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 by KevinFreitas on 12/9/2008 @ 8:54am | Relevant links:
www.exit133.com/4875/imagine-tacoma-holi... www.exit133.com/4915/tollefest-and-a-tre... www.boingboing.net/2008/12/05/atheist-si... www.tacomaatheists.com/archives/447 www.tacomaatheists.com/archives/407 www.tacomaatheists.com/archives/436 www.tacomaatheists.com/archives/355 i.feedtacoma.com/NineInchNachos/christma... |
 by Mofo from the Hood on 12/9/2008 @ 9:53am | Everyone knows that the practice of Christmas tree worship was started by ancient secular environmentalists. |
 by jamesstoweart on 12/9/2008 @ 10:05am | I think this is only of my favorite Tacomics yet. The artwork is excellent. Nice Job R.R. |
 by ixia on 12/9/2008 @ 10:38am | Best work yet in my book too. Delicious.
Thanks RR |
 by Crenshaw Sepulveda on 12/9/2008 @ 10:45am | I think you were swayed by the crows, ixia. You've done some fine crow work yourself, love the crow tiles. |
 by Erik Hanberg on 12/9/2008 @ 10:56am | Yeah, this Tacomic cracked me up pretty good. |
by ixia on 12/9/2008 @ 11:01am | Thanks Crenshaw. The crows, yes.
AND the fantabulous topiary selection. Nothing says sad desperation better then a few maltreated little trees in lonely shiny shiny pots. |
 by izenmania on 12/9/2008 @ 11:20am | And the chirping cricket just completes it. |
 by marumaruyopparai on 12/9/2008 @ 11:29am | And the tumbleweeds! Don't forget the tumbleweeds! |
by Crenshaw Sepulveda on 12/9/2008 @ 11:41am | Tumbleweeds always work for me. I once used a tumbleweed for a Christmas tree, there I said it, Christmas tree. It is just what the thing is called, it has no real religious significance in the age we live in. How much do we hear about how business is struggling this Christmas season. How little we hear about the rest of the nature of Christmas. Seems to me that Christmas is a capitalist holiday and the place of worship is at the local mall. |
by marumaruyopparai on 12/9/2008 @ 11:54am | "Christmas Tree" is a misnomer anyway. It originally had nothing to do with the birth of Jesus (to say nothing of the fact that Jesus apparently wasn't even born around Christmas). I understand that the Christmas Tree had it's origins in a pagan festival observing the winter solstice as I believe Mofo was pointing out above. So considering that the tree is now used to commemorate Jesus's birth (supposedly) it has definitely lost its original spiritual significance. (See Christmas Tree and Other Decorations at bottom of page)
If the Christmas Tree has indeed become a monument to commercial enterprise and profit mongering in these modern times as you suggest, I think your tumbleweed Christmas tree couldn't be more appropriate for this Christmas as well, in light of the current economic downturn. Very symbolic I think. |
 by NineInchNachos on 12/9/2008 @ 12:28pm | Thanks everybody! the crows/ravens are a tribute to my cartoonist friend up in Alaska.
If I had drawn worms it would have been a tribute to the new takhoman. Tollefson is inhospitable to worm habitation so the blackbirds appeared as the actors in this one. I like how it turned out. Also if you zoom into the print view size cartoon and activate the accessibility magnifier in windows you can see the ornament on the Christmas Tree celebrating the idea of a Bush impeachment, Clinton impeachment, and the death of Ronald Regan. |
by NineInchNachos on 12/9/2008 @ 6:40pm | stowe has been having fun on his blog too.
jamesstowe.blogspot.com/ I like the steam punk iron man and the homeless batman |
 by Erik on 12/9/2008 @ 6:54pm | Possible sources of inspiration?  RR planned this Tacomic for months: www.flickr.com/photos/tacoma-urbanist/26...  "insert cricket noises here " |
by NineInchNachos on 12/9/2008 @ 7:02pm | Luzon tree was last year. though you could reRun it again this year if need bee. |
by NineInchNachos on 2/21/2009 @ 9:45am | BREAKING:
Tables and Chairs coming soon to Tollefson Plaza! 
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by NineInchNachos on 2/21/2009 @ 9:47am | meanwhile:
video.google.com/videosearch?q=empty+cha... |
 by TDI-Reporters-Notebook on 2/21/2009 @ 10:23am | I'm still waiting for this to show up in the plaza.
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by NineInchNachos on 2/21/2009 @ 11:32am | that's an old design todd. I was disenfranchised by the latest revision:  (not in anyway inspired by the quasi-rasist cartoon media frenzy) |
by Crenshaw Sepulveda on 2/21/2009 @ 11:53am | Are the tables and chairs to entice the winos? Surely your typical wino would have more sense than to fall for that. |
by NineInchNachos on 2/21/2009 @ 11:57am | they put the chairs where nobody wants to use them. If people end up using the chairs they take them away. case an point: chairs at the theatre district tram stop. the bastards ripped them out.
That little fountain park with the benches across from city hall? the friggin TPD urban design assault team put up fences and bench spikes. Hang out in the park at lunch feel like you're indefinitely interned at GITMO. |
 by fredo on 2/22/2009 @ 12:14pm | I applaud the effort to make the plaza more user friendly. However, I have little confidence that the chairs and tables which are unsecured will remain there for long.
Nachos, your native american holding the EQC sign is hilarious. I would have to vote for this design revision |
by Erik on 2/22/2009 @ 11:55pm | The Urbanist predicts failure. Sorry.
The chairs and tables won't change the fact that the Plaza has dead edges. There has to be life spilling into the area from the edges. The city missed this fundamental requirement which Kunstler explains: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1ZeXnmDZMQ The only opportunity for life is from the Marriot. Now Pacific Grill has an event room on the edge of the plaza. Yet the designers of the Plaza built the stairs out too far cutting this activity off from Tollefson Plaza. The stairs needs to be cut off by about 50 feet and then the plaza would have the potential of one active edge which could give some life to the plaza. |
by fredo on 2/23/2009 @ 7:51am | Erik@ Can Tollefson be saved? Or is this going to be like the common area in Boston that Kunstler describes as unsalvageable? |
by Erik on 2/23/2009 @ 11:59am | Erik@ Can Tollefson be saved? Or is this going to be like the common area in Boston that Kunstler describes as unsalvageable?
Tollefson will be dead most of the time as long as all of its edges are dead. A space is only as good as its edges. Right now the Tollefson Plaza formula is Dead + Dead + Dead = Dead. I concur with David Boe that the area needs a building in at least part of it to attract human activity. With the LINK, Pacific Avenue bordering the plaza, I do not see how this fundemental problem can change. The city should be allowed to play away with chairs and tables for a year and the put out a bid to infil the cement plaza. The one fix that could occur is to saw off 50 feet of the northern part of it by the Marriot to expose the event space there. However, the designers decided to put the electrical panels and works there. |
 by thriceallamerican on 2/23/2009 @ 12:19pm | Hmm...what if the city allowed someone to build a small cafe at the skinny end of the park (near the bus stop) with at most a couple of places to sit inside, but by and large relying on the park for it's seating? (Tiny triangle building, which would reflect the look of surrounding buildings.) Also, allow food carts along the Pac Ave edge and possibly also on the upper tier. Basically, create edges... The planned tables in the center along with the seating provided by the amphitheater levels.
Seems like a relatively affordable way to repair what ails the area so that we can stop bitching about it nonstop. |
by Erik on 2/23/2009 @ 12:20pm | Hmm...what if the city allowed someone to build a small cafe at the skinny end of the park (near the bus stop) with at most a couple of places to sit inside, but by and large relying on the park for it's seating?
Good idea. Then there would be a reason to sit on said chairs. Humans may even want to go there. Let's start an online petition. |
by NineInchNachos on 2/23/2009 @ 12:26pm | even cheaper solution: Taco Truck, Hod Dog Carts |
by NineInchNachos on 2/23/2009 @ 12:27pm | LeMay could donate a cool Metro Harvester 50's milk truck for taco truck conversion. |
by Erik on 2/23/2009 @ 12:36pm | Here's how tollefson could look if they allowed a restaurant or coffee shop in:
 |
by fredo on 2/23/2009 @ 6:43pm | Erik@ Idea is great. two questions: Do we have enough density downtown and would people like to go there even in bad weather? Maybe a row of windows like they have in Amsterdam in honor of Pacific Ave's bawdy past would bring in some tourists. |
by NineInchNachos on 6/24/2009 @ 9:32am | BREAKING NEWS:
from soon to be leaving TNT MUCKRACKER Ian Demsky: "It's cheaper to rent a pretty much any room smaller than a suite in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Manhattan's Times Square for a night than to rent Tacoma's Tollefson Plaza for five hours." blogs.thenewstribune.com/politics/2009/0... |
by ixia on 6/24/2009 @ 9:45am | Perhaps, but does that come with 35'000 dollars worth of furniture? And what about parking?? It takes DB 30 minutes to find parking in S-Town. Tolefson is basically surrounded by parking garages. Think positive, dude! |
by Crenshaw Sepulveda on 6/24/2009 @ 10:48am | It could be that they'll have to pay people to actually use Tollefson Plaza. I certainly can't imagine anyone paying to use the facility, furnished or not. The location is so bad that even drug dealers and prostitutes will not use it. |
by ixia on 6/24/2009 @ 11:00am | Or- inspired by Nickels poaching methods - they are luring people from Frost Park to their Friday Lunches at noon. Would you go if it was a free lunch? |
by Mofo from the Hood on 6/24/2009 @ 11:09am | Yeah I get where Demsky going...Tollefson Plaza needs be built over with a Crowne Plaza Hotel Express.
That cement lot has mesmerized people to only see it as a permanent vacant lot. I propose renaming it Svengali Square. |
by izenmania on 6/24/2009 @ 11:22am | "Would you go if it was a free lunch?"
Probably not. But I also doubt that it ever will be, so I don't think that's an issue. |
by ixia on 6/24/2009 @ 11:27am | How about Winter Grass Hotel? |
by NineInchNachos on 6/24/2009 @ 11:35am | I suggest folks stuff pockets with free food then hop on the link to see genuine and original folk art down in colorful, bio-diverse frost park |
 by boearc on 6/24/2009 @ 1:03pm | Ah yes - but after a night at the Crowne Plaza, do your clothes need to be cleaned because of a pink chalky residue left behind on your behind from sitting on the 'red' concrete steps? It this space is destined to remain in its abstract state, then create it as a memorial columbarium for the internment of Tacoma politicos (sort of a T-Town version of Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner). |
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