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Downtown Tacoma insider [The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.](News Tribune (Tacoma, WA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Dec. 8--Janine Terrano is entering her 11th year as a downtown Tacoma business owner. Her experience as CEO of Topia Technology and the views from her seat as president of the Tacoma Art Museum's board give her a window into the highlights -- and challenges -- of working downtown. Topia Technology, a software firm, was founded in 1999. It survived the dot-com bubble and is weathering the recession, though the economic contraction has meant some frozen contracts as clients cut budgets. Topia employs 37 people in its offices at the Heritage Bank Building on Pacific Avenue. Terrano said during the past year that she laid off eight people, some of whom she hopes to rehire as clients start to loosen up their finances. Terrano, 48, wouldn't comment on specifics of the company's revenue. "That's the beauty of being a private company," she said in a recent interview. "We survived last year." Terrano is optimistic about the company's future, saying its file-sharing software Skoot will be marketed to more than a million small businesses in Australia, thanks to a partnership with Telstra, the country's largest telecommunications company. And its latest product, Secure Container, is close to being launched by the U.S. Army Intelligence Security Command. How will Russell Investments' decision to move to Seattle affect downtown? Most business owners were not shocked. It's certainly something Tacoma has to strategize about, as it relates to health of downtown Tacoma. Now more than ever, leadership and a vision for downtown is required. I'm not sure there is a set vision. If there is, it's not well articulated at the moment. The city is going to start charging for street parking. If I were a small retailer losing 900 people and that potential foot traffic from Russell departing, that doesn't seem like a good decision if you're trying to keep retailers. Moreover, what Tacoma could benefit greatly from is more areas for people and a friendly environment for people to walk around and actually gather. Tollefson Plaza needs to be completely rethought. Downtown has all these great silos of success. UWT is a success. The museums are a success. The Murano is a major success. If you could tie all that together with a friendly walking environment and more green space and a better people-moving experience, it would do wonders. Talk more about the tension between downtown employees who need parking, and shoppers who need parking. Parking is an issue for our employees. We have a number that commute from Seattle. They park in the Dome District and take the light rail. We have a number that park several blocks away from the office. It's an issue. But I would have to defer to retailers who support metered parking. It seems to me that the issue is, How do you make it convenient to run downtown? Do parking issues affect your employees' productivity? Absolutely. For those folks who park at the Tacoma Dome after the commute, it adds 30 minutes on their way of getting there. For the folks that try to park conveniently, they have to move their car throughout the day -- which we don't encourage. But parking in general is problematic, and it's also expensive for employees. How easy, or difficult, do you find hiring people to work in Tacoma? We have challenges as it relates to hiring in this area, primarily because we have such a strong force to compete with Google, Microsoft and Amazon. Most of our engineers have eight-plus years' experience. We also have Ph.Ds on staff, and people with master's degrees. We're not hiring fresh out of school. I'm a firm believer in being able to grow talent within the company, but we have some contracts that dictate experience from the start. We have found that it is far easier to move people to Tacoma than it is to convince people to drive from Bellevue to Tacoma. Part of it is there's still this notion that Tacoma doesn't have all it needs to have in terms of lifestyle. But when we move people from out of state, they find that it does. It's a perception, not reality. How can Tacoma make itself marketable to businesses looking to relocate? Tacoma has a lot going for it. We're near an airport, we're a port city, we're beautiful, affordable and manageable. And the economics having a business in downtown Tacoma, it all works. Rent is affordable. Parking is an issue, but you can overcome that. People that live and work in downtown Tacoma have a nice life, so that helps you attract talent. The thing we need to focus on is being Tacoma, not being like Seattle or like some other city. A me-too strategy is counterproductive. We have to have leadership from city, obviously, but it's the responsibility of all of us. It's all in our best interest. Kathleen Cooper: 253-597-8546 [email protected] To see more of The News Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.TheNewsTribune.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |