What Portland Could Learn From Tacoma

Surprise!  A writer at the Oregonian has written a piece telling Portland’s planners and leaders to get outside themselves and visit Tacoma.  I’m flattered.  Why us?  It’s about our museums, the University of Washington, our new condos, and our waterfront.  It gives credit to our citizens, our leaders at all levels of government and a “savvy deal-cutter at the helm as city manager” (Ahh… those days at the Parkway.).  We’re so used to hearing about Portland as a model of smarter development.  Yet, they could learn something from us?  It’s intriguing.  Of course…

Not everything is hunky-dory in Tacoma. The city could learn a lot from Portland’s smarter designers and developers. The kind of explosive synergy Portland created with such housing/retail combos as Belmont Dairy, Museum Place and the Brewery Blocks is sorely missing. And Tacoma desperately needs some sort of design review: Witness the vacuous new Pacific Plaza urban park and new Marriott Hotel.

So we have some things to learn still. 

Update: The TNT has published the original Oregonian article today (8/23), but in print only.  So far we don’t see it online.

(Kris, Thank you for the tip.)

Link to Oregonian