Saturday, May 08, 2004
As a member of the City Council in Lakewood, I'm beginning a regular newsletter to help people know what is going on with public policy in Lakewood. I hope to follow in the grand tradition of the Lakewood Journal (using 'grand' in sort of a loose sense). I don’t mean to ‘spam’ you, and if you do nothing, you won’t get another newsletter unless you ask for one. If you do want to get these newsletters, you need to fill out a simple form at http://www.mailermailer.com/x?oid=16322z and then return a confirmation e-mail (please look for that confirmation e-mail - when I tried this out, I had to rescue the confirmation e-mail from my junk mail folder)
Needless to say, I won’t share any information from the form with anyone else. If you have a question about how the signup works, feel free to send me a note or call 253-229-3620.
Walter’s Lakewood journal
Vol 1, No. 1
HEADLINES:
* Sewers, surcharges and smoking up for discussion at Monday meeting
* Council clicks on ‘CLICK’
* Deadline approaching for any 2005 fireworks changes
* Federal grants allocated
COUNCIL TO 'LIGHT UP' ON SMOKING, SEWERS AND SURCHARGE ON MONDAY
At Monday night’s council study session, 7 p.m. in City Hall, we’ll hear from people concerned about the Pierce County health department's ban on smoking in public places. If you have concerns or thoughts about the smoking ban, feel free to come by and comment or send us a note at Council@ci.Lakewood.wa.us.
The council will also hold a special meeting that night - it's called a special meeting because normally we would not be able to hold a vote during a study session. The council will consider applying to the state for an unusually low-interest loan to finance the extension of sewers to Tillicum and American Lake Gardens. The staff report indicates that the extension could be financed by a citywide surcharge of up to $1.50 a month for residential customers, and very possibly less.
If you'd like to hear the presentation, or have opinions or questions about the extension of sewers or the surcharge, come on by. Future issues of this newsletter will have updates, of course (did I mention that you have to subscribe in order to get future issues? Pls fill out the form at http://www.mailermailer.com/x?oid=16322z )
People have been talking about bringing sewers to Tillicum and American Lake Gardens for years, though I'm not sure how many people know about this particular financing plan. There have been septic failures in the area, and it's located next to American Lake, of course, raising water quality issues. Sewers would also make commercial development easier. There are a lot of implications to all this, so I think we can look forward to a wide-ranging discussion, if you know what I mean.
August 2006: I wrote the following couple of paragraphs back long before I was working at Comcast, or even knew there was a local PR job that would be available in our area with Comcast. Currently, because the telecom company is my day job, I abstain from all city matters involving cable franchises and that sort of thing. But I did not want to scratch out the paragraphs below in order to avoid messing with the column).
COUNCIL CLICKS ON 'CLICK'
Tacoma Public Utilities has announced plans to offer its CLICK cable service in the areas that presently get electricity from Tacoma Power. CLICK is a rival of Comcast, the other cable provider. The Lakewood City staff wisely negotiated a contract that requires Tacoma Power to keep track of customer complaints about CLICK – there is no such requirement for electrical service – and so we should know if the company is treating Lakewood cable customers with respect or not. People will be able to sign up gradually for CLICK as it extends service – the franchise the council approved 5-2 Monday gives the company up to four years to do so.
EDITORIAL: I was, by the way, one of the two votes against the franchise agreement, along with Pad Finnigan. I’m actually fine with the agreement based on what I know about it – what’s troubling is that we approved the franchise agreement so quickly.
The city is currently considering buying into the Rainier Communications Commission in order to show Lakewood programming on cable TV. Part of what the Rainier Commission does is negotiate cable franchise agreements to allow those programs to air. So it is odd that we chose to approve the CLICK franchise before deciding to hire someone to help negotiate franchises. CLICK says it will be reasonable when the city comes with requests, so hopefully it will all work out.
ALL FIRED UP
Here' s a quick bit of info to lay the groundwork for discussions about fireworks. It only takes a few idiots to spoil a party, and that’s what happens every July Fourth when bozos light up dangerous fireworks and scare the heck out of everyone – and worse, cause fires and injury. FYI, the way the rules work, it is too late for the city to do anything for this upcoming holiday: changes to fireworks rules must be made by June 1 of the preceding year. In other words, to do anything about fireworks in 2004, agencies would have had to do something by June 1, 2003.
What that means in practical terms is that if you have a suggestion about fireworks use in 2005, you need to make it so the parties involved can act by June 1. It may already be too late since this is the jurisdiction of so many government entities, but if you have an interest in changing the rules – or maintaining them – I wanted you to be aware of the dates. I have a hunch we will have a lot of irritated people show up in July of this year to urge immediate action. But even if we as a community decide to take action, it will be too late for anything meaningful to take effect until 2006.
FEDERAL GRANTS ALLOCATED
This is a partial list of the highlights for Community Development Block Grant funds. Sorry for the length of this list - I promise other newsletters will not be this long. The following includes some of the highlights of the list approved by the council the other night, after a volunteer citizens’ committee had scrutinized all applications:
- American Lake Gardens/Tillicum Sewer Connection, $200,000. It will take a lot more money to bring sewers to Tillicum - see above - but this would help. Of course, this is also a countywide issue. What is more important? Erecting golf courses, or providing basic sewer service? Or can those goals be compatible? We’ll talk about this another day …
- Streetlights in low-income areas throughout town, $25,000.
- Harry Todd Park Waterfront improvements, $20,000.
- Emergency home repairs: a $150,000 fund for minor repairs (maximum individual grant is $3,500, or $5,000 per owner for all years) and a $84,000 fund for major repairs, throughout town.
- A variety of other CDBG allocations go for various housing funds, including repair funds and a down payment assistance fund, as well as support of the Tillicum/American Lake Gardens Community Center. Money will also go to an agency, Network Tacoma, to help buy a 17-unit complex at 12014 Interlaaken Drive SW for low-income families.
COMMERCIAL:
This newsletter is designed to provide quick information, but it is no substitute for reading The News Tribune and the American Community Journal. The Journal is a local monthly newspaper produced by the valiant Ed Kane. If Lakewood will ever have a more frequent newspaper again, the community needs to show support. For just $15, PLEASE subscribe to Ed’s paper – our community-based paper. You can send your subscription to American Community Journal, 8521 Forest Ave SW, Lakewood, WA 98498. (Be sure to include your phone number, if only in case Ed or a volunteer can’t read your handwriting)
FINAL NOTE
Thanks for reading this. Remember, if you want to receive Lakewood news by e-mail, you need to put your e-mail address on this form: http://www.mailermailer.com/x?oid=16322z You can unsubscribe at any time. Once you subscribe, you will receive newsletters from a different mailing system that’s a little more sophisticated: we’ll be able to have instant polls, for example. It should be interesting.
Publisher and editor: Walter Neary
P.O. 99702
Lakewood, WA 98499-0702
wtneary@hotmail.com
Forward this post
Needless to say, I won’t share any information from the form with anyone else. If you have a question about how the signup works, feel free to send me a note or call 253-229-3620.
Walter’s Lakewood journal
Vol 1, No. 1
HEADLINES:
* Sewers, surcharges and smoking up for discussion at Monday meeting
* Council clicks on ‘CLICK’
* Deadline approaching for any 2005 fireworks changes
* Federal grants allocated
COUNCIL TO 'LIGHT UP' ON SMOKING, SEWERS AND SURCHARGE ON MONDAY
At Monday night’s council study session, 7 p.m. in City Hall, we’ll hear from people concerned about the Pierce County health department's ban on smoking in public places. If you have concerns or thoughts about the smoking ban, feel free to come by and comment or send us a note at Council@ci.Lakewood.wa.us.
The council will also hold a special meeting that night - it's called a special meeting because normally we would not be able to hold a vote during a study session. The council will consider applying to the state for an unusually low-interest loan to finance the extension of sewers to Tillicum and American Lake Gardens. The staff report indicates that the extension could be financed by a citywide surcharge of up to $1.50 a month for residential customers, and very possibly less.
If you'd like to hear the presentation, or have opinions or questions about the extension of sewers or the surcharge, come on by. Future issues of this newsletter will have updates, of course (did I mention that you have to subscribe in order to get future issues? Pls fill out the form at http://www.mailermailer.com/x?oid=16322z )
People have been talking about bringing sewers to Tillicum and American Lake Gardens for years, though I'm not sure how many people know about this particular financing plan. There have been septic failures in the area, and it's located next to American Lake, of course, raising water quality issues. Sewers would also make commercial development easier. There are a lot of implications to all this, so I think we can look forward to a wide-ranging discussion, if you know what I mean.
August 2006: I wrote the following couple of paragraphs back long before I was working at Comcast, or even knew there was a local PR job that would be available in our area with Comcast. Currently, because the telecom company is my day job, I abstain from all city matters involving cable franchises and that sort of thing. But I did not want to scratch out the paragraphs below in order to avoid messing with the column).
COUNCIL CLICKS ON 'CLICK'
Tacoma Public Utilities has announced plans to offer its CLICK cable service in the areas that presently get electricity from Tacoma Power. CLICK is a rival of Comcast, the other cable provider. The Lakewood City staff wisely negotiated a contract that requires Tacoma Power to keep track of customer complaints about CLICK – there is no such requirement for electrical service – and so we should know if the company is treating Lakewood cable customers with respect or not. People will be able to sign up gradually for CLICK as it extends service – the franchise the council approved 5-2 Monday gives the company up to four years to do so.
EDITORIAL: I was, by the way, one of the two votes against the franchise agreement, along with Pad Finnigan. I’m actually fine with the agreement based on what I know about it – what’s troubling is that we approved the franchise agreement so quickly.
The city is currently considering buying into the Rainier Communications Commission in order to show Lakewood programming on cable TV. Part of what the Rainier Commission does is negotiate cable franchise agreements to allow those programs to air. So it is odd that we chose to approve the CLICK franchise before deciding to hire someone to help negotiate franchises. CLICK says it will be reasonable when the city comes with requests, so hopefully it will all work out.
ALL FIRED UP
Here' s a quick bit of info to lay the groundwork for discussions about fireworks. It only takes a few idiots to spoil a party, and that’s what happens every July Fourth when bozos light up dangerous fireworks and scare the heck out of everyone – and worse, cause fires and injury. FYI, the way the rules work, it is too late for the city to do anything for this upcoming holiday: changes to fireworks rules must be made by June 1 of the preceding year. In other words, to do anything about fireworks in 2004, agencies would have had to do something by June 1, 2003.
What that means in practical terms is that if you have a suggestion about fireworks use in 2005, you need to make it so the parties involved can act by June 1. It may already be too late since this is the jurisdiction of so many government entities, but if you have an interest in changing the rules – or maintaining them – I wanted you to be aware of the dates. I have a hunch we will have a lot of irritated people show up in July of this year to urge immediate action. But even if we as a community decide to take action, it will be too late for anything meaningful to take effect until 2006.
FEDERAL GRANTS ALLOCATED
This is a partial list of the highlights for Community Development Block Grant funds. Sorry for the length of this list - I promise other newsletters will not be this long. The following includes some of the highlights of the list approved by the council the other night, after a volunteer citizens’ committee had scrutinized all applications:
- American Lake Gardens/Tillicum Sewer Connection, $200,000. It will take a lot more money to bring sewers to Tillicum - see above - but this would help. Of course, this is also a countywide issue. What is more important? Erecting golf courses, or providing basic sewer service? Or can those goals be compatible? We’ll talk about this another day …
- Streetlights in low-income areas throughout town, $25,000.
- Harry Todd Park Waterfront improvements, $20,000.
- Emergency home repairs: a $150,000 fund for minor repairs (maximum individual grant is $3,500, or $5,000 per owner for all years) and a $84,000 fund for major repairs, throughout town.
- A variety of other CDBG allocations go for various housing funds, including repair funds and a down payment assistance fund, as well as support of the Tillicum/American Lake Gardens Community Center. Money will also go to an agency, Network Tacoma, to help buy a 17-unit complex at 12014 Interlaaken Drive SW for low-income families.
COMMERCIAL:
This newsletter is designed to provide quick information, but it is no substitute for reading The News Tribune and the American Community Journal. The Journal is a local monthly newspaper produced by the valiant Ed Kane. If Lakewood will ever have a more frequent newspaper again, the community needs to show support. For just $15, PLEASE subscribe to Ed’s paper – our community-based paper. You can send your subscription to American Community Journal, 8521 Forest Ave SW, Lakewood, WA 98498. (Be sure to include your phone number, if only in case Ed or a volunteer can’t read your handwriting)
FINAL NOTE
Thanks for reading this. Remember, if you want to receive Lakewood news by e-mail, you need to put your e-mail address on this form: http://www.mailermailer.com/x?oid=16322z You can unsubscribe at any time. Once you subscribe, you will receive newsletters from a different mailing system that’s a little more sophisticated: we’ll be able to have instant polls, for example. It should be interesting.
Publisher and editor: Walter Neary
P.O. 99702
Lakewood, WA 98499-0702
wtneary@hotmail.com
