underdog city

Standing in Tollefson Plaza for the very first time yesterday at Showcase Tacoma, waiting for Helio Sequence to take the stage, I found my head ringing with echoes of T.P. critiques I have read on other T-Town blogs. Then, of course, I found myself enthusiastically marching along in the critique parade.

To my untrained eye, T.P. seems in want of more grass, some trees, maybe a centerpiece garden, a smooth grassy patch for lawn bowling, or at least a merry-go-round. But I am uneducated about such matters. I don’t know what will draw people to the Plaza. I don’t even know if there are enough people generally milling about in the whole of downtown to fill the Plaza.

Rather than speculate endlessly, I will add a critique I have yet to hear voiced, which happens to be based on quite solid empirical evidence. It goes something like this: The city no doubt wants people to use the Plaza. The city no doubt knows a few people, and so should know that people don’t generally trek to attraction-free destinations if they won’t be able to sit down when they get there. Therefore, the city must expect people, when they arrive at destination Tollefson Plaza, to sit on those big, chalky pink, amphitheater-like steps. But perhaps the city has never known people who like their pants or have a reputation to maintain or hold a job they must get back to, because it seems the city thinks people must enjoy traipsing around town with chalky pink dust ground into their britches. The chalky pink ass of my blue jeans counts as empirical evidence, right?

For two recent Tacoma bloggers’ treatments of T.P.’s problems click here and here.