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TACOMAWEEKLY NEWS FREE • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2018
WWW.TACOMAWEEKLY.COM
PORT FINED $159,000 TO ‘DETER FUTURE MALFEASANCE’ OVER WITHHOLDING DOCUMENTS
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By Steve Dunkelberger
stevedunkel@tacomaweekly.com
ierce County Superior Court Judge Frank Cuthbertson slapped the Port of Tacoma with a $159,000 fine for violating the state’s Public Records Act by withholding documents between port, city, Economic Development Bureau of Tacoma-Pierce County and the
Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber officials regarding the 2016 Save Tacoma Water initiatives that bubbled up in the wake of the planned methanol plant siting on the Tideflats. The natural gas to methanol development later died, but the effort to conserve water remained, prompting a grassroots effort called Save Tacoma Water to gather signatures for initiatives that would have required a vote of the people to allow large water users to draw from
Tacoma wells and rivers. Lawsuits ensued over legal questions about citizen-started initiatives, however. Save Tacoma Water and its supporters claimed that the port, city and the business groups had worked together to kill their efforts before the official campaign started. They sought e-mails between the government agencies and the business groups to prove their case. The port first withheld them under the argument of attorney-client privilege
Central Co-op targets summer opening for new Pearl Street location
u See PORT / page A9
Pierce County Prosecutor considers vacating marijuana misdemeanors By Andrew Fickes
By Andrew Fickes
andrew@tacomaweekly.com
andrew@tacomaweekly.com
After a long wait, members of Central Co-op living in Tacoma will soon have a store to shop at. Central Co-op, which had to close its Tacoma store on Sixth Avenue in July 2016 because of a lease dispute, has secured a new site in the former Bargain World building at 4502 N. Pearl St. A 10-year lease agreement has been signed, with two five-year options. Opening date is scheduled for mid- to late-summer 2018. The retail area of the new building at 12,000 square feet, according to Central Co-op CEO Garland McQueen, is more than double that of the Sixth Avenue location. u See CO-OP / page A9
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan’s and Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes’ decision to request that Seattle Municipal Court vacate all misdemeanor marijuana convictions prosecuted before pot was legalized in Washington now has Pierce County’s chief prosecutor considering the same course of action. “I share Seattle’s concern about fairness, job opportunities and the disproportional impact that marijuana misdemeanor charges have on people of color,” said Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Lindquist. “We are looking into this. Our misdemeanor chief is in contact with Seattle to learn from their process and how they’re doing it.” Durkan’s and Holmes’ decision has the potential to vacate more than 500 misdemeanor convictions from court records, representing cases prosecuted by Seattle Municipal Court between 1997 and 2009. Lindquist gave no indication as to how many convictions could be vacated from Pierce County Superior Court records, but the estimate is likely significant. In Washington, according to the Drug Policy
PHOTO BY ANDREW FICKES
Central Co-op’s new Tacoma location is at 4502 N. Pearl St. in the former Bargain World building.
TACOMA PREPS GALLERY
‘THE GLASS MENAGERIE’
ART SHOW AT FULCRUM GALLERY
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GUEST EDITORIAL The massacre at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. is yet another horrific reminder of the United States’ failure to do right by our children. PAGE A5
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