AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOC ANNOUNCES 2011 GREAT PLACES

The American Planning Association (APA) has posted its 2011 list of “Great Places in America” at this website: http://www.planning.org/greatplaces/index.htm. The Great Places program is comprised of three separate lists for Great Streets, Great Neighborhoods, and Great Public Places. As in past years of the program beginning in 2007, the lists are dominated by historic districts and spaces or places with references to historic themes or events. For example, in past years, the Great Places program has listed the Browne’s Addition Historic District in Spokane and Percival Landing in Olympia. In 2011, Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park is listed as a Great Public Place in recognition of its natural beauty and the centennial of its 1911 master plan. Besides its historic plan, landscapes, and views, the Park is also home to the historic Pagoda and the Fort Nisqually reconstruction by the WPA in the 1930s.