Downtown: On the Go! Wins the Governor's Commute Smart Community Champion Award

Photo (L to R): Paula Hammond, Secretary of Transportation; Julia Petersen, Downtown: On the Go! Coordinator; Diane Wiatr, City of Tacoma Mobility Coordinator; & Governor Gregoire

On Tuesday, April 13th, Downtown: On the Go! proudly accepted the Governor’s Commute Smart Community Champion Award at the Governor's Mansion in Olympia.

The award highlights the significant contributions of local governments and their partners to the improvement of livability in their communities through efforts around multimodal transportation.

Through the building of partnerships between the City of Tacoma, Pierce Transit, the Chamber of Commerce, and 23 downtown businesses, Downtown: On the Go! has provided a mechanism for targeted transportation outreach and advocacy, as well as expanded communication and visioning around downtown transportation and land use issues.

It should also be noted that Patti Sutton, HR Director and Employee Transportation Coordinator of Propel Insurance, a prominent downtown employer, received the Governor's Employee Transportation Coordinator Leadership Award for her outstanding work getting employees out of their cars and onto transit. Due to Patti's efforts and Propel's decision to discontinue employee parking subsidies, Propel's drive alone rate fell from 85% to 49% in just two years! Congratulations Patti!

Elks Lodge redevelopment and New Tacoma Awards top City Center Luncheon agenda

It’s time again to honor the individuals, organizations and businesses leading the revitalization of downtown Tacoma with the annual New Tacoma Awards. Learn about the nominations here. This year’s awards will be presented at the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber’s quarterly City Center Luncheon, sponsored by Gordon, Thomas, Honeywell. The luncheon agenda also includes presentations on the Elks Lodge redevelopment, Spaceworks Tacoma, and the Tacoma Sports Commission's spring events. Register Now!

When: April 16th, 2010
Time: 11:30 a.m. (registration), 12:00 p.m. (program) to 1:30 p.m.
Location: Courtyard by Marriott, Cascade Ballroom, 1515 Commerce St., Tacoma
Please consider walk, biking or carpooling to this event.
If you must drive, validated parking is available in the Convention Center Garage.

The New Tacoma Awards honor recipients in the following categories:

Ghillarducci Award- Recognizing successful new development, renovation or beautification
The 2010 nominees are: Pacific Plaza, LLC; Seabury School; Phillip W. Hall, University of Washington Tacoma

Popham Award - Recognizing the individual that has done the most to build “community spirit”
The 2010 nominees are: Angela Jossy, The Speakeasy Art Cooperative; Jeff Brown, BCRA; Quincy Henry (aka QDOT); Derek Young, Exit 133, Seasonal View, Suite 133

Union Station Award- Recognizing leading organizations, companies or individuals that have built or sustained momentum for revitalization
The 2010 nominees are: Children’s Museum of Tacoma, Tacoma Farmers Market, Business Examiner, Stan Selden

Schoenfeld Award- Recognizing exemplary performance (and pizzazz!) as a retailer or restaurateur
The 2010 nominees are: Doyle’s Public House, Dragon Fly, Watermark Gifts, Tempest, 1022 South


In addition to the Awards the City Center Luncheon program includes presentations on:

Elks Lodge Development & McMenamins Project
Learn about the most recent plans for the Elks Lodge redevelopment project. Local developers and the McMenamin brothers intend to transform the historic lodge on 6th and Broadway into a hotel, restaurant, brew pub and more.

Spaceworks Tacoma: creative use for vacant space
This partnership between the City of Tacoma, Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce, Shunpike and downtown and property owners strives to temporarily establish artist, creative entrepreneurs and ‘stage our community’ infusing vitality, visibility and a much needed critical mass of retailers and activity in downtown Tacoma.

Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Commission spring events
The inaugural Twilight Criterium (a downtown Tacoma bike race) and the annual Dragon Boat races on the Thea Foss are just two of the unique sporting events coming to downtown this spring.

To reserve your seat register on line at http://www.tacomachamber.org/ or contact Janice at the Chamber janiceh@tacomachamber.org, 253.627.2175

Price: $20 Ambassadors prepaid
$25 Chamber Members prepaid
$30 Members at the door
$35 Non-members prepaid or at the door

Love Tacoma – Tonight - Varsity Grill

Looking for something fun to do tonight? Love Tacoma is hosting a March Madness event at the Varsity Grill! Join us to eat socialize, and cheer on your favorite team.

When: March 24th, 2010
Where: Varsity Grill (1114 Broadway, Tacoma, WA 98407)

Varsity Grill boasts a menu of steaks and grilled favorites, mixed with fresh salads and a large selection of burgers and sandwiches. The large bar and lounge feature a rotating selection of domestic and micro brews. There will be a Tacoma Lover signature drink and appetizer for our crew. As always, we will have a raffle with tons of prizes including gift certificates to the restaurant and other great swag. Love Tacoma does not charge a membership fee and our socials are open to everyone. Come Love Tacoma with us!

Explore. Play. Repeat.

Love Tacoma is an informal monthly gathering of individuals who love Tacoma and enjoy exploring the city’s urban hotspots. It’s a great way to meet new friends and celebrate the places, people and activities that make Tacoma great. From casual happy hours to sophisticated wine tastings to next week's most anticipated show, you'll be able to meet and mingle with amazing people in Tacoma's urban community.

For more information, check out our website at http://lovetacoma.com

Downtown Lunchtime Commuter Summit on Thursday, March 25th

If you are a downtown employer or employee, we invite you to join in on this critical conversation about the future of downtown Tacoma’s transit service!

EVENT DETAILS:
Thursday, March 25th, 2010
11:45am – 1:00pm
Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber
950 Pacific Ave., Suite 300

Due to a decline in sales tax revenues, Pierce Transit faces a funding gap of $68 million by the end of 2012. The consequences of this shortfall are real and serious – potential cuts from 51 bus routes to 23 bus routes. These cuts would result in increased congestion, increased road infrastructure costs to accommodate more cars, and decreased air and stormwater quality for our region.

With 32,000 employees and 2,000 employers, downtown Tacoma is the hub of commuter activity for our region, especially transit. For this reason, Downtown: On the Go! is partnering with Pierce Transit to host a lunchtime Downtown Commuter Summit. This Summit will involve a brief presentation of Pierce Transit’s draft service plans for the future - especially those that impact downtown Tacoma - followed by significant time for your questions and comments.

Bring co-workers and your lunch.
Refreshments and cookies will be provided complements of Downtown: On the Go!.

RSVP’s and questions to:
Julia Petersen, juliap@tacomachamber.org

Nominations needed for New Tacoma Awards

Now's your chance to recognize the people and businesses doing fantastic things for downtown Tacoma.

Every year the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber’s New Tacoma Awards recognize businesses and individuals that make outstanding contributions to downtown Tacoma. This year the Chamber will recognize 2010 New Tacoma Awards winners at the City Center Luncheon on April 16th, 2010. Nominations are due March 15th.

Please consider nominating an individual or organization or pass the nomination form on to a friend or colleague. For more information see our previous post. Nomination form.

The Award categories include:

Ghillarducci Award – recognizing successful new development, renovation or beautification.

Union Station Award – recognizing leading organizations, companies or individuals that have built or sustained momentum for revitalization.

Popham Award – in honor of the late News Tribune Columnist Art Popham. This award recognizes the individual that has done the most to build community spirit.

Schoenfeld Award – recognizing exemplary performance and pizzazz as a retailer.

City seeks citizens to advise paid on-street parking plans

The City of Tacoma and downtown stakeholders have discussed plans for paid on-street parking for nearly a decade. This spring the pay stations are coming…really.

The goal of the on-street parking paid parking system is to insure 15% vacancy so that clients and customers in downtown have easy access to on-street parking and the businesses they visit. The City is committed to an extensive public outreach campaign to educate downtown regulars and visitor about the parking pay stations as well as alternatives to driving into and parking downtown.

Stakeholder involvement is a key component to a successful pay station roll-out. As such, downtown stakeholders will be appointed by the City Manager to the Parking Management Advisory Task Force. The Task Force is the primary citizen’s group advising the City on parking policies and essential details of the parking system including, residential and business permits, time stays, public outreach and eventually future expansion of the paid-on-street system.

The City is currently accepting applications to the Parking Management Advisory Task Force. Get your application here. Please return completed applications no later than Monday, March 8th, 2010 to Dana Brown, City of Tacoma Public Works Department, 747 Market Street, Room 520 or email, dbrown2@cityoftacoma.org

For questions or additional information please feel free to contact me, Chelsea Levy, Parking Management Advisory Task Force Co-Chair at chelseal@tacomachamber.org or (253) 627-2175.

Past posts on this topic:
City Council Endorses Parking Meters for Downtown
Paid on-street parking...it's coming...really