Cleaning Up. Keeping Some Grit.
One of Exit133’s regular readers sent me this article from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. It seems to reflect a lot of conversations we’ve had lately and several of the threads that have appeared on Exit133 over the last few months… only it’s in Pittsburgh.
...A recent study by Corcom Inc. found that non-Pittsburghers were more likely to have a positive feeling about the city than locals were. Only 44 percent of residents said that the region “is moving in the right direction,” but 61 percent of outsiders felt that way. Talk about self-confidence issues.
Sound familiar? I live in Tacoma because I like Tacoma. “I’ll bet you anything that the out-of-towners like you more for your character than the fact that you have a Whole Foods.”
... a Whole Foods would be nice, though.
Link to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
3 comments
R RR Anderson October 31, 2011
you could say Ken Miller has his hand, thumb and fingers tightly gripped around the quandary. Right Tim Farrell ?
M Mofo from the Hood October 31, 2011
An economy always operates within a context of Uncertainty, Scarcity, and Dynamism.
T talus November 1, 2011
I’m not particularly impressed with the “museums and military” idea. We already have both — we can do more with the former, but don’t have much control over the latter, especially once Norm Dicks retires or gets his district changed. And making the town seem more military-focused may repel more people than it attracts.
To me, Tacoma’s advantage is that it’s much more affordable than Seattle and offers less congested and less pretentious urban experience in a city with a great waterfront with still unrealized potential.
But something will still be missing for current and potential new residents without more individual and community investment in supporting and cultivating a better art and music scene and in improving transit.