always happy to see someone cares about a Lovely Tacoma...a Tacoma that works well...and why does it always take an outsider group? Why can't government employees/politicians get with the Pretty+Functional program ?
A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead
oh, right.
meeting tonight...
Do It Right Tacoma
Join us the Anti-Berm group at our next information meeting. and tour. Tomorrow, Wednesday, August 26th, 5:00, 402 East 26th, Tacoma 98421 in the Dome District. Short meeting scheduled at 5:00 p.m., so it won't conflict with other evening plans.... Please join and show your support, bring friends and family members, and spread the word about this event. anyway, when I think of The Berm...I think of this...
Nasty Berm...I used to live there, I drive there all the time....a berm is nasty... Look ...
now if they would just turn it into a lovely always-maintained park...a community Pea Patch...I could support it...maybe. Long Live Post and Beam!!!
I've vowed to never do another outdoor show again..so I won't be vending there..... i really hated getting rained on... what a mess...(see Lulu's blog for a pictorial review.)
went to the Joel Dance and the Art show at the Merlino /IOOF bldg, (I helped dress the ever lovely Charlotte...) then on to drinks/pizza/Colin/Jenny at PSP........
All week, last week, Mark and I rearranged the shop, moved tons of new stuff in...(Pics later tonight)
And I guess we'll be open for short time during Sanford&Sons auction Monday evening......Read the NewsTribune for details!!!
What's new? Furniture...clothes, home design...vintage vinyl... and summer is being phased out over the next 3 or so weeks...and fall is moving in... Small furniture is being set out on the floor...later this week... smaller homes, dorm rooms and ...your camping camper or Bedouin Tent need Decor !
from my last post bemoaning the State of Destruction...I see many repeat faces in the shop and some...I've never seen in the shop...but surely out and about... I have been extremely critical of the harm the City has done to our district...because someone has to fill you in on the Whole Story, and the News Tribune has been harmful to us, slamming our district in a negative tone that borders on libel/slander...
and it was and is ONLY because a group of citizens protested loudly on what the Train People wanted to do to downtown Tacoma...that is, Build a Wall of Brutal Concrete, was the design changed to something much more uplifting... There is nothing that says Public Transit has to be Mind-Slammingly Ugly, but governcrats often go the way of Cheap and Ugly...why? They never ever went to Art School!!!
I worry that Tacoma only gets the "Happy, Happy, Everyone Is Happy" delusional side of the story....in Gentrification, Winners are picked and Losers are kicked...by Government...you need to know that those in power on the City Council and the City Manager...want Tacoma to become a white-bread sanitized UnCreative spot on the road between Portland and Seattle..... We'll never become a high-class Artful Community until we have at least one bona fide Art School, and a Law School......why? because without a body of energetic fresh weirdos (I love the creative weirdos we have but we don't have enough to make Tacoma fully satisfyingly amazing...)(Yes, I'm talking to you Folksingers In Hell, Colin and Lyn..et al...) And a Law School, with its yearly graduates of charged up Do-Gooders...will go after corruption and stupidity (Luzon Bldg.) so that it will not reign in Tacoma forever....... Museums house Art from outside Tacoma...which is why Tacoma made such a big f'n deal outta Dale Chihuly...there's no reason why we can't cultivate 10000 more talents like that.... I know we have SOTA (good start!) but an MBA school is the opposite of creativity....except for creative ways to get all your money, Bernie Madoff... **********Remember, you heard it here first....********** the lovely Sarah commented: I would hope that whenever the Elks deal goes thru and is actually refurbished, you would get a lot more foot traffic back on antique row. Trust me, I still go there. But when the Elks is shiny and new, tourists will like all the little shops and vintage wares (here's hoping).
I think some tourists don't always make it beyond the museum district and Pac Ave.
I loved Rampart from the Steve days, he was always so friendly, and love that you guys have kept it alive in your own way. Don't give up yet.
I responded: Thanks for taking the time to read and comment... I really do want more retail down here...it's so lonely! Ask my neighbors...I really do want us all to have a great success, and not just in the Capitalist way...($), but to be creative and to give Tacoma tons of fun and inspiring things to do!
So, I do hope the Elks project happens and I hope a million more businesses open up...
Sadly, our business has been decimated by the City of Tacoma. The Elks project, if it ever happens, will be at least 2 more years away. My lease is up in May 2010, and I'll go... Steve was able to keep Rampart going, with my/husband's help for part of the time, only because Steve had a very very cushy City of Tacoma job.....I find that extremely ironic.The new city manager Eric Anderson, only has one idea for Tacoma...and that is to turn Tacoma into the most condo-friendly retirement/bedroom community that exists to employ every single MBA that UWT can spit out.
Business is the enemy of Art (true fact), Art exists for its own sake. Business exists only to make money. We, are caught in the middle. I'm not rich, will never be, but I'm feeling pretty happy...and pretty creative...and that is a feeling that no amount of money can buy!! But bring some money downtown anyway, just in case...;-)
Another point.......and an example. The London Times printed this today about biodiesel. When Mark and I were at Evergreen we became interested in biodiesel and so he made it and we drove biodiesel cars...you may remember my car especially......the brown Mercedes with the bowling lady hood ornament........Well.......as I pointed out a while back.....biodiesel is a stop-gap measure and should be abandoned as a fuel source.
While they have the potential to help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change, biofuels will devastate forests and other habitats unless controlled, scientists said.
The Royal Society report of a 14-month inquiry was published as the European Union announced that its targets for biofuels are to be re-examined because of fears of their impact on the environment. Stavros Dimas, its Environment Commissioner, said that the environmental consequences of boosting biofuel production and the effects on poor communities were bigger than originally thought. from the London Times
The Example: Mark, John and I walked out of our penthouse on Sunday night, we said: Peeweh !! There was a stinky gray pall hanging over the neighborhood. Ghost of Old Tacoma? No. A train had just rumbled by, which is fine. But and it's a Big But, it was Diesel in the Air. That's what I'm saying. Now I know, boy do I know, that the Dome District is the unwanted red-headed stepchild of The Downtown Renaissance...... (do we get a Festival in our end.....No ! There is ZERO City of Tacoma promotion of our district...there are NO Fairs, Events or clean-ups comparable to um, First Night or Taste of Tacoma.....nothing.)
but, diesel is a dying technology. I'm sure the Light Rail Hobo Train laughs at the big trains as they stink by, while Light Rail skips lightly thru town.....(wow, that's poetry!) And diesel can't be replaced by biodiesel.....tho smelling like French Fries is cool, it is not sustainable.
chug chug this link is about last year's open house concerning the train crossing at Pacific and SWT so while not technically current, I find it hard to believe that Sound Transit has anything good up its sleeve.... Riding the coattails of Good For Greening the Environment, they are shoving trains down our throat......and I'm a huge fan of public transit....um, European style.
Here, in Tacoma, I don't trust that anything will be done right....The thinking went: Ok, we need 20 million in new money to circulate in Tacoma....so let's build CONDOS CONDOS CONDOS .....and now, they look like prisons or mental hospitals, or just plain ol butt ugly.
I've blogged on this before.....Portland did it right.....WHY? because when the pioneers crossed to the West Coast, the light and lovely stayed in Portland, while the bangers and the alcoholics went North, stopping in Seattle long enough to pee, and then on to Alaska......It's a forbidding mindset around these parts....
So now I don't trust any decision that is made by the Powers that Be in T Town...the idea that the city council allowed the MM bridge to go for so long....no one was "on it", and now, it is a Pyhrric victory to be able to blame the State for Bridge Neglect.
Hey, put me in charge of Pretty In Tacoma...but alas, I actually have to work for a living...so unless you are willing to pay me to do alllll the research that will be done (if we're lucky) by a Consulting Firm, and then the Powerful Choose The Best Idea.....well it will look Just Laughably Ugly....
Is no one going to stand up to Sound Transit, and say:Just because you think you are Friendly, doesn't mean you get to ruin a beautiful and heavily traveled neighborhood. And come on ! Diesel is a dying technology. Even bio d. has its big problems.
I stole this pic from Kevin...the link is above. It shows the ugliness I fear that is coming to a T-Town near you !
Here is another link to a lovely view of the Pearl
And the history .....the blueprint....that Tacoma should have paid attention to.....but chose not to........
It may well be that the Pearl District will be the country’s best re-creation of Jane Jacobs’ idealized central city.With its short blocks, high density, pedestrian friendliness, mixed usage, restricted-income rentals, architectural variance, lively street activity, and the older buildings that survive, it has become a favorite object of study for planners and developers throughout the U.S.Ironically, it is the Pearl’s considerable economic success that is causing the greatest concern, as the trend toward off-the-chart rental/sale costs has the Pearl District rapidly becoming an exclusive enclave that is beyond the reach of average Portland residents and independent retailers. There are many concerns that the gentrification of the Pearl will result in weeding out the very diversity that makes the area so attractive. from tndwest.com/pearldistrict.html
Ahh yes, The Elks Club...No. 164 dates from 1916... Everyone loves it.....some want to decorate it... some have even proposed fixing the old girl up and selling beer I vote for nothing less than a full bar.......
Williams and Dame had a hand in Portland's Pearl District...
I've been there...strangely, I liked it .....a lot... because it had what makes a downtown/urban area inviting....Human scale store fronts, neccesary services and lots of fun things to do... mini-parks, water features, respect for familiar old buildings and a minimum of confusing modern architecture......
From the Broadway side, a righteous doorway, and along the side.....
Below is a pic of the building from the front side.....from the City of Tacoma's Filthy 15......Tacoma is soooo stupid....more on that later......
along the southeast side are The Spanish Steps, both lovelies are on the National Historic Register.... and built by Architect Edward Frere Champney in the classic Second Revival design. The steps lead down to Commerce Street and Tacoma's Link train....why is that important to me?? (See me standing there in the dark like a college-educated hooker?)
Because.....you can take the FREE Link Train from The Elks Club/Spanish Steps to the other end of downtown Tacoma, just a block from the funkoma vintage shop...and back again...How cool is That??? just nod approvingly......
