Miguel Flores is a McKinley Hill resident who struggled and fought with the City of Tacoma planning department to open the Neighborhood Coffeehouse.  When Miguel moved to the McKinley Hill, he immediately began dealing with the drug dealing, driveby shootings, vandalism.  The neighborhood has improved, drug dealers have been evicted, individuals have begun to conquer their fear and help to put pressure on criminals and criminal activity.  It is the beginning of a success story, but the progress McKinley Hill is making could be in jeopardy.

Around March of this year, Miguel observed an individual who appeared to be casing houses that appeared to have no one home.  Two hours later when he returned, the individual was still there, pretending to distribute flyers. Miguel contacted his neighbors and alerted them to the suspicious individual.  They called the police, and a patrol visited the block, and the individual wasn't seen again.  Miguel's activities and contacts with neighbors and city agencies have led to a wave of citizen involvement.

Office Hayes from the Tacoma Police Department informed Miguel when he called that minor crimes are not followed up - vandalism, property crimes, drug dealing, petty theft - they simply don't have the manpower to investigate or follow up. 

Rogers Park was a haven to prostitution, drug dealing, vandalism, until Miguel took the lead on connecting with Safe Streets, the Metro Parks Chip in program, the Tacoma Police Department.  Miguel organized community meetings with Dometoppers, Safe Streets Weed-n-Seed, and the Tacoma Police Department, a volunteer group to pick up garbage and enlisted neighbors to keep watch over the park, elected attendants to mediate between visitors to the off leash park, to set expectations for dog owners, and arranged for security lighting to be installed.  Since these steps have been taken, neighbors are more involved in observational security, drug dealing and prostitution have decreased by 75%.

The Top of Tacoma bar and cafe and the Neighborhood Coffeehouse both opened earlier this year.  As a result, The business district on McKinley Hill is more populated by employees and customers visiting the businesses, which reduces the opportunity for crime to take place.  Since the cleanup of the Rogers Dog Park, it has drawn more citizens to the neighborhood, further reducing the opportunity for criminal activity.

Miguel has lived on McKinley Hill for 3 1/2 years, and states that the neighborhood's improvement has been dramatic.  When he first got here, there were shots at night 3 or 4 times a week, and in his first year, he remembers at least 4 homicides that took place within a few miles of his house.  In the past year and a half, there have been no drive-by shootings or homicides on McKinley Hill.

What Miguel and Chris didn't count on, and the thing that more than anything else, threatens the continued existence of the coffeehouse, is the City of Tacoma.  On more than one occasion, Miguel and Chris were told they needed to address certain issues.  The building permit stated clearly that some repairs needed to be made to the wheelchair ramp.  After the repairs were made, the city changed the deal, and refused to issue a building permit without extensive structural reinforcement to the basement, which Miguel and Chris had previously been told were not necessary.

"I don't believe it was intentional, but I believe they were negligent."

This entire episode serves as an indictment of a system which is not effectively serving the neighborhoods or the people of Tacoma.  The McKinley Hill neighborhood is in severe need of revitalization and the City of Tacoma's planning department was effectively working against a private entrepreneur willing to invest tens of thousands of dollars into helping the neighborhood change its future.  The City changed the rules repeatedly, costing Miguel and Chris tens of thousands of dollars in unplanned-for construction costs and tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue, due to the delay in the opening of the business caused by the unprofessional execution of the planning department's responsibilities.