The Perfect Tacoma

Received via email: “I hope people recognize that like in high school, image isn’t as important as what’s on the inside with a city. I don’t really care if other people see Tacoma as hip or cultural or not, as long as it takes care of it’s citizens.”

I once had a conversation with a gentleman in a local shop that went something like this:  He said that high end condos and $1 million homes were the best thing to happen to this city.  I told him that I feared our downtown was going to become like Bellevue – without the shopping.  He was curious why I saw that as a bad thing.  I then said that a bit of socio-economic diversity will keep Tacoma interesting and thriving.  He responded by saying that if young people wanted to buy a house, they should look up on McKinley Hill.  Low income households that ‘make less than $100k’ can move elsewhere in the city.  The city was changing and they can find a place in it too…  but there was no place for entitlement in the new Tacoma.  As you might guess, we weren’t exactly finding agreement on many things.  Our image of the ideal Tacoma was quite different.  My questions to you:

What is your ideal Tacoma?  Do you want a culturally hip, urban city with lots of young singles?  A comfortable city that’s affordable for young families?  A city with beautiful streets and high property values?  All of the above?