Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma (/təˈkoʊmə/ tə-KOH-mə) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States.[6] A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, 32 miles (51 km) southwest of Seattle, 36 miles (58 km) southwest of Bellevue, 31 miles (50 km) northeast of the state capital, Olympia, 58 miles (93 km) northwest of Mount Rainier National Park, and 80 miles (130 km) east of Olympic National Park. The city's population was 219,346 at the time of the 2020 census.[3] Tacoma is the second-largest city in the Puget Sound area and the third-most populous in the state. Tacoma also serves as the center of business activity for the South Sound region, which has a population of about 1 million.
"Tacoma" redirects here. For the volcano after which the city is named, see Mount Rainier. For the vehicle, see Toyota Tacoma. For other uses, see Tacoma (disambiguation).
Tacoma
United States
1868[1]
1872
November 12, 1875
62.42 sq mi (161.68 km2)
49.71 sq mi (128.76 km2)
12.71 sq mi (32.92 km2)
249 ft (76 m)
219,346
221,776
4,412.51/sq mi (1,703.53/km2)
3,544,011 (Seattle urban area) (US: 13rd)
4,034,248 (Seattle metropolitan area) (US: 15th)
Tacoman (plural: Tacomans)
UTC–7 (PDT)
53-70000
1512713[1]
Tacoma adopted its name after the nearby Mount Rainier, called təˡqʷuʔbəʔ in the Puget Sound Salish dialect, and “Takhoma” in an anglicized version. It is locally known as the "City of Destiny" because the area was chosen to be the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad in the late 19th century. The decision of the railroad was influenced by Tacoma's neighboring deep-water harbor, Commencement Bay. By connecting the bay with the railroad, Tacoma's motto became "When rails meet sails". Commencement Bay serves the Port of Tacoma, a center of international trade on the Pacific Coast and Washington's largest port. The city gained notoriety in 1940 for the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which earned the nickname "Galloping Gertie" due to the vertical movement of the deck during windy conditions.
Like most industrial cities, Tacoma suffered a prolonged decline in the mid-20th century as a result of suburbanization and divestment. Since the 1990s, downtown Tacoma has experienced a period of revitalization. Developments in the downtown include the University of Washington Tacoma; the T Line (formerly Tacoma Link), the first modern electric light rail service in the state; the state's highest density of art and history museums; and a restored urban waterfront, the Thea Foss Waterway.
Tacoma
41
147
752
2,661
3,601
2,365
11,027
5,582
243
19,217
Government[edit]
The government of the city of Tacoma operates under a council-manager system. The city council consists of an elected mayor (Victoria Woodards) and eight elected council members: five from individual city council districts and three others from the city at-large. All serve four-year terms and are elected in odd-numbered years. The council adopts and amends city laws, approves a two-year budget, establishes city policy, appoints citizens to boards and commissions, and performs other actions. The council also meets in "standing committees", which examine the council's work in more defined areas, such as "Environment & Public Works", "Neighborhoods & Housing", and "Public Safety, Human Services & Education". The council meets as a whole most Tuesdays at 5:00 p.m. in the council chambers at 747 Market St. Meetings are open to the public and provide for public input.
Victoria Woodards began her term as mayor of the City of Tacoma on January 2, 2018. She is Tacoma's third African-American mayor and third female mayor, and the second African-American female mayor. She succeeded Marilyn Strickland, who was elected in 2009, becoming Tacoma's first African-American female mayor.
Normal day-to-day operations of the city government are administered by Tacoma's city manager, who is appointed by the city council. Elizabeth Pauli was appointed Interim City Manager on February 6, 2017.[44][45] She replaced former manager T. C. Broadnax, who was appointed to the office in January 2012[46] and left in 2017 to become the city manager of Dallas, Texas.[47]
At the federal level, Tacoma is part of three congressional districts. The western portion of the city is part of the 6th District, represented by Derek Kilmer. The eastern portion is in the 10th District, represented by Marilyn Strickland. Northeastern Tacoma is in the 9th District, represented by Adam Smith. All three are Democrats.[48]
Mass media[edit]
The city's daily newspaper is The News Tribune, which has a circulation of about 85,000 (100,000 on Sundays), making it the state's third-largest newspaper. The News Tribune was first published on June 17, 1918, as the result of a merger between two competing daily newspapers: The Daily News, started in 1883;[a] and The Tacoma Daily Tribune, started in 1908.[79] The newspaper remained under local ownership until 1986, when it was sold to McClatchy Newspapers.[80] The E. W. Scripps Company published a competing daily, The Tacoma Times, from 1903 to 1949.[79] Other local newspapers include the Tacoma Weekly,[81] the legal paper Tacoma Daily Index,[82] and the alternative newsweekly Weekly Volcano.[83] The University of Washington Tacoma is served by The Ledger, a weekly student newspaper.[84]
Tacoma's media market is shared with Seattle. Four television stations are licensed to the city: KCPQ 13 (Fox), KSTW 11 (Independent), KTBW-TV 20 (TBN), and KWDK 56 (Daystar); with the exception of KSTW, all stations are owned-and-operated by their respective networks.[85][86] Bates Technical College owns the city's PBS member station, KBTC-TV 28, which serves as the market's secondary PBS station. The city government also runs its own government-access television station, TV Tacoma, broadcasting its meetings and other local affairs.[87]
Nine radio stations are licensed to Tacoma, with two AM stations and seven FM stations; the latter includes NPR affiliates KNKX and KVTI.[85][86] KNKX was owned and operated by Pacific Lutheran University as KPLU-FM until 2016, when public outcry over a planned sale of the station to the University of Washington resulted in its transition to a community licensee instead; KVTI, owned by Clover Park Technical College, was run by college students until its operation was outsourced to Northwest Public Broadcasting of Washington State University in 2010.[88][89] Another station involved in campus radio is KUPS, which is run by students at the University of Puget Sound.[90]
Public utilities[edit]
Tacoma's relationship with public utilities extends back to 1893. At that time the city was undergoing a boom in population, causing it to exceed the available amount of fresh water supplied by Charles B. Wright's Tacoma Light & Water Company. In response to both this demand and a growing desire to have local public control over the utility system, the city council put up a public vote to acquire and expand the private utility. The measure passed on July 1, 1893, with 3,195 in favor of acquiring the utility system and 1,956 voting against. Since then, Tacoma Public Utilities (TPU) has grown from a small water and light utility to be the largest department in the city's government, employing about 1,200 people.
Tacoma Power, a division of TPU, provides residents of Tacoma and several bordering municipalities with electrical power generated by eight hydroelectric dams on the Skokomish River and elsewhere. Environmentalists, fishermen, and the Skokomish Indian Tribe have criticized TPU's operation of Cushman Dam on the North Fork of the Skokomish River; the tribe's $6 billion claim[114] was denied by the U.S. Supreme court[115] in January 2006. The capacity of Tacoma's hydroelectric system as of 2004 was 713,000 kilowatts, or about 50% of the demand made up by TPU's customers (the rest is purchased from other utilities). According to TPU, hydroelectricity provides about 87% of Tacoma's power; coal 3%; natural gas 1%; nuclear 9%; and biomass and wind at less than 1%. Tacoma Power also operates the Click! Network, a municipally owned cable television and internet service. The residential cost per kilowatt hour of electricity is just over 6 cents.
Tacoma Water provides customers in its service area with water from the Green River Watershed. As of 2004, Tacoma Water provided water services to 93,903 customers. The average annual cost for residential supply was $257.84.
Tacoma Rail, initially a municipally owned street railway line running to the tideflats, was converted to a common-carrier rail switching utility. Tacoma Rail is self-supporting and employs over 90 people.
In addition to municipal garbage collection, Tacoma offers commingled recycling services for paper, cardboard, plastics, and metals.