Hey Guess what...

Portland has that Tacoma doesn't?
more tattoos, more bicycles and more coffee shops?


Well that, maybe........Portland is a  city that values the arts.
If my idea of filling empty stores and buildings downtown with ART wasn't so obvious, I'd really take the credit.
ART is always what saves a town....and Tacoma, being a working class tough little bugger, needs more of that.






Fantastic artfests, music fests, hot rods for granpas, hot rods for hip chicks and dudes, Cones of hot ART... Proctor Art....6th Ave Art...and more farmer's markets are happening...what huge changes have happened here in our little burg in just 10 years...If we could blot out the big ugly condo projects that stick out of our sweet humble little town like a whore in church, or at least, a banker in church.




When I was a wee thing, I used to visit Millie's family up in Lake County.
Any storefront in along the main street was filled with something....drawings, pictures, posters, anything interesting! All a person had to do was contact the bldg. owner and ask to do a project. The bldg. owners being smart Californians, I guess, got the ball rolling there. The local newspaper office would print pictures for kids to color, and collect them, and then hang them in the store windows.That's where I got the idea that A) Grownups care about empty windows.

B) Republicans like art.
This is also where I learned to draw a Dog face....big time!


Oh what does Portland have that Tacoma doesn't??


Food Carts.


Take a look, via Design Sponge.

What do I mean "Saves a town"...if people give a crap about what things look like...and I don't just mean, manicured lawns and tasteful house paint colors....
if people give a crap, and get loud, and say Yes, and then No to the ugly....
we can make Tacoma look more like Portland, or San Francisco or VancouverBC...and a lot less like Stockton or Brawley or Hell.



and also...it makes people feel better, because if I see that you care, I'm less likely to drop my garbage*...If people feel Hopeful, they'll act nicer. They'll try harder. And they'll vote....for the kind of politicians that put people first, and let money take care of itself like it always does.....
.It's all About Culture and building a welcoming community that makes room for lots of different kinds of people, but under no circumstances, should there be any excuse for a PFChangs. that's just lazy and nasty.



*I don't ever drop garbage.EVER.