Crafts, Trees and Santa Come to Tollefson Plaza

The Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber has teamed up with the Downtown Merchants Group this holiday season to put on the second annual Tollefest.

This winter festival will take place December 4, 5, and 6, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., in Tollefson Plaza, located on South 17th and Pacific Avenue. Admission is free!

Starting on Friday, December 4, Tollefson Plaza will be filled with festive activities and craft vendors. Don't forget to get your winter savings coupon book, available at Tollefest, to take advantage of holiday deals from a variety of businesses throughout downtown.

On Saturday, December 5, Santa Claus will be “coming to town” from noon- 2:00 p.m. and the lighting of the holiday tree gracing the center of Tollefson Plaza is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. The festival will continue on Sunday, December 6 until 6:00 p.m., wrapping up Tollefest—a winter weekend full of fun for the entire family!

Check out the new Tollefson Plaza website www.tollefsonplaza.com for more information about Tollefest and other events in Tollefson Plaza.

Get Your Christmas Tree in Tollefson

Tollefson Plaza, normally a treeless expanse in the heart of downtown comes to life this winter thanks to the Two Five Trees tree lot. The tree lot is made possible through collaboration between Go Local, Downtown Merchants Group, the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber and various city departments.

Two Five Trees opened for business last Friday and will sell trees through the end of the season.

According to the Two Five Trees website, http://www.twofivetrees.com/ you’re invited to “come on down for the best deals on Christmas trees in town (feel free to call it a Holiday tree for any wanting a tree without the “Christmas”). We’re excited to participate in the return of celebrating the holidays in our beloved Downtown!”

Location: Tollefson Plaze, Downtown Tacoma, S. 17th and Pacific Ave

Dates and Times: Starting Friday, November 27th, through Tollefest, on to the end of the season.

What: Lowest prices on Christmas trees in Tacoma; free candy canes, hot chocolate, and boughs; complimentary loading and twine; lots of fun events.
Trees: Blue Spruce, Grand Firs, Douglas Firs, Nobles, Table Top Nobles, White Pine–all grown locally.

Events: Two Five Trees will be a featured part of Tollefest 2009, the first weekend of December. Keep checking back here for details on other fun events lined up like pictures with Santa and live choral performances.

Community: Two Five Trees is firstly about the community of Downtown Tacoma and Tacoma at large. Bring a can of food down and get $1 off your tree. Know a family that can’t afford a tree? Write us and tell us why you think they should be a recipient of one of the trees we’re giving to families in need. But, let’s be honest, doing something, anything, in Tollefson is a community effort in itself. It’s time that Downtown and Tacoma have more feet on the street and engaged in civic centers… even if just to buy a Christmas tree.

Listserve for Washington Flag Displays

Do you wish to be notified for alerts for commemorative displays of the flag in Washington State?

If so, SUBSCRIBE FLAGALERT requires registration. To register the execution of your command, simply point your browser to the URL.

This procedure will work with any mail program that fully conforms to the Internet standards for electronic mail.

You will receive a confirmation email that must be replied to for verification. Finally, your command will be cancelled automatically if LISTSERV does not receive your confirmation within 48h. After that time, you must start over and resend the command to get a new confirmation code.

Transportation Forum a Huge Success!!

Last Friday's transportation forum, titled "Transportation in Tacoma for the 21st Century", included the insights of Tacoma's and the Puget Sound Region's top decision makers in transportation - Eric Anderson, City Manager of Tacoma; Lynne Griffith, CEO of Pierce Transit; Ric Ilgenfritz, Executive Director of Planning for Sound Transit; and David Hiller, Advocacy Director for the Cascade Bicycle Club - gleaned through a rigorous 1.5 hour question-and-answer session.

Over sixty people packed the Simpson Room of the Tacoma Chamber, a co-host of the event, to hear the thoughts of these transportation leaders. Topics such as the future of the Tacoma streetcar system, the Pierce Transit redesign process, collaboration and integration with Olympia and Intercity Transit, and more were covered as the audience peppered the speakers with thoughtful and passionate questions.

Perhaps the key question of the event, and the one that wrapped it up, came from Ben Ferguson of BLRB architects. Ben questioned the speakers on the establishment and communication of a broader vision beyond that of each individual organization represented. When the speakers answered his question with more emphasis of their own organizations' visions as well as a mention of the Puget Sound Regional Council's Transportation 2040 (which is meant to be a vision for the region), Ben pushed back again, challenging the leaders to "inspire us" with a vision into which we all can buy.

As is often the case, the "heart" of an event's topic is gotten at not through the leaders/experts invited to speak, but by an audience member willing to speak up.

Because of the success of this and the October forums, Transportation Choices Coalition along with its regular co-hosts the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce and the City of Tacoma will continue to host Friday forums in 2010, hoping to facilitate a discussion about transportation topics that are inspiring. Further dates and topics will be announced on this blog and on Transportation Choices Coalition's website.

We hope that you'll continue to join us in bringing transportation to the forefront of public discussion!

Transportation in Tacoma for the 21st Century

You're Invited to a Brown Bag Lunch & Interactive Discussion

on Friday, November 13th at 12:00pm

As we plan for the future of our transportation system, Tacoma and the South Sound face many tough decisions. How do parking policies affect the city’s goal to activate the streets with people and commerce? How do we extend the Tacoma Streetcar system? How do we reshape Pierce Transit’s bus system? How does the City best connect regionally? How can we plan for a multimodal future?

To get at these answers and more, The Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, the City of Tacoma, Transportation Choices Coalition, Cross District Association, Tacoma Wheelmen, and others will host a brown bag lunch and interactive discussion with Tacoma’s transportation policy-makers, including:
Eric Anderson, City Manager, City of Tacoma
Lynne Griffith, CEO, Pierce Transit
Ric Ilgenfritz, Planning Director, Sound Transit
David Hiller, Advocacy Director, Cascade Bicycle Club

Open to all—bring your lunch and your questions!

Event Details:

Friday, Nov. 13th, 2009 12:00pm Simpson Room Tacoma Chamber 950 Pacific Ave.

RSVP… andrew@transportationchoices.org

Downtown Officers to Rotate in January

Downtown Tacoma has been fortunate to have Jim Pincham and Marty Price as our downtown officers for the past eight years. Two years ago the BIA successful advocated to delay Marty and Jim’s six-year career rotation and the officers remained in downtown for an additional two years. Unfortunately, we’ve been notified by the Tacoma Police Department (TPD) that their time is up and downtown will get two new officers starting January. Jim and Marty have been true assets to the downtown community. During their tenure downtown has experienced a dramatic decrease in crime, a trend we hope to continue with their replacements.

Thank you, Marty and Jim for your service to downtown. We hope that your new assignments will keep you in the neighborhood!

The people are not the only thing that will change in this reassignment process. The new officers (yet to be named) will patrol downtown on bikes and work the swing shift from the afternoon into the night. Jim and Marty worked the day shift. This change was sparked by a recent analysis that indicated calls for police service in downtown are highest between 5pm and 11pm.

Additionally, two Community Liaison Officers (CLOs) will be assigned to downtown. Officer Wayne Beales and Officer Scott Newbold will cover downtown from 5am to 5pm. Between the new schedule for the downtown officers and the newly assigned CLOs, there will be more dedicated police coverage for downtown than we’ve had in years!

White Lights Make Downtown Bright for the Holidays

Shorter and rainier days are a sure sign that the winter holidays are upon us. In an effort to create a festive atmosphere downtown this year, the BIA is encouraging businesses, property owners and managers to decorate their buildings and store fronts with white lights this holiday season. Lights are available from many outlets, here are two used in downtown in the past:

Silent Lights, Contact: Ben Norbe, (253) 732-9919

DiJulio Displays, Contact: Rita, 1(800) 321-9627, www.dijuliodisplays.com

The holiday stars that adore downtown light posts throughout the season will go up November 18-20. The star decorations are provided through collaboration between the BIA and the Downtown Merchants Group. We will need volunteers on the morning of November 18th to help replace burnt out bulbs. Please contact Jim Burgess, BIA Maintenance Supervisor if you are interested in volunteering, (253) 682-1731.

Happy Holidays!

Friday Forum: Transportation in Tacoma for the 21st Century

You're Invited to a Brown Bag Lunch & Interactive Discussion on Friday, November 13th at 12:00pm

As we plan for the future of our transportation system, Tacoma and the South Sound face many tough decisions.

How do parking policies affect the city’s goal to activate the streets with people and commerce? How do we extend the Tacoma Streetcar system? How do we reshape Pierce Transit’s bus system? How does the City best connect regionally? How can we plan for a multimodal future?

To get at these answers and more, The Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, the City of Tacoma, Transportation Choices Coalition, Cross District Association, Tacoma Wheelmen, and others will host a brown bag lunch and interactive discussion with Tacoma’s transportation policy-makers, including:

Eric Anderson, City Manager, City of Tacoma
Lynn Griffith, CEO, Pierce Transit
Ric Ilgenfritz, Planning Director, Sound Transit
David Hiller, Advocacy Director, Cascade Bicycle Club

Open to all—bring your lunch and your questions!

Event Details:
Friday, Nov. 13th, 2009
12:00pm
Simpson Room
Tacoma Chamber
950 Pacific Ave.

RSVP… mailto:mandrew@transportationchoices.org