Tacoma turned waterfront from Superfund site to esplanade

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Walk toward Tacoma's waterfront across the Dale Chihuly Bridge of Glass and you enter an attractive, pedestrian-friendly zone few could have imagined would emerge from a Superfund hazardous-waste site.

"The area had undergone 100 years of industrial uses," Su Dowie, director of planning and operations for the Foss Waterway Public Development Authority, told Seattle City Council members Wednesday.


		Paul Joseph Brown / P-I
	A once-ugly, polluted industrial area along the Thea Foss Waterway in Tacoma is now an attractive public walkway.

"There were abandoned buildings, discarded refrigerators, tires and drug needles along the shoreline," Dowie said. "Storm sewer pipes emptied into the waterway. You could see pickles coming out of the storm drain from the (nearby) pickle factory."

Despite the designation of the Thea Foss Waterway as a Superfund site -- a definite turnoff to private investment -- the city of Tacoma decided to "move ahead," taking ownership of the land and responsibility for its cleanup, Dowie said.

Today, she said, "The 'aroma of Tacoma' has changed to the smell of success."

The area has been converted with a 1.5-mile esplanade and green space. There is an amphitheater for concerts.

A historic granary has been incorporated into a hip new condominium development. The glass bridge connects to a view terrace for watching boats and marine trades in action.

The waterway development has made believers of locals and visitors alike.

"It has been an amazing transformation down here," said Brenda Hanan, development and marketing director for the Washington State History Museum, which is across the bridge but connected to the waterfront.

A Tacoma native, Hanan remembers when the east rim of downtown was characterized by chain-link fences, buildings with broken windows and crime.

"It was a scary place, but this area's done a complete turnaround; we've seen it accelerate in the last few years," she said.

"With the University of Washington-Tacoma, the Tacoma School of Arts, it's brought new life to the area. There are a lot of young people down here, and it's very energetic and alive."

Linda Bowman, co-chairwoman of the drive to save historic Union Station from demolition, said the waterfront development has helped preserve maritime history.

Bowman said that while Interstate 705 creates a barrier near the shore -- not unlike the Alaskan Way Viaduct -- Tacoma built bridges linking the waterfront with the city.

"Seattle could learn from Tacoma," Bowman said. "There was a lot of controversy with the freeway, but that hurdle has been overcome. You just need to have the proper connections in place."

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