Move to Tacoma Podcast

Four guests (yes it was a full room) join Marguerite to discuss the recent candidate filings. This is an honest conversion with a progressive view of politics in Tacoma. The guests are all active in local politics which means that some of them have endorsed candidates or are working for candidates. They all disclose that at the beginning before dropping a wealth of insight about the races and local politics. If you want to know what’s going on in Tacoma politics this year, but also hear great phrases like “air quotes mayor,” then this episode is the place to start. (And Part 2 is the place to finish!)

The post Part 1: Who is running for office in Tacoma and Pierce County? appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

Hunter George, who works for Metro Parks Tacoma and is a City Councilmember in Fircrest. He comes to the podcast to talk about the park system in Tacoma, being South Sound Proud, and the other partnerships that are coming together to make Tacoma and Pierce County a better place to live.

The post On Parks and Living Like the Mountain Is Out – With Hunter George appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

Director of Content Matt Martinez and Director of Development Mary Dunaway talk about how KPLU became KNKX and what it means for news and radio in the Tacoma and Puget Sound area.

The post The new KNKX with Matt Martinez & Mary Dunaway appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

If you like the Move To Tacoma Podcast, you’re going to love Nate Bowling’s new podcast, Nerd Farmer!

Lincoln High School teacher Nate Bowling has been one of our most popular guests. Recently he did a takeover of the Move to Tacoma Podcast and now he’s launching a podcast of his own!

Billed as “A podcast about education, civics, economics, life, and shade in the South Sound” Nerd Farmer is a window into the issues facing our country and our world through the lens of our own community.

In the first episode of the Nerd Farmer Podcast, an interview journalist Anika Anand. Anika is the creator of the The Everygrey. Previously the engagement editor for The Seattle Times Education Lab project, Anika started The Evergrey to help Seattleites make the most of their city. The Evergrey is a publication of WhereBy.Us.

The post Announcing Nate Bowling’s New Podcast: Nerd Farmer appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

Ricardo says there are three main goals for an Economic Development Director: business retention, attraction, and expansion. “You’re looking to grow the industry you have and grow jobs, and at the same time attract new industry and grow the economy… The goal is also to attract investment.”

“When I first came here that’s what I looked at,” says Ricardo. “I looked at who the key revenue generators are and the employers. So when I go into a community I identify whose generating the revenue and supporting the tax base, where the jobs are being created, and where are the services for the community.”

Ricardo shares how they work to attract new money into the community and grow the economy for the people who live and work here in Tacoma. He candidly shares what he sees as Tacoma’s strengths and also what he sees as our challenges.

One of the challenges Tacoma has in attracting new companies to downtown is our lack of class A office space. Since it costs the same to build a commercial building in Seattle or Bellevue as it does in Tacoma- but the rents are twice as high- Tacoma has had a challenge attracting developers to build new commercial space. Currently they’re working with state to develop an tax incentive program.

While it sometimes feels like we have a lot of vacant space downtown, there are actually a limited number of places someone could develop a skyscraper and new offices. Ricardo says he looks at all surface parking lots as a development opportunity. A big part of his focus is encouraging owners of those lots to develop those lots into street level retail with residential above.

Ricardo thinks Tacoma is an ideal place for tech firms to relocate. Local firms like Cloud Power, Red Quarry, Acumula, and more already call Tacoma home. Creating a pipeline of students from the University of Washington Tacoma to support these businesses will help attract more to the area.

What does Ricardo say to locals who are worried that this development won’t help them or will displace them? “A strong economy is a diverse economy,” says Ricardo. “You want to have low income, middle class, and wealthy folks. We have thousands of jobs that go unfilled from Multicare, Fransiscan, JBLM… The whole goal there is to lift folks socioeconomics up.” According to Ricardo, we don’t just want to be a city with low housing costs and low incomes. His feeling is closing the gap in our skills and our education and what employers need will help improve life for everyone in Tacoma and get our unemployment rate down from above 6%.

According to Ricardo, the people who live here have to be equipped to take on the jobs employers have to offer. This is a national challenge, not just a Tacoma challenge. That’s where we bring in UWT, PLU, and Bates and other schools so that they are equipped to train the young people here in Tacoma to take on the jobs that are in most demand. Skills like coding, software development, medical, biotech, and even light industrial all bring in better wages and more stability. Many manufacturing jobs are not coming back, he says. Those jobs are going to go to robots. We need to train and educate young people to pursue careers that have longevity. He also says community members need to be intentional about mentoring youth and supporting their education.

The post Economic Development in Tacoma with Ricardo Noguera from The City of Tacoma appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

Nate Bowling, 2016 Washington State Teacher of the Year, is taking over the Move to Tacoma Podcast for a few episodes. His second guest is Kenny Coble, America’s bookseller. He works at Kings Books and wants you to read Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

The post Nate Bowling Podcast Takeover – with special guest Kenny Coble appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

Nate Bowling, 2016 Washington State Teacher of the Year, is taking over the Move to Tacoma Podcast for a few episodes. His second guest is Dorian Waller, who sounds off on what’s happening in local Tacoma politics. If you are wondering what’s happening in the local races this year, or want unvarnished commentary about the candidates, you won’t want to miss this one.

The post Nate Bowling Podcast Takeover – with special guest Dorian Waller appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

Nate Bowling, 2016 Washington State Teacher of the Year, is taking over the Move to Tacoma Podcast for a couple episodes. His first guest is News Tribune reporter Melissa Santos, who primarily covers Washington state politics. She talks about what’s happening in the state legislature this year as they try to come up with a plan to address the needs identified by the Washington State Supreme Court in the McCleary decision (as well as the regular budget process).

The post Nate Bowling Podcast Takeover – with special guest Melissa Santos appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

Michael Sullivan knows the history of all things Tacoma. He blogs regularly at tacomahistory.live. On today’s podcast he shares fascinating stories and nuggets from Tacoma’s history. Today’s episode covers (roughly) Tacoma’s history from the 1950s to the late 1970s.

The post Tacoma’s History with Michael Sullivan – Part 4 (1950s to 1970s) appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

Michael Sullivan knows the history of all things Tacoma. He blogs regularly at tacomahistory.live. On today’s podcast he shares fascinating stories and nuggets from Tacoma’s history. Today’s episode covers (roughly) Tacoma’s history from 1941 with the internment of the Japanese and Tacoma’s wartime history to the end of the 1950s.

The post Tacoma’s History with Michael Sullivan – Part 3 (1940s to 1950s) appeared first on Move to Tacoma.