“Tacoma City CouncilStudy SessionNoon, Tuesday, February 1, 2000Room 16, Municipal Bldg. N.728 St. Helens AvenueTacomaMarketing Blueprint for CityDevelopment Counselors International, the New York economic development marketing firm under contract with the City of Tacoma, will discuss what makes Tacoma unique among the 15,000 cities, counties and economic development organizations nationally vying to attract, retain and grown business.DCI and their local creative partner, Augustus Barnett Advertising/Design, will unveil a marketing blueprint for Tacoma. The blueprint will be a step-by-step action plan to market Tacoma for business attraction, expansion and retention.The blueprint recommends a mix of marketing strategies, including brochures, direct mail, advertising and web site promotion.The blueprint is reported to include a Tacoma theme line – a bold, strong and unique positioning statement about Tacoma.Link StationsAlso at the study session, representatives from Sound Transit will explain models and drawings of the nearly final station and streetscape designs for the five downtown Tacoma Link light rail stations.Stations are slated to be constructed at the Tacoma Dome, South 25th Street and Pacific Avenue, Union Station and Pacific Avenue, South 15th and Commerce streets, and South Ninth and Commerce streets.The five stations will have some common design elements, but each will also include unique features. The stations’ plans incorporate feedback gathered at workshops and meetings with citizens and other interested groups including the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the Arts Commission, the Planning Commission and a number of neighborhood groups.Council members and attendees can peruse the models and drawings that show the stations’ designs, the street areas around them, improvements along the route, proposed station names and public art in and around the stations.Tacoma Link will host an open house to present the final station designs from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., Thursday, February 3 at the Sound Transit Community Office, 1003 Pacific Avenue in downtown Tacoma.Tacoma City CouncilCouncil Meeting5:00 p.m., Tuesday, February 1, 2000Room 16, Municipal Bldg. N.728 St. Helens AvenueTacomaGarbage SavingsThe City has determined it could substantially lower how much it pays to dispose of garbage with a proposed 20-year agreement with Land Recovery, Inc. The Council will take public testimony and vote on the contract.Under terms of the contract, the City would truck its garbage – an estimated 140,000 tons in 2000 – to the new 304th Street Landfill near Graham. The cost would come out to approximately $23.50 per ton. The City currently ships its garbage to Eastern Washington by rail for $36.41 per ton. The City estimates it will save $1.8 million a year with the proposed new contract.Beginning in 2001 the City expects to be converting almost 150,000 tons of garbage into fuel for the Waste-to-Energy Plant – Steam Plant No. 2 – on the Tideflats. That would reduce the amount of garbage going to the 304th Street Landfill to approximately 40,000 tons each year.Environmental EducationTacoma’s Solid Waste, Sanitary Sewer and Storm Drainage utilities want to launch a mobile environmental education unit this spring.To help pay for the program, the Council will vote on accepting a $42,233 Public Involvement and Education grant from the Puget Sound Water Quality Action Team. The grant was one of 18 awarded statewide in December.The goal of the mobile environmental education program is to help Tacoma youth and adults understand how their actions impact the environment. Curriculum would focus on protection of salmon, reducing landfill waste, recycling, and protecting water quality.The plan calls for delivering the environmental messages through a van equipped with curriculum materials for kindergarten through fifth-grade students in public and private schools as well as home-school students. The van would also be available to visit festivals, fairs, parks and community events throughout the year, especially during summer months when schools are closed for summer vacation.”