This blog is designed to give readers a glimpse of our editorial-page operation and how we make our decisions. We’ll let you know who we’re meeting with, what they’re telling us, what events and issues we’re looking at. We’ll also pass on information and observations that may not make our print editions. In addition to the editorial board members who post on this blog, the board includes Publisher David Zeeck, Executive Editor Karen Peterson and Managing Editor Dale Phelps.
Editorial board bloggers
Editorial page editor Patrick O’Callahan oversees the online and printed opinion sections of The News Tribune. He came to The News Tribune in 1987 and has worked at Washington newspapers since 1979. E-mail him at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com
Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker, in addition to writing commentary, manages the daily production of the editorial and op-ed pages and edits letters to the editor. She began her journalism career in 1974 at a Virginia newspaper and came to The News Tribune in 1978. E-mail her at cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.
Editorial writer Kim Bradford manages the online opinion section of The News Tribune and writes commentary. She joined The News Tribune in 2005 after working 11 years at newspapers in Washington and Maryland. E-mail her at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.
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Editor emeritus David Seago retired from The News Tribune in 2008 after 41 years at The News Tribune. E-mail him at sds99@harbornet.com.
Richard Davis’ column on state politics frequently runs in the print edition of The News Tribune. He was president of the Washington Research Council, a statewide think tank, from 1986 through 2006. Currently, as a principal with The Simeon Partnership, Inc. he coordinates the activities of the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy, a business coalition founded by the Research Council, the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Roundtable.
Karen Irwin of University Place, a mother of four, has been a frequent contributor to The News Tribune's print editions. She has also written for Seattle's Child, Puget Sound Parent, the Tacoma Weekly, the Fayetteville Observer Times and the political blog Right Meets Left. She graduated from California Lutheran University with a degree in English literature and is currently working toward a history degree.
Michael Allen, professor of history at the University of Washington Tacoma, was born and raised in Ellensburg. He served with the U.S. Marines in Vietnam from 1969-70. He has written five books, including the prize-winning "Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus' Great Discovery to the War on Terror," "Rodeo Cowboys in the North American Imagination" and "Western Rivermen, 1763-1861: Ohio and Mississippi Boatmen and the Myth of the Alligator Horse." Allen lives in Tacoma and Ellensburg and has three children.
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Looks like it’s time to put Tacoma’s Titlow Pool – more precisely, how to replace it – back on the public’s radar screen.
Voters approved $6 million for replacing the pool in an $84 million bond issue in 2005. But Metro Parks Tacoma commissioners appear to be paralyzed by indecision.
Competitive swimmers who train at Titlow want a new 50-meter pool. Park staff believes a family-style play pool would serve more people. To see if it could make everybody happy, the park board asked staff in December to study building a two-pool facility at three locations: Commissioner Ryan Mello provides this update:
Staff has found no feasible site as of yet to support the two-pool competitive/leisure complex the Board envisions. Furthermore, this vision will require approximately another $2 million more to realize than what is on hand via the '05 bond.
We are looking at more sites and potential partnerships at the moment with other organizations like: Tacoma Public Schools, UPS, TCC and other potential sites such as Peck Field and People's Center. The work going on with the City and County to do a masterplan of the Heidelberg/MPT Headquarters/Cheney Stadium/Foss HS site is also bringing a little breathing room to the decision to see what comes of that and what would make the most sense.
Building a two-pool complex at Kandle Playfield east of the Westgate Shopping Center would require an additional $3.6 million – money the park district doesn’t have and has no prospect of getting, according to staff reports.
Building one at the current Titlow site would cost an extra $4.2 million and
could be stymied by wetlands-related environmental issues. A two-pool facility on the hill south of Metro Parks headquarters on South 19th Street would require an extra $5.2 million.
Parks Director Jack Wilson has warned commissioners that the longer they dally, the less the district will be able to build for the original $6 million allocation.
A Wilson memo dated Feb. 1 draws this plaintive conclusion:
Our pool planning consultants detemined that the existing 50-plus year-old Titlow Pool has exceeded its normal life expectancy and residents very much want to see a new pool built as described in our park bond brochure. Inflation is eroding purchasing power of the bond funds available for this project.
A firm understanding of what will be built, where it will be located, how it will be funded and what the timeline for the project (is) will be needed. We estimate it will take almost two years from when we begin to hire a consultant team to design the pool to when the pool can be open for swimmers. This is the best-case scenario that assumes we do not experience major delays with land use issues and permitting.
If you ask me, I'd say the park district's credibility with the voters is on the line. Decision time!
