There's some good potential to enhance the quality of the park as well as some (unfortunate) potential to chop up the forest land that is the very reason people go there in the first place. 

Let's hope they do it right.

I love the dog park idea!  We seriously need more of them, several more. 

In general I hope we can be very deliberate with these plans.  I too love the Point much as it is.  Not crazy about 5-mile drive as an auto cruising place - perhaps longer, more frequent closure of that. 

Stanley Park is a great model, but I personally feel the Point is not that far behind it, it could be easily screwed up, so let's be careful and really talk it through.  Isn't Stanley bi-sected by a very busy thoroughfare that goes to Lion's Gate Bridge?  It's not like it is completely traffic-free.  One great feature there that I wish we could have (admittedly impractical) is the sea-wall walk.  To be able to walk the perimeter at sea-level would be incredible.  I once was in Vancover for New Years and it SNOWED 26 inches in the city overnight.  We cross-country skied down the middle of Robson and around the sea-wall.  Great times.

Last edited by Squid (2007-06-13 17:04:34)

A sea wall walk around Pt. Defiance is a horrible idea from an environmental and aesthetic standpoint.  Pt. Defiance has some of the last undeveloped shoreline on the east shore of the Sound, and it needs to stay that way for the biological integrity of the Sound.  Bulkheads are horrible for shoreline ecology. 

The developed shoreline from Old Town to Owen Beach (and ideally that trail would be extended somehow to downtown) provides/will provide Tacoma with plenty of easily accessible developed waterfront.

...maybe return the Pagoda back to streetcar use?

(And I'll be the bad-guy and admit I've always enjoyed the "drive" part of 5-Mile Drive, in a Chuckanut Drive kind of way.)

Since a seawall walk around the Point is very much impossible regardless, the point is moot.  I guess I mentioned it as a difference between our park and Stanley.  As far as human activity goes, it's hard to beat a walk/run/bike/ski around the Seawall.   Personally, I use the park a lot now, there are few amentities I would consider improvements.  Put me on the conservative/conservationist side of this one.

jenyum wrote:

My only gripe so far is that I'd like to see Never Never Land resurrected, at least in spirit, somewhere within the plan.  It would also be great to see a fenced tot lot go in somewhere, maybe at the Gig Harbor viewpoint.  Also I wonder what a hotel so close to the park would do to the area, but I suppose that's inevitable at some point.

A definite yes to this proposal! We need to invest in our children!

After visiting this site: http://www.tacomasun.com/2008/02/15/tac … d-figures/ today, I just had to post about the forgotten Never Never Land that was once the biggest fantasy destination of children, young and old. Then my lady and I took a stroll there today. Not much left: the old show has new graffiti, holes punched through all of the playhouses, and wooden guard rail derailed.

We got some pictures, any how, and some good shots of this sunny Sunday at Owen's Beach. The place was PACKED-OUT! Great day today, our 1st half-way warm and sunny day this year. Tacoma is truly awesome!!

for free speech...  like the speakers corner in

England, but a little different.  Have a website to schedule protests,

and a webcam so people can participate from home.  The protests

downtown Tacoma have resulted in extensive security planning and

accommodation problems, but if an area was setup with amenities like

staging, electricity etc.. This could help ease problems with security

and accommodations, as well as the extensive permit procedures, that

would allow Americans to freely exercise their freedom of speech, and

make Tacoma a beacon for civil rights.  What do you think?

What's wrong with 5-mile drive?  As far as I know, its always been part of Point Defiance Park (at least my postcards from the teens suggest this).  I believe the configuration stems from the (rejected) ideas of the Olmstead plan. 

Personally, I walk the trails every other week or more.  However one of my very favorite uses of the park is the ease of simply driving to one of the viewpoints to read for a couple hours on any given afternoon. I do, however, believe there should exist better methods to limit speeders on the drive.