Weigh In On Plans For Giant Methanol Plant”

The News Tribune, “City, port leaders point to each other as methanol debate escalates”

Redline Tacoma, a site made by local residents that oppose the construction of the Methanol Plant in Tacoma

For information on Air Quality, The Environment, and Potholes in Tacoma check out these links:

Information on the Tacoma Pierce County Smoke Reduction Zone

City of Tacoma, “Prop 3 and Prop A Pass”

City of Tacoma, “Six Year Comprehensive Transportation Plan”

Depave Tacoma – Learn more about changing concrete to soil.

The post Air Quality, Potholes, and the Methanol Plant with Ryan Mello, Tacoma City Council Pos 8 appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

Heather Joy is the Executive Director of Spaceworks. Spaceworks is an organization that matches artists and creative entrepreneurs with vacant spaces to activate Tacoma. “We work with property owners of vacant spaces that are interested in filling them and taking a chance,” says Heather. “Rather than having a for lease sign in the window forever.”

Heather and her husband and children moved to Tacoma to take the job at Spaceworks after living on Vashon Island for years. Now she is working to grow Spaceworks to help match more landlords and tenants together.

It’s no secret that Tacoma has vacant windows and storefronts around town. Heather talk about her work contact landlords and attempting to create opportunities for artists and entrepreneurs to sign leases and create businesses in those spaces. To learn more about Spaceworks, click here to watch their video.

How is this funded? How do you become a Spaceworks landlord or Spaceworks business? Check out our interview with heather and learn more.

Some Spaceworks Clients that you might have heard of:

Fabitat –  Cultivating community through urban arts education.

Tinkertopia – Creative Reuse Store

1120 Creative House – Coworking

The post Starting a Business in Tacoma’s Empty Spaces with Heather Joy from Spaceworks appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

Thanks for tuning into our first podcast episode of 2016!

If you’ve never met Steph Farber from LeRoy Jewelers in Downtown Tacoma, you’re in for a treat. Steph’s parents founded LeRoy Jewelers in Downtown Tacoma in the 1930’s. He grew up riding his bike around a thriving Downtown Tacoma and grew up to see the businesses sucked out of downtown in the direction of the Tacoma Mall in the 1960’s.

Before the mall opened, Downtown Tacoma was thriving. As Steph remembers it, “The store was kind of an anchor for me. It was in a very busy downtown, a traditional downtown. With one, two, three, four departments stores… one, two, three, four movie theaters.” says Steph. “Everything was there.”

“One thing that everybody knows is that 50 years ago the Tacoma Mall opened,” says Steph. “The Bon Marche moved out followed by a lot of other small businesses… all these places that were anchors, serious destination spots in downtown believed their future belonged at the mall instead of downtown.”

Steph tells us about what happened between the 1960’s and the present day, as well as the victories to celebrate and challenges ahead for Downtown Tacoma today.

What does he see as the next step for Downtown Tacoma? “I’m firmly of the belief that a community needs a center,” he says.  “You need a place that when you think of that community you can see a place. Seattle had it with Westlake. Seattle Center is certainly that place, a gathering place for that community.”

Steph has seen a lot! Join us as he shares his memories:

Show Notes:

Steve Cysewski “Wandering Tacoma in the 70’s”

LeRoy Jewelers

First Night Tacoma

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