Signs of spring popped up last week in downtown Tacoma’s Tollefson Plaza. Shrubs and tufts of grass sprout from four black concrete boxes along Pacific Avenue at South 17th Street. The water feature flows after being shut off for winter. New recycling bins flank a solar-powered trash compactor.
Yet even during last week’s unseasonably warm afternoons, there weren’t many people. And unlike last year, there will be no active management of the plaza.
Halfway through a two-year agreement, the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber abandoned its license with the City of Tacoma to manage the plaza. On Jan. 29, the Chamber notified the city of its “want and need” to terminate the agreement, which was set to expire in December.
The Chamber’s pull-out is the latest blow for the feature that promised to be downtown’s living room. Trouble is, the public space has yet to find its public.
Still, some hope that removing a formal management structure – and accompanying fees – from the square will allow more activity and events.
By bringing in the Chamber, the city had hoped to jump-start some life into the space. The idea for active management came from a 2006 report that suggested consolidating management and promotion of the plaza’s activities.
The contract was signed in August 2008 and took effect in December 2008.
At the time, a news release touted the deal: “Tollefson Plaza will tie together a multitude of interests into one hub of activity.” The Chamber’s Web site for the space proclaimed, “Tacoma’s City Center has a heart – Tollefson Plaza.”
Under the agreement, the city was responsible for major maintenance and repairs. The Chamber handled management, marketing and a Web site. The Chamber’s management was to be funded through fees, sponsorships and fundraising.
The contract called for the Chamber to program the space with, at a minimum, 12 Friday outdoor lunch markets; six public movie nights; an annual Christmas tree lighting; an annual New Year’s Eve celebration; an Easter egg hunt; a Halloween and fall festival; five car club and collectors shows; and five recurring art marts and outdoor galleries.
The Chamber said it programmed 14 events in the plaza. Additionally, there were 10 community-organized events that used the plaza, such as Metal-Urge and the Tacoma City Marathon.
But the Chamber’s plans for a self-supporting space fell victim to the economy and the limits of the space itself.
For one, the first $10,000 sponsor of the plaza – Rainier Pacific bank – went under with the banking crisis. The state Department of Financial Institutions closed Rainier Pacific on Feb. 26, after the bank had reported a net loss of $69.9 million in 2009.
“The world changed from an economic standpoint in the last two years,” said Chamber President and CEO David Graybill. “Our initial indications were foundations and corporate sponsors would be willing to underwrite and sponsor events. As most folks are aware, the opportunity to garner those types of funds have substantially dried up.”
In December, after a year of managing the plaza, the Chamber detailed its financial situation to the city.
From September 2008 to Dec. 15, 2009, the Chamber reported a net loss of $14,359.
“We got zero out of it,” Graybill said in an interview.
He cited drawbacks such as parking, loading and electrical supply, as well as a lack of restrooms and weather covering.
“We learned a lot of lessons here in the last year and a half about the drawbacks of the site, from a design standpoint,” Graybill said. “In many respects, the site is simply not welcoming. The city and others of us will need to come to grips with what’s needed to make that site fully ready for the type of life we’d like to bring to it.”
The plaza management contract says the city must give nine months’ notice and pay expenses to the Chamber if the city ended the deal early. The contract has no such stipulations if the Chamber backed out.
“We know it’s a difficult space,” city spokesman Rob McNair-Huff said. “Unfortunately, making some of the physical changes is tough to do in the current economy.”
As far as what comes next for Tollefson Plaza, Graybill and McNair-Huff both used the term “passive management.”
That might come as good news to some who want to schedule events in the plaza.
A permit application fee through the City Clerk’s Office costs just $20, compared with the Chamber’s rates of $300 to $1,200 for use of the full upper and lower plaza.
“It’s good because it appears they weren’t up for the task,” said Tacoma artist Lynn Di Nino, who had been a vocal critic of the Chamber’s management. Di Nino said the Chamber management wasn’t connected to the community, such as through a Tacoma art e-mail group.
“If you’re an artist like me trying to reach a lot of people, it’s a fabulous way to organize things,” Di Nino said. “When you have a contract to organize events, and I’d say a large part of those should be art events, and you’re not in communication with the arts community at all, how can you organize anything?”
As an architect, David Boe has written critically of the plaza’s design. Now that he’s on the Tacoma City Council, he might be in a position to help shape its future.
Boe noted in an e-mail that Mayor Marilyn Strickland “has made it a strong point at the Economic Development Committee that some modification(s) to Tollefson Plaza needs to occur if only to make it a more pleasant place to be (regardless if the space is programmed or not) – though there is not funding allocated for it presently.
“In the meantime, I am going to be looking at options with staff for a more informal and creative use of the space, in situ so to speak, by interested community groups/artists for some ‘activation’ this summer.”
A Tollefson Plaza update is on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting of the City Council’s Economic Development Committee.
Cole Cosgrove: 253-597-8267
cole.cosgrove@thenewstribune.com
Tollefson Plaza Management
In its management of downtown Tacoma’s Tollefson Plaza, the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber reported a net loss of $14,359 from September 2008 through Dec. 15, 2009.
REVENUE
General sponsorship: $20,000
Event sponsorship: $3,500
Rental registration: $1,225
Total revenue: $24,725
EXPENSES
Salary, benefit and taxes: $15,015
Equipment rental: $7,349
Office supplies: $1,789
Printing: $475
Entertainment: $3,700
Professional services: $8,356
Miscellaneous: $2,400
Total expenses: $39,084
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Net loss: $14,359
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