Editor’s note: The following interview was recorded on July 24, 2025. It has been edited for length and clarity. We want to thank Mattice Hoyt for setting up all these interviews and the candidates for taking the time to answer all her questions. This was the first time we really jumped into local elections in a big way and it ended up being more of a project than we had anticipated. Apologies for sharing these so late in the game. Click here to read the other interviews in this series.
Mattice Hoyt
So, we’re gonna get right into it because you are already quite busy today. What are five words you’d use to describe Tacoma?
Jessica Johnston
Yes, that’s a great question. My five words would be gritty, obviously, because we love our grit. And with that, I would say, we’re tenacious. I mean, it’s almost the same meaning, but we have a lot of tenacity in the city and so grit covers it really well. Yeah, I love that word for us. We’re also a very vibrant community. We’re a very diverse community. Seeing that while doorbelling, it’s very evident and it’s interesting. It’s very interesting to see what a mix Tacoma truly is. So, I love our diversity. I think Tacoma is compassionate. I think that we all are truly good people who want to see the best for everyone. I think a lot of that gets lost in language and the way that people speak. And also their passion. So that would be my last word, passionate. We’re very passionate people, and, and I think that’s why we feel like we are arguing with each other, sometimes in different districts.
Mattice
Can you elaborate on your stance about houselessness right now in Tacoma?
Jessica
Yes. So I look at it as two different things. So I’ll ask to clarify, do you mean affordable housing or homelessness, or both?
Mattice
Actually, whenever I ask these questions I always let you interpret what I meant. So if you want to answer both parts, that’s still good.
Jessica
Yes, and I will, because I think that people confuse affordable housing as a program that would help homelessness, and I think affordable housing is more [applicable] to someone like me. I’m a 44 year old woman. I do not own my own home. I would love to, but there’s a lot of barriers in the way, and it’s very expensive, and so I think that we need to find a way. I know that developers already get a lot of incentives, if you will. And I’m not necessarily suggesting that, but I think that we also need to lower barriers for them in some ways, or speed up the permitting process by bringing the city back to work. Because I think if they are priced out, if they are timed out and they’re not being helped, it raises their costs of materials, of labor, therefore raising the cost of the actual end product home so that it does not become affordable to me anymore.
And so, maybe the dream was to be affordable and build this great community for folks like myself, and I’m not the only one out there. But then it just gets lost in translation or red tape, and that I think is hurting us. I’d also like to see more condos up. I feel like there’s a lot of apartments, and there’s a lot of bigger homes being built. There’s not something in between, like I’m a single woman. I don’t have children and I don’t need a big home but I’d like to not just rent because I do believe that owning property is how you get generational wealth and retire easier.
With our homelessness, that’s something I really want to tackle, and I feel that the way to that is dealing with the why, and not just trying to find roofs over people’s heads. That is important but if you just hand someone a key and you don’t try to resolve why they got there in the first place, it’s just gonna be a horrible pattern.
We all have bad patterns that we’re trying to break, right? Or new habits we’re trying to create. That’s a hard thing to do. Doing that coming from living on the street to that next step, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done and support that needs to happen. So I fully believe in wraparound services and continuum of care. Mental health and substance abuse issues need to be addressed too. Because whether you started because of substance and it turned into a mental illness, or you had mental illness and you’re masking, I think that that’s difficult.
I also think with the homelessness we must again lower barriers to get people help. I got into a difficult conversation with a gal a few years back, who was running for congress, and she said, Oh, well, there’s all these beds and all this help, and people just don’t want it. And I kinda read her and I said let me guess, you’re Catholic. And she’s like, yes! And I go, I bet you celebrate Lent every year, and you give up something for 40 days. She’s like, yes, and I said I bet it’s red wine, and she was like, how did you know? I go just because I know. And I said, I bet you don’t make it every year. And she said, no, I don’t. And I go, even though you have a home to come home to clean pajamas, a bed, a bubble bath to probably take your mind off the fact that you don’t get your one glass of red wine, and she’s, like, oh yeah, all of that is what I do. And I said, okay, well, imagine the person who either is on the street, and it’s the middle of the summer during the heat wave, or it’s the middle of a winter during very cold cold times, hail, and it’s raining. You want them to give up their bottle of whiskey or whatever is keeping them warm and feeling secure at that time, You want them to give that up and get clean on the street without that bubble bath before they can come in and get help? That isn’t sustainable. That will never happen. That is so much money in these empty beds going to waste because you’re deciding where people should be before they come to you before you’re willing to open your doors. That’s not meeting people where they’re at, and it’s just not helpful. I’m sure your heart’s in the right place, but think about it. You can’t give up your one glass of red wine for 40 days.
So I think that people need to really look at how they think they’re helping. And you know if no one’s coming there, then it means your program’s not working. That’s a great indicator of failure. That’s not a measure of, look how great we are. We have all these beds. Well, they’re not helping anyone. So get off your high horse and help.
Mattice
I like that. What’s your stance on the current police presence right now in Tacoma?
Jessica
I feel like it’s getting better. I see more police officers out on the street anyway, not walking, but in their vehicles and I think that’s great. I have faith in Patty Jackson, our interim chief. She seems like a woman who cares a lot about her team. She’s very team oriented, and from my understanding the police department feels far more supported now, and they just have a better working environment. They have a hard job, and so I feel like they deserve to have a healthy working environment where they’re heard, too. There are boots on the ground, they you know, need to be listened to. One thing I would like to change with public safety is, I do wish that the police department came out more to community functions.
Mattice
And not in a work capacity?
Jessica
Correct. And I know that we’re understaffed, and so that’s easier said than done, and that doesn’t go over my head, but I do believe that having community presence by police officers at community events. When it’s not an emergency it would help with people’s perception of the police department. If they know that you are a person and you meet them on a personable level, not because they’re in trouble, or because some sort of crime happened. But just because, hey, I care about the community. I am a civil servant. My name’s Joe, I like cats. Do you know what I mean?
Mattice
Yeah.
Jessica
Let’s get to know them like that so that when we see them we’re like, ‘oh yay, that’s a hero of the city,’ not, ‘that’s a villain.’ And obviously there’s bad apples in every group. I think that we have to just stop our war on police and hating them if we want to all work together. Hate doesn’t fix hate. So we need to get more involved with the police department as they need to with us as well.
Mattice
What’s your stance on our current Mayor City Manager system?
Jessica
I think that it needs to be talked about more because I don’t think people understand how our local government works. And that’s kind of scary because I think they put a lot of weight on the mayor’s position when the mayor doesn’t have that much control.
I also think that the council needs to be a little bit more accountable for the fact that they are technically the sitting manager’s boss, and if they truly wanted to change who that person is, they have the power to do it.
And I think the city manager needs to realize that they work for the council. They are supposed to listen to them, not the other way around. And from my understanding, it hasn’t quite been like that. I don’t know if I believe in changing our form of government. I think it could lead to corruption having it the other way around. I just think there needs to be more transparency in conversation over who does what.
Mattice
What are your plans to ensure that your policies benefit all members of the community, including marginalized groups?
Jessica
Again, I think you must go out to the community and speak to everyone. I think that we need a Tacoma that works for everyone. And we all get a voice, and so I think opening up more community-led engagement in policy would just help hear the voices and getting out to people like I said earlier, like having low barrier meetings with your council members to make sure that you are hearing every voice, because not everyone’s going to go to city council meetings.
Mattice
At five o’clock on Tuesdays.
Jessica
No. They’re working, or they’re tired, or they’re taking care of their family or they’re just intimidated in general. And it’s not so intimidating, but you and I are people that will go out and talk to anybody. If you’re kind of a shy person and you don’t want to voice your opinion in front of all of these people who are there, because sometimes there’s a ton of people at meetings. And if you’re not a public speaker, how do you get your voice across? So I think having the smaller meetings where you know, it’s jeans and t-shirts and tea and just chit chatting. Or walking in the park or whatever, I think will help get those voices heard that otherwise would not be.
Mattice
How will you work with people who have different viewpoints than yourself?
Jessica
I welcome people with different viewpoints than myself. I think it’s important to hear everyone’s perspective, and I think it would be very strange if we all agreed. I would think someone was lying.
Mattice
Echo chamber.
Jessica
Right. So I enjoy difficult conversations. I like a good challenge, and like I said earlier, I like to open my mind. Like, if you have a point that’s never occurred to me and it opens parts of my brain, I feel that that is a win and I think you have to work with people that have a different point of view. You have to cross the aisles, I mean, you just have to. You can’t expect everyone to be like you. So I just think that people need to tolerate each other more. You don’t necessarily have to accept people and be like them and adopt all of their values, but you need to tolerate them and respect them. And so that is very important to me because everyone should be heard.
Mattice
How do you ensure transparency and accountability in your position?
Jessica
Again, it goes back to the town halls. Like right now, I do Zoom town halls online on Fridays at noon and just being accessible to folks, I think is being transparent. I’d like to see more transparency when it comes to taxes and just increases that are going to happen throughout the year. I feel like the city strategically puts out tax increases and acts like, oh, you want these clean streets, don’t you? Like, don’t you care? And of course I do, but then they throw in a weird tax. So I don’t love the way our policy is written.
Most Americans, not just in Tacoma but Americans in general, read at a sixth or seventh grade reading level. So when you try to give them legal jargon and especially when the one thing you think you’re voting on is in 14 point bold font, but the taxes come in with no sunset on page 32 and six point font after a bunch of legal stuff that has already put you to sleep if you’ve read it, I think that needs to stop. It needs to be more like bullet points, conversation, here’s what you need to know.
Mattice:
I hate saying it but you know I go to City Council randomly, I’ll be there. And I literally say, the way that it’s written is by design to keep you confused. Sometimes it takes somebody taking the time to be like, this is what this means in layman terms. And I have seen such a crazy increase in people that are actually interested, if they actually understand. But before, they’re like, I just don’t understand it. I’m not going to go up there looking stupid. And I said, I don’t mind asking stupid questions if I don’t understand it. I’m gonna have somebody explain it to me.
Jessica:
And you absolutely should! 100 percent. For example, I didn’t understand the bike lanes on Hilltop, and all of the benches that they put in. All those things are lovely. I’m not saying that we don’t deserve them because everyone deserves nice things, but when I saw that happening, I thought, what the actual fuck was going on? Like, we have other things that should be a priority over these things. This feels like 10 years too soon. Then, when I started digging into it, it’s federal money that had to be spent. And so, if you don’t spend it now you lose it. And then we’re paying it out of the general fund 10 years from now when it could have been paid for by the federal government. But I wouldn’t have known that.
And so I feel like if we got out in front of it and told people, yes, we still hear you, but we are working on the other things. Otherwise it just looks like you’re not listening to us. I was really upset. It felt too much like someone’s making choices for us that do not live on the Hilltop. But then asking the questions and not shying down, and not just complaining to my local friends about it, but actually going to the city and asking questions, then you find out. You probably shouldn’t have to jump through that many hoops to do that.
Mattice
What are your plans for actual job creation and economic growth in our city?
Jessica
Yeah, that’s a great question. I think job creation goes back to businesses. If we don’t have small businesses, and if we don’t have coordinated efforts to let folks know what opportunities are out there for workforce training. We are failing people. You would probably love an intern or someone to come in and help and teach them the ropes. People think of small businesses like oh, I’ll work for myself. It’s going to be so easy. But no, you have taxes and inventory and vendors to deal with. But you also have a lot of joy and passion, so I feel like if you can show that to people too, it just helps them, motivates them.
As far as economic development and growth, it starts with bringing the city back to work. I’m the vice president and treasurer of the Downtown Tacoma Partnership, and we’re aware of the businesses that are opening and closing. And a lot of them can’t sustain the lack of foot traffic, and I feel like if the city came back to the office at least 4 days a week, not just one, then they’re spending their income in our city, which creates more taxes and revenue for the city instead of us paying our Tacoma taxes and they live in Lakewood.
And we need to be welcoming, so I think being able to tell people like this is how many folks walk through downtown. I’m just using downtown as an example, but when I walk to work I’ll count not just the people that are on 11th but I will look down every street, and I’ve never gotten over 25 people that are on the street between like 7 and 9 A.M on a weekday. The majority of the people are waiting to get on a bus to go to Seattle.
Mattice
That is my last question. Thank you so much Jessica. Congratulations on a good campaign!
Jessica
Thank you!
