Retiring THA director as unassuming as his ’82 Corolla. His legacy, though, shines through
.JPG "Michael Mirra, executive director of Tacoma Housing Authority, is retiring.")
Michael Mirra finally got the call-up he’s been waiting for, he joked late last week.
Nearing his 68th birthday, the native New Yorker is joining the Yankees, at long last.
“Center field would be my first choice, but I’m probably not in a position to be picky,” Mirra quipped, a day after he announced his retirement from Tacoma Housing Authority, where the Queens-born former litigation attorney and housing advocate has spent the last 17 years as executive director.
The joke was earnest and understated, much like the man who delivered it. It was also aided by a long body of work, which is another one of Mirra’s calling cards. His love of the Yankees is well known, like the baseball that sits in his corner office at THA’s Hilltop headquarters is well-worn. It was as though he’d been quietly preparing for this wry punchline for years, not unlike the years he’s spent working without personal fanfare to build the affordable housing units and supportive programs Tacoma needs.
During Mirra’s long career at THA, his preference to avoid the spotlight has been genuine, quirky and characteristic. His lightly rumpled suits and outdated dress hats have been his unassuming uniform, and his 1982 Toyota Corolla — which he’s driven since 1986 — has embodied the unselfish approach he’s taken to his important work. At any high-profile city meeting, Mirra’s car is easy to pick out. So is his influence. Wherever the Yankees ultimately employ him, they’re getting a treasure.
When we spoke last week — as has been the case so many times over the years — Mirra sought to deflect individual accolades, preferring to focus on all the things the housing authority he’s now preparing to leave has recently accomplished. The opening of THA’s Arlington Drive Campus for Homeless Youth and Young Adults and its Rise on 19th development are both prime examples, he noted. The continued success and expansion of the agency’s Education Project, which houses thousands of enrolled students and their families, is another big victory for the agency, he said
This preference, of course, is Mirra’s right, and one of the things that makes the studious executive director endearing in a world full of egos and agendas. He’s also correct: THA is now a model for everything a housing authority can be, and that takes more than a dedicated leader.
Still, that doesn’t mean I have to play along. The fact is, Mirra’s fingerprints — and the humanity that he’s instilled at THA — are all over this city. While he wasn’t born here, Mirra is the kind of person who makes Tacoma special, and like Tom Sawyer listening in on his own funeral, he should be subjected to at least some of the praise he’s so modestly sought to avoid.
When Mirra began his career at THA — hired first as lead legal counsel — the redevelopment of Salishan was only beginning to take shape. As executive director, he’s transformed an agency and the city it serves, for the better, according to Stan Rumbaugh, who was early in what has now become a 24-year stint on the THA board when Mirra was hired. Today, THA houses more than 10,000 people, with a 2021 budget of roughly $87 million.
On Monday, Rumbaugh, now a Superior Court judge, looked back on his early interaction with Mirra and recalled a plucky advocate who was always well prepared. While Mirra’s role as an attorney pushing for more affordable housing occasionally put him at odds with THA back in those days, Rumbaugh said he was always impressed by Mirra’s ability to make a compelling case, and hiring him was one of the best decisions THA has ever made.
“(THA) would have never gotten to this point, unless you had somebody with Michael’s skill and dedication to bring us there,” Rumbaugh said. “Michael could have gone anywhere. He could have run the New York City Housing Authority, or Denver. Anywhere in the nation would have welcomed him to run their agency and he was committed to Tacoma.”
Working with Mirra over the last 12 years, it’s a commitment that April Black, who currently serves as THA’s deputy executive director, has seen firsthand. When Mirra retires in July, Black will step into the role of interim director of the agency, knowing it will be impossible for anyone to fill Mirra’s shoes.
Black said Mirra will leave THA in good shape for such a big transition, but she’ll be sad to see him go. Mirra has had a monumental impact, Black said, from the completion of Salishan and the new housing developments the agency has built in recent years to the tireless legislative lobbying efforts that have paid for them.
“He really sees places where others are not willing or able to step in or step up, and he creates a way for THA to do that,” Black said. “I will miss the way his mind works. ... He’s been an amazing leader for this community, and he deserves a lot of recognition for that.”
Before hanging up the phone Friday afternoon, I asked Mirra a question that has long fascinated me, always knowing deep down that any focus that diverged from THA’s mission of providing housing and stability to those who need it most would make him squirm. (Retirement, it turned out, finally provided the excuse I needed.)
After all these years, why didn’t he ever buy a new car? And what does the fact that he never did say about him, and how he views his work at THA?
It inspired a story I’d never heard.
Back when he was still debating whether to take the job, he met a colleague for lunch. Mirra drove, but forgot to turn off his lights. When they returned, the battery was dead, Mirra recalled, and the ‘82 Corolla required a push start.
“I asked her if she knew how to pop a clutch,” Mirra said of his former coworker, who — nonetheless — went on to recommend his hiring.
As Mirra now prepares to drive into the sunset at the end of a remarkable career at THA, I like to picture it going similarly.
Over nearly two decades, Mirra has provided so much of the push that the city has needed to help make sure Tacoma is a place where people can afford to live. While work clearly remains, we wouldn’t be where we are today without him.
Mirra deserves to know how important he’s been, whether he wants to hear it or not.
This story was originally published May 4, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
