Mayor Strickland: Eight years of singles but no home runs

Departing Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland is proud of her accomplishments, among those the improvement in graduation rates among Tacoma Public School students.

What she doesn’t talk about are the closing of several library branches and the reduction of staff, plus losing DaVita and the Russell Company, a building now occupied by State Farm.

Strickland will hand over the reins to Victoria Woodards, who has to deal with public opposition to an LNG plant, along with housing affordability, rising poverty and homelessness, and attracting family-wage jobs to the area. It’s too bad Strickland wasn’t able to get Amazon to locate here.

The $30 million infrastructure project to develop Ruston Way might be fine for the businesses and residents on the North End, but it doesn’t help fill potholes in other parts of town.

The major street repairs only started happening in her last term, and those projects are mainly around Tacoma Avenue and 11th Street.

One thing the mayor should be congratulated for is her love of nature with all the beautiful gardens and safe parks.

Thanks, Mayor Strickland, for eight years of singles but no home runs.

This story was originally published January 3, 2018 at 4:54 PM with the headline "Mayor Strickland: Eight years of singles but no home runs."