I would recommend that the City remove the wiredcityusa.com website, or at least UPDATE IT! Wiredcityusa is the City of Tacoma’s economic development website. Imagine what kind of image Tacoma projects if nearly everything on that website talks about things happening in 2002. According to the website, the Rainier Pacific building is “proposed” and the Museum of Glass just barely opened. Tacoma appears to be outdated and out of touch with what is going on today.

I don’t think the City needs to hire anyone to craft a new slogan just to encourage more private investment. The real key is to follow the lead of other cities and develop functional comprehensive plan goals and policies, and back them up with development regulations that encourage, not discourage, building.

Even if the city wanted to create a new slogan, it doesn’t need to spend half a million dollars for a consultant to state the obvious: UWT, history, cost of living, views, etc.

Sunday’s business column by Dan Voelpel stated “this spring, the City of Tacoma made a public plea for expert help with an ambitious goal – investigate a new surge of local and national media coverage that persuades developers, business owners and commercial real estate investors to pour private capital investments into Tacoma.” He said that this month four companies will compete to represent Tacoma’s next best idea but cautioned that its success rests on who is selected to do the job and making certain that they have a good “sales” team to execute it.

The column also cited Tacoma’s last media blitz – “America’s No. 1 Wired City” told by journalists from coast to coast “more than 200 times” lamenting that today Tacoma “finds itself obsolete technologically, irrelevant to journalists and relegated to a past chapter in the Tacoma saga.” And, on the heels of the “Wired City” blitz came the hype of Tacoma as the new art mecca of the west coast when the new glass and art museums opened a couple of years ago.

While I appreciate Voelpel’s call for the next round of downtown investment, he and Ryan Petty, the director of the city’s Community and Economic Development Department, fail to see that proposing an investment strategy based on public relations’ emphasis of image over substance is an economic house of cards.

Glaring urban planning and security issues continue to hold back downtown investment, and stalled projects such as the Winthrop Hotel and Old City Hall kill investment momentum. Tacoma must establish basic, sound urban planning policy by creating a coherent downtown parking program, removing oppressive parking requirements for developers, providing adequate and proactive policing of the downtown area, and balancing the needs and placement of social services that serve high-risk populations with those of residents and businesses.

I agree with everyone, lets fix what’s broke first and maybe find a way to make things affordable for the masses. I never liked the wired city thing, as I thought it was easy to referance it to being wired on caffine or meth.I think more thought needs to go into the proposal and save the big bucks for maybe a more effective approach.

Isn’t the first thing to do with solving a problem is admit you have one. The leaders of this town refuse to change their ways and to facilitate the developement of the town. Until they admit they have a problem and decide to change the exsisting problems all of the “expert opinions” just cost more money…..and don’t get me started on the Winthrop and city hall lack of movement…..

Nothing sells a city better than its neighborhoods. And the best stories are those that come from the community.

Along with promoting Tacoma to outsiders, I would like to see Tacoma promoted to Tacomans in the form of greater investment in neighborhoods and community programs. It was a start to add “Community” to the title of one of its departments, but the city now needs to create a stand-alone department dedicated to supporting neighborhood visions.

Tacoma also needs to give neighborhood councils more real political power as opposed to just playing an advisory role. For some reason, politicians fear empowering neighborhoods for fear of giving up control. However, I believe that if citizens were more empowered, we would see higher participation in local government and greater ownership shown in caring for our neighborhoods and neighbors.

Jen. If you look at the parking table in TMC 13.06A you will see a foot note that allows you to reduce your parking by 50% if your property is located EAST of market street.

RR Anderson:

You are the King of spectacular, transplanted nerds with home grown soul (along with Ms. Darcy, of course) – truly one of the few things that keep me hanging on in Tacoma for at least one more day.

Here’s a good quote from the story. One that everyone has their own opinion on.

To sell anything, you need to know what differentiates your product from the competition. I would want to hear what each competitor thinks differentiates Tacoma from Bellevue; Provo, Utah; or Boise, Idaho. In marketing terms, what’s Tacoma’s “unique selling proposition” today?

Maybe Patty Murphy could provide the tagline for the PR firms…... “Tacoma – the Mired City, where meth and pedophiles work their magic 24/7!”

Amen, Dome Topper – Now let’s shout it from the rooftops and rent a skywriter!

Just sell Tacoma to the DOC and get it over with.

After that we can all write books about it and retire in the San Juans.

This may be a little late in the conversation, but the lack of police presence is really a problem. Our community group is well organized and there are many more like this, but you cannot feel safe when you cannot get a repsonse. I have had good interactions with all of the Tacoma police department, but there just are not enough of them. Sector 4 (eastside and South End) recieves the highest number of calls in the city (I believe it is roughly 3,000 more calls for service), yet we are allocated the same number of officers.

That being said, there are so many positive things going on in Tacoma, I also believe it is the City of Destiny.

Pat

Bravo! Real Estate Sales Student. And should that transaction transpire, then may I suggest a new moniker for Tacoma, following the tradition set by the British Empire. Do you recall their solution for dealing with deviants? Ship them to a far away place…Australia, my friend. Gone, gone, gone.

Just like Tacoma. Totally gone.

Well alright now. Here’s the new moniker—-“Tacoma, the New Australia!”

Dear Tacomans and Tacowomans:

My P.R. firm would love to sell Tacoma to the world with the “New Australia” theme.

We envision Tacoma as the next great textile manufacturing center, specializing in orange jumpsuits and blue police uniforms.

“...the lovely Luzon bldg., and the bombed out hole next door.”

YES! We can use that image in our P.R. campaign. Right now one of my vice-presidents is on the phone with actor Mel Gibson. We’ll have Mel reprise his role as Mad Max.

The Luzon building and the bombed out hole next door will be featured in our video trailer “Mad Max: Beyond the Tacoma Dome”

There’s one crazy-beautiful view after another to be had all around this city, if you look up from the holes in the ground for long enough to notice them.

Okay. Here’s a human interest story.

Many years ago I started a business a couple miles west of downtown. I still operate it as a one guy shop. About two years after I opened I finally had enough money to buy sign panels for the outside sign box which overhanged the sidewalk. This was a really big deal to me because, like most sole proprietors, most of my day is spent at the office. So a sign can make up in advertising what many proprietors lack in getting out and meeting the public.

Anyway, one Friday night as I was closing and walking toward the front door, I heard the screech of tires braking. Next, KABOOM!. Right in front of my big storefront windows I watched a brand new emerald green 7 series BMW sedan skid to a stop pointed toward the middle of the street. The trunk was pushed up to the back window (I shortly found out that it was parked and the owners were down the street.). At that same time a young guy with dreadlocks was parallel parking his silver 320 BMW coupe in front of place. In the next moment I see the metal light pole to the left of my front door falling, then hitting the top of my sign, bouncing off and dropping down on the roof of the parked 320 BMW with the driver still in it a watching me witnessing in total disbelief.

So, I go outside and I see a tan Ford Ranger pick-up stopped on the sidewalk in front of the light pole he snapped off at the base. The driver, a guy about 25 years old, gets out the truck, basically unhurt except for a trickle of blood from his nostrils.

By this time a crowd was gathering and fire trucks and police were arriving. So, I looked inside the Ford cab and also inside the bed… Lots of empty beer cans, and by the look of the driver, those cans weren’t empty very long.

Well anyway, for all the damage that transpired in about 8 seconds, it took about 2 hours to restore order.

So that’s a pretty fair amount of time to swap eye witness accounts with the drivers behind the drunk perpetrator, and then watch the para-medics strap the drunk on a gurney, and then watch the tow-truck guys, the police, and a free-lance photographer play out the situation.

Lastly, here comes the City crew from Utilities to pick-up the fallen light pole. By now, it’s past 8pm and dark out. But these guys have a huge orange truck the size of a Greyhound bus and it’s totally optioned out with a mobile bucket and crane and lights and all that.

So they collect all the pieces of the light pole and sweep up the area. They’re officially done.

Now, for the past two hours I’ve also been a little concerned for my personal situation. My 6’ x 4’ sign with its metal box and flourescent tube lit panels which overhang the sidewalk took a major hit from the fallen light pole. In fact the sign box now tilted and dangled at a 45 degree angle.

So here’s the great part. The crew from Tacoma Utilities unbolted the sign box from the harnesses, disconnected the hot electrical wires, and used their crane to lower the sign to the sidewalk where we all dragged it inside my office.

Those guys had no obligation to help me but they did so on their own time. And they told me that I had no obligation to them. So I said that I would call their supervisor, which I did, to note their service beyond the call of duty.

I never replaced that sign. And maybe because of that some people have forgotten about my business. But I do know from my experience that people rarely forget service beyond the call of duty—-service like that shown to me by the crew from Tacoma
Utilities.

Snoopy’s comment about BCRA and AHBL reveals alot of his own ignorance great contributors to this community.

Thanks MOFO. Sharing those kind of stories helps us find a link and commanalties. When we start uplifting and exalting what is great about our city, it fosters more pride and weeds out the negative. How can we get our city officials to trust it’s community to tell the story, rather than pay some high priced consultant to make it up based on what they see on the surface? Think Book/Cover scenario. If you have stories of your own to tell, contact Derek. He is picking up the story baton. Go Derek Go.

It’s not about stories – it’s about telling the truth and fixing things that need to be changed. Addressing real problems is a very positive and courageous thing to do instead of sugar coating serious issues or pretending that they don’t exist.

“Working on community issues is certainly necessary and laudable, but it doesn’t have to be part of a city’s PR campaign.”

I agree but if there is no there there and PR companys/campaigns hype a downtown where significant issues are holding back continued development and investment then those issues should be rectified instead of simply painting a pretty picture or coming up with a catchy tagline – ultimately it betrays the trust of people that step up to invest by saying that image is more important than substance – it eventually falls apart and lot of people are hurt financially and otherwise.

“Tacoma…without pretension…”

Translation:

• Before coffee servers were called Baristas.

• Before grease monkeys were challenged by Jiffy Lube Technicians.

• When homebuying was the most important purchase of your life; and for shelter, not speculation.

If I were a marketing expert, if there was such a thing as an expert in big matters, I would start planning the campaign based on one of the following (This is how an artist chooses his course):

(1) Traditional themes and technical excellence.

(2) Innovation and novelty.

Tacoma is either an old-fashioned girl or a modern girl.

Either type can be appealing on the surface and totally gritty once you get to know them.

But most savvy girls of either persuasion do accentuate the positive when they’re advertising themselves.