The new aroma of Tacoma
Sam Bufalini barely recognizes his Washington State hometown on a recent visit, as museums and theatres have rejuvenated a city once known more for its odiferous pulp mills than for its stunning natural surroundings
By SAM BUFALINI
Saturday, July 16, 2005 Updated at 3:44 AM EDT
From Saturday's Globe and Mail

TACOMA, WASH. — I was standing on world-renowned glassblower Dale Chihuly's Bridge of Glass when it hit me: I had become a tourist in my own hometown.

The span, which shimmers with Chihuly's amazing installations, connects the new Museum of Glass with Union Station, the once abandoned, now gloriously refurbished beaux-arts-style rail terminus built for Northern Pacific in 1910. It's now home to a federal court, the Washington State History Museum and the new Tacoma Art Museum. The complex, along with the bourgeoning University of Washington Tacoma campus, forms the heart of a downtown brought back from the grave.

Read more…

July 5, 2005
City's success story with Autodesk software profiled
A recent edition of Autodesk's Roadmaps newsletter touts the success story of how the City of Tacoma is using the software to save time in doing everything from data creation to collection and distribution. You can see the software in action on the govME Web site. The City's success using this software to support mapping features and more on the govME site will be profiled in the August edition of Public Works Magazine. You can read the Autodesk article by viewing this PDF document.

June 24, 2005
Pair of Seattle Times articles profile Tacoma
Two travel articles in The Seattle Times highlight things to see and do in the City of Destiny. Brian Cantwell compares a first-timer's visit to downtown Tacoma to an innocent's first bite of a habanero, and Carol Pucci writes about exploring Old Town and its unique history.

In other Tacoma news, Great Race 2005 kicks off June 25 in Washington, D.C., en route to the finish line in Tacoma on July 9. To track the race's progress, check the Great Race Web site.

March 23, 2005
27-year-old Tacoma soccer star leads Major Indoor Soccer League
Milwaukee Wave forward Greg Howes, a 27-year-old soccer star from Tacoma, is leading the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) in points (54), goals (32), game-winning goals (5) and restart goals, according to a story on oursportscentral.com. Howes is seeking to win his second consecutive Most Valuable Player award for the MISL.

Jan. 12, 2005
Photographer's shot of crane at night wins photo contest

Rick Fuller, a City of Tacoma Surface Water Source Control Representative who works in Public Works Environmental Services, was named the winner of the American City and County newsletter photo contest for this week. Fuller's night photo of a Manson crane working on the cleanup project on the Thea Foss Waterway will soon appear on the front of the City of Tacoma Web site.

Jan. 10, 2005
Vancouver using Tacoma's arts success as a blueprint
A story from Vancouver's newspaper The Columbian today features a redevelopment effort being considered in the Vancouver National Historic Reserve and along the city's waterfront on the Columbia River. Some of the inspiration for the redevelopment is coming from Tacoma. Here's is an excerpt from the article, Loading 'ARTillery':

"Vancouver doesn't have to look far for an example of how the arts have paid off. In the early 1990s, Tacoma purchased a 1.5-mile strip of land on Commencement Bay where the Museum of Glass and other arts-related projects have been built.

Tacoma has added $36 million in arts-related payroll and $16 million in tax revenues, Sessions said. Property values in downtown Tacoma have doubled..."

NEC notes early success with fingerprint identification system in Tacoma
Business Wire carries a story today that touts the early success of the new NEC automated fingerprint identification system in Tacoma in the first week of setting up and training people to use the system. The article claims that early work with the system has turned up more than two dozen leads. Read more...

Jan. 6, 2005
The Great Race will bring vintage cars to Tacoma later this year
A story today on eTrucker.com clued us in to the fact that this year's edition of the vintage car rally across the U.S. will end in Tacoma on July 9, 2005. The Great Race begins in Washington, D.C., on June 25 and will cover 4,200 miles before finishing in Tacoma. The tentative race route also includes stops in Washington at Walla Walla, Benton City, Yakima, Packwood, Puyallup and Federal Way.

Dec. 30, 2004
Tacoma resident wins sauerkraut recipe contest
Tacoma resident Mary Magnuson won $1,000 and a year's supply of Farman's Sauerkraut recently in a sauerkraut recipe contest. Her winning submission: a sauerkraut-veggie frittata. The Skagit Valley Herald has a story and the recipe.

Dec. 20, 2004
A reminder that the Mars bar was invented in Tacoma
News from Scotland reminds Tacoma residents that a famous candy got its start here in our fair city. In a story titled Deep-fried Mars myth is dispelled, the writer for BBC News makes it clear that the deep-fried chocolate bars are not just an urban myth. In the process of telling the story, the author recalls the history of the Mars bar:

"The Mars bar was first produced in 1920 by Frank and Ethel Mars in Tacoma, Washington, in the U.S. It was locally named the Milky Way bar but called the Mars bar in Europe."

Nov. 1, 2004
The Sun in Bremerton wrote about Tacoma yesterday in a piece titled The "City of Destiny." The writer says: "Tacoma's downtown has been revitalized and turned into an eclectic mix of culture and architecture."

Oct. 22, 2004
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (in Tacoma)
What happens when you combine Tacoma, U2 singer Bono and a briefcase full of 23-year-old lyrics from the band's second album? More weird proof that all things do flow through Tacoma. Check out the story Bono gets stolen lyrics back on the Irish Web site, RTE Guide. The OregonLive Web site has even more details in A lyrical quest for Bono ends where it began.

If that story isn't enough odd press for Tacoma, a food section article in The New York Times about an imperiale bottle of 1986 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild found in the cellar of a Tacoma home can be added to the distinctions this week: Big and Beautiful: Lafite for 12.
 

Sept. 17, 2004
The Erie Times-News in Erie, Pa., praised Tacoma for its best practices in the way that the community overcame manufacturing losses and changed perceptions of its economy.

Among the highlights in the attached PDF clip from the Sept. 5, 2004 newspaper article:

“Tacoma has become a magnet for technology, attracting 100 new high-tech companies to expand their operations in the city. It also became a media darling, generating headlines such as 'More Wired Than Seattle?' in BusinessWeek and 'Its Air Cleaned, Its Tech High, A City Rebounds' in the New York Times."

View the PDF file for more…
 

Sept. 1, 2004
National Public Radio commentator and poet Andrei Codrescu explores the history of Tacoma and talks about his experiences when he was in our fair city in July for a performance as part of the Scattered Ephemera exhibit. You can listen to the audio clip from NPR.