Ruston, that little town on the north side of our little town, and our latest fascination, has lost its mayor effective immediately. In a letter posted on Ruston Home, Mayor Michael Transue writes:

Our Town government is presently functioning neither cohesively nor in a fashion that benefits the good people of our Town. A hostile, rancorous, and sometimes ill-mannered environment permeates many of our Town Council meetings and study sessions. I have worked hard to guide this Council and our community and to provide thoughtful insight, but to little avail.

Further down…

… Sadly, the debate of many issues lately has become more about individuals and personal agendas rather than making thoughtful, balanced, well informed decisions for the good of the Town. I simply cannot and will not attempt to fulfill my responsibilities in such a bitter and tense environment.

Ouch. They show emotion in Ruston. Crazy.

Link to Ruston Home

3. June 2008, 09:54 Comment

As several of you have noted, our recent visitor, James Howard Kunstler, made an appearance on The Colbert Report recently. We sure noticed his biting sense of humor when he was here and it seems that he has finally met his match in Stephen Colbert.

The clip is pretty funny- make sure you are in a good place to be laughing out loud.

“You’re probably one of these people who thinks that the world has a creamy nouget center of oil, but it doesn’t.” – Kunstler

Link to The Colbert Report

Previously on Exit133

13. May 2008, 09:35 Comment [2]

Since we’re on the topic of parking…

Behold, the automated valet parking system (Click the link and watch the movie). Can’t you just see one of these things in downtown Tacoma? Me neither.

Still, a developer in Bellevue is including it in a project. Not that we want to emulate Bellevue… but it is kinda cool.

Thank you, Todd

30. October 2007, 22:29 Comment [2]

Parking in Tacoma seems to be a topic at every single meeting, lunch, dinner, or cafe conversation these days… and I swear it’s not me. Maybe we need to think outside the box a bit. Instead of huge federally funded parking garages and downtown parking meters, maybe all we need to do is share what we already have. And by share, what I mean is rent, beg, and borrow. This site was sent to us by a super-cool Exit133 reader – Peasy.com is a UK website that allows people to rent out their spare parking spot. Then, people that need a spot for a day, week, or month can search available locations and book it online. From a story on Springwise.com:

Any off-street parking spaces can be rented out: driveways, garages and secure allocated spaces. Peasy estimates most people will earn GBP 10-30 a week, for an extra stream of income of GBP 500-1,500 per year. In prime locations, spaces can go for as much as GBP 3,000 per year. Listing a parking space is free, and Peasy takes a commission fee of 12% for each rental transaction.

Hmmm… it has me thinking. Are there any underutilized, spare, or non-traditional parking possibilities in Tacoma? Would you rent your garage by the day if somebody was interested? Maybe. Maybe not.

Link to Springwise

Link to Peasy.com

(Via our friends at Beautiful Angle)

28. March 2007, 18:12 Comment [5]

This is one of the most blatant non-Tacoma posts ever, but I think it’s worth it. Historic Smith Tower, Seattle’s first skyscraper, has filed papers to begin exploring a conversion from office space to condominiums. This should make all those new Belltown condos look pretty dull…

Link to the Seattle PI

22. February 2007, 14:41 Comment [8]

testing insider 1

2. January 2007, 09:37 Comment

On this day of presidential mourning and remembrance I’ve been asked about my photos of the JFK funeral. They’ve been offline for a bit. I’ve put them back up. The original post and images are through the link.

Images of JFK Funeral on TV

2. January 2007, 08:12 Comment

...but I saw this and thought of you.

Streetcars!

Happy Holidays!

26. December 2006, 11:47 Comment [3]

Is this Tacoma related? Not really. But it might be useful. So Here’s something for those 501(c.)(3) working folks out there. Dreamhost is offering free webhosting for non-profits. Do I use dreamhost? No. But for this price, and if you’re a non-profit, it might be worth checking out. (via kottke)

Link to Dreamhost

8. December 2006, 22:00 Comment [1]

Here’s something for your weekend. It’s completely unrelated to parking, Nick Lachey, the Luzon Building, The Winthrop, and anything else Tacoma. You’ve been warned.

Link to GritCity

2. December 2006, 15:57 Comment

Somebody in my office was asking what we did for Thanksgiving last year. I blanked. I couldn’t remember. It wasn’t at our house. Did we go to somebody else’s house. Then it came to me. I remember now (long story). That was fun. It seems like so long ago…

22. November 2006, 15:07 Comment [2]

The special New York Times Travel magazine in today’s newspaper has a story about the rising arts scene in Philadelphia. Why should you care? Because the story reads like a lot of stories in our area. Philadelphia is a second city in New York’s shadows. Artists often would leave the city to go the big city to the north. Now there’s more of a local arts scene with artists, projects, and galleries, opening and making an impact. Sound familiar?

The arts scene in Tacoma seems more and more vibrant every year month. This is such an interesting and exciting time to be in Tacoma. I’m excited.

Link to The New York Times

19. November 2006, 13:44 Comment [2]

I really don’t know what to say… The tagline for Seattle’s new brand platform is “Metronatural”. As in, “I live in Seattle because it’s metronatural.” I’ve been known to (occasionally) mock some of Tacoma’s marketing efforts. This one… I’ll let you make up your own mind.

Click Here For The Full Press Release

Update: ... and there’s a website

20. October 2006, 07:13 Comment [9]

11. October 2006, 11:00 Comment [8]