Norman D. Dicks: “Today I rise in opposition to the amendment from the gentleman from Arizona. The Downtown Tacoma Streetscapes…”

“Today I rise in opposition to the amendment from the gentleman from Arizona. The Downtown Tacoma Streetscapes Improvement Project is a vital economic recovery tool for the City of Tacoma. The Tacoma area has an unemployment rate of 9 percent. In addition, the largest downtown employer has recently announced their plans to move. In response, the community came together and created a revitalization plan to redevelop the downtown corridor. The overall plan is estimated to create 500 new jobs and help transform the local economy. This plan has strong local support through partnerships with the Tacoma-Pierce County Economic Development Board, the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce, the Executive Council for a Greater Tacoma, and the State of Washington. The local business community and other stakeholders have come out in favor of the project. The city is doing their part by investing approximately $35 million in local funds to implement the downtown revitalization plan. Federal investments serve as an important catalyst to allow the leveraging of public and private dollars. This specific funding will be used to develop complete streets, which will involve transitioning existing right-of-ways for multimobile use, including new bike paths, widening sidewalks, and installing medians along the city's main downtown corridor.”