I don’t understand the debate on this. State law explicitly indicates that a homeowner has every right and expectation of living in their home in relative peace and quiet. Local governments simply choose to enforce or not. So the city needs to make a choice. Homeowners or drunken revelry. I support business but Jazzbones seems to be very callous towards it’s neighbors, and determined to deflect blame from itself. Public disturbance for profit. That’s not being a responsible business operator. Being in business confers no special right or consideration. Jazzbones could probably tone it down a little, and everybody would be OK, but they probably won’t. They seem pretty tone deaf. That will tick off the locals, causing the hammer of government to swing harder than it needs to.

This happens in just about every place that changes. The knee-jerk reaction of long-time homeowners who are experiencing something new is to criticize it. I’m sure nearly everyone that has lived near Sixth Avenue since the 90s now appreciates the ability to take advantage of the area’s amenities that didn’t exist 10 years ago.

I think the neighbors should look at the bigger picture. Would they rather be woken up at night by loud music or by gunshots?

I have found there to be a plethora of parking close to Sixth Avenue at all hours—but not always right in front of one’s house. I think that the residents’ mentality is that it is a God-given right that someone be able to park 10 steps from their front porch. Parking is easy—as long as you’re willing to walk a block. That’s a consequence of living in a popular city neighborhood.

If the residents don’t want to deal with growth issues near Sixth Avenue, there are many other areas of the city where they could go. If they want, they COULD be woken up by gunshots every night, instead of loud music. They wouldn’t have any trouble parking, because in many parts of Tacoma, people park their cars on their front lawns.

The residents are dealing with the shock of change. I say give it a few years, and give the complainants time to adjust to the changes. You can’t always please everyone. Drug dealers and gangsters are nostalgic for the Sixth Avenue of the 90s. There may always be detractors, but the resurgence of Sixth Avenue is not stopping anytime soon.

I used to live in Fremont, and then Columbia City in Seattle before I relocated to Tacoma. Sure parking and noise, etc, were issues, but we never really thought about it. It was our choice to live near the action.

But, all I can say is I wish my new neighborhood had a quarter of the commercial vibrancy my old digs had.

Tacoma is a city, 6th Avenue is a business district. When I was looking at houses in Tacoma, the existence of the 6th Avenue business strip was the only reason I even considered that area. Most of Tacoma is totally dead in terms of streetlife and commercial character.

A little vomit on the car now and then is annoying, but washes off and beats having it stolen. Maybe park off-street. Like Eric H said, property values in the area benefit directly from the activity in the core.

I live in the middle of the 6th Ave area and I love it here. (except between midnight and 2:00 am)
As I see it – the main problem is liquor over-service. Monday & Thursdays are the worst. Drunks love to scream “whooo hooo”. They often urinate in our yards (men & women), sometimes they vomit on our sidewalks and every once in a blue moon they have sex on the hoods of their cars. We also get a lot of petty acts of theft and vandalism.
If it’s a growing pain it’ll go away, But until then I’ll let the bar owners know that they are over-serving and being bad neighbors.

P.S. I have not heard a gun shot since “The Offbeat” shut down!

I would like to see 6th ave embrace the LIFE BLOOD being injected into the area. I would like to see Tacoma mutate into a place more like Ballard.

I attended a Refresh Seattle web design conference in Ballard once and I was awakened to what the hell is missing in Tacoma, which is people out walking around doing stuff in the evening!

You see signs of this on sixth ave and over in proctor.

The fact downtown Tacoma is a dead zone is a tremendous tragedy.

Seems like everybody wants to make arguements over economics and what’s ‘cool’.
Unfortunatly the LAW trumps coolness. And calling people who have thier entire life invested in a home knee jerk reactionaries is very foolish.

I’ve lived in the 6th Ave District for 7 years. We love all the cool stuff that’s happening on the Ave, but we have no desire to live in the middle of it anymore. It’s a great place to visit, but a horrible place to try to raise a family. Crowd noise and the parking have never bothered me. But bad, drunk karaoke screams out of E-9 until well after 1am and I get to listen to people swearing, puking, yelling and screaming all weekend long, especially when the weather is good. Our block has had more break-ins and vandalism to vehicles since the whole “upswing” happened as well. On the weekends I often have to clear broken beer bottles and pub glasses out of my yard in the morning (along with those pesky taco bell wrappers) before I can send the kids out to play. The patrons of all the great stuff on 6th could make an effort to respect the residences. It’s great that everyone wants to hang out here, but please use one of those cool artsy garbage cans to pee, puke, and put trash in instead of my front yard. I’ve had enough. My house goes on the market next month.

Anyone want to trade homes? I have the vandals, crime, and beer bottles in my yard; but the closest bar is 12 blocks away!

I don’t get the puke or pee, but I will gladly trade with someone who would like to live near a flourishing population of sex-offenders and meth-cookers.

For you 6th ave’rs, I would make my voice heard at community meetings. Tell the city to provide more patrols and garbage cans. Complain and they will listen, the 6th ave district is important to them (unlike Oakland/Madrona, aka the city dump).

I wish our city would evolve into having more of those neighborhood pockets with good coffee shops, bars, and shops. I would LOVE it!

P.S., the offers to trade houses only holds for the north side of 6th ave. I’ve always wanted to be a northender.

I live near a mini-mart, so I get the wrappers, vomit, bottles and cans, drug deals in the alley, inebriates urinating on the sidewalk in broad daylight – all this without the benefit of there actually being a bar anywhere nearby!

Having said this, there is a big difference having a house just a half block off the main strip, versus one that is a block away. Out to Pine Street, there is a core commercial zoning with mixed use residential north and south of that, which is supposed to target density, land use intensity and activities along 6th while protecting SF neighborhoods to the north and south.

In other words, expect more people and activities in that area, not less.

My sister lived for a while right off Broadway on Capitol Hill, and recollecting her experiences, it seems to me that these kinds of problems don’t get solved so much as residents learn to adjust their expectations, or move to quieter surroundings.

I’m again in with Drizell on this. If Tacoma’s going to become something more than a bedroom community for Seattle/Ft Lewis, it’s going to need some vibrant neighborhood business districts and/or a more thoroughly revitalized downtown. I agree that the customers of the various bars should be able to control themselves better (is this a college proximity problem?) but the development of 6th Ave is part of the solution, not part of the problem.

My experience of 6th Ave is that I go there at least twice a month for dinner or for a stop off for wine and appetizers.

There’s always people on the street. I feel that it’s Tacoma at its best. The stores are open after 5:00, thanks to all those people coming in. I have good food and good fun there every time I go.

Once or twice a year I’ve experienced 6th Ave late at night, due to Jazzbones or Chopsticks and felt safe and secure that so many people were out with me. I find it to be fun, exciting, and also expensive. But I get what I pay for, no question.

I understand that living a block away would be hard and I’ve got no problem with cracking down on illegal activity and puking/peeing in yards.

But the place is awesome and going to keep becoming more awesome.

Let’s get the streetcar running through there soon. That will help get people home safely and reduce the parking crunch

The idea of extending parking enforcement to weekends was presented to the Sixth Ave District as part of Shoup’s principles guiding the DMG on parking about 16 months ago.
At that time it was dismissed and the city came in and spent thousands of dollars for parking recommendations similar to those recommended by the DMG many months ago.
Why do we never believe that the answers to our own problems can be solved by people here in
Tacoma.

“by law do you mean the zoning laws?”

By ‘The law’, I am referring to State statutes regarding public nuisances.

RCW 7.48.010
Actionable nuisance defined.

The obstruction of any highway or the closing of the channel of any stream used for boating or rafting logs, lumber or timber, or whatever is injurious to health or indecent or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to essentially interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of the life and property, is a nuisance and the subject of an action for damages and other and further relief.

RCW 7.48.130
Public nuisance defined.

A public nuisance is one which affects equally the rights of an entire community or neighborhood, although the extent of the damage may be unequal.

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=7.48

Clearly, the rights of the homeowners to the peaceful use and enjoyment of their homes is being interefered with.

Nice work Steve.

You must be from out of town.

I went out to dinner with a friend to Asado on sixth ave a couple weeks ago. We almost didn’t get to eat, even though we had reservations. It took 35 minutes for our appetizer and a good hour for our main dishes to arrive. While we were waiting to get in, I checked a couple other restaurants in the area and was told we couldn’t get in at all. We also tried to get a drink at Six Olives for about a half hour before giving up and walking out. It wasn’t any fun. I think there are a lot of Tacoma people who want to go out and just not enough places for them. I live in Seattle and go downtown and to Beltown all the time. It’s lively there, but rarely total chaos like I experienced on Tacoma’s sixth Ave. Maybe some of these people should try going to the narrows bridge end of sixth ave. I hear there are new restaurants and clubs going in there.

I laugh at people who are going to equate public trasportation, the military, and emergency vehicals with a bunch of drunks.
The judge is gonna buy that comparison. You just go ahead and try to use it as a defense.
Or, you can ask the clubs and restaurants to tone it down, stop overserving, and start being a little responsible. That likly cures everything. Or are you more interested in protecting the percieved right to vomit on the sidewalk?

As for pent up restaurant demand, Winfield’s and the garage just tanked. Blue Olive came and went and so will woody’s.
There is no demand.

Unfair comparisons IMO.

6th ave is an excellent drive by location. Before Chopstix went in, it was obvious. When I drive by Asado and the windows are open, I go home and make a reservation. When I see a line outside of Jazzbones, I wonder what’s going on tonight!

Blue Olive, I only knew about that place because I went to an event at the Glass Museum. Never went in, we didn’t meet the dress code (so no impromptu cocktails at the B.O.). Never thought about the place again, till I heard it was closed.

Winifield’s? Again, never in that area, never thought of it.

If an out of the way place is to survive, they need to get the word out and often. And I’m not talking about the posts on exit133, I mean advertising.

Tacoma is ready!

On the other end of sixth ave., near the narrows, there are several restaurants and a new nightclub. If I’m ever in Tacoma again, I think I will try this area. There is plenty of parking in this area, too.

“What are the new places worth hitting up at the far end of 6th Ave? (other than Carl’s Jr. of course)”

There are a few new restaurants, Belle Vita and OPA!