City Wants to Know, Do You Like Me?

Two days sick at home is making me surly.  I’ll try to be nice. 

The city, the consultants it hired actually, is conducting a survey of national reporters to try to determine what they think of us.  The goal is to determine whether Tacoma’s marketing over the last few years has actually helped the image of the city. 

These same consultants are the ones that came up with our Wired City moniker a few years ago.  I would hope that whatever new catch-phrase we come up with will be less time-boxed by technology than that one.  Little did they know that it would now be cooler for us to be wireless.  City-wide wi-fi anybody?  We’re a lot smaller than some of the other cities trying it.  If Urbana Champaign can do it…  What would have a greater impact on the long term image of our city: better bathrooms at the Pantages or Wi-Fi that covers all the major business districts?  I’m off topic…

The question of our perception in the media is where we started.  That’s the topic at the UWT Government Leadership Institute Talk on March 6th.  (I’ll buy a beer for anybody that mentions Exit133 in a question to the panel.) 

Do we worry more about our image as a city than the real conditions here?  What are we doing to attract businesses?  Is there any hope for a new retail core downtown?  I’m going to continue to fall off topic here.  Must take a nap.

“Tacoma: It only stinks sometimes.”

Link to The News Tribune