In a few recent posts (here, here and here) I've noted some ongoing discussions inside and outside of Tacoma regarding urban development and public spaces. Two interesting developments have been Tacoma and Bremerton's waterfront development as a model for Seattle, and the unveiling of the Project for Public Spaces report on making our downtown more public-friendly. PPS is a New York based organization that recently did a workshop in town to provide guidance on how to get more people back into the urban core.
My main source of information on all of this is Katie Rose '05. Originally from Portland, since graduation Katie has stayed in town as a political consultant, and has become tightly connected to what's going on. One of the things I mention to students interested in local politics and civic affairs is that if you want to stay in Tacoma, it's small enough that you can become very connected very quickly. Anyway, here are some notes from Katie:
"The Executive Council took an afternoon trip to look at Bremerton's accomplishments in their waterfront revitalization. I did wind up going to the Town Hall meeting in Seattle, so I knew (sort of) what was coming. In short, the Tacoma people were blown away. We had 16 people go, nine of which were Executive Council members. The Bremerton people kept saying what a great job Tacoma has done and how they were basing their five year plan off of us...the concept of a "mayoral exchange" program was discussed.
We had about an hour of presentations, from Mayor Bozeman, their Redevelopment Agency executive, the Director of Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, and one of the commissioners from the Port of Bremerton. After that, the city's Economic Development Director took us on a walking tour of the waterfront development currently under construction...There was a lot of talk about what Tacoma should do now (including from the City Manager), so now it's a matter of keeping that going..."
It's been a few years since I've been to Bremerton. Some of you may have been there to see the USS Turner Joy, remembered in part for its role in the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Looks like it's worth taking a trip up there to see what's going on.
And from the Business Improvement Area blog, here's the PPS report and summary of its main points for improving downtown.
