It's time for another verse of our favorite anthem, "O, Tacoma, how do we love thee (when few others do)".

Today's installment comes courtesy of one of my favorite design-porn blogs, apartmenttherapy.com. The writers, based in San Francisco, Chicago, New York and LA, champion green living, greenmarkets, shopping local, nice furniture, and IKEA hacks (sweet!).

You'll note that this excerpt speaks to Cole's previous musings on what other city Tacoma would be were it not it. (Oakland came up, I believe.)

So here is one Oaklandian's words on why she loves her city.

• Urban, walkable neighborhoods: I live within two to three blocks of a grocery store, a farmer's market, a movie theater, about 10 restaurants, five bars, three coffee shops, two bakeries, a handful of cute stores, as well as a shoe repair shop, florist, and drugstore. And that's just off the top of my head. There's a casual carpool pick-up and a transbay bus stop within a five-minute walk.
• Affordable rent for a great place: in the interest of research and disclosure, I'll come out and say that my boyfriend and I pay $1600 a month for a 1200 square foot two bedroom, 1 bath lower unit of a 1920's duplex with hardwood floors, built ins, a formal dining room, a working fireplace, and off street parking.
• I read somewhere that Oakland has the highest concentration of artists of any city in the US outside of New York.
• Oakland is the second most ethnically diverse city in the country (as of the 2000 US census), with over 150 languages spoken inside city limits.
• People are nice. You know your neighbors, the shop owners, the mailman, and the random strangers who walk their dog past your house at midnight (well, that one might just be me) and everyone says hi. It's probably all that aforementioned sunshine.
• For lack of a better term: Oakland has moxie. Yes, we've had and are still having problems with crime, blight, underfunded school systems, etc, but when you're in Oakland you really get the sense that people want things to keep getting better (as they have been over the last 20, but especially last 10 years) because people really love this city. It's a hard city not to love if you let it in. Most neighborhoods have very active neighborhood associations - if you move here or live here already I suggest checking yours out.

I won't beat a dead pony, but sometimes it's nice to see that we're not alone in defending our little gritty city.

In other, more pressing news, some other newspaper reported this week that an Official Top Pot Doughnut Representative made this statement in response to a question about possible future markets:

"Tacoma is an option, as is Portland."

Be still my heart.