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Jul. 27, 2009 at 12:05pm
PHOTOS -- Sound Transit Dome District Walking Tour
I spent the morning walking the Dome District with folks from Sound Transit, the district, City Hall, and Pierce County.At issue: a rail line through the Dome District connecting Tacoma Dome Station to Lakewood Station. Sound Transit has proposed a large berm upon which the track would stretch from D Street to M Street. Others want a post-and-beam structure that they argue will be less intrusive and more amenable to pedestrians, cyclists, and small-business owners. Some background info here and here.
I plan to transcribe the Q & A section of the meeting for a lengthy Index article in the next couple days. Until then, here are some photos from this morning's meeting and walking tour . . .
Sound Transit CEO Joni Earl explains the project costs while Brown & Haley CEO Pierson Clair looks on . . .
Dome District community activist Jori Adkins provides details on 'post-and-beam' alternative to Sound Transit's plan . . .
A perfect day for a walking tour . . .
Do you see that orange line in the middle of the picture? Barely? Me, too. According to Sound Transit, the track atop the berm will be approximately 8 feet higher than that line . . .
The track's center line will cross through the parking lot beneath I-705 . . .
Finally, the smartest urban planner/designer in Tacoma was quietly taking notes . . .
***UPDATE - 07/28/09*** Here is the Index's coverage of yesterday's meeting.
comments [27] | posted under dome district, sound transit, tacoma
Comments
 by Erik on 7/27/2009 @ 12:30pm | Sound Transit has proposed a large berm upon which the track would stretch from D Street to M Street.
Unbelievable that Tacoma is allowing the cheapest most intrusive overpass to be installed. Seattle on the other hand, stood up to the state of Washington and is removing the viaduct completely: www.smartbrief.com/news/asce/storyDetail... |
 by NineInchNachos on 7/27/2009 @ 12:35pm | when would be best to time the release of a pro post-beam Tacomic? Tomorrow? |
 by Ann on 7/27/2009 @ 1:11pm | Good turnout this morning. Wish Jori would have had more time to present the post and beam alternative. |
 by skye on 7/27/2009 @ 2:47pm | Great photos! Looking forward to the article. See the citizen's website at doitrighttacoma.blogspot.com to get involved with them-- |
by NineInchNachos on 7/27/2009 @ 3:22pm | i am sad that Julie Anderson isn't doing more to save her city...
blogs.thenewstribune.com/politics/2009/0... |
by NineInchNachos on 7/27/2009 @ 3:23pm | see also TACOMIC TUESDAY! |
 by tacoma1 on 7/27/2009 @ 7:49pm | So it looks to me, that we are about $4 million short for the post and beam plan that alot of people seem to want.
Anyone know where to get it? Without the cash we just have a problem without a viable solution other than the berm. How 'bout a special LID tax for the Tacoma Dome district? Yea, I know no one will want that, but King County's certainly not going pay for it. I really don't care one way or the other on the design, I just want to stop delaying and get the thing built. |
by NineInchNachos on 7/27/2009 @ 8:12pm | why do we want to screw tacoma in the face just so assholes in lakewood can get to seattle? Dude, its already delayed so what is the rush? lets Do It Right Tacoma.
as for where the money comes from... hmmm.... who do we know with deep pockets that owes Tacoma lots of money?.. and I appreciate the edginess of the TDI blog (above). |
by NineInchNachos on 7/27/2009 @ 9:00pm | man just read the whole monster sounder post on the Tacoma Daily Index.
I fucking hate lakewood and everything associated with lakewood. |
 by Earthdaughter on 7/27/2009 @ 11:27pm | If I understood the numbers correctly this morning, the $4 million was the added cost of doing post and beam FOR THE WHOLE SECTION FROM E D TO S M St. We are only asking for the post and beam from E. D to the south side of Pacific, right? The number quoted at the last City Council subcommittee was $1 million (out of a $166 (?) million project)!
As for the delay, I've always like the old saying, "If you don't have time to do it right, where do you think you'll find the time to do it over?" When someone tells me I have to make a decision RIGHT NOW, I figure it means that THEY will lose money if I take time to think about the consequences. In this case, the consequences to Tacoma are huge! I'm only half kidding when I suggest that someone must have a "dirt concession" to provide the fill for this project! Truly turning the Dome District into a "dumping ground". |
 by NSHDscott on 7/27/2009 @ 11:52pm | As I posted on the TNT story (being lazy here):
What surprises me in this article is that the cost difference is only $4 million dollars! I mean, not to pretend that $4 million isn't a lot of money, but this whole project is $151 million. Come on, is $155 million so much worse, when it means doing the better thing for Tacoma and not pissing off thousands of people? Just think of the PR boost they'd get, at a time when they could really use it. I just can't believe all this digging in their heels and fighting post and beam constructon to save $4 million and spare another delay (sorry Lakewood, but what's one more year?). |
by NineInchNachos on 7/28/2009 @ 12:57am | maybe if tacoma starts asking for concessions, then other cities will start asking for concessions... then where would we be? |
 by KevinFreitas on 7/28/2009 @ 6:54am | It's a sad day for Tacoma and it's Dome District when a small cost difference could forever scar the face of downtown. Shame on you Sound Transit. |
 by boearc on 7/28/2009 @ 7:18am | What it seems is being lost in the discussion is the dropping of Pacific Avenue 16 feet in order for the Sounder Extension to 'bridge' over. 16 feet folks. That is a two story builiding that Pacific Avenue - at the toe of the slope - is going to be depressed (taking the South Tacoma Way Intersection with it). Tacoma was built on the back of the railroad in the 19th Century - now appears it will be the poster child of how to be under the foot of the railroad in the 21st. It really would be funny if it wasn't so sad. Well - at least in 10 years when all of the stupidity is built - there can be a collective I told you so. Now all we need is a spire for the convention center. |
 by fredo on 7/28/2009 @ 7:25am | In the movie "The French Connection" the existence of a post and beam elevated railway system paid great dividends for law enforcement. Detective "Popeye" Doyle was able to drive directly under the railway to apprehend the perpetrator riding the train. This would not have been possible with berm-style construction. |
by Ann on 7/28/2009 @ 8:36am | Sound Transit officials made it pretty clear they were not considering changing the design to include additional post and beam construction. Their reasoning was they're 75 percent done with the engineering, they want to stay on schedule to start construction in April and an opening in the 2nd quarter of 2012. They say they're already 22 million short of the 151 million budget for which they're writing grants, and that if the project is delayed they might lose some of the grants they've already received. Is it already too late? I don't know, but I'm not prepared to let this issue go yet. If you feel the same here are some things you can do:
Sign the online petition: www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/8443470... Write or call your City Council members. Contact info can be found on doitrighttacoma.blogspot.com website. Look for the Public Officials email list (PDF) on the right side of the page. Come to the volunteer training night Wed. 7/29 6:00 p.m. at the Crystal Voyage. |
by KevinFreitas on 7/28/2009 @ 9:17am | I think at issue is a few things. The berm: massive scar. The Pacific dip: not-so-grand canyon. And BNSF: the real reason for this track. Enhancing the commute for folks from Lakewood is a noble task indeed but shaving 8 minutes off the Amtrak and freight trains trip between here and Portland adds up to big money. That's the primary reason for this track connection hence the lack of interest in what will look and work best for Tacoma. They'd do an at-grade crossing of Pacific were it not for the issue that they'd block too much traffic due to the immense amount of non-commuter trains that will be contracted to use these tracks. |
by NineInchNachos on 7/28/2009 @ 9:20am | hey did you know that BNSF employees all drive the sounder trains? |
 by thriceallamerican on 7/28/2009 @ 9:21am | KF, I thought that BNSF was going to continue to use the Pt. Defiance route, and the new stretch of track was only for ST and Amtrak. Am I wrong? |
by Earthdaughter on 7/28/2009 @ 10:03am | The other serious issue about the at-grade crossing, KF, is that the trains can't cross at grade and then get up the hill to connect to the existing tracks above STW. Apparently, they would also have had to "back down the hill" and across Pacific which would have been a nightmare. Of course, light rail could have done all this, but that wouldn't run on those tracks! I think you may be correct that Amtrak would want to move over so it had to be heavy rail.
Heavy rail doesn't have to be disastrous for the Dome District, Pacific Ave, or other parts of T-Town. It's just the way it's being done with little or no regard for the desires of the citizens who live here that makes it so frustrating. Sign that petition, folks. (See Ann's post above.) And add your comments! Let the Council know we want them to be responsive to US, not to LAKEWOOD and SEATTLE. |
 by ixia on 7/28/2009 @ 10:21am | Sound Transit needs yet to vote final approval. Our three voting members are Julie Anderson, Pat McCarthy and Claudia Thomas.
Julie is off to greener pastures and needs to ensure a larger voting audience, such as Lakewood soon and King County in the future. So she will give them what they want. Screw Tacoma. Pat McCarthy basically got her job by default. She said yesterday that she had never actually looked at the Dome District track location before. That’s how much she cares. (Remember Kevin Phelps, her top man? He gave us the Detention Center. Not the mind set Tacoma needs). Claudia Thomas needs to produce for Lakewood. She could not care less what happens to Tacoma. We made Pacific Ave a virtual dead zone by building parking garages (and are still throwing millions at them). Now we are willing to cut the Dome District in half and created more dead zones overgrown with blackberry (Pierce Transit made clear the city will have to maintain the berms, after they hydro seed it). Add to that the loss of commercially viable space under the tracks (ever been to Chicago?) And then imagine the T-Dome and the LeMay Car museum having events at the same time. How will they funnel all the people from one side to the other? You can bet they will fence the berms the first time somebody walks across the tracks. Don’t believe for one second when they say now they will not fence. The four million figure, btw, was estimate to be two million at the last meeting the city hosted, just a week ago. WTF? Does Sound Transit have ANY urban designers on staff?? Perhaps a person who can think more than three years ahead? Apparently not. It is pretty hard to watch Tacoma's future get burned by a few people with personal agendas. |
by NineInchNachos on 7/28/2009 @ 10:30am |
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by boearc on 7/28/2009 @ 11:16am | Earthdaughter - the backing down trains to the grade is a bit of a red herring. This is only an issue IF you don't continue the grade change from the M Street junction. If some of the money spent on lowering Pacific Avenue, etc... was spent on continuing the grade transition farther into Nalley Valley - then an at 'at grade' is possible with Pacific Avenue at it is. If servicing existing businesses tracks preclude this (and that is a whole other issue) - I for one would much rather see Pacific Avenue elevated to meet a crossing (and thus making the Pacific Grade gentler - better for bicycles) than making Pacific Aveune steeper on the South side to get under the 'bridge' of the Sounder Extension. The other issue completely off the radar is where does a future high speed train go? |
by NineInchNachos on 7/28/2009 @ 11:51am | todd's latest:
"The issue of how to achieve that goal is one that has pitted Dome District businesses and property owners against the regional transit agency for several years. Sound Transit plans to build wide berms through the district (specifically between South D Street and South M Street) in order to raise the tracks enough to build a bridge to cross over Pacific Avenue and climb South Tacoma Way toward Lakewood. Opponents want the agency to build post-and-beam structures instead because they would leave open space beneath the tracks and, they argue, create a more vibrant neighborhood for pedestrians, residents, small business owners, and even urban wildlife that pass through a gulch. " tacomadailyindex.com/portals-code/list.c... |
by KevinFreitas on 7/28/2009 @ 12:26pm | @thrice: Just conspiracy theorizing, really. I just find it hard to imagine ST would forever avoid caving to potential money from freight usage of this section of track. I certainly hope it doesn't happen.
@boearc: Thanks for the at-grade info. Certainly would seem to make sense to go that route. Even still, a lousy $4 million to improve the berm to post-and-beam -- seems like chump change to get something just that much more right. |
 by two9seven on 8/1/2009 @ 1:16pm | Make it an entry into downtown. Very bad place for berm. |
 by Thorax O'Tool on 8/1/2009 @ 1:54pm | If ST wants to give us the finger, then we can give the finger back and use one of these bad boys to turn the berm into vaulted archways...
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A blog following news and features published in the Tacoma Daily Index newspaper. All Photos Copyright (C) Todd Matthews / Tacoma Daily Index.
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