Gee, I thought I was right...

about my most favorite mono-rant........
my position that a City has done either nothing to help small business, or has done everything it can to eliminate small business.......
While Monocle magazine isn't an expert on cities...building & running them...but they do know what it takes to make a World Class City livable...and how it got there, & from them comes this article (available by subscription or in the back issue)
concerning a terrible failure of city governments to nurture and appreciate the role of small business in the beloved urban environment.

Most cities get an F- for the ugly cavalier attitude it takes when Gentrifying An Established Neighborhood ....it is never done to improve the lives of those who are already living and doing business there.....

THE HELM...may have an opinion on downtown...

Most small business people agree their City was absent and therefore negligent and quite sinister, in the lack of help for any small business to carry on...and this small business too...

Here, it was the work crew, the women, specifically, that gave a shit during the worst of the rains, and the rains that created RIVERS OF MUD, (that flooded Broadway and invaded the basements of several businesses...It was them that nailed indoor/outdoor carpeting pads in front of our front doors to help cut down on filth and to lend a welcoming ...something to the brave and few customers that wanted to shop in downtown Tacoma....
The work crew have been wonderful.

But when I go, and I will go, because, as neat as my landlord has been, as soon as the papers are signed on the Elks remodel deal (if they are), my rent will skyrocket. The FREE entertainment, the FREE place for young musicians to play, the FREE art space, the cheap and swell Lifestyle Accessories emporium, known as Rampart will die.....


The recent remodeling of Times Square was done with the positive and uplifting involvement of New York City government going out of their way to help the small and medium and large businesses weather the near-fatal upheaval of their business and their lives, in the case of small family businesses.

The Condo Builders, and the Russell-suckers are getting ALL the benefits of the renewal efforts. Down here, ALL the small businesses can just go belly-up 0r tits-up and leave.
Then, the landlords and empty-lot slumlords can make BIG bucks by raising the rents, and building even more condos to stay empty.

The condo builders make their money AS THEY BUILD...not by selling the condos...By the time the For Sale signs go up, the money has left town and Tacoma is left with very expensive abandoned deserted buildings, right in the urban core.

The condo-selling is almost the Afterthought...in this government scheme to transfer taxpayer money to the wealthy instead of uplifting all classes, and specifically the working class and the middle class in Tacoma.

I give you the Luzon Bldg. as a prime example of corporate bullshit and sleight-of-hand.


In 5 to 10 years the north end of downtown may start to move up again...more folks moving downtown...and the businesses that move in to service the people will be corporate chains.(Trader Joe's, McMenamin's, Whole Foods....then...Olive Garden, Outback, Chevy's...Applebees...)

Really, Russell gets taxpayer money to stay in Tacoma....I don't think Russell needs a flippin' dime of taxpayer money ...
But I do. And so do my neighbors. We're small, and we'd like to stay and grow. But we are being held back.

I've made my mind up to leave Tacoma and take my small business with me to a community that values Originality, Art & Heart....unless a Miracle happens...and a Miracle did happen on the way to the Last Portland Dead show... (yes, we found a ticket to get into the Portland show !!)

so, I suppose ....lightning could strike again....and illuminate a Pot Of Gold...in the same way Tacoma made Mr. & Mrs. Mason rich...I don't need millions...or a street named Tressie...but I'd sure like it if Government would get out of my face.

I view Tacoma...without rosey glasses, beer goggles....

or that profound sense of childlike wonder........I've been here for almost 27 years....until about 10 years ago....nothing changed....nothing much....which was fine because that allowed me to buy a few homes and live in them.......but now......
Things have really changed.........ha ha....I'll never own another home unless it has 4 wheels and a portapottie........
hee hee...........
But, I started this blog about a year and a half ago........because I was driving my friends batty.....with my opinions.
I discuss a lot of things......sometimes I wax about the cruel way that the working class is discarded.......and now that hundreds have been layed off from Russell, now the Docker Clan, can feel some of the pain that us working class types feel all the time.
My son drives truck, my dil works at Fred Meyer, my sil is a limo driver in one of the richest places in California (with his degree in poli-sci), my dd and her dh are students again......
so........
I'm seeing my rant about the stupidity of how this town has recently been governed, or rather ....
NOT governed. Rich people have condos, homeless people have mealtimes at 4:30 if they walk to the shelter.
Drivers have to swerve to miss potholes the size of Rhode Island.........I've never ever seen roads this bad around here. It is a disgrace.
So.
I'm seeing articles like this one in .....The Volcano's Spew by Joe Malick.....that decry the very same thing I've been chatting about here...cyberly.
Way to Go !!
Keep this up and we'll actually elect folks who give a shit about this town....like they used to....before the City Council and their Fearful Leader came here to modernize Tacoma by buttering the toast of the RICH with the sweat of the working class....and monetizing every blessed thing......

The Perfect Song for Tacoma....

because...well, you just can't like yourself can you? Not the old school folks that are fine with living and working and enjoying life without relying on their investments......I have always hated that "Gritty Tacoman"....we're not gritty. We're real people. And we don't take to insipid tenuous captions. Clearly, a working class Tacoman does not think of themselves as Gritty.........I know when you came up with that, you meant well, but you really missed the mark.

What we Tacoma folks are is the kind of people that work, get callouses, buy a round for our pals, and help each other pack up and move....we'll replace your head gasket and rotate your tires, in exchange for a hellAcious summertime barbeque party.....we love to go Bowling, but not in irony....

and that is really what is at the heart of the new-fangled "Tacoma" lover...You sit outside the working class, you believe (or truly did believe) that buying a house was a Good Investment...so you bought a few of them...and flipped them or whatever.....you won't patronize a business unless you are assured it has been Pre-Sanitized, or maybe you "slum" with your pals for entertainment.......

Since Broadway, and the other streets in my n'hood are ripped up, for one reason only....that is to make sure that the Condo-Buyers have pretty little sidewalks and pretty little parking and pretty little planters full of pretty little flowers in their daily world. God forbid...there would remain cracked sidewalks patched from years of pavement pounding, worn yellow lines that are so declasse....because, dammit, Tacoma is not Seattle's trashy sister.....Tacoma is World Class !!!

So I truly truly truly thank the people who are making the trek down thru the Huge Scary Machines and the Amazing Mud Puddles to spend money at the shops ...the teeny tiny small business that make your life Happy...and maybe you realize it and maybe you don't...but it's us, the Little People, the ones who repair your car, mix your drinks, brew your coffee, supply you with quirky delightful trinkets, clothes and furniture to funkIfy your daily life....who make life worth living...
The artists, the workers who empty your trash cans, the cab drivers that pick you up when you are too drunk to walk home, the artists, the small business person who works with no net and no Trust Fund, the artists, the folks who slap price tags on your food, Hell, the migrants who Pick Your Food...
we'd appreciate it if you would spend more money....and give back to us, since it was our money to begin with........
wink.






This song here is perfect for the Powers That Be In Tacoma....who are trying so hard to force Tacoma to become a High Class Call Girl instead of the greasy waitress that she is.
And Matt Driscoll, thanks for the recent opinion piece in The Volcano that addresses this issue of real vs. fake in Tacoma. It's not that we are against You People, but we know you are against us. And I must say, The Volcano, has become fairly relevant over the last year. Did the Swarners drop acid or something? Because real or not, they seem to better be able to fake the sincerity !

Shoes Shoes Shoes

How I get from shoes to Midcentury Modern to downtown parking and Urban Design........(vodka is involved)
Mark and I have an obsession with shoes. Why? I'm not sure. We pretended to be middle class and we went to TGIFriday's and The Mall looking for bona fide tennis shoes for Mark because he is teaching John to play tennis.

TGIF's is decorated in a 1970s era flea market junk on the walls motif....flip through some old Better Homes and Gardens and look for the Faux-Funky Granola decorating of the faux-hip of America's Decade of Last Gasp.

We had a waiter at TGIF's who had a Sleeve Tattoo!!!!!! wwweeeeeeeee!! Yes, the Tattooed Ones are getting jobs in the most uptight places now....Way To Go youngsters!

(as a side note.....since my tat is on display because it's Summer....I'm getting tons of compliments. It's Sailor Jerry so it's a beaut, and the artist was Adam Craven of Electric Rose in Oly. I went there because my youngest daughter Annie, the mother of Ruby, told me he was fab, since that's where Annie got a tattoo.) My next one will be done by the wonderment that is Polly...Dreamer's Chant....coming soon to an upper arm near you!!



Back to our adventure in Middle Class world....The reason we had to have a drink and a snack before going to The Mall......is because it takes alcohol for us to brave The Mall..

Tho Tacoma's mall is a delight for its Mid Century Design !!!!!
It's a dreadful depressing place full of failed American dreams of commerce and excitement. It's everything Mark and I despise about America. We wish we could have gone to the Cascade Room at the Bon Marche.....alas, there is no more cocktail lounges in the malls of Tacoma..... back in the good old days, they understood, Americans needed a drink to shop the mall. There were trying to mimic Downtown. A bar or 2 on every block. From the links just above: Jason said: ...Tacoma's "Cascade Room" with outdoor dining courtyard with more lights-in-rocks and a George Tsutakawa fountain. I'll miss them all dearly...

The Mall, built in 1964, ruined downtown. Then of course, downtown turned into a sleazy war zone. But those days are over because the city and the state has encouraged development downtown. Huzzzah !
For years I tried to move downtown.....every time I saw a space that was affordable (ie..the same rent as a comparable 3 bedroom house)..the landlord went all Straight Laced about people breaking zoning laws!!! yes, it was and is still quite illegal to live downtown unless you pay a lot of money or are willing to get Official Approval.

Since I'm not willing to lie to my landlord....it is Where I live after all.....I went for years without living downtown.....'course I live in the outskirts of dt now....I'm pretty darn happy.
Now if we could just get "affordable" housing downtown.....and we can, but developers don't want to be caught dead doing anything that remotely resembles socialism...they didn't spend all those thousands to get their MBA's for nuttin'!!

If they wanted to do social work after getting a Higher Education, they'd have gone to Evergreen.....

As we approached the back door of the Macy's/Mall entrance we walked over to the fenced in area where the patio of the restaurant used to be, a fellow walked out. Mark asked him what the restaurant is now.....Fellow replied: worker's lunchroom and storage. You haven't been here in a decade I take it! That place closed down a long time ago.
Oh dear! yes, we knew that, I type, as I sneak a peek at my vintage front-strike Bon Marche matches that list all their restaurants in the stores in Washington.
Poke your head in the fenced in area sometime and check out the fountain, and the sweet little slice of paradise that was.

This is what drives me to dislike many of the changes in Tacoma. But I do like living downtown, so welcome condo dwellers! And welcome, cafes, bars and restaurants, oh, and shopping establishments, and arts and entertainment.

Which brings me to my other rant for the day......I got a parking ticket for parking in front of my shop on Broadway. Some days I have to drive since I have to bring fresh merchandise in. But we can only park for an hour !!! In the middle of the day !!!!
Yes ! That made sense when there were 3 places to shop on Antique Row. But now there is so much to do that one cannot do it all in One Frigging Hour !!
My bitch is that : First they invite you downtown, then they make you leave!!! Any wonder that so many businesses don't do well.....unless alcohol is involved?!?!

If you work downtown and only need to bring an iPod, a bottle of Dasani and a box of breath mints, for the love of the Baby Jesus, take public transportation!!
Because workers drive into downtown for no good reason, the city has punished all drivers by limiting us to a measly one HOUR ! Some of us have real lives that require real work, real physical labor, such as involved in running a retail shop.....
Shoppers mostly need their car to pack it full of stuff they buy from the few, tho rapidly expanding, merchants downtown......
It's definitely time for the city get smart about this. I understand they want to force everyone into public trans, and that's good ! BUT, not everything that goes on downtown now is about working in a tall building. It was , for a long time, especially since The Mall ruined downtown Tacoma. But times change. They've changed again. It's time for the city to stop punishing shoppers, but maintain their enforcement of office workers who park on the street, or chain park.
This is my argument I'll be making in Muni Court on November 14, 2008, at 9 am. TGIF !!!!!

I Got Your Urban Village Right here......

as the wealthy and young displace the diversity of the urban core, inevitably, the urban core shall become as bland as the strip mall/suburbs....
In an article in The New Republic, Trading Places by Alan Ehrenhalt,
The demographic inversion of the American city.
Post Date Wednesday, August 13, 2008.........
the amazing shift of the poor and colored out of the cities, and the influx of wealthy young and white into the cities.....makes American cities resemble what urban planners have taxed us to do.....that is.....what Jane wanted us to do....

"We are not witnessing the abandonment of the suburbs or a movement of millions of people back to the city all at once. But we are living at a moment in which the massive outward migration of the affluent that characterized the second half of the twentieth century is coming to an end. For several decades now, cities in the United States have wished for a "24/7" downtown, a place where people live as well as work, and keep the streets busy, interesting, and safe at all times of day. This is what urbanist Jane Jacobs preached in the 1960s, and it has long since become the accepted goal of urban planners."

except I doubt the Utopian Nirvana of intelligent and lively and diverse and artistic and soul-uplifting will really happen.....because if there is one thing that the wealthy want it is.....nothing much but everything clean and sanitized.....and you love Julie Anderson because she doesn't like anyone or anything that isn't clean and white/wealthy.....(Asians are honorary white people)

from the comment section of this online article :
"As an artist who grew up in manhattan in the 50's and still manages to live there I am astonished as to how wrong headed and self congratulatory this article is. What made New York as culturally rich as it was, was that it was possible to live in manhattan if you were poor. It was also possible to partake fully in the culture of NY because the cost was not prohibitive. It is what made NY a magnet for artists of all kinds. This is no longer the case. There are no longer cheap spaces for artists and musicians. A kind of economic pacification has taken place, and the result is the economically well off stare at each other in upscale restaurants and the city is on the way to becoming a cultural vacant lot."
That is, of course, my fear. As a creative artistic person, I don't get my inspiration from condos or the dwellers therein....nor do I get inspiration from the "urban" dweller....I get what I need from it all....the mountains, the sky, the tall buildings, the people...all of them blend into a mix that is part magic, part serendipity, part sanity, part crazy. It's UNPLANNED.

"Much of what Jacobs loved and wrote about will not reappear: The era of the mom-and-pop grocer, the shoemaker, and the candy store has ended for good. We live in a big-box, big-chain century. But I think the youthful urban elites of the twenty-first-century are looking in some sense for the things Jacobs valued, whether they have heard of her or not. They are drawn to the densely packed urban life that they saw on television and found vastly more interesting than the cul-de-sac world they grew up in."

well, Goodness won't prevail if this happens:

from the Biz Buzz article about KWA buying the share of The Olympus Hotel downtown:

"Pritchard told the council committee her association would conduct a thorough review of each tenant's credit and rental histories, inspect each unit and interview tenants to determine which ones can stay and which ones will be evicted.

"If we have to terminate some tenants, there’s a process for that," she said."

Termination for not being white and wealthy. I don't like the sound of that!

Pave Paradise ...Put up A Modern Abortion

OK.....I'll spare you the super-rant.....and move on to .....
why Rich Assholes think that they have to destroy something to save it.....
I was wondering what was up with folks going in and out of the Foremost Building....
lately...Dan wrote this
fine develop it. But WHY???? do you think you have to destroy a beauty to build an nameless faceless modern monstrosity.....there are many many empty lots in the Foreign Zone.....why not infill.
I really wanna type a bunch of nasty words here.....but I promised Kevin I'd keep my posts at least PG13......
Can you say Irony.....and Lying Liars......
from the Tribune article:
Tacoma’s time has come, Liebman said.

“It’s a key part of the Puget Sound megalopolis,” he said. “I thought it would be kind of neat to retain some of the character of the old building stock and turn it into something modern and beautiful. Tacoma’s old building stock is better than Seattle’s.”

Liebman noted the obvious – real estate is cheaper in Tacoma than in Seattle – but added in salesmanese, “I don’t think you have to sell Tacoma as being cheaper. I’d prefer to say it’s better in some way. There’s less hassle. It’s easier to get around. It’s easier to park.”

Lets deconstruct, shall we?
Kind of neat to retain some of the character of the old building.....Liebman! When you completely obliterate "the character of the old building" you have destroyed the old building.
What's the obsession with Modern??? Faceless Off-The-Shelf Modern. Your design ain't no Frank Gehry! Your design is boring crap that is as exciting as any strip mall Walgreens/McDonalds/Papa John's Pizza architecture.....

Tacoma’s old building stock is better than Seattle’s........So we want to come down there and ruin it for you....Liebman....Maybe no one else notices your cute double-speak...or maybe the people you talk to are liars or wimps......but I have a blog and I'm not afraid to use it!

And, Here's my personal favorite rationalization:real estate is cheaper in Tacoma than in Seattle...it’s better in some way. There’s less hassle. It’s easier to get around. It’s easier to park.
Here We Go Again......Tacoma is Seattle's cheaper sluttier sister, right? Tacoma sleeps around. She's a cheap date. She's not pretty....she's just do-able. And you could date the slut, and act like a friend.....but you can get what you want, quickly, at a cheap price.
Slap up some crap modern building, destroy another piece of Tacoma's Soulful Beauty, and then move on to the next slut....er...um....slum.....city that is down and out and dusty.....
(notice how slut and slum are similar??)


Why in H E Double Hockey sticks are so many afraid of their own power here?
We Are Beautiful!
What, did you foreigners think we are toooo stupid to notice that where we live is quite lovely??? Maybe if you "rich do-gooders" would stop using us for what we have......
Slam Bam, Thank You Ma'am...... and actually asked us what WE want.....instead of always coming
around and giving us what you got.....and then leaving town.....

some recent pics this spring in the Foremost/Merkle n'hood.....

Thanks Volcano, for writing smartly....

about the scam that is Community Based Policing/Services...Weed & Seed.
It should always be: #1 is Social Services, #2 is a Clean Sweep.
People always put these things in the wrong order.
Help for business owners and homeowners, renters and citizens is very important for quality of life in the Urban density cities, to be sure! But, until we fertilize the underfed roots of crime and poverty, drug use and prostitution, we will not grow the Flower Of Beauty in The City.... a flower...a garden of flowers!
This is why I don't much applaud "Taking Back" "Night Out" and other such white middle-class semi-efforts to "reclaim" the streets.....
they don't really work, and if they "work" they just push bad stuff to someone else's n'hood. And that ain't nice!

I was taking law classes at the time the City was choosing a new manager...to replace Pee Pants Ray.....and I went to all the public Q&A's for the 3 top candidates...I knew who Tacoma would choose. He was the slickest of the Snake Oil Men....and since he came from DesMoines, I-o-Way.....I have a friend in DesMoines.....and she told me all bout the shallow efforts .....same thing...condos, bistros, bars and no cars......that Tacoma now gots......I knew it was coming...when the anonymous blogger-pal asked about my thoughts on the 1/2 crime reduction plan...I just rolled my knowing eyes!!

I just spent a half hour chatting with "Jim & Kathy" who used to live in Stadium-area apartments until about 10 years ago,before they had a child. They are Tacoma natives. They've seen it all. They now live in Graham.
They told me of more crime and homelessness! homelessness and crack and meth sales/addicts....and the activities that go along with it.....
showing up near the Roy Y.....near S. 176 th!!
That's what I mean.
And the mess around 72nd and Portland near KMart.
Sure, it ain't downtown anymore, but there are still huge problems.
Until we fund social services properly....and truly help to Rise the Tides to Lift All Boats.....we are not really good citizens.
All I gotta say is.....He ain't heavy.....he's my brother.

Oh Gentrification......Who's Turn To Watch It??

Portland in the Neeewwwssss....I love Portland, You know that.....but sometimes......progress is not so progressive. I think about this as I drive up McKinley to shop or to hit the PO....
All is not so well in P-Town.....gosh, white people are upset at white people. Welcome to my world !
This post from Things White People Love is soooo funnnnny
because Tacoma is trying so hard to be funkyurbanhipcool....and the gentrification must be done properly.
Here is a list of Comedy Topics.....

Things Mentioned

• Being Offended
• Awareness
• Gentrification
• Diversity
• Barack Obama
• Non-Profit Organizations
• Bicycles
• Knowing What’s Best for Poor People
• Indie Music
• Coffee
• Dogs (photo)
• Expensive Strollers (Book)
• Portland, OR (Book)
• Native Wisdom (Book)

That whole Take Back Frost Park..while colorful.....is just hilarious!!
You wanna take back a public park from uh, the public?
I double-dog dare ya to show up at 11:49 PM....on Saturday night.....and start chalking. Bring the kids! It's fun !!

The Last Days Chronicles

So I am asked why aren't I open more.........Because no one shows up except Friday or Saturday......
I've sat here all day ...... all by myself !
Sadly, I'm closing.....not for lack of business but for lack of Room !!
Weird huh?
I don't have enough room for all my stock.....well, I don't need to display all my stock.....
Just most of it !
You would not believe what landlords want for rent !!!
So, I'm scaling my business back to internet only.
That's what happens when landlords think they're in A Big City....
Tacoma isn't ......not yet.
And the rents landlords want for crappy marginal space is INSANE !!
They have this crackhead idea that just because The Glass Museum is in Tacoma...
And because SOMEDAY the LeMay Museum will come.........
That justifies the HUGE rent jump in the last 2 years.
So Tacoma Small Business will suffer.
And now you know why new small businesses are rare....
In areas you want to shop in, in areas you will shop in.....that is.......
That's why you get corporate....and landlords are content to be empty for years........you've seen it.......you've driven by it.....
There's no way you'd come to the areas where the rent is affordable.....


If I was selling Booze, Beer....or Food......I'd be rich.....
Oh wait......I did sell Beer And Food......
well, root beer and Food.
I started STEILACOOM FORGE DELI
People will Go ANYWHERE to get drunk....and eat !!
But I'll keep looking around town.....
So Bye Bye!!