Ive spoken out about this issue previously and not surprisingly suffered additional setbacks to my ongoing Mr. Congeniality campaign. Be that as it were, there is no question in my mind that the new mixed use--thats likely another way of saying more expensive than we think you should know--development in the Proctor District will be the demise of the quaint small-town charm of that urban oasis of small shops, businesses and modest residential buildings which many of us who grew up in North Tacoma have come to know so well and fondly. The whole business strikes me as not unlike putting a gorgeous young starlet under the knife because some balding middle-aged sluggard with a little bit of money and influence thinks she needs larger TaTas to sell the new Police Academy musical. Im fully aware I can do nothing about this of course, but I feel better venting and hopefully someone will go to jail later. As these things almost always are, it was likely bought and paid for by those who stand to evade even more in taxes after the property assessments and boutique revenues rise at the cost of the areas accessibility and livability for many of us living in adjoining neighborhoods. This development has plenty of supporters, most of whom dont live in the area. A small minority take the arguable but respectable stance that this sort of change is inevitable in an urban community, and moreover, can be a good thing. What it will no longer be, and just as importantly, what it will most likely become, is what concerns me. Most of the rest of those supporting this are new to the area, motivated by something trumping its nostalgic quaintness .. or just plain short sighted. The proponents will say the opponents are the ones being short sighted, but actually my perspective can look see well into the past and future. Can yours? Ive noticed time and again when these issues come up, that there is invariably an almost unstoppable force of political-will with a very concentrated one-dimensional view of urban development and land-use. That view rarely if ever accounts for livability or other aesthetics like quaintness and familiarity, where they impede commerce. This inexorable force calls itself Progress, but perhaps it would be useful to define what progress is (or should be ideally,) before we allow them to just co-opt the term. Progress is evolutionary development, not simply change. It is first and foremost, IMPROVEMENT. What are we improving here? The commercial concerns in the area are all profitable. Why is that never good enough for some? Yes there is a small strip mall across from Mason Middle School that isnt particularly attractive. Is it worth changing the face of the neighborhood for? Would a small park have been unthinkable? Why rather than remain focused on the parts of town that actually need substantial new mixed-use development like the downtown and south-end, would we make a major cosmetic, economic and social alteration to what for quite some time (longer than most of us have been alive) has been one of Tacomas most attractive neighborhoods? When the change comes, Starbucks will be fine of course; is anything more popular among the young, semi-affluent and awkwardly mobile new residents of an old new neighborhood than a $5.00 soy Mochachino? Longtime fixtures like Chalet Bowl on the other hand, might as well write their epithets now. No way does any working class establishment survive the invasion of the neo-Yuppies. The new Gene Juarez has to go somewhere! Those who pushed this development would do well to remember that quaint is a timeless quality which cannot be replaced once it is gone. Trendy and fashionable on the other hand, are ephemerally fleeting and ALWAYS REPLACED with something newer and hipper somewhere else. Before you know it, what was once progress is now just cliche and klitsche like so many other once weres. Yes with its new collagen injections and cheek implants, soon the Proctor District can look forward to being the Airwalk and FUBU of land-use planning. Or better still yet, the Bruce Jenner and Donetella Versace!
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 18:26:41 +0000
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