5views.com

There’s a part of Tacoma that I like to refer to as “Little Seattle”. It covers most of downtown but has tentacles that jut out into a few surrounding areas. But that’s the subject of an upcoming post.

There’s an article about Seattle’s growth strategy on Crosscut.com (titled “As Goes San Francisco…“, h/t Orbusmax) that shows that San Francisco is taking a second look at it’s growth strategy. Apparently after the dot com bubble burst they decided to push for high priced condo to revitalize their ailing city. But it appears that it might backfire.

“Seattle has always modeled itself on San Francisco, and now both cities are having doubts about the model. The California city picked itself up after the dot-com bust by pursuing condos, fine restaurants, young residents, and the new trends in the economy such as biotechnology, green tech, and stem-cell research.”

Given downtown Tacoma’s propensity to follow Seattle, usually creating a vague copy of it’s mentor, it may be that Tacoma is headed down the same road (or will at least attempt to follow.)
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Another landmark business closes it’s doors in Tacoma. According to the News Tribune, after 74 years and at least a couple changes in ownership, the landmark next to the Old Town Dock is closing. The current owners, described as a ’seafood giant’, is probably just cutting the fat on an unprofitable operation. The employees will move to another of the company’s locations so no jobs appear to have been lost.

It was on TV news on a ‘local’ channel (in Seattle) and they interviewed a few passers-by who all seemed to say, “I never shopped there but it’s sad to see it close.” I think that probably explains why it closed.

I’ve noticed a trend in Tacoma where businesses move to other cities, though this clearly isn’t one of those. But I think it does point to another example of the reshaping of the city.
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I guess I should start by explaining the site and my handle.

This site, 5views.com, is the result of a lack of outlets for conservative views in Tacoma, Pierce County and Western Washington. The name is from two things: 1) a small, relatively unknown area in Tacoma that barely qualifies as a neighborhood by most people’s standards; and 2) the symbolism that conservative views are universal and even exist in this little enclave on the left coast.

My handle, “Republican By Default” represents my frustrations with the Washington State Republican Party (WSRP) and their inability to represent the views of real conservatives. The handle simply means this, “I am a Republican because I won’t waste my vote on third party candidates and I won’t damage this area any further by voting for a Democrat. So even though the WSRP doesn’t represent my views, I will likely vote for their candidates because the alternatives suck worse.”

Upcoming blog entries will spell all of this our further, but for now I’ll just say that conservatives are alive and well and living in Tacoma, Pierce County and Western Washington.