There are all the school buses just waiting for the first day of school 🙂 This photo was in the Nalley Valley part of town at the southwest corner of South Tacoma Way and Sprague Avenue. I could only safely capture some of the buses, but the image below (thank you Google Earth!) shows that there are many more buses. I think there is a special star in heaven for school bus drivers!
While driving around today I told dear daughter that I was going to stop at the old Greyhound Station and she was surprised when I stopped at the southeast corner of Pacific Avenue and South 13th Street. But I remember when the Greyhound station was here with its full cast of assorted riders. The station was dedicated in April 1959 and was really something in its hay day with an underground parking garage, a large waiting area, a restaurant, a row of enclosed phone booths and a gift store. Up to 82 buses per day came through the station.The majority of the building was demolished in 2000 with only the small portion photographed remaining near the entrance to the parking garage.
A photo of the original building can be found at this Tacoma Public Library page http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/images/dt6n.asp?un=15&pg=1&krequest=subjects+contains+Greyhound+Bus+Terminal+and+Tacoma+&stemming=&phonic=&fuzzy=&maxfiles=
And a photo of the restaurant can be found here http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/images/dt6n.asp?un=13&pg=1&krequest=subjects+contains+Greyhound+Bus+Terminal+and+Tacoma+&stemming=&phonic=&fuzzy=&maxfiles=
Tacoma Public Library’s Northwest Room was instrumental in figuring this property out!
Sculpture Fritz Church created Ole 99, a life sized metal horse that was installed at the corner of South 47th Street and South Tacoma in 2011. The horse looks like he is patiently waiting for a Pierce Transit bus. The piece’s name reflects that fact that South Tacoma Way use to be part of Highway 99, the original thoroughfare that ran from Canada to Mexico. I love that the sculpture is tied to an ring on a spike that had originally been used for real work horses.
http://www.tacomaweekly.com/citylife/view/south-tacomas-ole-99/
The Tacoma Dome Station at 610 Puyallup Avenue, Tacoma is a major hub with the buses, Link and Sounder all right there. The station includes two seven story buildings and contains 2,500 parking spaces. It cost $10,500,000 to build in 1999.
http://www.piercetransit.org/tds2.htm
Lakewood Transit Center has this dramatic piece of public art known as Transpire by Mark Calderon. The website for the center http://projects.soundtransit.org/Projects-Home/STart-Public-Art-Program/Public-Art-Projects/Lakewood-Station.xml states the following:
Three intertwining spires create a radiant and elegant design inspired by the early history of settlement in the Lakewood area. Speaking of his inspiration, artist Mark Calderon said, “To me [the campfire] represents the center for food, warmth and community – in a way, the hub of the settler’s existence. I want my sculpture to be attractive in the same way—a place that is comfortable and enlivening where people may gather and where community forms.”
Today was 13th annual Art on the Ave and today’s new place is the Sixth Avenue Business District. We knew from reading status updates that parking was going to be tough, so we went to the TCC transit center and caught the #1 bus to Sixth Avenue. It let us out withing a block of the festival. It’s been a couple of years since we’ve been to this festival and it has really grown with lots of quality art for sale. We purchased some 253 (the local area code) tshirts and I bought two hair clips. We watched Vicci Martinez (recently on The Voice) belt out a couple of songs and then we had a cool drink and went home. I think my favorite photo below is the guy who was filming Vicci Martinez on his iPad!
The website for Art on the Ave is here http://on6thave.com/art-on-the-ave.html
What is the financial impact to my family? On a $10 purchase, we will pay an additional $0.03. What is the real cost impact? My teen daughter will wait longer for bus service, sometimes on dark, cold, rainy evenings. And for other folks? It will be harder to go to their jobs, the doctor, daycare and the grocery store. Like my daughter, folks will have longer waits between buses. Some of these people (those without cars, those with disabilities, etc.) have no other choice.
So my family voted yes for Proposition 1. It just seemed like the right thing to do for the most people.
Additional information can be found here. http://www.piercetransit.org/pdfs/Prop1_FactSheet_Dec10.pdf
http://www.tacomadailyindex.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=88&cat=23&id=1915221&more=0
Today’s new place is the Lakewood Transit Center, near the Lakewood Town Center shopping area.
