Tacoma is losing its trees. After a quick glance at the skyline you might not believe it, but it’s true. Recent winds and storms have taken many trees; others have fallen to development; and plenty have been removed from our parks and sidewalks because of their age.
There is no systematic effort in Tacoma to replace [...]
In this series, the Sun explores the city from a thousand feet up. Drawing inspiration from a combination of the cheesy public television “Over..” series, Paul Dorpat’s long running Now & Then column in the Seattle Times, and the Aerial Photography layer of the City of Tacoma’s govME mapping website, we look at different landmarks and neighborhoods to see how land use decisions have impacted our built environment and our community.
This week: The Tacoma Mall
What does the Martin Luther King Housing Development Authority (MLKHDA), an affordable housing non-profit organization, have to do with one of the richest companies in the country?
Previous Moment’s of Zen here and here have focused on individual buildings. Today’s photos, featuring the work of Stephen Cysewski, shows the area that now makes up the Tacoma campus of the University of Washington.
Certainly it can be argued that without the vision that created the UWT campus and the ability of the state to [...]
Celebrating people, products, and businesses that make Tacoma unique.
Mark Monlux is an award winning freelance illustrator and cartoonist. A northwest native, he has called Tacoma home for the last 16 years. After graduating with a B.A. in Graphic Art from Central Washington University in 1985 Mark entered the freelance market initially as a broad-spectrum designer. [...]
I’ve been thinking about Kunstler’s recent visit. For all his bombast and bleakness, he does offer some kernels of insight.
In this series, the Sun explores the city from a thousand feet off the ground. Drawing inspiration from a combination of the cheesy public television “Over..” series and Paul Dorpat’s Now & Then column in the Seattle Times, and using the newly added Aerial Photography layer of the City of Tacoma’s govME mapping website, we [...]
It’s a somewhat fashionable thing right now to look down your nose at the suburbs. Environmentalists and students of urban studies (rightly) point to the energy wasted by single-family houses and the gas guzzled on the trips to the grocery store.
The critique has been in Hollywood for years, but it’s recently become much more prevalent. [...]
In this series, the Sun explores the city from a thousand feet up. Drawing inspiration from a combination of the cheesy public television “Over..” series, Paul Dorpat’s long running Now & Then column in the Seattle Times, and the newly added Aerial Photography layer of the City of Tacoma’s govME mapping website, we look at [...]
Part 3 in a series on commercial development in Tacoma.
I’ve been thinking about alleys lately. This topic came up about a year ago over on exit133.com I’ve always been a fan of alleys but became very interested in them several years ago while taking an urban planning course at the University of Washington. Since then, alleys have become one of my many minor obsessions - especially after learning that the public right-of-ways (streets, alleys, sidewalks and parking strips) make up about a quarter of the land mass of most cities - including Tacoma. Of these right-of-ways, alleys receive the least amount of thought and attention. As a result, not much thought has been given to include alleys in the broader context of issues such as urban revitalization and the environment.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget how far we’ve come. Thankfully, Stephen Cysewski captured Tacoma on 35mm film for us to meditate on.
In this series, the Sun explores the city from a thousand feet up. Drawing inspiration from a combination of the cheesy public television “Over..” series, Paul Dorpat’s long running Now & Then column in the Seattle Times, and the newly added Aerial Photography layer of the City of Tacoma’s govME mapping website, we look at different landmarks and neighborhoods to see how land use decisions have impacted our built environment and our community.
This week: Trolley Court
In this new feature, the Sun explores the city from a thousand feet off the ground. Drawing inspiration from a combination of the cheesy public television “Over..” series and Paul Dorpat’s Now & Then column in the Seattle Times, and using the newly added Aerial Photography feature of the City of Tacoma’s award winning govME mapping website, we will be looking at how land use decisions over the years have impacted our built environment - for better and worse.
During my recent obsession into the world of sourdough bread making, I found myself in the market for an oil mister. This gave me a perfect excuse to pay a visit to the Urban Gourmet store on 6th Ave.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget how far we’ve come. Or how far gone Tacoma was. Thankfully, Stephen Cysewski captured Tacoma at the lowest of lows on 35mm film for posterity. We’ll be featuring one of his images periodically to keep us in Zen. Here’s one to reflect on, as you head over to Pacific Grill for dinner.
Recently, I came across a website that caught my attention because it touched on two favorite obsessions of mine: wine and Tacoma. Intrigued, I had to learn more.
By Erik Bjornson
After the Tacoma Mall moved into Tacoma in 1968, much of downtown and neighborhood business centers suffered neglect and some were nearly abandoned in their entirety. The city likely struck its all time low point around the late 1970s and early 1980s (Stephen Cysewski made his infamous photo tour of downtown [...]
Imagine walking into a dank dark basement in a 110 year old building downtown and turning on the lights to find this eerie and surreal scene. That’s what happened to me recently while working on an interview for a Sun story.
Nerd Blog: Small Worlds Theory and Livable Downtown
By Paul Sparks
Part One: Short, quircky, amateur commentaries on “Small Worlds Theory” and its relationship to the “Livable Community” of Downtown Tacoma.
What is “Small Worlds”?
Small worlds is a theory of maximum connectivity. It describes a real world phenomenon found in all types of effective communicative systems (the [...]
Part 2 in a series on commercial development in Tacoma.
One of the side effects of being in the shadow of the Seattle-metro area is that an abundance of older buildings, many eligible for historic status, have been spared the fate of the wrecking ball. Love them or hate them, Tacoma has a LOT of old buildings.
A few years ago local organizer and activist Morgan Alexander come up with an idea to build a streetcar network in Tacoma. He realized that streetcars could re-connect our neighborhoods and business districts, spur economic development, and celebrate our historic roots of our city. Morgan shopped this idea around to local leaders and elected officials [...]
Part 1 in a series on commercial development in Tacoma.
Following the plight of a little nail shop has got me thinking about how we think about growth.
Perhaps no other action by the City of Tacoma has caused so much long term damage to the downtown streetscape as much as the construction of the North and South Plaza Parking garages.
Do you have a voice? If so, we would like to hear it!
Please submit your questions, comments, story ideas, get quick schemes…
~ Our Mission ~
The Tacoma Sun is monthly community newspaper published by local Tacoma volunteers to promote:
- Liveable Neighborhoods and Downtown
- Local Political Issues
- Community Building
- Tacoma’s Public Realm and Civic Life
- Enviromental Issues
- Tacoma’s Image
Our goal is to take an in depth look at these issues than is currently available and to make all [...]
