Planning for Tacoma's Future at the City Center Luncheon

Make your lunch hour count by coming to the City Center Luncheon, THE place to find out about the plans that are shaping Tacoma's future. The City Center Luncheon is a quarterly event organized by the Tacoma Pierce County Chamber of Commerce.

What: City Center Luncheon - “Planning for Tacoma ’s Future”
When: Friday, November 14, 11:30 a.m. (registration), 12:00 p.m.– 1:15 p.m. (program)
Where: The Tacoma Club 1201 Pacific Ave., #1600

Sponsored by Frontier Bank

Presentations at the Luncheon include:

• Downtown Plan Update / City of Tacoma - Ryan Petty and Peter Huffman
• UWT Master Plan Update / University of Washington Tacoma – Milt Tremblay
• Update on Paid Parking Research in Downtown/ Parking Implementation Committee – Marty Campbell
• Commuting Options for Downtown Businesses / Tacoma Pierce County Chamber– Jessica Holden
• Plans for the Luzon Building Renovation / Gintz Group – Karsen Keever
• Introducing Tollefest - a winter festival in Tollefson Plaza / Tacoma Pierce County Chamber – Joanne Buselmeier

Register by visiting the Chamber's Website or call Janice Hutchins, 253.627.2175, janiceh@tacomachamber.org

A Reason to Come to Tollefson Plaza…Showcase Tacoma

Showcase Tacoma, a multi-disciplinary arts experience takes place in the heart of downtown Tacoma next Friday and Saturday, August 8-9, 11am-9pm.

This 3rd annual event features the exploding local and regional arts scene! Enjoy visual and performing art exhibits and demonstrations, art installations, and performance activities for people of all ages!

Here’s what you can expect:

Awesome music for all tastes: The live music on the Main Stage will include indie rock, jazz, blues, and performances from some of the best high school musicians. The Helio Sequence is headlining on Friday night and has proven to be quite the draw! Before that, you can check out the Iron Artist competition at the Tacoma Art Museum.

Thought provoking poetry: On Saturday Washington State Poet Laureate Sam Green will be reading with special guests. The literary component has exploded this year, so if that is your scene there are readings galore throughout the event.

Art to buy and make: Indie craft artists will be selling unique wares. Try your hand at chalk drawing, ceramics, puppetry, knitting, and even break-dancing. There will broad range of activity and art forms represented from contemporary art installations to little ballerinas.

Good Food: The food and beverage are provided by all our local downtown (predominantly) restaurants/vendors: Pacific Grill, the Harmon/Hub, Maxwell’s Speakeasy, Two Koi, NW Popcorn (great ice cream), Kenya’s Italian Ice, Hot Dog Rod, and Cutter’s Point Coffee.

For more information check out the Metro Parks website here.

Big Events Will Swell Downtown 'Feet on the Street'

The Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center has just released its list of upcoming large events its scheduled for downtown Tacoma area during the next three months. These events will have more than 1,000 attendees, many of whom will be eating, staying and shopping in the downtown area on the day(s) of their events:

March 8: Lee’s Martial Arts Open - 2,400 attendees

March 14 – 16: Remodeling Exposition 2008 - over 3,000 people during this three-day event
March 23: St. John’s Church Easter Service – 3,000 attendees
April 2: Snowmobile Sneak Peak Preview – 1,500 attendees
April 27: Ben Kaplan City of College Dreams National Tour – 2,500 attendees
May 2-4: NW Dive News – 2,500 people during this three-day event
May 9 & 10: Tacoma City Marathon – 2,000 participants

The BIA will continue delivery of its value-added services during each of these events. With all these additional "feet on the street," downtown stakeholders should plan on helping to put their best foot forward, too.

Where is Downtown?

The new page on the City of Tacoma's website previewing the Downtown Tacoma Economic Development Strategic Plan states the following: "Every day, 40,000 employees work in downtown Tacoma..." This number seems too high to many who read it--what's the truth?

First of all, that number reflects the new, larger working definition for downtown--from Thea Foss to Hilltop and from the Stadium District to I-5. The 40,000 number was derived from Claritas, a syndicated provider of demographic information; City staff reviewed this provider's count--which actually was closer to 46,000--and took out obvious doubles, which dropped the total to 40,000.

This doesn't necessarily jibe with standard data sources, such as the population and employment data offered by the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC). The PSRC uses Traffic Analysis Zone (TAZ’s) data, which are supported by Employment Security and CTR information. The challenge for this data set is that it is not easily shaped to capture the working definition of downtown, so one would have to make several assumptions to arrive at a plausible number and may still be incorrect.

Code Enforcement Blocks Traffic, Sidewalks at Luzon

A City of Tacoma Streets and Grounds crew will be working at the Luzon Building (1302 Pacific Ave.) this Saturday as part of a code enforcement effort by the Building and Land Use division to secure the building.

Workers will be installing concrete barriers around the building on Saturday from 7:30 a.m. until completion, which is expected by 1:00 or 2:00 p.m. Traffic will be flagged for short periods of time on 13th between Pacific and Commerce, and then on Pacific Avenue as the blocks are brought out to the street to set them. The crew will also be setting up temporary sidewalk closures, one to direct pedestrians across 13th at Commerce for foot traffic down Pacific, and the other at 14th & Pacific on the west side to direct pedestrians across since the walk will be blocked at 13th.

For more details about the project, contact Rich Barber at (253) 591-5497.

Cleaner Water--CAN IT Work?

Several downtown stakeholders have reported the strange, cylindrical objects that appeared this week on the sidewalk outside the post office--since they are gun metal gray, some observers have been worried that these were some kind of terrorist device.

While these devices are indeed enlisted in battle, it's the battle for cleaner water, and the devices are being deployed by the City of Tacoma. Their purpose? To capture discarded cigarette butts. Littered cigarette butts create unsightly litter and can contaminate the ecosystem when washed off streets and sidewalks through the storm system and into local waterways. The program is titled "CAN IT: Keep your butts out of the bay."

From September through November, City crews will place approximately 20 new "butt cans" in strategic locations and will also work with businesses to add cigarette receptacles to areas where their employees or customers routinely smoke. The City will also be distributing educational materials and personal ashtrays to help promote proper disposal of used cigarette butts and keep the related toxins out of the local waterways. Sediment traps in the storm water system will be tested to see if the extra effort reduces levels of certain contaminants associated with cigarette butt litter.

Invitation to the Tour

There's been a young man standing at the intersection of 21st & Pacific all this week with a sign board advertising the website: LiveatMetro.com. It's some guerrilla advertising for Metro City Homes, one of the sixteen participating projects in the 2007 Tour of Urban Living.


Tacoma's most popular new and renovated condominiums, town homes and apartments are throwing open their doors and rolling out their red carpets on Saturday and Sunday, October 13 and 14. Potential downtown residents can tour the properties, see the views and get a feel for the downtown Tacoma lifestyle from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Shops, galleries, museums, restaurants, theaters and the Link light rail will all be open to provide a comprehensive urban living experience.

Official event sponsors for the Tour of Urban Living include Click! Network, Rusty George Creative, The News Tribune, the BIA and the featured properties. A map of the self-guided tour, including a list of participating properties and sponsors, is available online or by calling (253) 591-5117.

Out of the Dawg House

Demolition began today to replace the existing UW Tacoma facility know as the "Dawg Shed" with a new 20,250 square foot Assembly Hall. The site is east of the library, flanked on the south by the Cherry Parkes building, to the north by the Walsh Gardner building and to the east by Pacific Ave.

Scheduled for completion in 2008, the Assembly Hall will serve as a venue for world-class public lectures, arts events, performances and classes and will provide a student commons area, collaborative study rooms and new retail space along Pacific. Construction will begin in September.

Elevation for Assembly Hall - Pacific Ave.

Elevation for Assembly Hall - UWT Library Courtyard

Blogger Returns from Vacation

Paul Ellis has recently returned from two plus weeks on assignment in Europe, where he continued to promote the 'Buy Local' campaign (see photo).

What's That Noise? It's the Sound of Clean Water

If you've been surprised by loud vacuuming sounds during the past week, it's because the City of Tacoma crews are cleaning the storm drain systems in the downtown area. The process involves sending pressurized water through the storm drains to remove sediment buildup in the pipes, after which a vactor truck pumps out the water and sediment, redirecting the mixture through the wastewater system for treatment.

Admittedly, this effort to stop sometimes century-old contaminated sediment from leaching into the Thea Foss Waterway is loud and annoying, but it's also necessary--and quite temporary. In an effort to get through the cleaning as quickly as possible and make the resulting noise and blocked lane inconveniences as painless as possible, crews are working long days and weekends to get the work completed by the end of September.

The efforts have already proven effective, as crews have seen results in the form of eliminating several sources of mercury and lead contamination linked to likely decades-old sediment. This surface water system cleaning is mandated by the Washington State Department of Ecology as part of ongoing efforts to keep contaminants out of the recently cleaned up Thea Foss Waterway, part of the Commencement Bay Superfund site.