Feb. 22, 2008 at 12:25am

*Live Local Or Die* The Stakes are Raised on 2/26

There have been many enjoyable low key "booster" events downtown in the last couple of years. 

Don't expect the "Live Local or Die" event  to be one of them.  I am looking forward to this event which should be lively and unpredictable. 

Jim Diers author of Neighborhood Power is going to host the below panel:




Patricia Lecy-Davis - Master and Commander of the Downtown Merchant Group.  She and her husband operate a mutli use building in the heart of downtown and lives, works and sleeps downtown Tacoma.  She owns Embellish Salon on the top floor.




(Photo c/o Kevin Freitas)

Kevin Freitas - Has the oldest running blog in Tacoma.  He also designed and started Feed Tacoma which has exploded in a open source Wikipedia style  fashion in Tacoma now feeding from over 50 blogs with Tacomic and other unique content.




(Morgan Alexander aka "Mr. Streetcar")
(Photo courtesy of Tacoma Daily Index)

Morgan Alexander - President of Tacoma Streetcars and who helped bring streetcars back to Tacoma with the support of many Tacoma civic groups.   Morgan is also a founding member of Tacoma Works and Historic Tacoma.




(Photo c/o Kevin Freitas.  I am in the middle in a Tim Quigg 6:00 a.m. Winthrop Hotel meeting)

Erik Bjornson (myself) - Tacoma Urbanist.  Devotee of parking expert Donald Shoup, card carrying member of Congress for New Urbanism..  Also Vice Chair of the North End Neighborhood Council.

Time : 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Date : February 26, 2008

Place : Veritas Mortgage Group (Next to Tullys at 762 Broadway)

Price: Free if you can find a space.

Here's the flyer on the event.

Commentary:

Themes of Buy Local has always had a twinge of quaintness to it.  The message seems to be to buy something one would not ordinarily buy because to buy something local was deemed a good moral choice.  Perhaps the overemphasis on buying in "buy local" has been one of itsshortcomings.

From Wikipedia:

Advocates often suggest local purchasing as a form of moral purchasing. Local purchasing is often claimed to be better for the Earth and better for working conditions.  The first potential moral benefit is environmental: Bringing goods from afar generally requires using more energy than transporting goods locally, and some environmental advocates ..

Go Local Tacoma has some good reasons as well but from a better community building aspect.

In the spirit of Go Local or Die, here's an additional reason fashioned in a Gordon Gekko perspective:

Live Local for your self centered interest.  Its all about you.  You should buy local for the same reason you maintain and clean your house or apartment, if you don't, you will eventually live in squalor.

If your don't Live Local, and enough of your neighbors follow, your neighborhood business centers and downtown will be vacant, blighted and eventually crime ridden from ill use.

If your neighborhood is vibrant, rather than full of abandoned buildings and lots, you are less likely to have to spend time calling the police and taking to the streets to fight crime.  Its far easier to maintain a neighborhood than rebuild one.




Your time is worth something. Its simply not cost efficient to save a few dollars at a remote strip mall only to have your neighborhood fall apart.  If you abandon the communtiy life, don't be suprised that it abandons you and you are left with no other option but to wander anonymously in a aircraft carrier sized box in a 20 acre parking lot.

Plus, a vibrant neighborhood will have stores nearby so that you can enjoy your surroundings rather than having to drive to everything. 

So, you can Go Local for the benefit of the environment, labor issues and other moral issues if you wish.  They are perfectly legitimate and good reasons.  However, Living Locally makes sense for purely self interested reasons as well.  Even ones Gordon Gekko would appreciate.