Friday, January 20, 2006
As I started writing segments for this issue, I realized that what I really wanted to share this time were a series of other Web pages. So this newsletter became a list of links. I hope you don’t mind; most of these should be of interest to people who follow public policy in Lakewood.
NEW LEADERSHIP: I buried this link in the middle of a long email last time, and statistics say not many of you read it. Now, if you decided not to read it because I wrote it, that’s one thing. I can’t hardly blame you. But if you simply drowned in my long email last time, feel free to give this a look. Where else will you find the real link between little devils, Amelia Earhart, sewer treatment and the City Council? http://walterneary.net/columns/newleaders.html
COUNCIL RETREAT: More seriously, the Lakewood City Council has a retreat this week to discuss plans for the coming year, and beyond. You can see the agenda at http://www.ci.lakewood.wa.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=601&Itemid=147 Typically, even the few folks who regularly come to evening council meetings do not show up for retreats. That’s a shame – a lot can get done at these. But of course it is a long time commitment – anyway, you are certainly welcome.
CITY ACTIVITIES: In the meantime, the staff prepared what I think is the first ‘annual report’ of city department activity. It struck me as a really good snapshot of what’s going on in the city, with a lot of useful information. If your computer can read PDF files, you can see a copy at http://walterneary.net/documents/2005YearEndReport2.pdf
HISTORIC TALKS: Steve Dunkelberger and I will be discussing Lakewood history on May 21, but that’s only one in a series of talks planned for Fort Steilacoom Museum this year. Check out the full list at this link: http://www.thesubtimes.com/2006/01/fort_steilacoom.html
Another of the speakers, Joan Curtis, is the author of Town on the Sound, which is a great book about local history. You can find the book in many places in Steilacoom. The account of an attempted lynching between Gravelly and Steilacoom lakes is an amusing account of frontier justice, if also quite sad.
CLOVER PARK PRIDE: One of the best parts of writing a local history book is that people send you lots of information. Check out this incredible link that John Vosburgh wants to share with us. At first blush, it’s a class reunion web site, but as you poke around you will see that this site really captures and interprets what was going on around 1965. Check it out: http://www.cloverpark65.com/
John says there are more than 600 pages on the site, which is an incredible effort. Be sure to check out the elementary school photos. See, we all know that people in Lakewood care about history, we just need to share these stories so we know about each other.
(PS – I think you would make John and the class very happy if you sign their Web page’s guest book, which is a link on the lower right of the first screen)
A COMPELLING STORY: For something 100 percent different, here’s a link to a story about someone related to Western State Hospital. I’ve given tours at a museum on the grounds, and have had the chance to meet many counselors, clients and other folks associated with WSH. I have said many times that the people who work at WSH are doing God’s work. This story is intriguing because it provides a rare and brutally candid look into that world:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/255320_insane12.html?source=mypi
I think the story also provides an insight into what having WSH here brings to Lakewood, and why it is important for us to fight the insane idea – pun intended - of putting a prison on the grounds. We have enough challenges in this community without bringing an open-door prison onto the grounds to harass the vulnerable mentally ill and their families.
And as I remind you every issue … Don't forget you can get more news about Lakewood by bookmarking these links: http://www.thesubtimes.com/thesubtimes/lakewood/index.html and http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/lakewood/
This issue, I will add our city manager’s weekly report. It’s not really a newspaper, but if you want to get up to speed with what’s going on with the city, the city web site is a good resource:
http://www.ci.lakewood.wa.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=380&Itemid=267
Thursday, January 12, 2006
PROACTIVE POLICING: The police have an initiative that takes aim at reducing property crime. This is great news for Lakewood.
Quick background: Lakewood police have traditionally focused on preventing and battling violent crime. That's because we used to have a lot of it. We still have some, obviously, and like any community we always will - but the rate has dropped dramatically.That leaves property crime.
First of all, crime is bad, period. But my regular readers - both of you - know that this newsletter is often concerned with the quality of information and public discussions in Lakewood. This newsletter is also often concerned with the confidence, or lack of it, in our government. In that sense, property crime is as corrosive, in some ways, to public discussions in our city as violent crime (though of course violent crime is obviously more physically damaging crime). The reason I say that is that a lot of victims of property crime are regular citizens like you and me - citizens who talk to each other, and talk about how they have seen the city handle property crime. There's a lot of confusion about what sorts of crimes police will respond to and how police will handle property crimes. I call it corrosive and just generally bad when people are confused about what their city will do and what it represents.
Property crime is a tough nut to crack. I remember this from my days as a reporter, sitting in on countless trials and hearings. Criminals who commit property crimes are often a little smarter than the violent criminals who are stupid enough to attack someone. The criminals who burglarize and rob know that there are not enough jails to hold them all. They know that the laws are relatively lax. You can get away with committing property crimes, if you are a little careful about it, for quite a long career. It's sad, but true - and certainly not the fault of Lakewood, or even just the State of Washington.
What Chief Larry Saunders announced Monday is that the police will begin a pilot program to aggressively tackle property crime: residential property crime in Tillicum and Woodbrook, and business property crime along Lakeview Boulevard. The program will include the neighborhood patrol officers, the police officers assigned to various schools, and members of block watches. (To fight property crime, you need neighbors who talk to each other and watch out for each other). As lessons are learned, the police will expand the program to other parts of the city.
There are long lists of the components of this plan, including undercover operations, surveillance and security systems, a higher level of prosecution when possible through our Municipal Court, and even bait cars to attract thieves. But you probably care more about what the program accomplishes; we'll all be keeping track of that together. The city's goal - and let's call it good management that the city has a measurable goal - is a 15 percent reduction. The police will be working toward an even greater reduction. The main thing here is that the police department is seeing itself as more than just fighting violent crime, and that shows a well-rounded approach.
NEW LEADERSHIP: You probably picked this up from a paper or word of mouth, but just in case, the new Mayor is Claudia Thomas and the new Deputy Mayor is John Arbeeny. Congratulations to both of them! They will be presiding over the council retreat on Jan. 18 and 19 when we help choose priorities for the city government(Presiding over meetings is the main function of the mayor in our particular city system of government). Let me know your thoughts on those priorities anytime.
It might have been a little difficult from news accounts to determine who voted for who when it came to choosing a mayor for 2005 and 2006. In fact, one account still has the wrong vote on its Web site. So just to be clear ...
Here's the deal on electing the mayor: Two people were nominated for the position, Doug Richardson and Claudia Thomas. First person nominated for mayor was the 04-05 mayor, Doug Richardson. Only three of the seven council members voted for Doug: me, Helen McGovern, and of course Doug. So that meant the next person up for vote was Claudia Thomas, who of course was deputy mayor for many years when Bill Harrison was mayor. Claudia received five votes: me, John Arbeeny, Ron Cronk, Pad Finnigan, and of course Claudia.
Then the only person nominated for deputy mayor was John, who won by the same vote of 5-2.
If I was still writing for the local paper, my column on this subject would probably read something like this: http://www.walterneary.net/columns/newleaders.html
By the way, if you're not too familiar with what the role of mayor is in our community, I have an older column that still reflects some truth about the job; that column is at http://walterneary.net/columns/12-18-03.html
Since that older column was written, Doug Richardson was elected mayor for 2004 and 2005. Doug presided over, among other things, establishment of a police department and selection of a city manager. He also presided over council meetings. It can be tricky to run any meeting in this town so that every voice is heard. We have a lot of people here who think you have to personally insult someone to make any point; that's a tough environment in which to run meetings. Well done, Doug.
Meantime, stay tuned for more info about that retreat. Among the first challenges of the new council is going to be choosing people to sit on city advisory boards. Pretty much everyone who did not win in a City Council race last year has applied to sit on these boards. Being on a city board puts them in a good position for the 2007 elections. (Now, that's just the politics of the matter. It goes without saying that these people also want to serve the community. Let me know anytime you want to know more about these advisory boards).
Given some of the deep divisions in this town, it's going to be interesting watching the new council decide which former and potential candidates as well as other applicants will get seats on these boards.
BETTER SERVICE: Not all city developments are going to make big headlines in a newspaper. But it's the little things that add up to the big things. I've got some good news out of our Public Works department. The Public Works Department has come up with a brochure that clearly explains - in clear, simple English - how to request a study of speeding in a neighborhood and how to request traffic-slowing measures in a neighborhood. As I sat at the hearing, I quickly put on my editor's cap and counted words in the draft brochure. Though in a hurry, I could not find any sentence longer than 25 words. That's amazing!! Short sentences are a sign that someone thought clearly enough to share their thoughts concisely.
Last Monday, the Public Works folks announced they are drafting a system to keep track of all the people who have and will request street lights. They are also working on a system to rank all the requests by a variety of criteria including crime rates, whether there are sidewalks present, etc... You'll recall that I have been calling for some time for street lights for Pac Highway in Ponders - which is in the budget, I'm grateful to say. Not surprisingly, that is one of the most highly rated places where lights have been proposed.
Public Works is also drafting a simple brochure that explains how you can request street lights, the various ways to pay for them, and what you can expect when you contact the city. This information will help us more precisely decide how much money to set aside for street lights and traffic-slowing measures. I'll provide more details about this program later, and of course I'm sure you will hear about it from the city as well. I'd hoped to give you a list of the various neighborhoods that have requested lights, but honestly, I need to start thinking about getting my young lad to school.
In a way, there's a theme here for the start of the second 10 years of cityhood. The lack of a clear policy toward property crime was corrosive. The lack of a clear policy toward people who request street lights or measures to slow traffic in their neighborhood was also corrosive. It will be exciting to watch and participate as the city pulls together better customer service.
AT BORDERS: Steve Dunkelberger and I spoke at Borders Books to about two dozen people last Sunday about our new book, "Images of America: Lakewood." Afterward, a couple of people asked me why we had the event in Tacoma; the answer is, we sure tried to have something similar in Lakewood. We still hope to do so. I've heard that Barnes & Noble has stocked the Lakewood book from time to time, so that's certainly a good sign about their interest in the community.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
ON THE BORDERSLINE: Steve Dunkelberger and I will be talking about and signing our new book, "Images of America: Lakewood" at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 8, at the Borders on 38th by the Tacoma Mall. I don't know how many times they have events targeting Lakewood at this store, so please feel free to stop by and show your support. We're going to feel pretty funny just talking to ourselves (not that you don't talk to yourself A LOT when you work on a book ...)
NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS: Much as I'm sure you want another long email in your in-box, I've put my civic New Year's Resolutions for 2006 in two columns on the Web instead of inside this email. Let me know if you have any problems with this link: http://www.walterneary.net/columns/newyears06.html I'll look forward to your thoughts. By the way, if that link or any others in this email don't work, feel free to go to my home page http://www.walterneary.net/ for corrected links.
UPCOMING MEETING: The first City Council meeting of the new year is 7 p.m. on Tuesday at City Hall. We will welcome Ron Cronk to the council in Bill Harrison's former chair. We'll also be choosing a mayor and deputy mayor. If you were around two years ago, you know we'll be lucky to get past that process and into the rest of the meeting! Other than that matter, the official agenda is pretty light. When the agenda is light and there is available time, people tend to bring up all sorts of things: so feel extra invited to come by and watch the show. The council plans a daylong "retreat" in mid-January to get itself organized and maybe even look ahead on behalf of the city and in partnership with the community. So it's possible people may save material for then. But you never know what could come up Tuesday. Given that the retreat is scheduled, this could also be a slow meeting. You never know.
THEATER NEWS: The Lakewood Playhouse opens "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" on Friday, Jan. 6. The show runs weekends through Jan. 22. This musical, directed by Micheal O' Hara, is based on the lovable "Peanuts" characters by Charles Schultz. Tickets are $20 general, $17 senior/military, $15 youth and $12 for children. Group rates are available. There will be a 'pay what you can' performance at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 12. Call (253)588-0042 for more info or go to http://www.lakewoodplayhouse.org
BETTER COMMUNICATION: Hey, do me a favor. We talk a lot about how to better communicate with citizens. Can you fill out this survey? http://www.ci.lakewood.wa.us/index.php?option=com_exitpoll&Itemid=266
WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT LAKEWOOD: To keep a more personal resolution, I've also updated the list of what's good and right about Lakewood. I continue to welcome suggestions for the list! You can find it at http://www.walterneary.net/columns/goodnewslist.html
USEFUL LINKS: Don't forget you can get more news about Lakewood by bookmarking these links: http://www.thesubtimes.com/thesubtimes/lakewood/index.html andhttp://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/lakewood/
