I stayed at a hotel near the Tacoma Dome during the big ice storm a couple years ago. My truck was vandalized, thieves cut the gasoline filler line by going under the truck. I guess they siphoned gas. (So much for locking gas-filler doors, which my truck as stock. I'd have rather they stole the gas without destroying my ability to drive the truck.
There might be some nice areas but mostly Tacoma is pretty much a step above a slum. Pierce county is full of crime and gangs, too. A few years ago some low life shot four cops as they were eating breakfast. He was on the lam for a week and a bunch of people in the "neighborhood" were harboring him.
It's that kind of place. And yes, it is heavily minority in many areas, and the minorities are racist and will get YT if they can.
The Hilltop Crips are notorious.
If you go down and read their motto's it is easy to believe they shot someone in a BMW in a parking lot, just cause they could get away with it.