Tacoma’s HEAL team does lots of good for the homeless community | Opinion

HEAL team does lots of good

As street outreach workers for several decades now, we write in favor of the HEAL team.

We live in a neighborhood which is blessed with a shelter, low-income, transitional housing and outreach services.

During the height of the pandemic, we estimate 150 to 200 people slept on our street.

As a neighborhood we had very little success finding temporary housing for anyone, let alone permanent housing.

Eventually, unhoused and housed experienced the fallout from competition among various gangs that infiltrated the encampments and were trying to claim this territory for their drug and sex trafficking “businesses.”

Screaming, overdoses, gunfire, glass breaking, sirens, etc. The next day, scarce details about the rape, injury, overdose, even murder. Details scarce, but the suffering was great.

The HEAL Team got a lot of people out of that hell and into shelter. They continue to do that to this day. They are doing the hard work that no one sees.

Michael Sterbick and Dotti Krist-Sterbick, Tacoma

Shouldn’t back ethics violator

I was disappointed to see The News Tribune endorse a mayoral candidate who has been found in clear violation of the city’s ethics code. This same candidate also failed to secure the endorsement of his own professional peers at the Association of Realtors.

In contrast, John Hines has earned the unanimous support of the current City Council, along with endorsements from nearly all of his former primary opponents!

Todd Steel, Tacoma

Krishnadasan provides good perspective

In a time when politics feels constantly divisive and toxic, Senator Deb Krishnadasan is a breath of fresh air. Her reasonable, proactive approach to working for our community is in stark contrast to her opponent, Michelle Caldier, whose approach both to governing and to campaigning has been very negative and divisive.

I believe in a state legislator who is focused on getting things done for our community as Senator Krishnadasan has done, not on making personal attacks, which has been Caldier’s approach. In her first legislative session, Senator Krishnadasan passed six bipartisan bills that increased childcare options and made our ferries safer. She also secured funding for our schools and completion of the tech school in Bremerton. Her opponent accomplished nothing and voted against funding healthcare, education, and transportation needed by our district.

I’m happy to have Senator Deb Krishnadasan on my ballot this year and plan to vote for her.

Luellen Lucid, Gig Harbor

Need more forest protection

Commissioner Upthegrove was elected on a promise to permanently protect 77,000 acres of Legacy Forest. Yet his day-one action was only a temporary pause, not a true moratorium.

Last month, when he held a press conference to announce “permanent protection” of those 77,000 acres, the map told a different story. It was riddled with mistakes — protecting only part of the promised acreage while putting 29,000 acres, including some of the most ecologically valuable forests, back on the auction block for logging.

This is a broken promise to the public and to the future of Washington’s forests. The map must be corrected, and the remaining 5% of Legacy Forests on State Lands must be permanently protected — no exceptions, no loopholes, no more rollback.

Washingtonians voted for real forest protection, not a shell game. It’s time to honor that commitment and safeguard all remaining Legacy Forests — fully, accurately, and forever.

Laurie Kerr, Battleground