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Friday, May 16th, 2008
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 04:39:15 pm
 OK, this man is clearly in much better shape than an average American. Flip Herndon, the Tacoma School District's assistant superintendent for K-12 support, commuted on bike from his Shoreline home today. For those keeping score at home, that's 45 miles. It was a three-hour trip; he left at 4:30 a.m. And the guy has to ride back tonight.
Categories: Tacoma, Farther afield
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 03:30:57 pm
 Cardie Yarbor wasn’t sure if the spraygrounds at Wapato Hills Park in Tacoma were operating or not, so she brought extra clothes for her daughter and niece. Good planning. Her niece, Sierra Dorman, and her daughter, Destenesia Yarbor, were dripping from head to toe as they played with about 10 other children amid the water shot from spouts on the concrete ground. “We just came here to kill time,” Cardie Yarbor said. “They’re having a great time. Just having some fun in the sun.” About 50 others were enjoying the 14-acre park in South Tacoma in the early afternoon. Twentysomethings lay on towels on the grass to sunbathe, and teenagers shot hoops on the basketball courts. Moira Caswell’s three kids played on the sprayground and on the playground equipment. She drove from Kent and wasn’t sure if the water was going to be turned on. Her children – 1½-year-old Taryn, 3-year-old Erika and 6-year-old Collin – were soaked from the water. “They like it here,” Caswell said, motioning to the sprayground. “It’s the main reason to come here – for the water.”
Categories: Tacoma, South Tacoma
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 01:31:48 pm
 Browns Point Lighthouse Park boasts impressive views of Puget Sound, the North End of Tacoma, Maury Island and Vashon Island. And on this afternoon, plenty of homemade kites. The fourth-grade class at Annie Wright School took advantage of the warm weather and brisk winds that sent the dozens of white Mylar kites skyward. "This is great wind," teacher Julia Carnell said. "It's really ideal for kite-flying." The class ventures out to the park once a year, 10-year-old Colby Enebrad said. It's become a tradition that was started in part by one of their classmates, an avid kite-flyer named Adam Len. Adam and his dad, Rick Len, venture to the park often to fly kites. They've been helping arrange field trips for Adam's classmates for about six years. Friday seemed like a perfect day for it. "It's a big jump from really bad weather to really good weather," said 10-year-old Adam. Each student could design his or her Mylar kite. Some boasted colorful designs. Others paid homage to favorite sports teams or players. A drawing of a dog was the centerpiece of Kaylee Kim's kite. She said she's wanted one "since I knew what a dog was." Rainbows, a yin-yang, candy and stars also adorned her kite. The class was at the park about two hours. Many students probably could have stayed all day. "The weather is perfect," she said. "It's not too hot or too cold."
Categories: Tacoma, Northeast Tacoma
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 11:56:58 am
 They had time, open space, plenty of sunshine and a Frisbee. That’s all eight teenagers needed for a good time at Puyallup’s Pioneer Park late Friday morning. “I’m going to stay as long as I can,” said 17-year-old Ryan Baxter between games of ultimate Frisbee. “I’ll stay outside until the sun goes down. It’s just too nice.” About 50 people – mostly small children and their mothers – soaked up some rays at the downtown park shortly before noon. Small children climbed on playground equipment while their mothers kept a watchful eye from the benches. Kids giggled as they rocked back and forth on swingsets. The Frisbee-tossing teens killed time between classes at Puyallup High School and Pierce College. “I’m going to take a sun day,” 17-year-old SeaJayy Palmer said. “This isn’t a day to be stuck inside.” Terrence Kang was all smiles as he walked atop a brick planter from which yellow marigolds sprouted. And he was dressed for the sunshine: The 3-year-old sported a blue bucket hat with surfboards printed on it and a pair of wraparound sunglasses that were just a little too big. “We come to the library (bordering Pioneer Park) every Friday,” said his mother, 31-year-old Emily Kang. “But he really, really seems to be enjoying himself today.” Liz Claridge of Lakewood held her 1-year-old daughter, Danica, in her right arm while pushing her 3-year-old son, Connor, on a swing. Connor laughed every time it reached its highest point on the backswing and started to zoom forward again. He asked his mom to push him higher and tried to make friends with kids that passed by his swing. “We love it today,” Liz said. “This is just great.”
Categories: Puyallup
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 08:20:34 am
Thousands gasping for air. Sweat dripping down their faces. Inevitable comparisons to the Sahara Desert. Yep, low-heat-tolerance readers, the thermometer inched above that (gasp!) big 80. OK, here’s the deal: Transplants to the Northwest like myself think today’s weather is just about what you expect would accompany the white sandy beaches and aqua-blue water on postcards. Natives are ready to melt and install air conditioners. For you folks who think today’s weather is akin to a solar flare scorching the Puget Sound region, this blog’s for you. I plan see how y’all are holding up under these unbearable, inhumane conditions. Check back today to see how your peers in heat-related pain are doing.
Categories: Morning report
Thursday, May 15th, 2008
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 02:59:17 pm
 Dana Resop cried after her Air Force JROTC team completed its exhibition drill performance at the national competition. They weren’t tears of joy. “I thought we did so bad,” said Resop, the squadron commander at Washington High School in Parkland. “I walked off the floor and started crying. I tried not to cry on the floor.” The judges apparently disagreed. Washington finished first in the exhibition drill category at the Daytona Beach, Fla., competition on May 2. It was the school’s first top placement since it started its JROTC program in 1978. The school’s reward: a 4-foot-tall trophy adorned with eagles and plenty of pride for program’s cadets, most of whom have been in the program since their freshman year.
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 12:38:18 pm
Is it sad that the reason I'm really happy to see the return of the downtown Tacoma Farmers Market is because the best taco truck in the area is usually there?
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 08:45:08 am
I'm going to be at Washington High School in Parkland today. The school's JROTC team finished first in the country, so I'm gonna talk to some of the kids and write something up. I'm also tracking down a story about a guy who, well, isn't exactly treating his dog in the kindest way. And Animal Control apparently can't do anything about it.
Categories: Morning report
• 1 comment
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 03:01:25 pm
Carol Davis, the president of the Tacoma Wheelmen's Bicycle Club, has noticed an increased interest in commuting on bike. “Just from what I observe, there are so many more people out there commuting. I used to commute from Purdy to Bremerton on Highway 16. My husband would go the opposite direction and go to Tacoma. And we were the only ones on the road. “Now, there are lots and lots of people commuting.” Sharing the road with cars can be daunting for some who want to begin bike commuting. “We all have the right to be on the road, and we need to respect each other’s rights,” she said. “The safety factor is probably the biggest drawback to commuting for many.”
Categories: Tacoma
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 02:10:09 pm
Bike to Work Week is encouraging some who usually don’t commute by bicycle to give it a try. Lisa Lawrence usually takes the Sounder from Tacoma to Kent, where she catches a shuttle or vanshare to her office at REI corporate headquarters. On Friday, she plans to bring her bike on the train and ride to the office. Work makes it easy for her to try bicycle commuting. REI offers storage and locker rooms with showers. It will offer free breakfast and a chance to win prizes for anyone who bicycles to work Friday. “My employer encourages cycling among other environmentally friendly methods of commuting,” she said. “It's part of our culture, so this event is a big deal.”
Categories: Tacoma
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 01:58:18 pm
Statistics show that less than 1 percent of Tacoma and Pierce County employees working at sites monitored by the state’s Commute Trip Reduction program use a bicycle to get to work. The Washington State Department of Transportation monitors 1,110 work sites that account for about 20 percent of the state's employees as part of the CTR survey. In 2007, 313 of 40,012 people in Pierce County – about 0.8 percent – surveyed reported cycling to work at least once a week. At Tacoma businesses, the rate is lower: 152 of 20,902 people, or 0.7 percent. Statewide, 2.1 percent of people reported commuting to work by bicycle at least once a week. That rate is one percent higher than a survey in 1993 showed. Tacoma and Pierce County’s growth has been paltry: The rate of bicycle commuters rose 0.1 percent in the county and 0.2 percent in the city.
Categories: Tacoma
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 01:08:09 pm
For some, commuting on bicycle is nothing new. Carla Gramlich began riding to her job when she moved to Tacoma in 1992. She bikes the 1½-mile trip to her office at AT&T almost every day, regardless of weather – even if that means occasionally navigating ice and snow. It’s become a crucial part of her routine. “If I have to use my car, I have to start taking things off the bike and put it in the car,” she said. “It’s become more of a hassle to drive.”
Categories: Tacoma
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 12:11:09 pm
Exercise is nice, but that’s not why Kurt Fritts rides his bike to work. The 37-year-old Tacoma man rides to downtown Tacoma every morning, loads his bike onto a bus and then pedals to his office at Washington Conservation Voters in Seattle. Environmental, financial and mental-health concerns encouraged him to ditch his car on the commute. “Doing the Seattle-Tacoma drive by myself every day would drive me insane,” he said. “I much prefer to work/read/sleep on the bus than to drive by myself with nothing to do but stare at the car in front of me, even if it takes me an additional 20 minutes,” adding that the bus is often faster during rush-hour commutes. Fritts also calls driving to and from Seattle every day a non-starter, citing global-warming concerns. And using a bicycle saves gas money, parking money in Seattle and has allowed his family to get by with one car – which means they pay less on insurance and maintenance costs.
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 11:12:09 am
It began with a two-mile ride at lunch. Scott McElhiney then worked up to bicycling seven miles when he could steal a few minutes. Soon he was up to a 20-mile round-trip commute to work almost every day. And cycling became a new lifestyle for the 44-year-old Midland mechanic. McElhiney hadn’t ridden a bicycle in about 10 years when inspiration hit. He spent much of his day after returning from work in front of his computer or staring at the television. “I felt like I might be dead in a few years if I kept at it,” he said. He later joined the Tacoma Wheelmen's Bicycle Club on longer trips and began cycling to work in University Place, 10 miles from his home. “It was a good workout that left me energized at the start of work,” he said. “And it turned out that my commute time by bike was within about 10 minutes of my car time.” His waistline began shrinking shortly after he began biking. His blood pressure and pulse rate are down. His endurance is up. He’s 50 pounds lighter than when he started; last summer, he was dropping about five points a week. He goes on longer rides on the weekends. Destinations include Olympia, Belfair, Renton and South Prairie. He’s logged all his trips and has ridden more than 3,800 miles since last summer. He passed the 1,600-mile mark for this year earlier this week. “I’ve gotten to see more of the region since last July than I've seen since moving here around 1990,” he said.
Categories: Midland, University Place
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 10:22:09 am
I swung by two Tacoma bicycle shops to see if there has been a spike in sales from people deciding to commute to work on bike. Here’s an early verdict: It hasn’t been a boom, but it’s a noticeable increase. “People come in and tell us, ‘I am selling my car and going to just a bike,’ ” said Alex Warren, the service department manager at Rainier Cycle Sports. “It happens probably once a week. It’s happening. It’s not huge, but it’s definitely happening.” Most of the customers who purchase bikes for commuting are in the early- to mid-20s, he said. Business is also up at Old Town Bicycle, assistant manager Ryan Harris said. Part can be attributed to the end of the rainy season – a natural time for many to purchase or upgrade bikes – but a significant number want to ride to work. “I’ve heard lots of people throw around the word "commuter,'" he said.
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 09:01:06 am
Anyone interested can join a group of cyclists who will take a leisurely ride from Tollefson Plaza in downtown to The Hub at 213 Tacoma Ave. The peleton (yes, I was looking for a reason to use that word in a blog post) leaves at 5 p.m. It’s part of National Bike to Work Week. “The weather is supposed to be nice, so hopefully we’ll get a lot of people showing up,” said Carla Gramlich, one of the organizers. And you can replace all those calories you burned by commuting to work when you eat some of The Hub’s pizza. But it’s worth it.
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 08:43:31 am
I'm chatting with more people who commute to work on a bicycle today and posting my interviews with them. Stay tuned.
Categories: Morning report
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 04:20:22 pm
I talked to a spokeswoman at Immigration and Customs Enforcement about the Washington Post series on health care in detention centers. The only death at the 1,000-bed Northwest Detention Center on the Tideflats was listed as "questionable" by the Post. My story (possibly for tomorrow’s paper) is below:
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 10:21:50 am
Categories: Farther afield
• 2 comments
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 09:05:46 am
Tacoma is honoring volunteers tonight at the City of Destiny Awards. (But not me. Maybe they lost my nomination form or something…) The ceremony begins at 7 p.m. at Jason Lee Middle School at 602 N. Sprague Ave. if you’re interested. Click below to read about the winners. Good stories all around.
Categories: Tacoma
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Scott Fontaine is The News Tribune's new mobile journalist. His assignment is to stay out of the office as much as possible and spend his days in the community, meeting people and finding out what's going on. Do you have an idea for Scott? Email him (scott.fontaine@thenewstribune.com) or give him a call: 253-320-4758. 
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