Tacoma? Safe (yet)? Urban (yet)? Your opinions... (Seattle: violent crime, credit)

[Randy@Tacoma]

Tacoma=AWESOME! Come and bring your little yuppie self here. Really, anything in Downtown, Stadium, Hilltop, 6th Ave, and the North End is pretty hip and urban (of course, you are well aware it isn't Seattle). I'm glad you have the brains to not pay the prices up north. I'm from there, moved down to Tacoma, and am gay (which I guess doesn't really matter in all honesty, but 'we' generally tend to get classified as yuppies and such)... Tacoma rocks!

[pirate_lafitte]

There are alot of art attractions there. You have the Museum of Glass(Dale Chihuly's artwork is there), Tacoma Art Museum, and the Tacoma Opera.

[pirate_lafitte]

Another thing many people don't know is that Tacoma is the number 1 wired city in the USA, thanks to a high speed fiber optic network installed throughout the city.

[malachai23]

wow - I'm getting a lot of great info! Very cool. Hey Randy (or anyone else living in Tacoma), do you all work in Seattle? If so, how is the commute? Is that train pretty convenient and on-time?

[Mopac1980]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

Another thing many people don't know is that Tacoma is the number 1 wired city in the USA, thanks to a high speed fiber optic network installed throughout the city.

What exactly do you mean by that?

[MichaelinWA]

The city built a fiber optic network about ten years ago.

City of Tacoma - Wired City Advantages

The "most wired city" moniker has appeared in articles since. Not sure if the moniker is (still) technically accurate, but Tacoma seems pretty wired in any event.

Originally Posted by Mopac1980

What exactly do you mean by that?

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by Mopac1980

What exactly do you mean by that?

Wired means it has something to do with getting the internet easy.

[Jake840]

They ditched the Wired City term a few years ago when the wireless age came. But Tacoma does have Click! Network which is its own cable company. It gives Comcast competition which in many places Comcast doesn't have. If you live in a Click! area and you want Comcast you just mention Click! to Comcast and you usually can get a better deal. I have a friend in Seattle that had the same plan I had at Comcast and he paid $45 more a month. He called Comcast and mentioned what I paid and the Comcast folks asked if I lived in Tacoma. They wouldn't go down on his price.

[mthomson]

FYI...median sales price of homes in University Place YTD '09 is $288,875. Rich compared to the rest of the world? Yes. Need to be rich to live there? No.

[tindo80]

Originally Posted by Jake840

They ditched the Wired City term a few years ago when the wireless age came. But Tacoma does have Click! Network which is its own cable company. It gives Comcast competition which in many places Comcast doesn't have. If you live in a Click! area and you want Comcast you just mention Click! to Comcast and you usually can get a better deal. I have a friend in Seattle that had the same plan I had at Comcast and he paid $45 more a month. He called Comcast and mentioned what I paid and the Comcast folks asked if I lived in Tacoma. They wouldn't go down on his price.

Comcast is rip off if Ive ever seen one. The net service is spotty and offline often, not to mention the DSL speed seems to run more consistently than the T1 or above, the pricing is a rip off (you have to monitor your bill or they will end your special early...plus they are known for connection/reconnection/disconnection charges) and they limit the amount of data you can upload and download.

In and above that, they are actually in litigation to proceed with 'restricting' natural net traffic...or 'slowing it down' purposely and actively so they can charge higher rates to those who pay more. In other words, forcing people to pay more for the same service. What a racket.

Id hope more cities do what Tacoma is doing and end the Time Warner/Comcast monopolies.