Councilmember Andersons on the wall (not literally)

Tacoma city councilmember Julie Anderson weights in on the donor wall debacle in an op ed in today's News Tribune. Seems she's trying to play the role of a bridge on this issue and I applaud her. I only wish representatives from the community at-large we at some of the meetings going on. I happen to know a couple bloggers that would surely like to attend. She put a couple points to guide talks out there:

The success of the museum is crucial to the City of Tacoma. Any design solution should strive to increase the institution’s visitorship.

The volunteers and donors of Save Our Station and Century Park deserve a “date certain” for a design and construction of the park.

Pedestrian barriers are not desirable and should be used only when logically linked to public safety or adopted public urban design goals.

I think she does well to even point out that the honest discussion happening around town and here in the blog community will only help create meaningful solutions for everyone.

Unfortunately, without an honest definition of the underlying problems and an articulation of each party’s desired outcomes, a satisfying solution for community is unlikely.

Cheers to Julie Anderson for this perspective and if more community support is needed to come to a final solution, perhaps getting members of the community directly involved will help everyone get on the same page. So, in this spirit, how do we honor donors, allow pedestrian traffic through the area, while being conscious of the museum's attendance?

Link to the News Tribune
Previously on KFnet

Thanks Erik!

Here's my phrase of the day (similar to my "Make love not wall" comment the other day) on this issue: "Keep your friends close and local bloggers closer."

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10/22/2006 @ 5:02pm

Nice to see people in leadership standing up to try to make Tacoma inviting and friendly for pedestrians.

I hope we are making a transition in Tacoma where we are giving a high priority to people walking downtown as more are considering doing so.

The TNT has printed a couple of letters to the editor on it

(R. W. JOHNSON; Lakewood
Published: October 17th, 2006)

"Take down that wall, Mr. Nicandri!"

"Only in Tacoma would the main entrance to a world-class museum be blocked . . ."

"The solution is really simple. Remove the fence and erect the wall honoring the Union Station benefactors parallel to the bridge entrance to the Museum of Glass."

Davie Boe, a member of the Tacoma Planning Commissioner weighed in recently writing in the TNT on 10/18:

"The Chihuly Bridge of Glass is the prime pedestrian connection from Pacific Avenue to the Thea Foss Waterway. A fence should never have been allowed across the access/axis point along Pacific Avenue in the first place."

"While I applaud the concept of the pocket park and commemorative feature, it should be designed in conjunction with an open entry point to the bridge. If comparisons are to be made to other parks for design validation, then let’s look at how pedestrian bridges terminate in quality urban cities (such as the Pont des Arts in Paris and the Millennium Bridge in London)."

"Also, what about the pedestrian security issues of blocking off the end of the bridge? Do we really want to create another space in our downtown that is “intimate and separate from a noisy street”? Has the lesson not been learned that clear visibility and direct access to a major arterial actually improves pedestrian safety and sense of security? '"

(Boe is an architect and a member of the Tacoma Planning Commission.)

by Erik

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Sun. October 22, 2006, 01:01pm PDT

Councilmember Andersons on the wall (not literally)

10/22/2006 @ 5:02pm

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