Bigñata

A brightly colored 20 foot piñata at the heart of People’s Park during the Hilltop Street Fair was an unexpected attraction drawing children of all ages to reimagine public space.

Gerardo Peña
Bigñata
Part of the Links to Opportunity: Hilltop Engagement Projects
August 2018

A brightly colored 20 foot piñata at the heart of People’s Park during the Hilltop Street Fair was an unexpected attraction drawing children of all ages to reimagine public space. With a focus on Latinx ESL communities Gerardo Peña leverages the temporary ceremonial monument to gain parents insights on their ideas for the MLK corridor as their young children reach in and take Mexican candies.

Spaceworks Tacoma, working with the City of Tacoma, contracted community engagement specialists to engage Hilltop neighbors through pop-up outreach events. The collected data will guide the streetscape design elements of the Martin Luther King Jr. Way sidewalk area between 6th Avenue to 19th Street. Nine creative Tacomans developed innovative ways to collect feedback about the proposed street redesign known as Links To Opportunity. Working side by side with consultants Christopher Paul Jordan and Tera Williams, the resulting temporary projects span from interactive chalking, to care packages for people who are homeless, to a giant piñata. “We want to ensure that community vision is communicated and reflected in the design to the best of our ability,” said Andy Micklow, AICP, Project Senior Planner.

About Links to Opportunity

Initiated in 2016 the Links to Opportunity Project works with the community in designing streetscape improvements along Sound Transit’s Hilltop Tacoma Link Extension route. The resulting streetscape design will enable safe access for all users including pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, and transit riders of all ages and abilities. This isn’t the project’s first outreach effort with the community. From July to October 2017, Tacoma Housing Authority, Downtown On the Go, Sound Outreach, and the Hilltop Action Coalition engaged in grassroots outreach with the Hilltop community.

For more information and to get involved visit:
www.cityoftacoma.org/links