When we first opened the listing our thought was… Laguna Beach?

No. This house sits above Old Town with an amazing view of the water and the surrounding neighborhood. With 5 bedrooms and 2.75 bath, there’s room for your growing family. Plus, we are (or at least one of us is) definitely a fan of the 1960s mid-century lines. How many homes in Tacoma can boast of mature palm trees? Tempting…

Listed with the Sirius Real Estate Group

Or, if you’re looking something a little less expensive, there’s this real estate find that a friend found. We’re impressed.

15. May 2008, 16:11   ~   Comment [1]

Rev. Frances Lorenz and preservationist Marshall McClintock recently completed a nomination application to put the Center for Spiritual Living’s 99-year-old Craftsman style church at North J Street and Division Avenue on the city’s historic register. Murray Morgan’s father, Henry, was the minister there for 40 years. Murray Morgan was married there, and his wife, Rosa, taught Sunday school there. On May 28th, McClintock and Rev. Lorenz will present the nomination to the city’s landmarks preservation commission.

Link to The Tacoma Daily Index

15. May 2008, 15:47   ~   Comment [1]

Don’t forget that tonight is Third Thursday / Art Walk and all the usual places will be open for business late into the evening. Check out our city’s museums, galleries, and art places. The Fulcrum and the Helm are always on our short list. Plus, the Chip Van Gilder show at the Impromptu Gallery is still running. Check it out!

The weather is gorgeous. The first day of the farmers market was great. We’re feeling inspired. Get outside tonight!

15. May 2008, 15:31   ~   Comment

Remember that new warehouse facility in South Tacoma? We learned a few more details yesterday at the Economic Development Committee meeting.

The facility is on BNSF property but will be owned and managed by ProLogis, the world’s largest distribution facilities company. The nearly 1.9 million square feet of distribution warehouses will represent $120 million worth of investment. When completed it should provide more than 500 on site jobs and annual tax revenues of $1.5 million.

Part of the facility will be capable of being serviced by trains, but most work is expected to be done by trucks. ProLogis will be constructing new public roads to allow truck traffic to travel out the north end of the site and car traffic out of the south end. They are expecting nearly 1,000 truck trips per day when at full capacity. Traffic on S. 56th will be managed by better sequencing of the lights and insistence on trucks avoid S. 56th.

Construction is expected to commence in 2009.

14. May 2008, 14:38   ~   Comment [5]

The 2008 Rainier Dragon Boat Festival is this Saturday, May 17, on the Thea Foss. 30 teams from all over the west coast will compete on the 500 meter-long course.

If you don’t know much about dragon boating, here’s how it works: 22 people get on a decorated boat (hint: it looks like a dragon) and race their heart out. 20 of them are paddlers, one is a drummer at the bow, and in the back someone mans the helm.

We thought this was cool:

One of the teams competing at the festival is Blind Ambition, a dragon boat team comprised of visually impaired athletes from Portland, Oregon. Blind Ambition is the first blind competitive dragon boat team to compete equally with other dragon boat teams in the country. They come from all walks of life. Some of them are teachers, doctors, councilors, housewives, students and massage therapists.

Races begin at 8:30 am. The best viewing site will be just south of the Museum of Glass.

For more information visit Washington Dragon Boats

14. May 2008, 14:18   ~   Comment [3]

This Thursday marks opening day of the Downtown Farmers Market for 2008. The market will run every Thursday until October, from 9th to 11th on Broadway. Food, produce, and flowers will be abundant.

This year a new feature at the market will be the “Local Living Lounge”. The Local Living Lounge is a place created for our community to congregate and eat, see, do, experience and learn together. Tomorrow will be the kick-off with “Go Local Tacoma” Day, but the Lounge will be around all season. Look for changes weekly, and yours truly will be there with a couple new projects.

Should be nice weather. Come visit us, support our farmers, and get involved!

14. May 2008, 11:21   ~   Comment [4]

Yesterday, the Council’s Economic Development Committee heard from BNSF on two projects. One was the proposed Prairie Line Trail that traverses downtown. Negotiations between BNSF and the City have produced a “win-win” situation.

The proposed terms include:

• BNSF will convey to the City, at no charge, a (generally) 20ft wide strip of property approximately between S. 15th and S. 27th
• BNSF will also convey a strip of land to connect the trail to the City’s Public Works Storage lot between S. 23rd and S. 25th
• The City will permanently close the crossing of BNSF’s right of way on A St. at Dock St
• The A St. closure will not happen until the D St. overpass has been finished and operating for 90 days. It will then be closed with temporary barriers until the trail project has reached the point of necessary permanent closure
• BNSF will authorize the expansion of the 15th St. bridge and provide an air space easement for a future pedestrian overpass between A and D Streets
• BNSF and the City will explore options for future streetscaping or parks near 17th St. and Hood St.
• BNSF, the City and WSDOT will have discussions about possible slip ramps for SR 509 in the vicinity of D St.

A completed Prairie Line Trail would traverse downtown and UWT… What do you think?

14. May 2008, 11:14   ~   Comment [10]

Driving up 11th Street in the direction of MLK, you might notice something is missing. Look over toward the Monsoon Room and you’ll see … they don’t have a neighbor anymore.

A large swath of land has been cleared to make way for the MLKHDA mixed-use project that combines retail, commercial space, plus affordable and market rate housing.

The project touches on a subject that regularly comes up here at Exit133: height restrictions and density!

From the Tribune:

The organization wants to build it six stories tall, but needs the City Council to raise the maximum building height from 45 feet to 85 feet.

The Tacoma Planning Commission is considering a proposal that would raise the maximum height in some of the city’s mixed-use centers, including the MLK corridor, up to an additional 20 feet if developments included certain bonus features into their plans, such as affordable housing, public art or ground-floor retail or restaurant space. Even if that proposal passes, it would allow the project to build up to only 65 feet, 20 feet short of what the association hopes to construct.

Is it time? Are we ready for some density and height?

Link to The News Tribune

Previously on Exit133

14. May 2008, 09:40   ~   Comment [10]

The meeting was short and sweet – made even shorter by the City of Destiny awards tonight drawing our councilmembers out of chambers and on to Jason Lee Middle School. So, what happened?

Resolution # 37477 approved the purchase of computers for the Wastewater Management Division, plastic containers for Solid Waste, and tire services.

Resolution # 37478 authorized the execution of an agreement with David Evans and Associates in the amount of $367k for engineering and specification work for the repair of the Lincoln Avenue Bridge over the Puyallup River. The bridge was built in 1929 with two spans. A third span was added in 1944. The bridge received a new deck in 1946. Jump ahead to today. The work will remove old deck and replace it with a modern concrete one. Secondarily, it will change the bearing devices that allow it to move to and fro. The project is 86.5% federally funded. Passed.

Resolution # 37479 adopted the 2008-2009 Annual Action Plan of the Consolidated Plan for Housing and Community Development INCLUDING the amendment submitted by Councilmember Lonergan. This amendment provided $15k to both the MLKHDA and Salvation Army.

One final note of interest to us…

Ordinance # 27715 amends the Municipal Code to allow the Tacoma Dome to become a promoter of in-house events without requiring a third party promoter.

Have fun at the City of Destiny Awards. Good night.

13. May 2008, 19:03   ~   Comment [1]

The Spew picked up on it and it was the talk of lunch today… Gringo de Loco, our local blues inspired Mexican restaurant has closed just weeks after opening. You want the whole story?

Read it here

Previously on Exit133

13. May 2008, 14:13   ~   Comment [9]

Following on the heels of all the MLKHDA shelter closing, funding questions, and questions about the future of shelters in downtown Tacoma, City Councilmember Mike Lonergan is looking to propose an amendment this evening to help two organizations that didn’t make the cut this year for funding.

I recommend the following amendment to Resolution number 37479 in order to allocate additional funds to MLKHDA for their Men’s and Women’s Emergency Shelter, and for the Salvation Army Emergency Family Shelter to ensure a foundation for emergency shelter operation in the community.

1. The Annual Action Plan for the Consolidated Plan for Housing and Community Development on file with the City Clerk, is amended to increase the funding for the MLKHDA for their Men’s and Women’s Emergency Shelter (Local ID 08-30), and for the Salvation Army Emergency Family Shelter (Local ID 08-43) by $15,000 each, such funding to come from the previously appropriate Council CDBG Contingency Funds.

The Study Session conversation acknowledged that this is just one little step in a very large discussion. So, the discussion continues… and will continue.

13. May 2008, 13:57   ~   Comment

The stimulus checks are starting to show up in the mail, and it’s time to start deciding what to do with them. There are some really good options out there … paying down debt … adding it to savings … buying local …

We’re always fans of buying local, but we’d like our readers to consider something a little different for a second … giving local.

What if we could harness the power of the entire Exit133 reading community to do something really amazing for Tacoma? If we each donated a portion (or all!) of our stimulus check into a single pot, together we could direct that money to the highest good for Tacoma. (Think about it, if just 35 people donate half of their $600 refund, we would have $10,000 to give away.)

The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation has offered to partner with the Exit133 community to pool our gifts and talk to us about our community’s pressing needs.

With us so far? Here’s what we have in mind:

Between now and Friday, June 6th, we’d like our readers to give directly to the Community Foundation through an official Exit133 community giving program we set up. We’ll give regular reports on how we’re doing.

Anyone who gives will be invited to come together in June and hear from the Community Foundation staff on some of the greatest needs they see in Tacoma. And then as a group we will talk about those needs — what we feel passionate about, what we would really like to see happen in our community — and together decide what cause we’d like to support.

From there the Community Foundation will go back to the grant applications they are reviewing in this current grant cycle and decide which agency will best be able to fill that need.

The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation is all about connecting good people with good causes, and we are very thankful for their willingness to help us through this process. None of the money we pool together will go to the Community Foundation or Exit133 — every penny will go to the need that the community decides to fund.

Want to participate? Please visit our group donor page on The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation’s website. You can either enter payment information on-line, or follow the instructions to mail in a check.

Be sure to pass this along to others! Soon, we’ll be setting up a time and place in June for all of the donors to come together and talk with the Community Foundation and each other about the needs of the community. We hope you will join us.

Link to the Exit133 Community Giving Program

13. May 2008, 10:12   ~   Comment

As several of you have noted, our recent visitor, James Howard Kunstler, made an appearance on The Colbert Report recently. We sure noticed his biting sense of humor when he was here and it seems that he has finally met his match in Stephen Colbert.

The clip is pretty funny- make sure you are in a good place to be laughing out loud.

“You’re probably one of these people who thinks that the world has a creamy nouget center of oil, but it doesn’t.” – Kunstler

Link to The Colbert Report

Previously on Exit133

13. May 2008, 09:35   ~   Comment [1]

So maybe the Tacoma marathon was a bit too much work for you. Maybe you prefer the company of men (or women) in skirts…

If so, on Sunday, June 1st, there’s a kilted 5k walk through downtown Tacoma.

100% of the funds raised will be sent to Friends of Kilfinan Parish Church for use in the Lamont Clan burial vault restoration project. This 13th century church of
St Finan located on the Cowal peninsula on west coast of Scotland has some of the best preserved ancient burial stones in western Scotland. This is a 1st time
event for the entire family where you can proudly wear your kilt.

Where & When
Harmon Brewery (start & finish)
1938 Pacific Avenue

Sunday, June 1st at 12:30 pm

Link to The Flyer

13. May 2008, 09:18   ~   Comment [3]