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Wed. September 27, 2006, 04:33pm PDT
Wall set to block downtown views blocked (for now)
Remember that little mystery wall blogged about here and here on my site and over at Exit133? According to a couple different sources, someone on the City Council asked about it and the City subsequently put a stop-work order on the project. It'll be interesting to see what comes of it.
My hope is that folks around town will drive, walk or Link by and see the "could be" that's there now. That corridor of Pacific is very pedestrian un-friendly with limited [legal/safe] crossing due to the tracks and four lanes of auto traffic and sparse much to do beyond UWT and Grassi's. With only the rebar meant to support the proposed wall in place you can get a great idea of how open, inviting and even beautiful an open path to the Bridge of Glass would be.
Drop your comments/opinions in the comments here and I'll be sure to send them around to folks over at the WSHS and City Council so, together, we can encourage a more pedestrian friendly and open downtown.
Link to more current and background info at the TNT
Link to video of yesterday's City Council study session (where Councilmember Anderson brought this up, click on "Other Items of Interest" to jump right to it)
Comments (3) | To Top
9/27/2006 @ 11:38pm
Photo number 1 shows the view corridor that should be open all of the time.
This allows you to see quite clearly the entrance to the Chihuly Bridge of Glass from Pacific Avenue.
From Union Station, the brick wall would add 230 feet extra in your journey to travel to the Foss Waterway.
In order to do so, you would have to walks by the brick wall, past the cafe, through the arch and back around.
We need to use every tool to get people to walk from Pacific Avenue to the Foss.
Also, the brick wall would obscure the Bridge of Glass from Pacific Avenue.
Hopefully, someone will take a holistic look at the situation and fix it.
by Erik
9/28/2006 @ 7:06am
A wall? A wall? Really? Is this what downtown Tacoma needs? I have to agree that if a wall is constructed on this site it would block the bridge view. It would also give graffiti punks a great place to “showoff” their so called gang signs. Shame on you WSHS for even considering this wall. Aren’t you the people that are supposed to preserve our city not hinder its progress? Someone needs to step back and reconsider the options. If the agencies that are considering this wall are too blind to see what it will do to the view, then maybe they need new blood on their staff. Someone step up to the plate and say this is ludicrous. A wall, really?
by Steve
9/28/2006 @ 9:15am
I agree, Steve. The visibility factor would really help people when they're walking around town. That and sheer walkability would be greatly benefited to open up that path from Pacific to the Bridge of Glass.
by KevinFreitas