Tacoma’s crime and homelessness debate is raging. Here’s what we should all agree on
Willie Combs sounds exasperated. He exudes energy — and has plenty to say — but when it comes to the recent rash of broken windows and thefts at his Hilltop screen printing T-shirt business, he’s often at a loss for words.
“I’m frustrated because it’s new to me. This hasn’t happened before — until recently,” Combs told me last week, not long after The TSM Shop, which he opened with his brother eight years ago, was victimized for the fourth time in two months.
The third time was the worst, Combs explained — a crime that added insult to injury. He’d recently finished a run of sharp black T-shirts with an orange snarling tiger — which he’d decided to sell as a fundraiser to help his shop recuperate financial losses from previous thefts — only for his window to be smashed once again, and many of the T-shirts stolen.
“We were blessed through COVID to stay open, and I would say we’re busy. We have two full-time employees and one part-time employee. We’re providing jobs to people. My business alone supports seven kids. … I’m just up here trying to make my minivan payment,” Combs said.
“It’s hard.”
Combs is one of several Hilltop business owners recently interviewed by The News Tribune’s Craig Sailor, all of them operating out of the iconic Johnson Candy Co. building and all the victims of similar crimes.
Like plenty of other Tacoma small business owners, Combs is also an example of what’s at stake — and the hardworking people who get caught in the middle — when we fail as a city to effectively address issues like policing and homelessness.
Combs said he’d rather not get into the blame game. Having worked on Hilltop for nearly a decade, he knows how complicated things can be. Given his firsthand experiences — like doing business alongside the massive homeless encampment that took over People’s Park in 2019, and building relationships with many of its residents — he has a better understanding of the complexities than most. He’s not reluctant to share his views — including the belief that drug use is a major contributing factor in the recent spike in crime — he just knows that none of the simple narratives are entirely true.
Still, somewhere within that fractious debate, there has to be room to state the obvious:
The broken glass, vandalism and crime that too many local business owners have been left to deal with is unacceptable.
We can disagree on any number of topics — from the need for more police officers to the relationship between homelessness and crime — but we should all be able to see that much.
Combs deserves more. His Hilltop neighbors deserve more. Residents across Tacoma deserve more.
Community debate
So where do we begin? It starts with listening — even when it’s hard, and especially when it challenges our existing point of view.
Take Tacoma Safe, for instance, the group that made headlines last month by hosting a gathering at the LeMay- America’s Car Museum that attracted hundreds of business owners concerned about increased crime and homelessness. Are there reasons to be skeptical of a group founded by Angela Connelly, who has a thorny history working to address homelessness in Tacoma and spearheaded a failed statewide effort to restrict which bathrooms transgender people can use? Without a doubt. Are some of the solutions the group has championed flat wrong? I would strongly argue yes.
At the same time, when local business owners say they shouldn’t have to try to make a living with an unsanctioned encampment at their doorstep, they have a point — whether they’re in lock step with Tacoma Safe or not. When they call the police, someone should show up. When legitimate crimes are committed, laws should be enforced. It’s possible to separate a group from the myriad of voices it seeks to represent, and the frustration being expressed deserves to be heard — because it’s legitimate.
Similarly, groups engaged in homeless advocacy — like the Tacoma-Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness and the Tacoma Democratic Socialists of America — also have plenty to add to the conversation, though they rarely get the same eager reception from elected leaders. Members of these groups are right when they say bans on camping aren’t the simple answer to a complex problem. They’re equally correct when they point out a lack of housing is at the root of the crisis, and when they seek to put the experiences of those experiencing homelessness first — even when ignoring that reality might be easier or lend itself to policy that’s easier to sell to the masses.
All of this brings us back to Combs, and the Hilltop T-shirt business he has no plans to abandon. He’s worked too hard, he says. Plus, he hasn’t done anything wrong.
Like most of us, one thing Combs knows for certain is that things simply can’t go on like this.
It’s not about group hugs and verses of kumbaya.
It’s about resisting the urge to dig our heels in and fall into factions that ultimately do little more than pull us farther apart.
“I’m just up here trying to do my thing. But you know, I’m pretty sure that if this continues, push is going to come to shove, and I’ll start going to City Council meetings and seeing what we can do,” Combs said.
“We’re all frustrated.”
This story was originally published February 16, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
