Go Downtown
If you’ve been in downtown Tacoma recently, you may have noticed a new mural on the walls of the vacant building at 11th and Market.
The mural is meant to be participatory public art. Downtown On the Go is asking the public to fill in the blanks, with statements like “I’d live downtown if…” and “I go downtown because…” stenciled on the freshly painted walls, with plenty of space for your answers.
The goal is to improve downtown Tacoma, gather input, and raise awareness for Downtown On the Go’s Live Downtown program, which incentivizes downtown employees to live close to work, and commuter resources, which help people choose healthy commute options.
Inspired by Candy Chang’s “Before I Die” exhibit, the mural will be unveiled and ready for interaction on Dec. 31, 2012 at the First Night celebration.
They’re asking – what are your answers?
Update: Here are some images of the murals after First Night:
Filed under: Downtown Tacoma, Neighborhoods
13 comments
F fred davie December 31, 2012
Once a month perhaps we go downtown for a play or to visit the farmers market or for dinner. It’s not a regular place we go.
Here are my top 3 reasons why DT is having trouble becoming a vital destination :
The DT footprint is way too big for a city with a population of only 200K. This makes it difficult for the city to maintain all this infrastructure. So nothing gets cared for adequately.
City Council actions over the last few years have made our city an embarrassment and created a disincentive for outside money to become involved.
Prevalent social service agencies create a low rent “street people” vibe that is a big turn off for most folks.
E Exit133 staff December 31, 2012
Here’s the “before” picture:
J JJ December 31, 2012
I know replace most of the DT ghetto buildings with tree parks to sequester CO2 emissions.Make DT more like Point Defiance Park.Replace the concrete jungle urban blight and the chamber of commerce blight with forests.
Eliminate the car parking areas (cars will likely be abolished or serverly limited by the mid 21st century anyways because of dangerous levels of atmospheric CO2 concentrations).
R RR Anderson December 31, 2012
- open up empty buildings to pop up squatting shops…. use eminent domain laws to seize empty buildings from out of town do-nothing owners.
- phoenix jones style real life super hero patrols
M Matthias December 31, 2012
I’d like to see some real retail hit downtown. Most popular city downtowns are also retail environments but small retail doesn’t bring crowds. We need a store like urban outfitters or crate and barrel to plant themselves downtown. The kind of store that people would drive to visit. Once you start to get the foot traffic other retailers will follow.
Also the parking garage on 9th and pacific (above where Hell’s Kitchen used to be) needs to be torn down and a retail building should go up there. That thing is so ugly and destroys any foot traffic on that stretch. Who ever built that?
A real future for downtown HAS to include major retail. Damn that mall!
J Jesse December 31, 2012
^^ I like this Matthias fellow ^^
S Stu December 31, 2012
I’d paint it in matching bricks, so it doesn’t look like some second grade classroom mural.
Clean up downtown, don’t clutter it with official graffiti. Save that urban rah-rah kind of stuff for smaller neighborhoods. Not appropriate for what is – or should be – the city’s flagship area.
I also like JJ’s idea about replacing with trees/park. Tho not for CO2 henny-penny reasons, but simply because it’d be beautiful and inviting!
B Buck Futz January 1, 2013
I’d live downtown if i could get KOMO.
Happy New Year Click! When do the latest rate increases kick in?
P Phil D January 1, 2013
Create a space for an urban farm, primarily committed to instructing folks on how to grow their own food as well as providing low cost materials to do so. Blocking off streets to make parks with foot and bike paths follow. Local living ought to provide for everything or as much of everything one needs as possible. Sprawl and waste are poisons for which slower living and growing things are the antidote.
J jsisbest January 2, 2013
The problem with Downtown is that Tacoma’s neighborhoods are so much better! It’s not all that different than Portland in that respect. With the exception of Portland’s Pearl District, what’s great about PDX isn’t downtown, it’s all the great neighborhoods outside of downtown.
If Tacoma wants its downtown to flourish, here goes:
1 – HOUSING
A – Zone a residential district and incentivize the hell out of out of it for developers (as if we didn’t already try that pre-boom)…
B – Restrict how much low income housing is located within said residential district. Professionals and people who work need to be in the majority, not the minority as they are now (Theater District especially).
C – The residential district needs good transit to and from the T-dome Station, Stadium District / MultiCare-TG, and 6th Ave. Cause that’s where young hipsters, who want to live in an urban setting, will want to work and play.
2 – RETAIL
A – Get some anchor retail! It’s harder to lead a retail movement from the bottom up. The Pearl District has Powell’s, and arguably the Pearl District wouldn’t have blossomed without it. Spokane has the River Park Square (a mall), but let’s face it, if Nordstroms and/or REI moved downtown, all kinds of retailers would follow suit.
B – When it comes to retail, cheap/free parking is your friend. Tacoma ain’t Seattle. We’ve got a long ways to go until Downtown is dense enough that cars aren’t needed to support economic success. I bike some of the time, but give me a break. Cars aren’t going anywhere any time soon (so to speak).
3 – JOBS
Bring jobs to downtown! This is the biggest hindrance to Tacoma’s future and the viability of Downtown. We need jobs that are going to attract (or bring back) young, educated, professionals. No one wants to commute to Seattle, but SO many do. Downtown needs to be a business powerhouse, that’s what downtowns are supposed to be. Arts are great, but culture alone can’t sustain downtown economically. Look how UWT revitalized that side of downtown. Let’s find some northwest companies that want to do the same in other parts of downtown. What Amazon is doing in Seattle is a great example. Let’s attract smaller company(s) with cheap rent and/or property.
R RR Anderson January 2, 2013
folks have been filling it in. should get an updated foto you guys.
E Exit133 staff January 2, 2013
Apologies. Pictures have been posted on Facebook, and Google+. You’re all on Google+, right? …
Anyway, we added some images of the walls with the blanks filled in. Last we saw, the chalk was still out for you to add your answers…
J Jay January 5, 2013
One of Tacoma’s best assets is it’s waterfront. It’s been slowly happening for 35 years, and more is planned, imagine how attractive to residents and visitors it will be when you can walk/bike/skate/run from the head of Foss Waterway all the way to Pt Defiance. With the green space, parks, marinas, restaurants, hotels, apts, paddle/diving access, etc along the way. And, of course, the views. What other town can claim 7 miles of (mostly) beautiful waterfront. Add that to all the other good ideas, and T-town can become very attractive and vibrant. One thing, though, we can’t let developers spoil the big picture with their little parcel greed (think high rise monolithic, in our faces Foss Towers plan). We must keep it in scale and treat it as a commons, not a public resource to be sold to the highest bidder for private enrichment at public expense!