Central Neighborhood Council in Tacoma, Washington

CHAIR: Joined CNC Board in February 2010. I was born and raised in Puyallup WA where I could hear and smell the Puyallup fair from my house. I attended Washington State University in 2002 and worked towards a Bachelors of Science in Agricultural Education. During college, I sat on several boards and was involved in many student activities. In 2005 Governor Christine Gregoire appointed me to the WSU Board of Regents as the 8th Student Regent. Graduating from WSU in 2006, I started teaching in the Tacoma Area. Moving to Tacoma in 2008, I soon realized that Tacoma was where it was at, and I purchased my house near S. 23rd and M Street on the Hilltop. I was instrumental in the Pierce County efforts in 2009 to approve Referendum 71 (domestic partnership law). My values consist of a strong, safe, clean Hilltop and Central Neighborhood in order to make sure that our community can be that bright beacon on a hill to serve as a guide post for all citizens of Tacoma.

VICE-CHAIR: I have lived in the central neighborhood area (near S. 13th and Washington St.) since early 2007 and have served on the Central Neighborhood Council since mid-2008. I work in downtown Tacoma as a geological engineer.  My husband and I have been working on remodeling our house and improving our neighborhood since we moved in.  We planted street trees in 2010.  On the neighborhood council I published newsletter in 2010.  Contact me if you have any questions. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

SECRETARY: Matthew joined the CNC in August of 2010. He has lived with his wife and their dog in the the McCarver neighborhood since 2008 and has called Tacoma home since he moved here to attend UPS. Currently a non-profit professional, Matthew serves as the Interim Executive Director for the Point Defiance Zoo Society. He is active, throughout Tacoma, as a community volunteer, donor, board member, and busybody. Matthew believes in community engagement as well as smart, transit oriented, sustainable development as the best ways to make the Central Neighborhood (and Tacoma) a livable vibrant community.

TREASURER (and Coordinator of Hilltop Action Coalition; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ):  I was raised in western Montana where a small town attitude had a profound affect on me and my attitude about community.  You KNEW your neighbors like family, and even if you didn’t like them you’d never let someone do something to them that was wrong.  When I was 14 we moved to Fife where I went to High School, since that time I’ve only left the Tacoma area for a 3-year period (college & a law enforcement experience), but until I moved to Hilltop in 1993, I never felt ‘at home’ here.  Hilltop feels like a small town that happens to be inside a big city.

In 1992, a young woman and her 9-year-old son moved in with me. He became the son I’d never had the nerve to have on my own.  When we decided to buy a house together, the only place we could afford with enough potential was on the Hill (on Grant between S. 12th and 14th). 

I have lived in the Central's Franklin neighborhood since 2004 - on Pine Street between the vibrant 6th Avenue District and South 12th Street.  I have served on the CNC Board since 2004 - including stints as Vice Chair and Chair. My wife, Loree, and I are parents of two beautiful and wonderful girls.  My civic interests include historic preservation, streetcar rail transit, neighborhood revitalization, environmental stewardship and sustainable local economic development.  I see strengthening relationships among neighbors (including neighborhood businesses) through collaboration as a critical role of neighborhood councils.  I am an AICP-certified urban planner for the City of Kent with a background in comprehensive planning, regulatory code writing, map-making, economic development, historic preservation and urban design.

WEBMASTER: I joined the CNC board in November 2010, having moved to S. 12th and Tyler the previous December.  Since 1978 I've resided in Tacoma (North End and West End) and have worked downtown as an independent lawyer.  I have three adult sons, with one living in the North End and two living far away.  I enjoy walking, square dancing and round dancing (with Sandy, my fiance), gardening, computing and Internet stuff, and learning about issues from the local to the international.