Spew

McMenamins Moment

RON SWARNER: COUNTDOWN TO TERMINATOR STOUT IN TACOMA >>>

The Tacoma City Council gave the green light for the city to buy the vacant land north of the planned McMenamins brewpub, and starts the 18-month clock on developers Grace Pleasants and Rick Moses to secure financing to buy back the land from the city to plop a retail and residential complex atop of a city-owned parking garage.

Read the full details on The News Tribune’s Web site.

Morning Spew

NEWS TEAM: GOOD MORNING SOUTH SOUND >>>

Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em: Obama Administration extends trade embargo on Cuba for another year.

Tacoma City Council: Might smoke you if you got them.

Jackass: Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) faces rebuke from House Democrats for his antics.

U.S. Special Forces In Somalia: Insurgents vow revenge after raid.

Cool: Robot being developed for the U.S. military can jump over 7-foot walls.

Mutant Ninja Student: Dude at John Hopkins University kills intruder with samurai sword.

You Go Girl!: Woman, 107, looking for 23rd husband.

Whoa: Volkswagen’s Diesel-Hybrid L1 concept gets 170 mpg, available by 2013.

Now Go Out and Conquer

Fightfighters for FISH

MICHAEL SWAN: FIGHTFIGHTERS ROCK >>>

This Saturday, Tacoma City Council Position 6 candidate Keven Rojecki will team with fellow Tacoma Fire Fighters to collect food for families in need in Tacoma.  They will be at several Tacoma grocery stores from noon to 5 p.m. to collect canned and boxed goods that will be donated to FISH Food Banks. Cash donations will also be accepted.
For more information, go to the Firefighter Food Drive Web site.


Participating Grocery Stores

Tacoma Boys
5602 Sixth Ave.

Top Food and Drug
3130 S. 23rd St.

Albertsons
2401 N. Pearl St.

Safeway Food and Drug
2637 N. Pearl St.

Safeway Food and Drug
1624 S. 72nd St.

Morning Spew

NEWS TEAM: GOOD MORNING SOUTH SOUND >>>

That Which Has No Name: City of Tacoma’s $36 million budget shortfall may force 90 city jobs to disappear.

The Fey Way: Tacoma City Councilman Jake Fey comes clean on his fundraising actions.

Gig Harbor Growth: Slowing down in Gig Harbor

He’s Back: Iran leader approves Ahmadinejad presidency.

What Do You Know: GOP Senators vow stop Cash for Clunkers program saying it’ll “heap debt on future generations.”…

Meanwhile: Ford posts sales gain mostly thanks for the clunkers program.

Pump It Up: Oil, gasoline surge on signs of increased industrial demand.

Government Voice: FCC weighs into Google Voice for iPhone saga.

Apple By Day: Keeps The Google CEO Schmidt away.

McMenamins Moment

RON SWARNER: COUNTDOWN TO TERMINATOR STOUT IN TACOMA >>>

Last night the Tacoma City Council sanctioned city staff to complete a letter of intent with Tacoma developer Grace Pleasants and her business partner Rick Moses, formalizing the city’s role in the project to convert the landmark Elks Temple downtown into a McMenamins restaurant and hotel. The city's role includes building a 300-stall parking garage and providing a government load loan (ha, ha, heh) to help with the conversion.

Read the News Tribune for full story here.

McMenamins Moment

RON SWARNER: COUNTDOWN TO TERMINATOR STOUT IN TACOMA >>>

Yesterday during the Tacoma City Council weekly noon study session Tacoma developer Grace Pleasants and her business partner Rick Moses presented their laundry list of requests for the city’s part of the project aimed at redeveloping the dilapidated Elks Temple downtown into a McMenamins restaurant and hotel.

The Tacoma City Council shouted out with glee.

Read The News Tribune report here.

Sink or swim?

PAUL SCHRAG: FELONS FACE A HOST OF BARRIERS WITH LITTLE SUPPORT >>>

Sometimes things just don’t make sense. Take, for example, the way we treat felons re-emerging into society. They don’t get much help. Thanks to a few recent bits of legislation, they get some education in hopes of determining whether or not they’re viable for training to take their place in the local workforce. Recent legislation has provided vouchers so some prisoners can pay rent for three months. Some of them. But more often than not, they’re given a little cash, their belongings, and a pat on the ass. It’s not pretty, and the effects are felt strongly in every community.

At a recent Tacoma City Council study session, State Sen, Mike Carrell (R-28th) offered some soothing statistics that dispelled, at least for now, the perception that Pierce County inherits more than its fair share of former felons. It’s a common perception that Pierce County has become a dumping ground for felons, who frequently end up living on the streets and frequently end up returning to a life of crime, draining public resources and generally mucking things up. According to some preliminary research, it looks like Pierce County is no longer a dumping ground. Something to be soothed about, sure.

But there’s a bigger problem, and it starts with thinking about felons as refuse, numbers, burdens, etc. Felons are people, and our perception of what kind of people they are, and what kind of treatment they deserve once they have paid their debt to society, needs to change.

Talking with Carrell made that clear. Read what he said here.

Morning Spew

NEWS TEAM: GOOD MORNING SOUTH SOUND >>>

Wal-Mart Shooting: Lakewood police have arrested two people in connection with yesterday's shooting death of an armored car guard.

Does Ramann Hall Have Cheetos?: Peninsula student fires up a J during a school presentation.

Tacoma Looks Like A Halfway Crazy Ex-girlfriend: The City of Tacoma offers Russell Investments 330 virtually free parking and other perks totaling up to $47.5 million.

WTF?: Jimi Hendrix “murdered by manager,” claims former roadie.

Cpl. Pat Tillman: McChrystal regrets mistakes in the case.

Who Wants To Have Boobs In Their Face?

Nobody hates the water

MARIE LANDAU: TURNING POINTS FOR OLYMPIA ARTESIAN TREASURE >>>

The water flowing from the well on Fourth and Jefferson in Olympia is public. The lot the well is on is private. So it’s a bit of an anomaly, this sacred space: a dirty-looking brown pipe jutting out of the concrete, nestled by a few weeds and cement blocks. From an underground aquifer, water — clear, clean and ready for drinking — is pushed up through the pipe for anyone and everyone to enjoy. It doesn’t look like much, but its simplicity is part of the appeal — it represents an essential, universal need and, like a desert oasis, draws together drinkers that might otherwise remain separate.   

Many organizations in Olympia have their hands in the well. Read about the battle here.

Photo by Marie Landa

Tacoma’s new Queen of Green

PAUL SCHRAG: KRISTIN LYNETT VS. CARBON EMISSIONS >>>

The City of Tacoma’s green ambitions now have a champion. City Manager Eric Anderson announced recently that Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Resource Conservation Manager and Sustainability Coordinator Kristin Lynett is on her way to Tacoma to head up efforts to reduce carbon emissions. For those of you who haven’t heard, carbon emissions are bad when they get out of hand, contributing to all sorts of environmental malaise, including pollution and global warming. Lynette will take her position as City of Tacoma’s new Office of Sustainability manager June 1, having beaten out a strong group of candidates from across the nation.

Lynett’s first tasks will be to carry out some of the goals outlined by the city’s Green Ribbon Climate Action Task Force, which bundled them up nicely in a Climate Action Plan. The action plan is a road map for reducing carbon emissions within the city, says city spokesman Rob McNair-Huff. Some of those goals, he says, will involve changing the way the city of Tacoma does business, fuels its fleet, etc. Other efforts will reach out to citizens for help. A report presented to City Council in July outlines 40 strategies for reducing carbon emissions, which will be overseen by the Office of Sustainability and the Sustainable Tacoma Commission, an 11-member board created in spring of 2008. Lynett will work in conjunction with a partner at Tacoma Public Utilities, who has yet to be hired, but will play a similar role as the City’s new sustainability manager.