Where do you draw the line between preservation and hoarding? What makes the crazy lady on Dr. Phil with 3 year old cabbage in her refrigerator any different from the guy who insists on saving the Luzon or the Murray Morgan? The gap between them is diminishing, much like their common sense. Safety, practicality, health, intelligence and fiscal responsibility are being ignored, all in the name of… keeping old stuff around… for the sake of preserving old stuff… because it’s old.
Old does not equal good. I am increasingly tired of the notion that something needs to be preserved at any cost because it has years under its belt. The concept of age and importance being synonymous has potential to keep me up at night. If this is true, I will stop trying to be a good person and focus on aging. Apparently, the older I get the more respect I will garner from many people in Tacoma.
This will be great for me. I will become more important, significant, interesting and beautiful as I fall apart internally. Failing health, poor attitude, and lack of morals aside, I will be better than I was yesterday, apparently by definition. All I need now is for someone to start fundraising on my behalf. For an unjustified sum of money, I can get plastic surgery and some counseling to revert back to the way I was yesterday.
Tacoma needs to focus efforts and money on the preservation of things that haven’t already passed the point of no return. The Luzon and the Murray Morgan were/are both ugly and dangerous and expensive to maintain… and by maintain, what I really mean is maintain in a state of dysfunction. Look at all the money thrown at both of these structures, for what? Neither of them has contributed anything positive to society in years.
City planners, please get back to work on fixing things that actually have life left in them. There are plenty of historic buildings in downtown that are not in a state of disrepair yet. Fix them NOW. Fascination with the hopeless must cease. This is a classic case of “careful what you wish for”, people. If this infatuation with the hopeless continues, you will soon have the entire downtown corridor on which to focus.
The single greatest thing to happen to downtown Tacoma in the past 5 years is Polar Plaza. Ice skating and cheap Christmas trees. That’s all it takes to transform an awkward waste of space into something magnificent. Kudos on a job well done to whoever is behind this. We cut ourselves a fresh tree out at 4A on 72nd or you can be sure we’d have been down at 2-5-Trees. Hopefully these ventures are a success and the ice will be back next year when my little one should be old enough to give it a try.
It seems seasonal business in Tollefson Plaza should extend year-round. What are some ideas out there for spring/summer season? How about a symphony? Volleyball courts? I’m enjoying the concept of humans existing in the concrete jungle that is Tollefson. Myself, I hadn’t been down there since working on a 72-Hour film back in 08. Hope I’ll have a reason to go back sometime soon.