The Trains In Spain Fall Mainly on The Sane

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

Bridge Neglect ! Talbert States the Obvious !

Since Today is the Anniversary of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse !!

Ok, well like I told ya a few posts down there...it's prima facie evidence that the state's decision to close the MM bridge is an admission of Bridge Neglect ! Bridge Neglect is a serious dilemma facing the public today !!!!!
And folks we got trouble...Right here in Tacoma city....

Let's recap ! State of Washington seizes control of the Murray Morgan Bridge
let's quote Walt Crowley's (rip) HistoryLink.org website:

The House Memorial notes that Murray Morgan was born in Tacoma on February 2, 1916, during a snowstorm. It reads in part:

"WHEREAS, Murray Morgan's penchant for meandering around the Puget Sound region, the Northwest, and the world on a shoestring and on the drop of a hat, and often with his wife of fifty plus years Rosa, has given rise to his historical tomes on Tacoma, Seattle, the Olympic Peninsula, the Columbia River, Grand Coulee Dam, the St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company, the Alaska gold rush, the 1962 World's Fair, and his most favorite topic, the Aleutian Islands; and

WHEREAS, by conveying his many interests and adventure in both written and verbal mediums, Murray Morgan has brought the world to Tacoma, and Tacoma to the world...

Man that's poetry...OK, today the state is awash in money thanks to the artificial support provided to the military/industrial complex otherwise known as Boeing/China/Iraq War that channels billions of dollars through our mud-slogged state and some of that chunk of change drops into state coffers......
Therefore, when Rick Talbert says: “It’s their bridge and it’s their neglect that put us in this position” , as the Tribune quotes from Tuesday's meeting.
I say:
Rick, that statement is as profound as saying that you have a nose in the middle of your face !!
There is no reason that the bridge should be torn down.....it is unique on the planet being a 1,748-foot steel truss vertical lift-span bridge that crosses the Thea Foss Waterway at an angle WOW ! Certainly that qualifies as a tourist attraction as wow-inspiring as Chihuly's Bridge of Glasses. This state has the money...this is a worthy thing to spend dollars on because it is HISTORY !!
You may say, oh sure funkoma vintage is history-obsessed.....Look at their name for crying out loud !! They are just vintage -festishists........and you would be right!
We are history obsessed. It was better in the old days for many things....not that slavery thing or those Reagan years that about killed me.

Old things, like the MM bridge, were built better with real ingredients using the human brain and the human muscle. All it demands is maintainence folks ! You know maintainence.....that's the thing that is opposite of The Throw Away Society we dwell in today. You know, make it in China with slave/exploited labor eerily similar to work conditions here in America about a hundred years ago, then ship it across the sea, harming the environment and upsetting the orcas and sell it at Wal-Mart where (because of its shoddy workmanship and crappy materials) it wears out and breaks and gets tossed in the landfill within a year of its manufacture date.

Unlike the MM Bridge, built in 1913 of real stuff as noted above, and BUT FOR a wee bit of maintainence, it would look pretty and be totally functional......But No !
Instead, Paula Hammond closes the bridge, and Lonergan fumes (but does not use the F*Bomb like Dick Cheney and Tom Stenger) and Jake Fey cracks wise while ribbing Lonergan and Talbert, who is Late to the comedy routine ensuing at Tuesday's Comedy Show, also known as Tacoma City Council Meeting, Talbert pipes up!
Yes, Rick, I could not agree more, and I already said it !!!!

Bridges of Size

Clicking the title link will take you to The Tacoma Historical Society website and please notice the clickable link on the left side to take you to the article titled : ~~~
Murray Morgan Bridge Saved
er, uh, wat ? I 99% support the City of Tacoma head-butting or suing the necessary people who Forgot To Maintain the MM bridge.....
(darn it, I can't believe I forgot to maintain the bridge)
because the fact that it had to be closed is pretty convincing evidence that it wasn't maintained.....ya know !
I loved that damn bridge.....Mark & I drove over it to get to one of our favorite spots in Ttown..and I have the pictures to prove it......




What is it with Tacoma and Bridges ??



Well, here's a little photo essay on footbridges....please enjoy !

Why Buy Vintage ??

Mmmm, because when you buy something that was made a long time ago,with materials that have been already harvested and finished......and with a good chance the shop was union....or not...
Well, the best reason is that when you buy something vintage, you are not exploiting todays workers and the environment !
in other words, the damage has been done.....
We can't change the past, but we can fashion the future !!

I have been railing against buying from 3rd world countries...like China for nearly 2 decades....
and now that we are bombarded with recalls of nasty merchandise and toys and toothpaste we need to find a better way ....Disney, Pirates of the Caribbean, Boy Scouts products have been recalled...........
and do you want to know who makes your "distressed furniture" imported from China? Do you want to know the conditions that exist where they make the toys we buy for our kids?
It doesn't have to be disgusting !

Click here for a shocking expose on conditions in China
From the SLC Tribune:

Charles Kernaghan, the director of the National Labor Committee, told Dorgan about factories with forced 70-hour work weeks, where overtime wages are withheld. Workers sleep in "primitive dorms," with a dozen people in each room on metal bunk beds. They have substandard food, no hot water and take home 46 cents an hour.
Kernaghan held up a Barbie produced under these conditions. The labor cost the factory 19 cents. The U.S. company paid $9 to ship it here and then charged the consumer $30 for the doll.
"There is enough money here to make toys safe and to treat the workers in China with dignity and respect," he said.

Sure -- shop funkoma vintage and the other used and vintage shops in T*Town...
Look where the thing was made......if it was made in Europe or the US there is a very good chance
that there were environmental laws and worker safety laws and decent wages laws in place when/where your widget was made.........
It's not a perfect world...but there is something Good to be done about this !

I'll post Over there on the right side under the TACOMA Stuff !
of great places to shop right here in T*Town...places that offer good old-fashioned stuff made safely & fairly, and things that you can feel good about buying and owning.....
It's not just about Being Green......it's about being a moral person !

Sent this to Scott Fontaine at the TNT

Am I the only one who is Pi**ed?

About Ladenburg etal owning stock in a company while promoting it to taxpayers to fund it?

Sometimes I wonder !

Hi Scott --

Every one is so pi**y about Crime In The Streets !!! Meth Capital of The Universe !!! yet our elected officials and their pals are lining their pockets (not too effectively I might add..) at our expense....and at the expense of the homeless/drug addicts etc.

UnIdentified Downtown Business/Property Owner goes on and on and on and on about her precious property rights d-town, and I sure would like to see some righteous indignation about the perversion of one of the answers to Crime In The Streets !!! That is --- solve the homeless/drug addict problem and a lot Crime In The Streets !!! will disappear.............

Tressie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter

Is there crime in Downtown Tacoma?

I'll let you read the BIA blog..... (one would think that with all of us blogging (now) about/in Tacoma, we'd all crash into each other at the corner of 13/pacific!!)
Fact #1
Crime is everywhere.
Fact #2
Corporations commit crimes all the time.
Fact #3
Drug-addled & Mentally challenged people are not just in the street scaring the straights.
Fact #4
Blaming the poor ---- for the problems ---- created by the rich is counter-productive in the long run, but sure creates a stir and is good for more corporate-sponsored "crime solutions".

Really now, if you truly want to reduce crime you have to treat the poor as if they were You......... Just ask ....If I was mentally challenged what would I like in my life to help me live a good life?
and then Do it !
I've listed the tools you need in this post, now you need to make sure the people that you think are causing you problems are helped to solve their problems so that they don't cause you an unending array of problems.
This is called " Being a Good Citizen"
This is a good thing........
of course it was held in my neighborhood and on my birthday....
Coincidence....I think not!

It's almost Halloween.....Who Are You?

There are no other holidays worth celebrating.....
Halloween is it Baby!
ah yes !
I hate that women/girls dress like tramps and sluts.... I mean is that really all you got going on for H'ween...and you had 364 days to plan ahead ??.....Do something more creative than trading on your boobies and stuff girlfriend.
Here......read this......
Now that we're all over that.....funkoma has stuff.....I still got some pirate stuff here
and neat things.....but don't forget to visit the Halloween Store up by Michael's crafts over by the mall...... ewww........
Here's some in the store right now !