tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58822742008-05-07T14:55:44.890-07:00Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comBlogger199125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-44868244850489638432008-05-07T14:49:00.000-07:002008-05-07T14:55:44.920-07:00

Just real quick, for those who read the post about Pacific Highway: here's an update about Ponders from The News Tribune. For those of you interested in a different telling and far less nuanced description of the story, check out this brief from a Seattle paper.

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-15565248702246114772008-05-05T10:35:00.000-07:002008-05-05T11:12:20.099-07:00

Greetings. This past weekend was about the first weekend since I felt really whole after I got what they vaguely describe as 'walking pneumonia" back in February. It was great to be out and about. We certainly fell behind in this blog, so let's do some catching up: PACIFIC HIGHWAY: Tonight's Lakewood City Council meeting at 7 p.m. *may* be when the council makes the decision on alignment and the

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-85153608016838804422008-04-13T08:06:00.001-07:002008-04-13T08:16:11.744-07:00

If you were like me, you had to wonder why your electricity went out on the nicest day, so far, of 2008. The News Tribune has an explanation. I had a project to work on, and so had to drive quickly to my office in Puyallup to get electricity while pondering the mysteries of Tacoma Power. Funny enough, yesterday was the day that our ancient cherry tree set to bloom. So I had already been

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-33575291641789555582008-04-11T16:05:00.000-07:002008-04-11T16:10:59.912-07:00

In order to get this up quickly, I will borrow wording from the city manager's report, which some readers probably get separately. The Army brigade that was officially adopted by Lakewood, the 4-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, begins returning from Iraq next month after 15 months there. The city is seeking your help in giving them some extremly simple comforts to come home to. The 4-2 has about

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-36527021870542537422008-04-03T05:58:00.000-07:002008-04-03T06:35:59.899-07:00

Lakewood has traditionally been thought of as a pretty libertarian place. It was the place you moved to, years ago, when you did not want to live within Tacoma and be part of a city. I have always thought of Lakewood as a sort of 'live and let live' sort of community. That does not mean it is as politically conservative as some folks think; it's fascinating we are one of the few places in the

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-41396638715727499322008-03-31T14:43:00.000-07:002008-03-31T16:51:04.211-07:00

Boy, we got some catching up to do, don't we? Bits and pieces... Lakewood site on national radio: First off, thanks to The New Tribune blogger Scott Fontaine for a link to a National Public Radio broadcast about our own Galloping Gertie's. The story does not mention Lakewood, but oh well... Big job: Creating and preserving jobs for everyone is a big dang deal. So this is big news because we

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-31833920724632246282008-02-22T20:30:00.000-08:002008-02-23T09:19:45.591-08:00

Lakewood's city manager named a new police chief today, Assistant Chief Bret Farrar. I don't claim to know the man well, but in all the conversations I've had he has struck me as someone with a lot of common sense. When you look at all the things that can go wrong in police operations, you consider that having a chief with common sense is important So his appointment was happy news. I'm sure

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-29925626240867211892008-02-22T20:24:00.001-08:002008-02-22T20:29:56.426-08:00

Hey, I wanted to ask a question I have been meaning to ask for awhile. I've occasionally noticed problems at the Tacoma Convention Center, such as the famous luncheon awhile back when no one could understand Tacoma's own mayor during a speech because of the sound system (and boy, was that embarrassing for everyone). I've also been at events where everything seemed to go just fine. I serve on a

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-4419214278087279092008-02-22T01:36:00.001-08:002008-02-22T01:38:56.071-08:00

Quick note for those of you with Lakewood-oriented calendars: The Parks board will NOT be discussing lake access (described in various posts below) at its next meeting this Tuesday. An enormous number of questions have come up about lot lines and property shapes, and the folks involved have wisely decided to do more study before more public hearings. So that's good ... but it also means the next

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-39617803506325085772008-02-22T01:22:00.000-08:002008-02-22T01:27:50.740-08:00

Lakewood will finally have its own, centralized police station to replace offices scattered throughout the city and a main building that county government is reclaiming. The new building will be between the Y and the bus barns on Lakewood Drive, across from Seeley Lake. We had the groundbreaking Thursday morning. That's me there between Chief Larry Saunders and Councilwoman Claudia Thomas. I

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-69007551409711252762008-02-20T10:12:00.000-08:002008-02-20T10:20:44.492-08:00

My regular readers, both of you, will recall that Walter brought out his heaviest hammers of words last fall when we learned the city was failing to properly staff our community policing units. These units are responsible for trying to prevent problems before they start or get worse. So it's fair, good and in fact downright joyous to report that staffing is getting back up to where it should be.

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-5330442293522513662008-02-20T09:51:00.000-08:002008-02-20T10:09:29.577-08:00

Good morning, and greetings from the fourth floor of the Landmark Convention Center. I'm at a workshop hosted by the Association of Washington Cities. The workshop is about engaging citizens in government, and about particular tool, the performance audit. Lakewood sent quite a delegation here: we also have council members Pad Finnigan and Claudia Thomas, and assistant city managers Jeff

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-64642764080346578642008-02-05T16:57:00.000-08:002008-02-05T17:00:12.762-08:00

Lakewood today is of course a very diverse place. But when it came time to do the Lakewood History Book, we had a heck of a time coming up with photos of much diversity before the latter half of the 20th century. So imagine our joy when we found out there had been a Buffalo Soldiers camp at the north end of Lake Steilacoom. What follows is a news release about an upcoming program - as far as I

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-82515694751443302562008-01-25T10:47:00.000-08:002008-01-25T10:51:48.965-08:00

The longtime chairman of the Lakewood Parks and Recreation Commission writes, with justification, to gently chide me about some of my word selection. I think I am guilty; when you write volumes of words for newspapers, you sometimes forget the power of a word. Roger Laybourn's note follows. The upshot of his point is that when I say there may be a 'park' at a street end, it sounds like we are

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-45536376218746429772008-01-24T11:42:00.000-08:002008-01-24T12:20:03.875-08:00

Many of you will be aware that the Lakewood City Council has finally decided to confront the difficult question of what to do about public property that might or might not be used to improve access to the lakes. If you are unfamiliar with the question, my earlier column, while even yet more material on the subject, might be useful background at this point. And reader Travis Lauricella kindly made

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-56000452599831780692008-01-22T21:36:00.000-08:002008-01-22T21:37:20.166-08:00

My regular readers, both of you, will know that the Lakewood City Council held a two-day retreat late last week. I actually had my laptop up and running most of the two days, but frankly, as an old newspaperman, even I could not identify a bunch of news to share in any sort of post-it-now-on-the-Internet sort of breathless way. At the end of the day, the summary sounds strange to write. But

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-14438264962943334562008-01-15T15:35:00.000-08:002008-01-15T15:47:47.580-08:00

First of all - sure, while there were a few folks anticipating the final Harry Potter book, you are going to see some real excitement now that the Lakewood Annual Report is out. The report is for 2007, and you should definitely look it over for a comprehensive review of a lot that has, and will, go on. There is an enormous amount of detail for people interested in Lakewood. Check out the crime

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-84909991060457664892008-01-14T09:29:00.000-08:002008-01-14T09:55:14.004-08:00

After a slow start to the year, Lakewood public policy roars back to life tonight at 7 in City Hall. Among the important questions is whether to extend a moratorium on several kinds of new development in Tillicum. The council will hold a formal hearing, so we will likely hear from some landowners, businesspeople and residents. The fundamental decision is whether the city needs more time to make

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-64608874814219684952008-01-11T13:53:00.000-08:002008-01-11T14:19:33.270-08:00

Those of us who love Lakewood history will face some tough questions, and relatively soon. My loyal readers, both of you, know that the area occupied by Fort Steilacoom Park and Western State Hospital was once a British pioneer farm. It was then a U.S. pioneer fort established in 1849. So that's why I often tell people that these particular properties represent the most historic ground in the

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-13123511820240680212008-01-07T22:18:00.000-08:002008-01-07T22:22:55.036-08:00

I just fired this off to my email list: News about Lakewood, January 2008 (Man, that was fast. Whatever happened to 2006?) Welcome to 2008, everyone. And welcome to a new year of public policy in Lakewood. Councilmembers Don Anderson and Claudia Thomas were sworn in tonight, as was yours truly. You have four years of us to look forward to. The council unanimously elected Doug Richardson as

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-54236734770368393612007-12-23T09:49:00.000-08:002007-12-23T10:34:07.363-08:00

Lots of interesting articles this week, mostly in today's TNT. But first, for a worrisome chuckle, you should check out a story in Seattle Weekly about a new law familiar to people in Pierce County but probably news to anyone in King County. Seattle Weekly has a story about the bill that is supposed to require counties to hold on to felons who are released from prison. You may recall that this

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-3438236512302334492007-12-19T17:03:00.000-08:002007-12-21T14:13:31.275-08:00

You would be amazed at the stacks of paperwork you can pick up if you run for office and try to do other jobs at the same time. We have a backlog, so let's try sharing some information in quick bursts. With more to come. - If you missed the Bill Cosby appearance in Lakewood, it's now showing - and I mean that literally as I type this and watch it at the same time - on TV. It was filmed by

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-47781025136918430332007-12-19T10:22:00.001-08:002007-12-19T11:23:52.285-08:00

Hey gang, one of my wife's co-workers at Madigan is taking a class outside work where they have to write detailed reports about community subjects. Her group chose community policing, which certainly has Lakewood's name written all over it. But they need some survey participants to report on. If you have a second, can you fill out this survey about community policing? It's anonymous and pretty

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-34552795840690994212007-12-15T07:25:00.000-08:002007-12-19T11:22:15.895-08:00

One of the odd little byproducts of how the city of Lakewood developed is that every two years, people start to ask very earnestly, 'Who is going to be the mayor?' And they ask the question out of more than just idle curiosity. The seven council members choose a mayor and deputy mayor from among the ranks at the first meeting in January. The last two cycles, the council has had a couple of very

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882274.post-25949543981059350902007-12-09T03:12:00.000-08:002007-12-09T03:51:41.469-08:00

Lots of people have been working on the question about what to do, if anything, with publicly owned street ends and other city properties that dead-end at the edge of a lake. I wanted to give you an update. At the Nov. 27 meeting of the parks and recreation board, staff and volunteers put up different slides showing property lines and photographs for 14 different city-owned properties. Many

Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980538052549140236noreply@blogger.com