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What's Happening in Downtown Tacoma?
BIA, Partners Release Project for Public Spaces Report
More
than sixty downtown stakeholders joined the Downtown Tacoma BIA and its
partners for a luncheon celebrating release of the final report by the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) on Thursday, July 20th.
The BIA partnered with the City of Tacoma, the Thea Foss Development Authority, the federal General Services Administration, and other local organizations to bring Project for Public Spaces to
Tacoma on May 11th for a placemaking process centered on Pacific Plaza,
the new park constructed just south of the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel.
Plenty of energy was generated and some strong recommendations emerged from group work conducted during the workshop to include:
- Developing a regular "art mart" for Pacific Plaza that will offer local artists the opportunity to hawk their wares
- Identifying a location (under I-705?) and funding for a skate park between downtown and the Thea Foss Waterway;
- Exploring
ways to better (more pro-actively) manage Pacific Plaza and promote its
activation (e.g., fill it with people every day).
A copy of the final report is available for download from the archived news page of this website. The BIA continues to maintain a blog
that will help provide a focal point for everyone who participated in
the workshop and related events, as well as others who have an interest.
Project
for Public Spaces (PPS) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to
creating and sustaining public places that build communities. PPS
provides technical assistance, education, and research through programs
focused on parks, plazas and central squares; buildings and civic
architecture; transportation; and public markets. Since its founding in
1975, PPS has worked in over 1,500 communities in the United States and
around the world, helping people to grow their public spaces into vital
community places.The Downtown BIA is part of a new coalition of
stakeholders, including the University of Washington - Tacoma and the
Downtown Merchants Group, that have joined the Tacoma-Pierce County
Chamber in a quest to solve downtown's parking issues.
Parking Advisory Committee Hopes to Speed Improvements
The
Downtown BIA is part of a new coalition of stakeholders, including the
University of Washington - Tacoma and the Downtown Merchants Group,
that have joined the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber in a quest to solve
downtown's parking issues.
A twelve-member Parking Advisory
Committee formed in November 2005, and has taken up a ten-point parking
improvement plan developed by a broad consensus group of stakeholders.
Downtown businesspeople and the Chamber first itemized the list in 2003.
City
officials have pledged to fully hear and consider the committee's
concerns, advice and recommendations during the process of creating a
parking system. The discussions expected in the months ahead follow
recent disagreements between downtown merchants and the city. In 2003
the city proposed installing parking meters, spurring protest from a
coalition of downtown merchants and residents. Officials ultimately
shelved the plan.
The Parking Advisory Committee is focusing its efforts to encourage the City of Tacoma to:
- Agree to complete the promised expansion of the parking system
- Proceed
immediately with façade improvements and necessary seismic, and
structural repairs on Park Plaza North and Park Plaza South Garages
- Restrict
revenue-financing utilization in the consolidated bond and reserve
capacity for completing capacity enhancements to the parking system
- Establish a balanced parking oversight committee
- Integrate on-street enforcement with off-street operations
- Consolidate parking finances into one enterprise fund
- Review and enhance collection procedures
- Enhance and possibly expand its enforcement officer force
- Implement hand-held recorder enforcement technology
- Postpone metering implementation pending community consensus
An
immediate goal of the committee is implementing and enforcing a ban on
evasion - where motorists move their cars around downtown according to
the time limits of on-street spots. Evaders end up taking key parking
spots and impede access to businesses for many of downtown's customers
and clients. Committee members circulated an informational letter to
downtown businesses to help clarify the strategy for a "soft roll-out"
of a new enforcement campaign.
The Parking
Advisory Committee is aiming for implementation of a new parking
strategy and administrative plan within two years. Input from as many
parties as possible help yield sound and fair policies.
Consultant Suggests ‘Retail Transformations' May Be On Their Way
The
Local Development Council is among the downtown groups working together
to implement recommendations from Seattle consulting firm Maestri
Design, Inc. Maestri president Paula Rees claims Tacoma's downtown has
a "credible" collection of businesses that can form the core of a vital
retail experience, and concludes that downtown could accommodate as
much as 225,000 square feet of additional retail activity to meet
current demand.
For Maestri's specific recommendations, look here .
Just As Advertised...
According to a recent article in The Washington Post
, "affordable housing, a sense of community and economic
opportunity...are stirring a renewal of cultural life in places in
America's second-tier cities."
"Rather than in
the mindless new stadiums and convention centers promoted in the past,
this renaissance expresses itself at street level, in new restaurants,
art galleries, loft developments." The article goes on to declare that
the nation's biggest cities are weakening while smaller urban centers
like Tacoma are gaining power. It concludes that this dramatic shift
will launch "a new era of urban development."
Downtown
Tacoma's Business Improvement Area (BIA) was formed in 1988 to provide
additional security, maintenance and marketing services for the city's
primary commercial area. The Local Development Council contracts with
the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber to provide BIA management and
administrative services.
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