Dec. 19, 2007 at 11:41am

Downtown Crime Reduction : Vexing Phone Booth Finally Removed

For at least two years, dozens of people have been trying to remove the phone booth at 9th and Commerce which has been identified with criminal activities more than any phone booth in the city.

I have heard this single phone discussed by literally dozens of exasperated Tacomans of all walks of life as well as the Tacoma Police Department.  Determining who owned the phone, who had the power to remove it took months in itself. 

Yesterday, it was finally removed:

Nice work.  Thanks to everyone for years of work on removing this thorn from the Theater District.

For more background on the subject, see the New Tacoma Neighborhood Report as a result of a community meeting on March 30, 2006.

See also Tacoma Daily Index feature on April 19, 2007 by Todd Matthews:

Officers also made a steady round of patrols to known "hot spots": the corner of South Ninth Street and Commerce Street, where loitering and alleged drug dealing are rampant (according to TPD statistics, the corner regularly tops a list of most calls for emergency services, and it's frequently the scene of so-called "SET" missions aimed to arrest drug dealers)...

Patrolling downtown Tacoma in the mid- to late-1990s was dangerous. Whereas today the corner of South Ninth Street and Commerce Street is downtown's hotspot, the corner of South 15th Street and Pacific Avenue -- an area lined with shelters and seedy bars -- was a crime magnet.

Thanks for the tip Morgan.