This will be the kind of dense, diverse, walkable neighborhood that people have loved in cities throughout history.
As described by Seattle urban planner Mark Hinshaw in the new book, "True Urbanism," this is how the beloved, but lost, small town America of yesteryear is now being recreated in big city neighborhoods.
As Hinshaw says, the keys to this kingdom are density (tall residential buildings) and diversity (of people, buildings, shops, etc).
A prime example of the need for more density is the predicament of the Safeway store at South Othello Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way South. Area residents want a bigger store, but Safeway says there is not enough density to support a bigger store without competing with their existing supermarkets in Rainier Beach and north of Columbia City.
In fact, Safeway won't sell out without trying to impose a smaller store on us.
However, 1,500 new residential units within easy walking distance might just change the thinking at Safeway headquarters. This is exactly the scale of planned development described to us on Sept 27.
It has taken careful planning and massive investment in downtown Tacoma to attract this number of new residences in the last half decade.
Thanks to like-minded vision by our city leaders and to regional investment in light rail, we'll now be able to support the variety and quality of establishments that neighbors have wanted for many years.
This dense, diverse, walkable Othello Town Center will become a very attractive and affordable living space, not only to downtown workers, but to many of us in the neighborhood as well.
Dick Burkhart Othello
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