TNT Ed Board welcomes a cop, an LGBTQ+ advocate and a former Bonney Lake council member

Since 2020, The News Tribune Editorial Board has slowly and intentionally transformed itself. When we started, the COVID-19 pandemic presented new, unfamiliar challenges. But we also faced an age-old problem: the glaring lack of diversity and experiences on the board.

Championed under the leadership of The News Tribune Editor and President Stephanie Pedersen, who arrived in Tacoma the same year, the addition of community representatives to the editorial board has helped us begin to rectify this deficiency.

Jim Walton, a local Civil Rights icon and Tacoma’s first Black city manager, was the first to join the board in this capacity. Over the last four years, Walton’s input and voice have been indispensable.

More recently, the TNT Ed Board welcomed Amanda Figueroa, a first-generation college student who lives on the Eastside and works in student affairs at the University of Washington Tacoma, and Kent Hojem, whose presence on the board helped ensure our discussions include a trusted voice in suburban and rural Pierce County.

Hojem, who retired as executive director of the Washington State Fair in 2022, decided late last year to relinquish his position on the TNT Editorial Board. From what we understand, he now spends his time on a remote piece of land in Lewis County. We hear Hojem is thrilled about this new chapter of his life, and we are grateful for his year-plus of service.

While we’re sad to see Hojem go, his departure presented the TNT Editorial Board with an opportunity to evolve. We didn’t just set out to fill a void; we were determined to make good on our ongoing commitment to reflect the place we call home — and the diverse readers we serve in Tacoma and beyond.

In late April, we welcomed three new community representatives to the board. Each of them brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that will serve us well, particularly as we embark on an important 2024 election cycle and the jam-packed slate of crucial endorsements.

Justin Evans is no stranger to East Pierce County. He moved from California to Sumner more than two decades ago. Since 2011, he and his wife have resided in Bonney Lake, where the couple is raising a daughter and Evans recently concluded eight years on the City Council.

Among other things, it was Evans’ passion for his community that won us over. He sits on the board of directors at GoodRoots NW, formerly the Bonney Lake Food Bank, and Beautify Bonney Lake, a grassroots organization dedicated to local volunteerism.

Before seeking elected office, Evans worked as a legislative assistant for Jim Kastama during the current Puyallup mayor’s tenure in the state Senate. Today, he’s the director of operations at a manufacturing company based in Tukwila. During his time on the Bonney Lake City Council, Evans served as chair and vice chair of the Pierce County Regional Council.

J. Manny Santiago, the chief of equity and community partnerships for the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, should also be a familiar name to TNT readers. Prior to accepting his current position, Santiago served as the inaugural executive director of the Washington State LGBTQ Commission and, before that, as executive director of Tacoma’s Rainbow Center, a vital LGBTQ+ advocacy, education and resource center downtown.

Raised in Puerto Rico, Santiago is an ordained minister who promises to encourage critical introspection and thoughtful debate on the TNT Board; he was the first openly gay Latino to be ordained a minister in the American Baptist Churches.

A long-time champion of LGBTQ+ rights who is no stranger to difficult conversations with people whose views and beliefs span the political spectrum, Santiago lives with his husband in Tacoma’s West End. He was appointed to the Tacoma Community College Board of Trustees in 2022 and has previously served on the boards of Tacoma Community House, Tacoma Art Museum and Tacoma Public Library.

Finally, Bart Hayes is about as Tacoma as it gets. He grew up here. He went to school here. He and his wife are raising a family here. And for more than 20 years, he pinned a badge to his chest as a proud member of the Tacoma Police Department.

After retiring from TPD in 2021, Hayes went to work at the Criminal Justice Training Center in Burien, where he now serves as an advanced training manager at an academy responsible for teaching police recruits from across the state the basics. Given Hayes’ job responsibilities, he’s well versed in the reformed procedures and de-escalation techniques outlined in Initiative 940, which was approved by the state Legislature and a vote of the people in 2018 and was designed to reduce the unnecessary use of deadly force.

We first spoke to Hayes early this year, during the reporting that went into our 2024 civic agenda. The thoughtful and informed vantage point he offered on the issues of policing and criminal justice reform proved critical, and we’re excited he accepted our invitation to join the board.

Please help us welcome Evans, Santiago and Hayes to the TNT Editorial Board.

We’re better with them seated at the table.

The News Tribune Editorial Board is: Matt Driscoll, opinion editor; Stephanie Pedersen, TNT president and editor; Jim Walton, community representative; Amanda Figueroa, community representative; Justin Evans, community representative; J. Manny Santiago, community representative; Bart Hayes, community representative.