6th and Sprague closing tonight, city budget woes among TNT’s top stories
Tacoma is grappling with major financial pressures and public safety concerns Thursday, from a structural budget shortfall to a high-profile elder fraud case. Here’s a roundup of the top local stories.
• Tacoma faces a $27 million structural deficit in its $635 million general fund, with expenses growing twice as fast as revenues, newly-appointed City Manager Hyun Kim told the City Council on May 12. The city plans to merge its Environmental Services and Public Works departments and eliminate unfilled positions, including a deputy city manager role, as part of Kim’s “roadmap to recovery”. Police, fire and courts have been instructed to cut expenses by 5%, while all other city departments must find 10% in reductions.
• John S. Winslow, a 57-year-old financial advisor from Fox Island, was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison for stealing more than $920,000 from a 78-year-old Silverdale widow over four years. Winslow used the stolen funds on personal expenses, including a $100,000 down payment on his Fox Island home, a $20,000 hot tub and a $1,400 diamond necklace He was ordered to pay $1,175,475 in restitution. • The intersection of 6th Avenue and Sprague Avenue will close from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. Thursday for pavement grinding tied to a $6.6 million pedestrian crossing safety improvements project. It will close again Monday, May 18 from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. for roadway paving. The project adds signal upgrades, flashing beacons, countdown pedestrian signals and medians, with final striping work expected the week of June 1 through June 7.
• Robert Meadows, a solid waste collector at the Tacoma Recovery and Transfer Center, alleges in a Pierce County Superior Court lawsuit that he suffered life-threatening injuries in August 2023 when a metal T-bar fell from a 40-cubic-yard container. His lawsuit claims the city ignored repeated warnings about defective equipment.
The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by senior editor Adam Lynn. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.