Mark Hinshaw is doing a three-part series for Crosscut that profiles what’s happening in Washington’s northwest. Hinshaw credits three forces:
- … here in the Northwest, state and local policy has applied the brakes to outward development, if not shutting it down altogether then at least significantly blunting the worst trends. …
- Second, we Northwesterners are willing to tax ourselves as a way to pay for the places and services we all value and share ..
- Finally, we care about the environment. That powerful ethic has saved our natural setting from the destruction that continues to happen elsewhere.
Perhaps it’s as much accidental as intentional, but the convergence of public policy and shifting preferences and behavior is remaking Puget Sound communities in profound and exciting ways. …
This three-part series spotlights three Puget Sound cities that have re-directed their futures: Bellevue, a quintessential bedroom suburb that has evolved into a dense urban center. Tacoma, a mid-sized city, once ravaged by disinvestment, now using art and heritage as the twin engines of an enlightened redevelopment. Bremerton, the small town once given up for dead, now creating a vibrant center, by blending grand, green public spaces with commercial bustle.
Here’s the into: NW Urban: Changing cities on the Sound
First one up: NW Urban: Bringing Bremerton Back
Bremerton might have followed the pattern of countless small towns across the country that have been gutted by big box stores, strip malls and relentless sprawl. Instead, Bremerton reversed its downward spiral.
The remarkable turnaround required some bold actions. Despite previous failed efforts to infuse new life into the old town, a handful of civic leaders took charge and remade Bremerton.
