Latest news with #Tacomans
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Yahoo
Tacoma's ‘aspirational building' turns 100. A history of the Winthrop Hotel
Downtown Tacoma was once home to a grand hotel. Now 100 years old, the building has seen much change. When it was conceived in the early 20th century, the people of Tacoma had high hopes for the Winthrop Hotel, the city's historic preservation officer Reuben McKnight told the The News Tribune recently. Its elegant decor, grand ballroom, suites and restaurants were made possible by a large group of citizen investors who wanted Tacoma to have a world-class hotel and campaigned across the region to fund the project, he said. 'It's had a long place in the hearts and minds of Tacomans — most people who grew up in Tacoma in the 1960s probably remember going to events there,' McKnight said. Following its opening in the 1920s, it became a central gathering place for people across the city and state, hosting events for both local and larger professional clubs and associations, student dances, style shows, competitions and musical performances, among other affairs. It also served as a lodging and meeting space for notable guests during Washington state's 50 years of statehood Golden Jubilee celebrations and later, during World War II as the military presence at the local army base of Fort Lewis grew. During its early years as a hotel, the Winthrop was infamously witness to some mysterious crimes, including the kidnapping and murder of a local 10-year old boy, the suspicious deaths of an unidentified guest couple in their hotel room and a dramatic attempted robbery that ended with police shooting and killing an escaped convict. It also achieved note as the set of a scene in the 1927 silent film, 'Eyes of the Totem,' by the Hollywood director Woodbridge Strong Van Dyke. Following years of struggling business, the Winthrop Hotel was eventually closed in 1971 and converted into affordable housing units in 1973, according to HistoryLink. Since then, it has changed owners multiple times; despite some discussion of restoring it to a hotel in recent decades, today the Winthrop remains as an affordable-housing apartment building, though some of its original features and rooms remain intact. The Winthrop Hotel had its grand opening at 773 Broadway on May 16, 1925. It was conceived in a local citizens' movement to build a civic center and tourist attraction for Tacoma, according to an article from HistoryLink, an online encyclopedia of Washington state history. In 1922, a group of Tacoma residents led by local businessman Henry A. Rhodes organized to bring more than 2,300 investors onto the project, who then filed their plans as the Citizens Hotel Corporation, according to the article. McKnight said the community engagement in the construction of the Winthrop Hotel made it an 'aspirational building' for the city's residents. 'It shows the vision and future-minded folks of that time in 1920s Tacoma, really trying to boost downtown and attract investment and visitors and turn Tacoma into a world-class city,' he said. According to the HistoryLink article — authored by historian Duane Denfeld — the Citizens Hotel Corp. brought on the Daniel M. Linnard Co. of California to supervise construction and then manage the hotel, and the Linnard Company then selected architect William L. Stoddart, a New York hotel specialist, to design the project. Stoddart enlisted the assistance of Tacoma architect Roland L. Borhek to adjust his design for Tacoma, hoping to capture a space that was efficient, social and suitable for the city, appealing to the needs of working travelers and local residents alike, according to Denfeld's article. The HistoryLink article states construction began in 1923, and the 12-story building was finished by early 1925, unveiling 250 rooms each with a private bathroom, telephones in every room, a roof garden and the Crystal Ballroom complete with Austrian crystal chandeliers and two dining rooms with space for 500 guests. The hotel also featured a parking lot, a beauty shop, restaurants and more than a dozen retail stores at its street levels. Only one other West Coast hotel had a roof garden, making the Winthrop's a rare place, according to the HistoryLink article. Bill Baarsma, a historian and former Tacoma mayor, told The News Tribune on Thursday that he recalled visiting his grandparents during their stays at the hotel and eating in the hotel restaurants, adding he had many positive memories of the hotel's social scene. 'When I was a student at the University of Puget Sound, we had social events there, and I still remember a very romantic evening with a girlfriend; her sorority was having a dance there in the ballroom, and we ended up on the roof and overlooking the skyline,' Baarsma said. 'I still remember these things like they were yesterday.' Michael Sullivan, a retired historian and former historic preservation officer for the city of Tacoma, said the hotel was named after Major Theodore Winthrop, a Civil War officer and author who had written about Tacoma. In his book 'The Canoe and the Saddle,' Sullivan said, Winthrop poked fun at the name of Mount Rainier, a sore spot for early 20th century Tacoma leaders following a latest unsuccessful campaign to change the name to Mount Tahoma, a version of local Native American tribes' name for the mountain. The Tacoma Daily Ledger held a contest to name the hotel and selected Winthrop as the winner, leaving Tacomans satisfied with what they viewed as a sympathetic figure in their mountain dispute, he added. In its first few decades, the hotel was site of some notorious local crimes. According to the HistoryLink article, in December 1927, two convicts — one escaped and one recently released — attempted to rob the hotel's night clerk, but Tacoma police had received a tip. The night ended with a shootout that killed one convict and seriously wounded the other, who went on to serve time in the state penitentiary. In April 1936, a couple staying at the hotel killed themselves with chloroform and went to lengths to hide their identities — which remain unknown — and in December of the same year, the Winthrop bore witness to the still-unsolved kidnapping and murder of local 10-year-old boy Charles Mattson, according to HistoryLink. During its years as a hotel, the Winthrop typically did not exceed 50% occupancy; it achieved only moderate success and did not recoup its original investment for the Citizens Hotel Corp., McKnight said. Still, it served as a popular center for local events and visitors to congregate, hosting proms, dances and weddings in its ballroom, according to HistoryLink. Photos from the Tacoma Public Library's Northwest Online Records and Collections Access (ORCA), a digital photo archive, show the Winthrop hosting a 1927 banquet for the Washington State Associated Master Barbers of America and later, a 1939 Tacoma Bachelor Club ball and style show in the Crystal Ballroom. In March 1926, the hotel was briefly transformed into a fictional Chinese cabaret called 'The Golden Dragon' for an appearance in the silent film 'Eyes of the Totem,' which had been long lost until its rediscovery in a New York City museum vault in 2014. The film was directed by the notable filmmaker Woodbridge Strong Van Dyke — who went on to be nominated for Oscars twice and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — and produced by H.C. Weaver Productions, a motion picture studio that was established in Tacoma in 1924. Historians believe the Winthrop Hotel is likely featured in the other two films produced by Weaver Studios, although their full copies have been lost, Sullivan said. Some events brought people together from across the area, state, or nation — one ORCA image captures a meeting of the American Business Women's Association Tacoma chapter at the Winthrop Hotel in 1963, and yet another photo shows a 1938 Convention of Mayors banquet at the hotel's Crystal Ballroom. In 1939, the National Checker Association held its second annual title tournament at the Winthrop; according to the Tacoma Public Library Online Digital Collections, players from across the United States attended to play for the grand prize of an automobile. The Winthrop was especially busy when it hosted celebrations of Washington's 1939 Golden Jubilee, which celebrated 50 years of statehood and was centered in Tacoma, Sullivan said. ORCA photographs show a Jubilee Queen pageant in the hotel, and local government officials wearing Jubilee hats on the Winthrop's rooftop during the celebrations, which lasted from July 16 to 23, 1939. Sullivan added that another period of heavy occupancy and profit at the hotel was during World War II when the Winthrop served as a business venue for officials working with the military efforts and development of Fort Lewis just southwest of Tacoma. Civilian defense programs were coordinated at the Winthrop — the Tacoma Public Library's ORCA shows a photograph of Tacoma's Zone Air Raid Wardens meeting at the hotel in April 1943 to discuss air raid preparation in case of enemy attack. 'A lot of those meetings were going on in the hotel,' he said. 'During the war, it was pretty full all the time ... and Fort Lewis during the Second World War was, you know, the largest U.S. Army base in America at the time, so we had a ton of people coming and going during that era.' Two upper floors were modified into apartments in 1940, a venture that achieved success when housing was in short supply during World War II, according to Denfeld's HistoryLink article. According to the article, the hotel was leased to Western Hotel in 1947, which opened new dining venues in 1949, including the Daffodil Room — a yellow-themed coffee shop with daffodil curtains — and the Sabre Room, a Old English tap room-themed restaurant created by famed restauranteur Victor Bergeron, also known as 'Trader Vic.' In 1963, the Sabre Room was also modified into a nightclub with colorful accents and live music performances. The hotel also saw local political action. As a young member of the Pierce County Democratic party, Baarsma said, he often met withparty members in the Winthrop's Sabre Room restaurant to discuss their business. Meetings planning the effort for the successful 1970 voter recall of five of the nine members of the Tacoma City Council were held there in the Sabre Room, just down the street from Tacoma's Old City Hall, he added. The hotel had been experiencing financial struggles for years, but it was hit hard by a lack of downtown attractions and tourists and new highway construction following World War II, Sullivan said. In the 1960s, Interstate 5 was completed, encouraging cars to bypass downtown Tacoma, and the 1965 opening of the Tacoma Mall shifted retail opportunities away from downtown and towards the freeway, he added. The hotel tried to find new success. The main dining hall was renamed the Three Keys, and in 1964, a Japanese restaurant named the Kokura — after Tacoma's then-sister city in Japan — opened in what had previously been the Sabre Room. Nevertheless, the Winthrop Hotel was sold to Conifer Corp. in 1970 and closed in fall of 1971, according to HistoryLink. In 1973, the Winthrop was converted into affordable-housing apartments after 46 years as a hotel. The HistoryLink article states that the Three Keys and second-floor Presidential Suite were eventually converted into apartments. Baarsma said the hotel's closing 'was a body blow' that left the downtown area lacking a hotel for over 10 years. Without the Winthrop's large gathering and event spaces, some local culture and festivities struggled to find suitable venues, and some Pierce County Democratic party events, for example, settled for the Rodeway Inn, a local motel, he added. 'Now that the Winthrop was off the table, (there was) a real community effort to try to bring back a hotel, and in the early 1980s, that became the Sheraton, which is now the Murano,' Baarsma said. The Winthrop changed hands multiple times, and for a brief period there was discussion of restoring the building to reopen as a hotel again, Baarsma said. During his time as mayor in the 2000s, local real estate development company Prium bought the Winthrop for $6.5 million in 2007 and had spoken with him in hopes to restore it. As the 2008 recession hit, the building became affordable housing once again, he said. Prium later went bankrupt and the Winthrop was eventually sold to Redwood Housing Partners for $8.5 million in 2015. Today, the Winthrop's exterior remains protected by the Tacoma Landmarks Preservation Commission. Any changes to its façade are subject to commission review and approval, McKnight said. The Crystal Ballroom and penthouse remain intact, though some original features have been covered with vinyl flooring and other cosmetic cover-ups that transformed the interior into modern-day apartments, Sullivan said. Although the materials keep some of the historic floors or walls hidden from sight, they might also work as a protective barrier against wear and tear that could help preserve the building, he added. Redwood Housing spokesperson Reed Dunn said via email that the historic lobby and Crystal Ballroom remain intact. The Crystal Ballroom has continued to hold events. Lysandra Ness, principal of of Arlington Elementary in Tacoma, said she was inspired to hold her wedding reception in the Winthrop's Crystal Ballroom on July 13, 1991 after witnessing a 1920's-themed wedding in the same place years before. Her husband and his family are lifelong Tacomans that were proud to host the event in a iconic place of their hometown, she added. 'I have always been inspired by architecture, and it just has that classic beauty,' Ness said. 'To capture that scene of everyone down below and the beautiful chandeliers behind was just magical.' Her wedding was a community event of its own, Ness said. Her mother worked for Winthrop's management company at the time, Conifer Management, which gifted the venue rental cost to her for the wedding. Further, her mother added accents to her wedding dress — which was inspired by Princess Diana — by hand, another Conifer Management employee worked the bar and dinner for the event, and the best man served as a disc jockey, she added. She said they were secretly married at the courthouse a year before the wedding ceremony and will be celebrating 35 years of marriage this year. 'Everyone came together to help us have the best evening of our lives,' Ness said. Some original features were simply closed off to the public when it became affordable housing in the 1970s, Sullivan said. When he visited in the late 2000s, decorative cornice work in the lobby was still present, albeit hidden behind a false ceiling, he said, adding that other historic artifacts were hidden behind walls, including a tiled barber shop that still had its chairs and sinks. 'It was kind of ghostly, though, when you go in there, because there wasn't a formal door to get into it, we had to go through a section of wall to get into it,' Sullivan said. He added the penthouse was also present with its artistic fireplace, although it faced greater exposure to the elements that had worn it down. McKnight said he has visited the building himself over the years, adding that during one visit he was surprised to find leftover fallout shelter supplies from the Cold War era in the basement. 'There were things like water containers, aid supplies... there were emergency toilets: basically a bucket with some chemicals in it,' McKnight said. 'It reminds us of how much time has passed and how things remain for a long time, like an archaeological site.' According to the Redwood Housing website, the building was last renovated in 2016 and now has 200 apartment units. In 2023, The News Tribune reported on a electrical fire in the basement of the building that displaced hundreds of tenants and damaged internal systems, although no damage to the units was reported. Three residents were treated for smoke exposure. Reached by The News Tribune on Monday, Redwood Housing communications director Reed Dunn said via email that Redwood 'developed a comprehensive, historically significant preservation and revitalization plan that preserved the former hotel as high-quality affordable housing.' 'The redevelopment included the restoration of historic artifacts, new historically compatible windows, the replacement of failing systems, seismic upgrades, elevator modernizations, security improvements, full unit renovations, and an all-inclusive modernization of common areas, including the historic lobby and Crystal Ballroom,' Dunn wrote in the email. To his knowledge, no celebration is currently planned for the building's centennial, he added. Uniquely is a series from The News Tribune that covers the moments, landmarks and personalities that define what makes living in Pierce County so special.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's actions threaten libraries and museums in Washington
Libraries and museums across Washington — and the nation — are under threat. On March 14, the Trump administration issued an executive order to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Staff were placed on leave, and grant termination notices went out to state libraries, effective April 1. This decision strikes at the heart of our communities. IMLS grants have supplemented local funding to provide high-speed internet in rural areas, Braille books for the visually impaired and vital digital resources. In Tacoma, a 2021 IMLS grant helped launch the Community Archives Center, now a national model. Nationwide, IMLS supported 35,000 museums and 123,000 libraries while costing less than 0.003% of the federal budget. Dismantling the IMLS undermines education, economic development and access to information. As a long-time librarian and museum advocate, I urge Tacomans and all Washingtonians to speak out and reach out to your networks around the nation as well. We must call on legislators to protect funding for these essential institutions that support learning, preserve history and strengthen community ties. Learn more and find ways to take action at Elizabeth Bowman, Tacoma l attend Tacoma Community College studying Electrical Engineering. My goal is to set roots in Washington and become an engineer for the state. I want to build better infrastructure for low-income communities. I am a recipient of financial aid, and understand the financial struggles students face. My financial aid covers tuition, but it doesn't cover transportation, food, textbooks, nor other basics needed to simply attend college. Never mind those who also have to pay for rent, phone, and other bills. The legislature has been considering lowering aid while increasing tuition costs. This action would be a detriment to the state of Washington. We need the legislature to pass the substitute bill to instead make financial aid permanent and not raise tuition. Most of my classmates use financial aid and need support to succeed. We are hardworking, driven, intelligent people who want to be participating members of society. Without the state's continued investment, many would have to drop out, leaving Washington without so many of the engineers it needs to grow. Washington needs to reject balancing the budget on students' backs and continue to invest in our future. Kaleb McGhee, Tacoma Laudato Si', is a 184-page letter (encyclical) written by the late Pope Francis that was published in May of 2015. It focuses on care for the natural environment and all people, as well as broader questions of the relationship between God, humans and the Earth. Francis says that instead of viewing humanity as having 'dominion' over the earth, we must see that everything is interconnected and that all of creation is a 'kind of universal family.' Nature cannot be seen as something apart from humanity, or merely the place where we live. He says that our social and environmental crises are thus one complex crisis that must be solved holistically. Laudato Si' had a profound impact all around the world, but eight years later in 2023, Pope Francis published Laudate Deum. Laudate Deum is 73 paragraphs where Francis calls for speedier action against the climate crisis. Pope Francis felt his message had not been heard in Laudato Si'. April 22 was Earth Day. Now is the time to hear the words of Pope Francis and put them into action against the climate crisis to save our common home. Karen Quandt, Edgewood
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rents are out of control, that's true. Rent control will make things worse in Tacoma
Affordability is a crisis, but the rent cap bill in Olympia is the wrong answer. Washington is already behind by 150,000 homes, yet this legislation would force developers to cancel thousands of planned rental units before they're even built. Housing providers will be stuck with rising costs while being forced to cap rent increases, making it impossible to maintain buildings or keep up with repairs. In reality, policies like these have backfired in cities nationwide, discouraging construction, worsening housing conditions and leading to even higher costs in the long run. If lawmakers truly want to help renters, they should expand supply, streamline permitting and incentivize homebuilding — not pass policies that shrink the housing market. Sheri Druckman, Puyallup I recently learned that Roxanne is retiring from Metropolitan Market, effective April 1. For those who don't know, Miss Roxanne has been a shining light at that location since the mid-1990s. For nearly 30 years, she has greeted community members with care, enthusiasm and grace. She went out of her way to say hello and brighten others' day. Sadly, we must now go about our shopping without her trademark, 'Hey, baby!' and infectious smile. I think I speak for the majority of Tacomans in wishing Roxanne a joyous and relaxing retirement. She is truly a local legend whose legacy will be one of profound kindness. Mike Malaier, Tacoma President Donald Trump is on a rampage to eliminate Diversity, Equity,and Inclusion programs. He wants employers to base hiring decisions exclusively on merit, not 'race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin.' Former County Executive Bruce Dammeier did exactly that when he took office in 2017. No DEI department; no preferential treatment. He did, however, improve hiring practices. He imposed a competitive process on all hiring, including seasonal and part-time jobs. He discarded needlessly restrictive employment standards. Outsiders with a vested interest in hiring decisions were excluded from the process. He also recruited prospective employees with diverse attributes who might be unaware of job opportunities, that, or deterred by a perceived lack of fair consideration. Just as important, Dammeier offered County employees opportunities to learn about the cultures of the people they work with and the taxpayers they work for. Call it what you want, Dammeier embraced the true meaning of DEI: hiring the best-qualified employees; reaching out to those with diverse backgrounds; and treating everyone with fairness, civility, and respect. It's a prudent management practice the County should maintain and President Trump should emulate. Dan Grimm, Puyallup Hello, I tried to make my voice heard at the meeting Saturday. the meeting was at Stadium High school; and in order to attend I would have had to park a half a mile away and then walk back in the pouring rain. Being disabled it was untenable. Not to mention the extremely heavy traffic. Why is this even an issue? A hearing about who I can rent my house to? Why? Why can I decide myself? So someone else is going to decide (someone who is more qualified than me) though I have owned the house for nearly 50 years now and I have made a good living renting houses out for years. And when I had a series of strokes some years ago and I struggled with disability; where were they? They weren't around helping me. I did the remodeling of the house to get it ready and rented. Though it was incredibly difficult. And when I first had about 20 strokes and was starving; where was the help I needed to get it done so I could keep my house? Nowhere to be found! And I was able to get it done, with no help from the hotels. Sterling B. Wirth, Tacoma
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tacoma's housing crisis demands solutions: Exploring social housing as a key strategy
Last week, Seattle voters overwhelmingly voted to fund their social housing developer with an 'excessive income payroll tax' on companies paying employees over $1 million. This will significantly expand Seattle's affordable housing supply and adds to the rising wave of long-overdue, popular policies confronting the root causes of the housing crisis. Tacoma's groundbreaking Landlord Fairness Code, municipal wins throughout the West Coast, and the push for statewide rent stabilization in Washington all underscore growing appetites for bold solutions. We must expand upon these victories to address our housing crisis, which has reached a breaking point in Tacoma and beyond. City estimates suggest Tacoma needs 43,000 new housing units by 2044, with over 60% of those affordable to Tacomans earning less than 80% of AMI. Meanwhile, rent increases outpace income, and post-COVID eviction rates in Pierce County and statewide have rebounded dramatically. Even worse, the TNT reports Pierce County witnessed at least a 7% in homelessness during 2024 and is dramatically undercounting deaths. Yet big landlords, developers and lobbyists consistently resist innovation and defend the decades-old, failed reliance on private developers 'building ourselves out' of the affordability crisis. Tax incentives haven't created enough market-rate development at 80% of AMI and above -much less affordable housing — forcing growing reliance on rental subsidies to landlords. At best, these approaches yield well-intentioned zoning reform like Home In Tacoma, which adds density, but ignores the underlying problems with commodified, speculative housing. At worst, they drive inequality, displacement and distrust in housing policies. Tacoma must break with business-as-usual mindsets. Instead, we need bold innovations such as social housing. A Tacoma social housing developer could dramatically expand both market-rate housing and deeply, permanently affordable housing, using income from market-based units to subsidize affordable ones. The benefits would be quicker, stronger and longer than tax giveaways for overwhelmingly market-rate development. Social housing addresses the supply-side problem landlords and developers always lament, without neglecting vulnerable tenants. Social housing would prevent displacement, increase integration, and stabilize neighborhoods. A developer could even convert owner-occupied, single-family homes into multi-family in exchange for affordability. This would allow homeowners to age in place, add density and address legitimate concerns with for-profit development destroying neighborhood character. Independent bonding and progressive revenue taxing wealthy elites or large businesses could make development sustainable with minimal impacts on working and middle-class residents. Opponents of tenant protections relentlessly blame them for depressing housing supply, despite lacking any local data backing this up. The Rental Housing Association led the campaign against the Landlord Fairness Code, organizing outside groups of landlords, developers, and real estate lobbyists into outspending us three-to-one. Their new political action committee, BuildUp Washington, pledged $350k to fight state rent stabilization this legislative session and is spreading outright lies that it causes crime. You would hope, then, that landlords and industry would embrace social housing as an innovative tool to expand affordable housing. Yet some of Seattle's most powerful corporations backed the $500,000, disingenuous, failed campaign against social housing. Tacoma should expect similar well-funded, hypocritical attacks in the coming year, both attempting to reverse tenant rights and to undermine social housing. The crisis continues because prices, evictions and homelessness aren't market failures, but political ones. We invite elected officials to join us in rejecting the failed policies of the past, and pushing for bold solutions. Anyone interested in changing course is invited to Tacoma for All's conversation with Tiffani McCoy, the executive director of House Our Neighbors, who led Seattle's successful social housing and revenue campaigns. Join us 6 p.m. March 18 at Common Good Tacoma, 621 Tacoma Ave S. Ann Dorn is a law clerk with Nexus Legal Counsel and a steering committee member with Tacoma For All. Devin Rydel Kelly is a community leader, recent state legislative candidate, and steering committee member with Tacoma For All.
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What does a federal funding freeze mean for Pierce County, many programs that get aid?
The Trump administration announced it would freeze federal grants, loans and other funding beginning Tuesday, raising questions about how the move would affect Pierce County governments, schools and other local agencies that routinely receive millions of federal dollars to bankroll key programs. A memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget on Monday said that federal agencies must 'temporarily pause' all activities related to paying federal financial assistance, pending a review of funded programs to ensure that spending aligns with the goals of President Donald Trump's administration. 'This temporary pause will provide the Administration time to review agency programs and determine the best uses of the funding for those programs consistent with the law and the President's priorities,' the memo said, specifically targeting activities such as diversity, equity and inclusion, and climate-change policy. Amid confusion about its potential widespread impact, the Office of Management and Budget sought to clarify Tuesday that the federal spending freeze was meant only to weed out spending activities previously targeted by Trump's executive orders within the past week or so, according to The Washington Post. Federal agencies have until Feb. 10 to submit details on any programs, projects or activities subject to the pause. Until then, agencies were required to stop issuing new funding awards or disbursing federal funds under all open awards, according to the memo. The memo, which was widely reported in the media, said the temporary pause was expected to take effect Tuesday afternoon. In Pierce County, officials were uncertain about what the potential stoppage of federal dollars could mean for the many programs that rely upon them. Tacoma city spokesperson Maria Lee, when asked how the city was assessing how a freeze could impact its operations, echoed a statement provided last week after the U.S. Justice Department threatened local officials with potential prosecution if they interfered with immigration enforcement. 'The City will be reviewing the Executive Orders to ensure it is following legal and constitutional requirements, and will be working closely with its state and federal partners to understand the potential impacts and respond to federal policies,' she said. Mayor Victoria Woodards was not made available for an interview requested by The News Tribune. The Tacoma Housing Authority, which says it assists nearly 11,000 Tacomans with housing through federal funding, said it planned to use reserve dollars and conduct business as usual while it awaited further information from the federal government. THA spokesperson Erik Owomoyela told The News Tribune that the agency would remain 'calm and steady' in the meantime. 'It's not clear how this pause will impact THA's programs in the long term,' Owomoyela said. 'In the short term, THA has reserves operations for at least three months.' In a statement, Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department spokesperson Kenny Via said TPCHD didn't anticipate that the freeze would immediately impact its services since it receives most of its funding from Pierce County, Tacoma and the state Department of Health. 'We are reviewing how we may need to adjust our spending if this freeze lasts for an extended period,' Via said. 'That includes identifying specific funding sources that may be affected long-term and engaging with local and state partners about future funding.' Messages left for other agencies which rely on federal funding, such as Pierce County and Tacoma Public Schools, were not immediately returned Tuesday. Those groups and others were among the many in Pierce County expected to receive tens of millions of dollars in federal grants during the current fiscal year, according to the official U.S. government website, which tracks such spending. The money goes toward programs that support a wide array of services, including housing vouchers, opioid- and substance-abuse treatment, student mental health services and academic enrichment, homeless outreach, domestic-violence protection, senior meals, energy efficiency for low-income households, urban search and rescue, and more, data shows. U.S. Senator Patty Murray, D-Washington, raised concerns about the Trump administration action in a letter Monday night to Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget. 'The scope of what you are ordering is breathtaking, unprecedented, and will have devastating consequences across the country,' Murray wrote. A document obtained by The News Tribune, which Murray shared with other Senate Democrats, noted Democrats' fears about the potential implications of the funding freeze. They worried that a pause could hurt a vast number of federally funded programs, including those related to public safety, child care, Head Start, K-12 schools, veterans care and infrastructure projects, according to the document. 'If implemented broadly, as written, this action by the Trump administration could block hundreds of billions of dollars in approved funding—sowing chaos nationwide, hurting American families and businesses, killing jobs, and undermining our national security and emergency preparedness,' the document said. Democratic attorneys general announced a lawsuit Tuesday, and a group of nonprofit organizations filed suit, in an effort to stop the freeze, the Associated Press reported.
