Humble, stubborn and relentless: Tacoma needs more leaders like Catherine Ushka | Opinion

In the late day sun Thursday, at a corner once known for abandoned gas stations and the toxic remnants they left behind, a young girl in gold boots sat knees-first in a bed of fresh beauty bark, tracing make-believe rivers and streams into the soil.

Somewhere, you got the sense, Catherine Ushka was smiling.

Two miles away at the Eastside Community Center, at the very same moment, a standing-room-only crowd of elected officials and prominent local dignitaries paid tribute to the late Tacoma City Council member, who died May 15 after a long, brutal fight with cancer.

Somehow, you got the sense, Ushka wouldn’t have wanted any part of it.

For a no-nonsense advocate for the Eastside who took pride in rolling up her sleeves and saying what needed to be said — even when it was politically fraught — it was never about the accolades, prestige or the tributes waiting at the end.

It was about the work — and the people of District 4.

It was about the girl in gold boots.

Like so many recent improvements and investments in the area, the park along South 48th where the girl played Thursday afternoon — which now bears Ushka’s name — probably wouldn’t have happened without her.

As Tacoma mourns Ushka’s passing, her life offers a lesson:

Our divided politics — and our frayed communities — could use a lot more of the passion and steadfast conviction that defined her.

We need fewer soundbites and more doing, fewer photo ops and more grassroots neighborhood cleanups, less shouting and more listening.

We need more leaders like Catherine Ushka.

The girl tracing rivers in the dirt is too young to read Ushka’s name on the sign and will never cast a vote for her.

It doesn’t matter.

Progress isn’t made with egos or self-serving motives, and Ushka knew it.

It requires humility and unwavering commitment to change.

A champion for the Eastside

There couldn’t have been a more fitting location for Thursday’s public memorial service.

In 2011, when 17-year-old Billy Ray Shirley III senselessly lost his life to gun violence, Ushka was one of many Eastside residents who stepped up to help a grieving community pick up the pieces and, eventually, make something meaningful out of the tragedy.

A member of the Tacoma School Board at the time, Ushka stood alongside Shirley’s mother, Shalisa Hayes, for the next seven years as a vocal champion of what became the $32.7 million community center.

The 55,000 square-foot facility, open since 2018, is equipped with recording studios, a computer lounge and a commercial kitchen — the type of large-scale investments the Eastside has seen far too few of over the years, providing the kinds of opportunities kids like Shirley desperately need more of.

On Thursday, it was the massive gymnasium that took center stage. Hayes was one of more than 500 attendees who filed through the door to pay tribute to Ushka.

This time, it was the community center built in her son’s honor that helped a grieving community grapple with death and pick up the pieces.

Throughout Thursday’s memorial, Ushka was remembered as many things.

Tacoma School Board member Lisa Keating described her as an unflinching ally and eager co-conspirator.

Mayor Victoria Woodards credited Ushka with teaching her to speak from the heart, even when it ruffles feathers.

Speaker of the House Laurie Jinkins recalled Ushka’s selflessness, gratitude and the inspiration she took from those around her, first by using words taken from her final public appearance at what’s now Catherine Ushka’s Gas Station Park and later by reading a condolence letter from Governor Jay Inslee.

Pierce County Council member Marty Campbell, Ushka’s best friend and longtime partner, might have said it best.

Campbell described the woman he loved as a devoted mother, a defender of public education, a protector of public health and a proponent of responsive, compassionate leadership — someone capable of restoring the public’s faith in government.

Amid the pain, tears and profound heartache, the Eastside Community Center was made for events like this, he noted — and Ushka, through stubborn tenacity and an unwillingness to settle for anything less than what her neighbors deserve, helped make it possible.

“She loved Tacoma. She loved the Eastside,” Campbell assured those in attendance.

“She loved all of you.”