Want to see something really scary? For those of you bored to tears by sensationalized gore, there is still plenty to be afraid of in the City of Destiny. Jigsaw’s maniacal machinations shouldn’t be nearly as terrifying as Sound Transit’s plan to send dozens of trains per day across Pacific Avenue. An impending zombie apocalypse ain’t got nothin’ on Tacoma’s ever-growing supply of high-priced condos. These and other lurking legacies lie in wait. Take a look if you dare.  

Terror train

Local politicos, urban crusaders, business owners and others are up in arms over Sound Transit’s plans to send as many as 36 commuter trains per day across one of the city’s most traveled arterials, Pacific Avenue.



Last month, city officials suggested hiring an independent consultant to examine alternatives to the route chosen for extension of the agency\'s Sounder commuter rail service to Lakewood, which would lay tracks across the junction of South Tacoma Way and Pacific Avenue. That recommendation arrives months after a group of local leaders, led by architect Jim Merritt, offered several alternatives that they suggest would reduce negative impacts.



Council members were spurred to explore alternatives more recently based on  announcements that Sound Transit officials were seriously considering a plan to send the Tacoma-to-Lakewood Sounder across Pacific Avenue at grade. For those not conversant in engineering jargon, that means trains would cross Pacific Avenue at street level, rather than traveling under over a bridge built for vehicles, or via a bridge or tunnel built for the train. Those alternatives, offered by local architects and activists repeatedly, have been all but dismissed by Sound Transit as too expensive.



Sound Transit officials, meanwhile, have said they would require additional investment if more attractive alternatives are to be considered. That investment, they say, would have to come from outside agencies.



Translation: “If you don’t want trains going across one of your most heavily-traveled streets, you’re going to have to pay the difference.”



Spooky indeed.

Houses of horror

Tacoma isn’t haunted by one house. It’s haunted by too many condos. As of now, Tacoma’s downtown core has about 2,500 residential units in planning stages or under construction. That is well beyond City planners’ goal of 2,010 homes by the year 2010.



In downtown Tacoma, the lion’s share of those new homes are high-priced condos, according to a report from analysts New Home Trends. The current inventory of condos priced around $500,000 is more than 50 months, according to the report. That means it will take more than four years to fill condos selling in that price range, at the average rate of sale. Did we mention that more are on the way?



It would be unfair to blame local officials for the excess inventory. Tacoma is currently subject to what New Home Trends analysts referred to as the most significant population shift in the state’s history. People fed up with the cost of living in Seattle are migrating southward in amazing numbers. A white hot housing market has encouraged developers to build in hopes of cash in on rising property values in Pierce County, which have increased by double digits for years.  Currently, city officials are working to develop a housing policy that would provide clear guidelines for planners and developers, many of whom already have begun to scale back plans or wisely cater to a relatively-neglected group of people looking for housing costing less than half-a-mil. 

Parkageddon

Parking in Tacoma isn’t particularly terrifying — yet. But given the influx of residents, businesses and tourist traffic, city officials’ admitted lack of a comprehensive parking plan is enough to send a chill down anyone’s spine.



City officials, led — driven perhaps — by city manager Eric Anderson have seriously stepped up efforts to produce a plan to deal with an ever-increasing need for parking slots. Locals can be pleased that planners have bent over backwards to include residents and other stakeholders in the conversation, which probably should have begun several years ago.



Tacoma is the only city of its size in the state that does not have a system for managing its parking inventory.



Conventional wisom says that on any given day Tacoma should have an optimum parking vacancy rate of 15 percent. That means at least 15 percent of parking spots should be waiting vacant for shoppers, tourists, etc. City officials concede that we don’t even come close most days.



In the short term, much of the blame lies with downtown workers taking up free spaces intended for visitors, rotating spots on an hourly basis in a practice known as chain parking. Apparently downtown workers — public and private — have forgotten that paying for parking is standard in most major metros.



Meanwhile, downtown stakeholders concerned about the fact that their customers have nowhere to park also tend to complain about proposed solutions — charging for on-street parking with meters or pay stations. Locals, in turn, want concrete evidence that the need for parking is great enough and that more affordable short-term solutions aren’t sufficient to deal with that need. What is known is that alternatives such as streetcars and motorized rickshaws are either not immediate enough or insufficient to address current needs.



For now, city planners are working to provide more parking spots, including major upgrades and renovations of downtown parking structures and encouraging non-visitors to stay out of free hourly spots by giving them tickets.



Chain parkers beware.