Election: Beale, Neal excel for Tacoma council

There are many skilled candidates this year running for Tacoma City Council. However, none are more important to vote for than Chris Beale in District 5 and Meredith Neal for at-large Position 6.

For six years, Tacomans were incredibly fortunate to have architect David Boe on the council to sift through, interpret and modify vast, complex tomes of Tacoma’s land-use code to ensure new projects had good urban design and vibrancy, and supported the goal of affordable housing. During his short tenure, Boe helped shift Tacoma from a vacuous suburban model to a more walkable, livable one.

Without an adequate replacement for Boe, Tacoma will once again fly blind on urban design and housing affordability issues.

Beale is chairman of the Tacoma Planning Commission and a senior planner for the City of Puyallup with a degree in urban studies. Likewise, Neal is recent member of the Tacoma Planning Commission and has a degree in Urban Planning and Community Development.

With both Beale and Neal on council, Tacoma would be more walkable, affordable and sustainable.

This story was originally published July 20, 2017 at 5:41 PM with the headline "Election: Beale, Neal excel for Tacoma council."