Exit133.com: Lemay Museum Bullish on 2007 Groundbreaking

Lemay Museum Bullish on 2007 Groundbreaking (28. December 2006, 13:44 by Derek Young) ~ Vrrroom

The News Tribune has a little piece that brings us back up to speed with that little project called the Lemay Museum. Everything’s looking good. The city is committed. The board is committed. $47 million raised. $19 million to go. Only…

He sees only one chance to stumble.

“My fear is Sound Transit,” he said, speaking of a plan to run trains from Freighthouse Square across Pacific Avenue and thereby bifurcate Tacoma.

“I’m afraid those trains will damage the opportunity to continue development near the Dome, and it could deal a mortal blow to development in that part of the city,” he said.

Yes. That’s our fear too.

Link to The News Tribune

Commenting Is Closed
Comments are allowed for two weeks from the posted date. If you want to make a comment or reopen this discussion, please contact us with your request. Thank you for visiting.

While we fear the transit gorilla, what can we do about it other than make a little noise – particularly when that noise had little impact due to the price tag of $200M?

While Pierce County & Tacoma have local officials who should have ST’s ear, it seems like the Lakewood/Tacoma line is moving forward at full speed regardless of appropriateness of the solution. After all, is it really a solution if it causes so many more problems?

(As a side, I’ve never really understood how the Lakewood/Tacoma line helps Tacoma. This is particularly true if we are bearing most of the social costs.)

I would love to hear people’s suggestions on how to alter the course of this train…

1 | Posted by DavidS | Dec 28, 05:31 PM

I think this is a really important issue. The local political leaders need to wakeup to the issue and its long-term impact. As Derek asked a week or so ago-lets see some detail on the $200 million estimate. It has the smell of being pulled out of thin air! I am now living in Santa Rosa, CA but am returning to Tacoma for retirement after June 30. I am ready to get envolved!

2 | Posted by michael | Dec 28, 06:20 PM

The Lemay Museum prospect is exciting. Projects like this can often do more harm than good if they are in a rural area and result in more sprawl.

However, the Lemay Museum is going to be near the light rail line feeding into downtown Tacoma which should be a benefit.

3 | Posted by Erik | Dec 28, 07:00 PM

Mr. Madera has done a great job thus far with making this dream inch closer to reality. But what was he drinking when he gave the “mortal blow” comment? The Sounder Trains are very short when compared to typical freight trains and the dwell times at the ‘at grade’ crossings will typically be 50 – 75 seconds. On top of that, there will only be nine trains in the morning (most running long before the museum will even be open to the public) and nine in the afternoons.

We heard the same dire projections of how Tacomna Link was going to destroy downtown Tacoma and that it would bottleneck traffic to a standstill.

Ask anyone in Portland and they will tell you how important building rail transportation is to a thriving and growing urban community. They can’t build the extension to Lakewood fast enough for me.

4 | Posted by Ol Timer | Dec 28, 07:39 PM

(As a side, I’ve never really understood how the Lakewood/Tacoma line helps Tacoma…

There’s no stopping this train!

The route to Lakewood has as much to do with Tacoma Rail and Amtrak. The number of runs Sound Transit is planning is limited and can’t increase due to constraints on Burlington Northern rail that it leases. However, the State of Washington and Amtrak view the Lakewood corridor as essential as it will shave time off the run to Portland. For Tacoma Rail, it means access to new warehouses on the 130 acres of soon-to-be developed Burlington Northern land off South Tacoma Way and possibly to the acreage the Port just picked up down near Lacey.

All aboard?

5 | Posted by morgan | Dec 28, 08:49 PM

I have to agree with Ol Timer; there may be various issues involved with ST, but I don’t see them directly affecting the future of the Dome District as such. If anything, I would imagine that the intensification of commuter rail will help the area. That Amtrak will stop at the Dome Station instead of its current forlorn location on Puyallup Av will really create an impressive transportation node—and that, I suspect, will help Lemay and the Dome District.

6 | Posted by UPSPatrick | Dec 28, 09:12 PM

The route to Lakewood has as much to do with Tacoma Rail and Amtrak.

This track sharing is exactly what may substantially boost the number of trains on the rail line. The 18 commuter trains are not the issue. If you’ve ever tried to use A or D Street to get to the water or tried to get to NE Tacoma before 509 was in, you know what a headache the freight trains can be. The number of trips is part of the reason they cannot do an at grade crossing of Pacific and are closing A Street.

My impression is that the route was designed to become an alternative to Point Defiance. Is there a ST document somewhere that has the actual trips/crossings involved?

7 | Posted by DavidS | Dec 29, 10:12 AM

Forgot to link the project map.

Also wanted to address a separate point: Why is this good for Tacoma?

Getting people into Tacoma at a lower cost is good as it means more people will make the trip. However, I’m not sure this will result in that many more people making the trip. (Though I’m certainly open to convincing.)

If a potential rider will not take the bus to Tacoma now, they won’t take the bus after the rail is in. This means that people would either 1) Drive to the rail stop, park, wait for a train, etc. resulting in no time savings 2) Walk to the train station from new high density development in Lakewood.

I’m all for multiple modes of transportation and regional planning. I just need someone to lay it out for me on how this is good for Tacoma.

8 | Posted by DavidS | Dec 29, 10:28 AM

this rail is very important. i hope it doesn’t hurt the Lemay project, but having a comuter rail system that links the entire puget sound is critical for the economic competitiveness of the region. additionally, this will provide extra security if oil supplies are hampered.

i like that lemay is coming to tacoma, but why not detroit? isn’t detroit the major auto capitol of america? or is there already a car museum there? just a thought..

9 | Posted by snoopy | Dec 29, 11:00 AM

Snoopy,
LeMay isn’t coming to Tacoma, it is already here and has been here for years and years. The LeMay company is here and the family is here

10 | Posted by Jake | Dec 29, 11:30 AM

“i like that lemay is coming to tacoma, but why not detroit?”

Why not Detroit? Why not Tacoma? One could ask why do we have the glass museum. Dang, don’t get me started, but for starters, it belongs here, because Harold is from this region and the collection was built here. Whether it was the annual shows on the LeMay property in the old days, or later at Marymount, the LeMay collection has been enjoyed by local car enthusiasts and their families for years and years. And despite the Northwest’s reputation for bad climate, this region is actually boasts a HUGE population of active car-enthusiasts. I remember hearing that it led the country in car magazine readership. Sure, the Detroit area has its share of museums such as the Henry Ford Museum, and my Mecca, the Walter P. Chrysler Museum. And in the LA area, where automobiles have always played a large part in people’s lives and in the development of the area, they have the monumental Petersen Museum, an incredible collection of cars, dioramas, and the history. They LeMay Museum will also be top-shelf and we deserve to have it. With utmost dispatch. Even if Tacoma is bifurcated.

11 | Posted by Dave L. | Dec 29, 11:57 AM

my mistake. i am unfamilar with the lemay collection. i wouldn’t have questioned the museum i knew that. tacoma is the obvious choice from the replies.

“One could ask why do we have the glass museum.”

to my knowledge tacoma has it because the most famous glass blower (at least in the US) is Dale Chihuly. obvsiously since he is from tacoma, tacoma was the best choice (unless there are cities with other famous glass blowers or are internationally known for their glass art. my point on the lemay was that i assumed it was a massive car collection based in a different area of the country, coming to tacoma. i also didnt know of the ford/chrysler museums in detroit.

12 | Posted by snoopy | Dec 29, 04:28 PM

Ok, commuter rail is great, unfortunately its not what we have here…the rail runs once/twice a day north south….that is not a commuter rail….....completely inconvient…still not worth using unless your going to a Mariners game and it waits for you after the game…other than that, I won’t use it until it runs every hour or two…..making it worth while to go to Seattle shopping…etc…

13 | Posted by rich | Jan 1, 05:37 PM

it is a commuter rail. many people commute to kent/seattle from tacoma for work. that is why it runs during peak commuter time. it isn’t inconvient if you work a 9-5 job. i would use the commuter rail if it ran into tacoma instead of seattle during the morning. instead, i must use the bus. as soon as it becomes more economical for the average commuter to use the train over automobile and ridership increases, sound transit may be able to expand service.

this lemay situation should be a comprimise however, not a battle of the museum vs. rail expansion. both will benefit tacoma and the southern puget sound region.