Hundreds of statewide labor activists joined with community leaders and local residents to call on Hollander-Marriott and all Greater Tacoma low-paying, taxpayer-money-taking companies to fuel an economic recovery with good jobs. Washington State JwJ is a leading force calling for responsible development, which led to this event as the largest local worker rights action in recent memory.  Radio and corporate print media more than noticed.

Hollander-Marriott purchased their downtown Courtyard site at a “deep discount” from taxpayers, snatched waterfront-mountain views from the taxpayer’s Convention Center, and “brutalized” the architecture of Tacoma taxpayer-financed luxury renaissance, according to the press.  The City Council agreed to this in the name of jobs as Hollander-Marriott made promises to the Mayor, Council, and residents and their unions.

But Hollander-Marriott “went back on their word” to pay living wages, hire locally, and abide by a labor harmony agreement, according to former Mayor Baarsma.  Hollander built the downtown Marriott using Canadian workers earning poverty-wages.  The hotel continues

Continue reading Hollander-Marriott Takes Tax Money, Fails to Provide Good Jobs

In a big policy shift, the Tacoma, WA City Council questioned subsidies for a Hollander-Marriott luxury project that may not benefit the community, bucking developer lobbyists and the City Manager.  For weeks, City Council-members led by Connie Ladenburg held off indemnifying Hollander and sticking taxpayers with toxic liability at the privately owned site.  The hotel is sited for the Thea Foss Waterway next to the bankrupted and nearly empty luxury Esplanade condos, also government subsidized and built on the backs of low-wage workers.

The shift occurred while Urban Grace Church organized for a recent candidate forum on Responsible Development and amidst a now three-year JwJ free speech campaign to press the City Council to embrace justice values linked to the City’s luxury subsidy policy.  Now six candidates are referring to “sustainable development” in two Tacoma Weekly articles although not all seemed to include economic justice in the term.  Some candidates prefer Bush trickle-down welfare that doesn’t address poverty-wage jobs, a root cause of environmental unsustainability.  In their minds, low-wage downtown hotel workers should just commute to homes in affordable places

Continue reading Tacoma Council Challenges Marriott-Hollander to Benefit the Community