You know it's nice in Tacoma when ...

... on Thursday night you have dinner on deck.
... on Friday morning you have breakfast on the deck.
... on Friday you walk to work.
... on Friday night you have happy hour on the deck of Paddy Coynes.

Oh yeah, it's crazy nice out!

Where do you buy your beans?

With a new thermal coffee pot and grinder at home, we're going through a lot more coffee than we did before. I'm curious, where do people buy coffee beans?

Sometimes we do Starbucks beans, but we like the Blackwater or Commencement Bay Coffee route better we can swing it. Are there any coffee connoisseurs who know where we can get a really excellent pound of beans in town?

Maxwell's (again)

We had dinner at Maxwell's on Mothers Day. Having been there for drinks twice before, I was very excited for the chance to have a full dinner.

And I gotta say ... it was an incredible, incredible dinner. I think we ordered some form of steak all around, with sides of whipped potatoes, finger potatoes, and pasta shared between all of us. The wine (Maxwell's has introduced me to a great Washington red wine blend called Subduction, put out by Syncline), the beef, the wonderful potatoes, the atmosphere ...

One of the better dinners I've had in a long time. And it's just down the block!

200,000 Trees for Tacoma?

When I was in New York City I was impressed by the effort they were putting out to plant more trees--1 million trees to be precise. Their goal is 1,000,000 trees in the next 10 years.

I mentioned the program in a comment thread over at Exit133 about a big tree that fell down over the weekend in the Stadium District and suggested that Tacoma should consider something similar. We've lost a lot of trees to age and development and storms and I think that we should have a systematic effort to replant.

Turns out, it's being looked in to. Fellow blogger Tacoma Chickadee let me know that Tacoma's Green Ribbon Committee has as a draft recommendation that the City plant 200,000 trees, among some other ideas.

According to the time line on the website, the final recommendations should be put in front of the City Council in June.

I'm on board. Go trees!

Weather Report

Anyone notice the latest weather reports for Tacoma? 77 high by Thursday? Heck, yeah! Here comes summer!

Mmm ... Frosty!

I hung out at lunch today at Frost Park. Where's Frost Park you ask? It's the really ugly place on the corner of 9th & Commerce by the Park Plaza North garage. It's loud with lots of traffic ... so why was I there?

The Frost Park Chalk Challenge, of course!

Check it out here at the Tacoma Urbanist. Even if you weren't there you can still vote for your favorite chalk drawing of the set. This monster frog won my vote:


Cool event.

Yeah for the LID!

Very good news from Exit133 -- the Broadway LID just passed. That's good stuff for fans of the Theater District and Broadway. My window used to be on Broadway ... I sat in it and watched the tree lighting parade (I believe it was the last, actually).

I wonder how the view will change from there ...

Adopt A Seattlite Success!

It was an active 24 hours for us in Tacoma. Last night, friends from Seattle came down. We ventured out to The Hub and PSP with lots of good imbibing. They stayed the night and this morning we went out--again to PSP actually--for a good hearty breakfast.

From there we took a short walk to Suite133 where we showed off our cool office space. By the time our Seattlite friends left, they were pretty darn impressed with T-Town, not just with how far it had come, but with how it compared to their neighborhood in Seattle.

Sweet.

After that, Mary and I decided to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather. We took the 5 mile drive around Point Defiance, which was really packed. And we headed down to the Esplanade too, where we walked and looked at boats. We also ran into a friend having lunch on the deck at Woody's and joined them for a bite in the beautiful weather. It's gorgeous outside, people! Get out there!

Kunstler's First Chapter

I started The Long Emergency last night and made it through the first chapter. He's frustrating because he has some good points, but also has a few passages that are so outlandish they are scoffable.

On the first page, he writes, "It is my view, for instance, that in the decades to come the national government wil prove to be so impotent and ineffective in managing the enormous
vicissitudes we face that the United States may not survive as a nation in any meaningful sense but rather will devolve into a set of autonomous regions."

Uh huh.

Then there is this great bit on page 8: "How long might the Long Emergency last? A generation? Ten generations? A millennium? Ten millennia? Take your choice. Of course, after awhile, an emergency becomes the norm and is no longer an emergency."

SayWA? Ten millennia? So we'll still be wrestling with all this in 12008? We only have 5,000 years or so of recorded history, so suggesting we know anything about what we might face twice that length into the future is pretty funny. Even the single millennium guess is funny when you think about it.

As I said there are some good parts in here, but his more fanciful passages make it hard to take.

Howard James Kunstler in Tacoma

I struggle mightily with the central precept of Kunstler's The Long Emergency. I thought--before tonight, at least--that Kunstler really wants the Long Emergency to happen, that he wants to oil cripple the world economy, shrink the cities, transform agriculture, etc etc. I also seriously question the idea that the invisible hand of the market is incapable of handling the problem.

But the argument tonight had some interesting information--enough that I bought The Long Emergency as I left the event at the Theatre on the Square. I'm approaching it from a seriously skeptical perspective, so maybe that's the best way to go. I'll blog as I go through it.

That said, I greatly enjoyed Kunstler's presentation, even though I found much to disagree with. That the crowd at the Theatre on the Square was near capacity, if not sold out, was incredible. I saw so many recognizable faces--the most interesting would have to be Chip Vincent, manager of Advance Planning at Pierce County, and Professor Brian Coffey, Chair of the Urban Studies Department at UWT. There were lots of "regulars," as I might call them, in attendance but these two stood out.

I had Chip Vincent for a course at UWT a couple years ago--he toured the class around to cities and towns all over the Puget Sound and had us meet with planners in each of them. Very interesting stuff.

After the Kunstler event I went to Quiz Night at Doyle's, where my team won. I walked home wearing my prize: a Stella Artois bathrobe. I love bathrobes and I love Stella Artois. I was danged excited for this prize. Thanks, Russ!

Jackson Ave is free and clear

When Jackson Ave became an HOV only exit back in the day, it caused considerable consternation among many Gig Harbor bound travelers. I hear that some used to park their car, walk around the overpass and peak under it to see whether there was a cop hiding there. Apparently it took less time to do that than to use the Pearl on-ramp.

The main reason that Jackson went HOV-only was that the gridlock caused by the bridge would spill out on to Jackson and cause horrendous gridlock all over West Tacoma. Jackson, 6th, and 12th on really bad days, would jam up with cars trying to get across the bridge. I recall hear that the DOT estimate was 70% of the bridge traffic either got on or got off at Jackson at the time. Crazy!

Now, with no bridge congestion, I'm guessing Jackson can go back to handling the traffic again. Here's the Tribune update.

Maxwell's Silver Palate

I spent only a brief time at Maxwell's last night. The new restaurant going in just a few doors down from me was crazy packed on its opening night celebration. I saw many many familiar faces--bankers, urban dwellers, arts leaders, politicians, journalists. It was a "see and be seen" kind of event, but unfortunately I couldn't see any easy path to the bar. It really was crazy packed.

Its decorations seemed to fit the mood well. I think the big windows that look out onto the street will be a great place to sit and look out.

I can't say much yet about the place yet because I didn't sample any wares. But I do know that I am excited to go back when they actually open up. I'll also send you over to Spew, where Ron has posted a bunch of pictures from the night.

Looking forward to their their actually opening, which should be within the week ...

Today in Tacoma

I'll be venturing out to Frost Park today at noon to watch the Chalk Off. Should be enlightening.

More at Exit133 and at the Tacoma Urbanist. Also RR Anderson's got some proposed rules. I think this may be one of the most odd events we've seen since ... since the Wayzgoose at least.

Maxwell on the Block

A half block down my street Maxwell's is opening soon. Judging by their logo, I'll get to play a lot of Monopoly there ...
I'll bring my iron token.

Seriously, though, I'm very excited. Maxwell's is going to become the closest restaurant to my place, and that is a very nice thing indeed.

Urban Ice Skating

Of all the suggestions Dan Voelpel has in his column today on events that will help bring people to Tollefson Plaza, I think I'd most like to see the ice rink in December.

When I was in high school, the Lakewood Mall put an ice rink in their parking lot over the winter.
Why not have one downtown this year? Some hot cocoa sponsored by the DMG? Shops along Pacific near UWT open till 7? Thanksgiving 'til New Years.

Count me and my triple axle in.

Putting "Tacoma" back into the TNT

David Zeeck, the editor over at the Tribune, posted an interesting item today. A reader asked a) why did the Tribune go from the Tacoma News Tribune to The News Tribune and b) would they ever consider changing back.

Zeeck, even though he wasn’t at the Tribune when the name changed, lays out why it was a good idea before saying that it’s doubtful the name will change back to the Tacoma News Tribune. He writes:

The paper’s choice was to stay Tacoma-centric and confine its ambitions and future to a smaller area, or to grow and expand as the population and residential geography of the area boomed. They made the right choice – to grow.

What it would take to change it is a publisher and company ownership that saw returning to the name Tacoma as both true geographically and advantageous from a business/marketing perspective. I don’t think either condition is likely.

Dave, I'd like to make my case for putting Tacoma back in your name.

First, I would not disagree that the Tribune made the right choice back in 1987 when they changed the name. Back then, the need was to get the Tribune onto as many doorsteps as possible, which meant that an expansion into a larger coverage area was a good idea.

But a lot has changed since. So let me try to convince you on the terms you suggest: geography and business/marketing.

Geographically, Tacoma is still the county seat of Pierce County. Tacoma may only be 25% of your readership, but I'd wager that they are a plurality of readers, too. We likely also have the plurality of jobs and the plurality of arts and culture too. To put it another way, Tacoma is the "capital" of the South Sound, so it's not unreasonable that its major paper is Tacoma-centric, even if your market has expanded to Federal Way and North Thurston.

Also, geographically speaking, you're competing with you're own company when you expand your coverage and market outside of the county. 49.5% of the Seattle Times is owned by your parent company. And The Olympian is also owned by them. (I'm not going to count the Hearst-owned PI here since it's supported by a Joint Operating Agreement with the Times.) I think there is a good case to be made that Tribune should pull back from Thurston and some of South King County and invest those resources into a Pierce County focus--Tacoma, Gig Harbor, and all of East Pierce County.

On to the Business/Marketing argument.

The trends for consumers to get our national and world news has recently gone to just a handful of major online sources: The New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN.com, MSNBC.com, etc.

Newspapers have responded with a variety of strategies to compete in the new online world, but the most obvious is that they have gone very very local. You made that case last year that newspapers can stay relevant and continue to compete because they have "boots on the ground" and can focus on their local coverage. Limiting your coverage area to Pierce County would pull some of your reporters back from the fringes of your market and increase your hyper-local coverage here, which would hopefully boost local readership to make up for any you lost in South King or North Thurston county (note: lost to another McClatchy paper). You would also save on your marketing in those areas, or be able to reinvest those dollars in Pierce County marketing.

I would also like to point out that online, names are everything, thanks to Google. In seven years we are going to have the US Open here, and millions of people are going to type in "US Open Tacoma" into Google. Same goes for any disaster or breaking news coverage. Nowadays you are marketing your paper to more than just local residents, you are marketing it to anyone who is trying to find out what's happening in Tacoma no matter where they are.

I typed in "Tacoma Foundry Explosion" into Google and the Tribune came up 8th (after the Times, KOMO, and CBS). That's not that bad, but consider this. If I'm in Kentucky, why would I click on a link to thenewstribune.com, when I don't know what city you're in? You could have just gotten lucky on a Google search for all I know. If you used tacomanewstribune.com as your primary domain, not only would you possibly be higher on the page, but you would be more readily identifable to a random searcher as a Tacoma-based paper, something I can't tell from your current name. There might be hundreds of thousands (millions even!) of page views annually that the Tribune could see with a name change.

As I always try to point out when talking about the Tribune, I'm not a hater. I really like the Trib and read it all the time. But I think there's compelling evidence that enough has changed since 1987 to consider going back to Tacoma News Tribune.

UPDATE: Mark Briggs, the on-line editor at the Tribune, has some additional thoughts on the question.

The Hub

Last night we were fortunate enough to be able to drop by over at new brewpub/pizzeria The Hub. Exit133 has some pictures and such.

It was a great atmosphere with good smells of garlic and pizza, plus good brews (I'm always partial to the Harmon Blonde Ale). The night before we had a family dinner at Stadium Bistro, which was fun, since it meant we spent Friday night on one floor of the building and Saturday night on the other.

I love the St. Helens neighborhood. When I moved here almost 5 years ago I had zero dining options between the Harvester in Stadium and Over the Moon on 7th. Now there's PSP, Cafe by the Bay, Stadium Bistro, Doyle's, Infinite Soups, and now--The Hub. It shouldn't be much longer before Maxwell's is open, either, and that's even closer. It's shaping up to be an excellent summer ...

I took a quick snapshot of this now-very busy hot spot.

Winter Weather

We've got some accumulation. This picture fails to catch the snow in the air--but trust me, there's a lot of it.

In Tacoma Today

I'd like to second Paul Schrag's props to the Broadway Center for hosting a dialog about hip hop. I think it's a good step after the flap they were just in.

RR Anderson has some pictures of people at yesterday's City Council meeting with his own dialog and commentary. Much fun ensues.

It rained, hailed, and snowed today.

We have 98 days until Tall Ships. More at Exit133 about volunteering and such.

And David Dicks, Executive Director of the Puget Sound Partnership, sends a good message: keeping the Sound healthy and clean will rely primarily on good growth management. You go, David. That was at the South Sound Science Symposium, something that was in Tacoma today that--hearing about it 6 hours too late--sounds kind of interesting.

George would be proud

Dan Voelpel's column today posts reader submissions of ideas for the next Washington State tourism slogan.

Considering I had a lot of fun at SayWa's expense, I thought I'd link to the column, because there are some really good ones.

"George would be proud" stands out, I feel. I'm also pretty fond of "Ooo La WA" although it's a little too close to SayWA, but for some reason I like it a whole lot better. I'm even kind of partial to "From Ski to Shining Sea."

Although I'm pretty tempted to eventually side with the Ken Miller in the article--"The Evergreen State" is nice in its simplicity.