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I want to be sure that all who visit this page--buyers, sellers, casual tourists--come away understanding that Tacoma is not just a pile of houses connected by a bus line;  we are not just another Phoenix suburb but located in a different zip code.  Rather we are a town;  a community of people, societies, and institutions that work together  (mostly) to create a good place to work and do business, to raise children, to have some fun, pursue what matters most to each of us, and to sweat and worry now and then about what will happen to the Town and it's citizens. 

As Ameriocans--and most everybody else as well--are plunged ever deeper in what is called THE MASS SOCIETY how delightfully redeeming to be in a city where most relationships are face to face.  And overlapping.  And long-term.  The clerk at the post office on Friday is alongside you in the 10k on Sunday.  The meter maid who wrote you a ticket last month turns up at the boat show the next and introduces you to her grandson.  The 2nd chair oboe of your favorite orchestra or band went to school with your oldest son.  And so it goes.  And what comes of it.  Here's a short list of what makes me proud of Tacoma.

*  Stadium High School.  Built in the 1890's as a destination hotel for the old Norther Pacific "the Castle"  never saw service as a hotel because the NP went broke in 93.  Our school board, ever alert for a real estate bargain picked it up for a few cents on the dollar, named it Tacoma High, and later  carved out the wonderful stadium that became the school's namesake in 1912 when Lincoln High School opened its doors.

But the prideful part is that every 5 or 10 years, the school board threatens to close the place.  It was never designed as a school,  it is inefficient and expensive to maintain, it has no parking lot, etc. etc. etc.  So let's just close it and build something new and modern.

And then the Stadium Alumni Association rallies, organizes, and undertakes "serious negotiations"  with District @10.  None of us know exactly what the dialogue sounds like but I have always imagined something along the lines of Bugsy Seagal wearing a tailored suit and matching fedora, leaning over a desk sneering  "And don't let me hear the word closure again!"  I find it encouraging to live in a town which not only has a few icons of its history still intact, but that also organizes and takes action to conserve these.  What a great lesson for our children!

*  Tacoma is a fine town for theater.  Tacoma Little Theater is the oldest, continuous community theater west of the Mississippi.  Tacoma Musical Playhouse was founded by 2 young men from California who searched all up and down the Coast for a place to create a theater dedicated to that wondrous American art form:  the musical comedy.  Of all the towns that would have welcomed them, they chose Tacoma as the most hospitable and supportive.  And we now enjoy 6 live musicals every season.  Apart from schools and universities, there is just one another house in the Northwest producing musicals with a live band of more than 3 pieces and that's important in a musical.  A few years ago TMP went the world competition at Monte Carlo and came home with the prize for the best community theater prodcution.  Lucky us!

*  Tacoma is and always has been known as a good sports town.  Every year we host the Golden Gloves as well as the state high school track and field finals. Two universities serve up weekly football action of high quality and yet for $6 you sit close enough to hear the pads pop.  Same goes for the Tacoma Cobras; our semi-professional football team which plays a short season in the late Spring.  What's the problem with the Cobras?  Only that they are so good on the gridiron that it's hard to find teams willing to play against them.  We also have 2 fine rugby clubs and any number of softball and slowpitch leagues; mind you these are adults who simply love their sport too much to give it up.  And what's key in all of this is that the town accomodates and supports players at all levels.

The Tacoma Rainiers  need special mention.  This is the Mariner's farm club.  Well, the last time we played the Mariners we won 3-1 and they've not returned for another game since.  AAA baseball is just one notch shy of the majors.  And of the Rainiers that have been called up, many have done well at the higher level .  And those who are still with us are working hard and every hopeful for that call. I find it amazing that Tacoma's franchise is so well established and so well organized that Tacoma is in the league with Portland, Sacramento, New Orleans, Albequerque et al. (Thank you Stan Nacaratto.)

Last year, we took the League championship.And for $13 you can sit right behind the dugout and listen to the scuttlebut if you like.  It is our home team and we are proud of them.

*  For over 50 years we have had the Lindquist Clinic; a charity dental clinic for children who need their cavities filled and their teeth straightened and whose parents can't afford to pay full price.  They receive first-rate dental care and pay on a sliding scale according to income.  Because Tacoma decided that regardless of a kid's economic situation he should not have to endure toothaches nor be ashamed to smile because of crooked or missing teeth.

Do I need to mention the Good Neighbor Campaign which annually collects over $30M  fund local charities and groups including the YMCA and the Boy Scouts?  Do I list the Greater Tacoma Foundation which collects gifts and endowments to fund local needs and activites?  Can I tell you about a certain home for unwed or otherwise troubled mothers?  Alas it is not well-organized and doesn't seem to get the hang of budgets.  So, every 2 or 3 months the director is facing a crisis unless she pays a water bill or a cook's wages etc.  But fortunately she has a rollodex of local businessmen with a few extra dollars and when she asks, she receives.  

I'm proud to live in a town that not only wants to take care of its public institutions and needy citizens but organizes and gets the job done.

*  Point Defiance Park at 800 and some acres is the largest urban park between here and San Francisco which is nice.  But what I prize at Point Defiance is that everybody who goes there has a great time.  Every time.  Little kids with no equipment whatsover go to Owen Beach and immediately begin scaling the hillside either shooting or rescuing one another or yelling as loud as they please.  (There must be a school somewhere teaching small boys how to behave like small boys.)  GI's from Fort Lewis and teenagers from our local schools love to park on the blacktop and polish and show off their customized cars.  Runners and joggers come from every place west of the Rockies to run our 5 mile drive ; delightful because the network of trails allows one to run the circuit more than a dozen different days; each day choosing an alternate and therefore diverting course.  And of course it's shaded.

Point Defiance is merely the biggest of the Metropolitan Parks system which we have because, beginning over a cnetury ago, Tacoma decided that our City should always have open spaces where people can go and play and have a good time and come home feeling refreshed and delighted.

(This is merely my list and a deliberately short on.  I invite you, as you come to know Tacoma, to create your own list.  What makes you pleased and proud of this city?  And then share your list!  Be proud of your home town and let others know it.  {You could start by giving me your comments below.})