It was around Thanksgiving 2015 that I got the green light from Seattle Business to proceed on a feature length, 1,300-1,400 word article about the city of Tacoma’s economic resurgence.

Over the past two months, I have amassed quite a lot of quotes, statistics and anecdotes proving that Tacoma is heading in the right direction following a dark recession in which unemployment in the winter of 2010 peaked at 11.9 percent and now, as of October, dropped to 5.7 percent.

I have plenty of sources to thank that have helped me along the way as I gathered data. Specifically, Ricardo Noguera, Tacoma’s director of economic development director, who was very responsive every time I shot him an email with a burning question about this or that. In addition to answering questions and being a key source, he introduced me to others who have played a huge part in growing Tacoma’s renewing economy.

And of course, I also thank my wife, Helen, for all her support, and my now 18-month-old daughter, Jocelyn. All the while, I’ve kept up my stay-at-home dad duties while also plugging away at this story.

This weekend I’m zeroing in on the first draft of this story, before I send it off to my editor, Leslie Helm, who I also graciously thank for all his support. I’m looking forward to seeing my hard work in print come this spring 2016.