Vote “No” on the Tacoma Housing Provider Fee and Enforcement Initiative Ballots for the November general election have been mailed and should already be arriving in Tacoma voters’ mailboxes. Among the measures on this year’s ballot is a sweeping new rental regulation proposal that the City Manager estimates could cost taxpayers and businesses $8 million to $10 million per year, on top of a projected $40 million General Fund budget shortfall for 2027–28. The Tacoma Housing Provider Fee and Enforcement Initiative, officially known as Safe Homes for All Initiative Measure No. 1, would add a costly new licensing and enforcement structure on top of Tacoma’s existing rental housing regulations. With the City’s budget already stretched, those new costs would compete with the General Fund dollars that pay for police, fire, and other core city services. Read more about why Future 42 recommends a NO vote on Safe Homes for All Initiative Measure No. 1: future42.org/vote-no-on-the-…

A Coast Guard Officer was murdered in cold blood this summer and police eventually found his killer... Or so they hope. We are now getting insight into the uphill battle prosecutors have to prove the suspect was the actual trigger puller. This story and more on The Spotlight with David Rose. @DavidRoseFOX13 | The Spotlight | @fox13seattle 'The Spotlight: Police chase leads to investigation break in murder case'

Tacoma prosecutors are declining 52% of all misdemeanor cases that Tacoma PD files, and the reason goes much deeper than ideology. First, lets start with the cops. The police officers are doing their jobs by arresting criminals and submitting proper evidence. We also understand that they have actively told the prosecutor's office that they are willing to come to court to testify. We can imagine there is a bit of demoralization when officers feel they risk their lives for essentially nothing. But alas, they continue to try. Next, let's discuss the prosecutors. Tacoma is supposed to have 6 prosecutors that focus on low level crimes such as tickets and misdemeanors. They currently have 3. Running at half capacity means they have to be especially picky on which cases they charge, since they can only handle so many between the 3 of them. The rest of the cases have to be dumped with no charges filed. Finally, lets discuss the 'why' aspect. We don't know exactly why Tacoma isn't able to hire 3 more prosecutors, but we can look at another prosecuting office that also has trouble retaining prosecutors; Snohomish County. Recently, we highlighted a KOMO story out of Snohomish County where the elected Prosecuting Attorney was warning about staffing shortages creating years long backlogs of felony level cases. Lynnwood Times dove a little deeper and discovered that between 2018 and 2024, there was a 100% turnover in that office. That's really, really high. The number one factor cited was low and uncompetitive pay. Let's take a look at what starting pay is for a Tacoma prosecutor: $85,316 Now lets look at what the average starting salary of a private attorney is in Tacoma, according to Salary dot com: $114,000 A $30k difference is not a small amount, and could easily explain why Tacoma is having such a hard time recruiting lawyers. Unfortunately with a $40 million deficit, Tacoma leaders are probably not able to do much about that right now. So lets review. ✔️Cops are arresting criminals, and spending the time to submit evidence. ✔️Prosecutors are understaffed and over worked, and unable to accept over half the cases referred to them. ✔️The city is broke and can't pay prosecutors enough to fill their budgeted slots, so they can prosecute every case. ❌Most criminals in Tacoma are getting a free pass to continue committing more crimes. Not a good situation to be in. @LynnwoodTimes 'Prosecutor’s Office still facing case backlog, lack of resources may be the issue' Article: lynnwoodtimes.com/2024/07/23… @JeremyHarrisTV | @komonews 'Backlog at Snohomish County prosecutor's office leaves victims waiting years for answers' Article: komonews.com/news/local/back… @jasonrantz | @SeattleRedMedia 'Rantz Exclusive: Tacoma prosecutors declined 52% of the misdemeanor cases they reviewed, as half their prosecutor jobs are empty' Article: seattlered.com/crime/tacoma-…

The Ballard Graffiti Boat is becoming a safety hazard and the WA Department of Natural Resources is rightfully looking to scrap it, but; the cost estimate to do so is now close to a million dollars. And this is taxpayer money, since the likelihood the defunct owner pays is low. However; WA DNR also reports that it has 358 known hazardous vessels it needs to scrap, and we can't help but wonder what the total cost to taxpayers will end up being. All with little to no consequence to the people who left them there. @LaurenDonovanTV | @fox13seattle ''Ballard 'graffiti ship' removal could cost over $600K' Article: fox13seattle.com/news/remova…

Seattle, facing a budget crunch so bad that there are proposed cuts to the Fire Department, is funding almost $5 Million in "climate pollution" grants. Looking deeper; most of these grants appear to be paying to replace natural gas appliances with electric ones inside nonprofit ran shelters, using the (detrimental) JumpStart tax to fund it. @komonews 'Seattle awards $4.6M in grants to cut climate pollution in affordable housing' Article: komonews.com/news/local/seat…

Each one of those marker on the ground is from a shell casing...

"There is going to be a bill to authorize a 75 year low interest loan for Sound Transit." Legislators told attendees at the Ballard Sound Transit meeting this week that they will again be pushing SB 6148, which would extend the loans Sound Transit can borrow from 40 years to a lifetime long 75 years. This is because Sound Transit doesn't know how to budget...much like the legislature that wants to bail them out with loans your adult grandchildren would be paying on. As if this wasn't bad enough; Dow Constantine told the Ballard audience that they are looking at the year 2060 for their Light Rail, unless more funding is approved by taxpayers. Then it would be "as early as" 2042. For context, the Ballard line was supposed to open in 2035 and cost $4.2 Billion. Now the cost is expected to be north of $20 Billion with a laughably far completion date. @JackieKentNews | @komonews 'Seattle's multibillion Ballard light rail extension still unfunded as leaders target 2042 start date' Article: komonews.com/news/local/ball…

If you have not received your ballot by now, reach out to your county elections office immediately.

On this Future 42 Gas Price Friday... To give you an idea of how much more expensive Washington state's gas prices are than most states in the US; We have the 3rd highest average at $5.34, while our neighbor Oregon is the 5th highest at $4.90. A 44 cent difference, explained primarily by our carbon tax. The only states with more expensive gas than us are the (island state of) Hawaii, and California...which has made its own gas prices artificially higher than everyone else through bad policies like us. We also happen to be one of only four states in the country with a gas price average that still starts with $5. Even with all of this knowledge; Governor Bob Ferguson continues to ignore calls from the working and middle classes of WA to suspend the (useless) Climate Commitment Act carbon tax, at least until gas prices drop. (It's not like the CCA is doing anything for the environment anyways..) Washington state gasoline taxes: $0.96 per gallon WA vs Nation Average: +$1.07 Roads Condition Rank: 48th Gas Price Rank: 3rd highest Washington State fuel tax breakdown per gallon WA Gas Tax: $0.565 WA Carbon Tax: $0.32 WA Hazard Tax: $0.04 WA Low Carbon Fuel Tax: $0.04 Source: AAA

Sound Transit has begun the process to buy or use eminent domain to acquire, 63 properties in the way of the West Seattle light rail line. @HeySamCampbell | @fox13seattle 'Sound Transit to vote on West Seattle light rail'

Washington state's Paid Family and Medical Leave tax rate will hit the maximum allowed 1.2% next year, up from 0.4% when the program began in 2019. Even with the tax hike, the program is expected to run a deficit beginning in 2029. Emily Makings | @WRCresearch 'Paid family and medical leave tax rate will increase to 1.2% in 2027' Article: researchcouncil.org/paid-fam…

"It's been SIX YEARS of this!" The King County Homelessness Authority loses yet another $17 Million dollars in "unrecoverable" taxpayer money, and Ari Hoffman points out that most King County and Seattle leaders continue to remain silent after years of failures like this one. (Probably because they don't want to lose those sweet federal dollars the agency brings in for them) @thehoffather | @570KVI 'Financial review of the King County Regional Homeless Authority found $17 million is unrecoverable'