Rick Talbert, the city councilman for District 4 on the Eastside and Tacoma’s deputy mayor, weighed in on the revival of McKinley:

It’s an interesting convergence of opportunity and timing. The neighborhood is experiencing an influx of new residence. Folks are moving to the area, and they’re younger and starting families. They’ve brought a new energy. That mixed with folks who have lived in the area with a while and created some excitement.

He credits neighborhood activism for cleaning up the area.

There had been serious problems with drug deals and general loitering at 34th and McKinley, and a neighborhood group formed around this issue. They said, ‘We’re not going to sit back and allow this to take over the neighborhood.’

It’s still a work in progress, he says:

It’s one step, but we have a long way to go. But they are committed to making it a safe, vibrant community where people can walk on the streets at night again.

I was at Fergie’s on the Ave. this morning. It’s an old-school kind of diner that you don’t find often these days. The regulars are there daily for pre-dawn chats about politics and sports. Everyone seems to know everyone else. It’s tough to spend more than $10.

Owner Donna Ferguson has been living or working on McKinley Avenue for 54 years, so she's seen the neighborhood change.

She loves the influx of young energy in the neighborhood.

The young people – many of them married – come in and they’re buying up properties and fixing them up. It’s positive. It’s exciting. I love the young people.

She’s seen the ups and downs of the community:

When I was younger, we had a grocery store. We had a hardware store. There were plenty of businesses. And now it’s starting to look like it did when I was a child. These are exciting things, because it went down, down, down for a lot of years.

A year ago, the neighborhood got fed up with the drug dealers. And the young people took charge. They said, ‘Not in our neighborhood.’ They took it back. And I absolutely love it.

Things were bad for a long time and a lot of people didn’t want to come here. But things are getting so much better. I’m so excited.

She said rejuvenated community involvement is what tipped the scales against the pimps and drug dealers:

Law enforcement can’t control it all. The community has to do it. If the people don’t jump in, it’s not going to change.

Aaron Beckord, owns two houses at East 34th Street and McKinley Avenue. One has become Hairartz, and the other will become a coffee shop.

He purchased both of the derelict homes last year and has done a pretty amazing job considering what they were:

Squatters were residing here. There are five bedrooms; every room had dirty mattress, a box used as a table with some half-eaten food, a television and drug paraphernalia or some sort – syringes or crack pipes.

This corner, more than anything else, was bringing down the neighborhood.

I tried for a year to rent or sell the houses. Maybe 10 times I had perspective buyers or tenants, and they would get scared away from drug dealers, pimps and prostitutes.

He grew up in the Central District, Capitol Hill and Queen Anne neighborhoods of Seattle. He sees promise in McKinley.

I’ve been all over Pierce County, and I can say this is my favorite part. It reminds me of the Seattle I grew up in 20 years ago.

This is the most diverse community in Tacoma. There are all sorts of religions. There are multimillionaires and those living paycheck-to-paycheck. There are different races, different cultures, different languages spoken. As a sense of community, it’s incredibly tolerant and friendly and open-minded. There are lots of gay people and lots of straight people. And everyone seems to get along.

This can become a destination just like Sixth Avenue and Proctor and Stadium. We might be one of the last ones getting our feet on the ground, but it’s happening everyday. And the changes I’ve seen in the short time since I’ve been here have been phenomenal.

I wrote this brief for the paper today:

Two refugees from the ethnic conflict in Darfur in western Sudan will speak Friday at the University of Puget Sound.

Daoud Hari and Ibrahim Adam fled the conflict in the Darfur region.

Hari left his village for a refugee camp in Chad and then re-entered Darfur to work as a translator for Western media outlets. Adam escaped after government-backed militias killed 20 members of his family.

The United States has labeled the conflict genocide, and the United Nations estimates as many as 450,000 people have died. About 2.5 million have been displaced.

The talk begins at 4 p.m. at the Kilworth Chapel at 1500 N. Warner St. in Tacoma. The event is free.

If you have a chance to go Friday, you should check this out. I've never heard these two speak, but the stories seem incredible. And it's still topical: Despite years of pressure by the much of the international community against the government of Sudan, the Khartoum-backed militias are still slaughtering Darfuris. It's ethnic cleansing in real-time.

I talked yesterday with Christopher Woods and Miguel Flores. They’re two McKinley residents who are opening a coffee shop next month on the corner of McKinley Ave. and East 34th Street.

Woods moved to Tacoma in February from Seattle, and stopping at a coffee shop was part of his daily routine. (As was reading a newspaper – good idea, Christopher!) Here’s how he describes his thought process of opening the shop.

My routine in Seattle was to walk my dog, stop off at a coffeehouse, read a paper. When I moved here, I couldn’t do that. I’d have to get in my car and drive somewhere for that, and I was frustrated.
Miguel said, ‘Well, why don’t you open up one?’ I said it was just too risky. Just too risky.
As summer wore on, I started to hate my job more. I got really fed up with the job. And then it just hit me – why not open a coffeehouse? And that’s really how it started.

Miguel Flores, the other co-owner, said the influx of new businesses has changed the whole feel of the neighborhood.

It’s changed the whole atmosphere of the neighborhood. There are just different expectations of what it can be, and it’s bringing our neighborhood together. … I bought a house here 2 ½ years ago, and I wanted to get out of here in the first year. There were four homicides that first year. Now, things are so different.

He says he’s not just in it for the money:

A coffeehouse is an investment for me, but it’s also an investment for the community. That’s my No. 1 motivation. Everyone in the community is really cheering us on.

Talk about a downtown protest about the Northwest Detention Center, a federal immigration prison on the Tideflats, has been brewing for a little bit. Here's a link to a planning session about it, which includes this:

Downtown Will NOT have business as usual! We plan on shutting down the downtown area of Tacoma to send a very clear message that will be heard by all that we do not want this detention facility anywhere near us and our communities.

There will be a designated 'Green Zone' at S. 17th and Pacific on the corner and in the grassy park across from the art museum. In this area only 100% LEGAL forms of protest will be taking place! Bring puppets, musical instruments, signs, banners, creativity and passion. The rest of Downtown will be open to diverse and creative tactics!

It's scheduled for Nov. 9 and 10, and I'll be out there on the first day. I'm curious how many people truly will show. There's a vibrant network of people and organizations opposing the county's immigration policy, but are there enough to shut down downtown?

We'll see.

It’s Halloween, and by far the scariest thing I have to do is figure out what kind of presentation to give to dozens of high school students tomorrow for The News Tribune’s Journalism Day. Not scary because I have to speak in front of a much of high schoolers, but scary because as much as I will want to entertain them, my jokes will probably remind them more of Bobcat Goldthwait than Jerry Seinfeld.

(Do kids in high school even know who Bobcat Goldthwait is?)

Either way, I’m going to finish reporting on the McKinley Hill story. Look for updates here (I got an early start, so they’ll be coming soon) and the story in tomorrow’s paper.

I met with Lt. Kathy McAlpine, the Sector 4 commander for the Tacoma Police Department, about McKinley.

She’s been at her current job about a year and a half. She inherited a section rife with drive-by shootings and gang-related crime. She said the community organizations have grown in size and influence:

They’ve been great about wanting to make this a neighborhood and investing in it emotionally. One neighbor built planters out front, and several other houses have other planets. Or they’ll hang up wreaths at Christmastime. And on the flip side, you have some folks who have been here 30 years. They both have a commitment to the area, and both groups are coming to better.

She said crime is getting better, but the job isn’t done yet:

You wish you could sit back, take a breath and enjoy it, but we’re not there yet. At the same time, you see an improvement. I can’t tell you how many blighted houses we’ve dealt with.

A convenience store South 34th Street and Pacific Avenue is still seen by many in the neighborhood as attracting nuisance crime, but McAlpine says the police have talked to the store owners and they’re working together to make things better. She said the store has fenced off part of its property and the owners will undergo an alcohol training session where they’ll be urged to adopt a 100 percent ID check policy.

They were saved last week with a chronic use and abatement letter, and they’ve done everything we’ve asked of them. … They want to be a partner. They don’t want to voluntarily remove the high-octane alcohol yet. But within a few months, they’re in the (Alcohol Impact Area) and they’ll have to remove it from their shelves anyway.

Michael Smith, owner of Hairartz at 719 E. 34th St., recently moved his business from near the Tacoma Dome to McKinley Hill.

His business is located in a formerly derelict home that had been purchased and renovated -- one of the latest waves of gentrification in the neighborhood.

He says his hair salon and gift business has been "wonderful," and the neighborhood is "fantastic."

I had looked at this over a year and a half ago to buy some property, but the area was really bad at the time. When I came by again (a year later), I said, ‘This isn’t the same area.’ I sat in my car for a few hours to see what the area was like, and it’s been cleaned up a lot. I feel totally safe walking down the street.

He said the improvement has been grassroots:

It got better when the neighborhood got together and told the bad guys to leave. There are still some pockets (of crime), but the neighbors decided to take their neighborhood back.

People are moving in here that have middle-class jobs. They want to live in a nice area, and that’s helping fix the neighborhood up.

He says neighbors have welcomed him and his business:

I’ve had neighbors that come here. They don’t own businesses; they just lived in the neighborhood and wanted to help. And they handed out flyers for free. That’s how badly they wanted us here. And they’re excited about the coffee shop next door, too.

I'm working on a story for Thursday's paper about the rebirth of commerce and civic pride on McKinley Hill. What sparked my interest in the story is the Top of Tacoma bar at 3529 McKinley Ave. When I entered, my first thought was that the bar seemed almost too nice for the neighborhood -- but then again, that's the point of my story. McKinley is changing.

I talked to Jason Jones and Jaime Kay Newton, the co-owners of Top of Tacoma.

Newton, who was born in Puyallup and has lived for the past eight years in Tacoma, has been in the bar and restaurant business since she was 15:

It’s always been a dream of mine to have my own bar. We talked about it for many years and we just kind of happened upon this place. We knew it wasn’t the best neighborhood, but with the way Tacoma is growing, it was the next district to improve. With a little speculation, we took a chance and made a nice bar in a neighborhood that isn’t saturated with them.

There are a lot of nice homeowners up here and a lot of nice people, but there wasn’t a nice place for people to hang out at night that was a safe distance from their home to walk home or take a taxi.

It took four months of planing and fixing up to get the bar where it is today. The building used to house Harry's Place Tavern, which had a reputation as an epicenter of crime in the neighborhood. Part of the appeal of opening in the area, she said, was an option to purchase the building:

That’s something you can’t find downtown or on Sixth Avenue. I think it’s a little saturated there. A big, big plus was the option of owning the building.

The neighborhood is undergoing a major change, she says:

Just since we’ve been here, it’s cleaned up already. We were here every night until 3:30. There are a lot of street people, but not a lot of people that scare me. And when the Alcohol Impact Area goes into effect and when the renovation of McKinley Park happens, it’ll clean that up a lot.

Jones said opening a bar in almost any other neighborhood in the city just wasn't possible:

We shopped around looking at what was out there. You look at any bar, and it’s a half-million to get in, at least. It’s ridiculous.

All the ingredients were here. The neighborhood seemed ripe for the picking. And there’s nowhere for downtown to grow up here.

It’s got a bit of a negative reputation, but it’s not that bad.

The neighborhood is becoming richer and younger, he says:

We saw a lot of people in our age group that couldn’t afford a condo who are willing to move into a slightly negative-rep neighborhood and buy their own home and build equity.

And he says the location can only help the neighborhood:

The thing that strikes me is how easily accessible it is from I-5, downtown and the South End. You go to the North End and it can get a little tough to get there. It reminds me a lot of old Sixth Avenue.

I'm getting more calls about homeless encampments in Pierce and southern King counties. I've updated the Google map of the sites.

• Federal Way: A caller left a voicemail saying there are “so many people” living in the park at South 304th Street and 11th Avenue.

• Parkland: Another caller called about homeless people living in a vacant lot near 133rd and Pacific Avenue. She says they panhandle, try to flag down cars going by and stolen things from her yard.

I’m going to McKinley Hill today to report on the resurgence of commercial activity and civic pride in the area. The opening of Top of Tacoma bar sparked the idea for this story. If you haven’t been, it’s a really cool bar – and the kind of place that wouldn’t have been in this neighborhood a few years ago.

There are nine new Americans this evening. Eight soldiers and one military spouse took the oath of induction at the headquarters building at Fort Lewis today. It was a nice ceremony, and seemed obvious that many of the nine were about to burst with happiness – but many tried to keep their cool in front of base commander Lt. Gen. Charles H. Jacoby Jr.

I’ve already filed my story for tomorrow’s editions. Here are some of the highlights:

Spc. John Immanuel Rabina Galang is a human resources specialist with the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment. He’s originally Philippines. He’s thankful for the opportunity the United States gave him.

“(Citizenship) is a sign that everything I worked for has paid off.”

He was stationed at Camp Liberty in Baghdad. I asked him what it was like working there. He smiled and gave this answer:

“It’s like working back home, but there’s more sand and more heat.”

A southern Sudanese man (whose name isn’t being released for security reasons) came to the United States as a refugee in 1999. He later joined the Army and translates Arabic. He’s long felt a bond with the United States:

“It’s a contribution to this nation. No one thanks the U.S. government more than the southern Sudanese.”

I’m leading my story with Sgt. Gerardo Argueta of the Warrior Transition Unit. He’s originally from Nicaragua, left when the Sandinistas arrested his father (and released him after a week). He’s served two tours overseas.

“I’ve always wanted to join the Army and give something back to the country that gave me so much.”

I asked him if it felt strange to go to war for a country that he wasn’t a citizen of, but he shot down that idea:

“I was proud to go. I was happy to go. “I never felt like I didn’t belong. I saw (Iraq) from a different viewpoint. I saw Nicaragua when I went there.”

Jacoby arrived by helicopter moments before it began (how cool is that?!?) and really seemed to be enjoying himself the whole time:

“I attend a lot of meetings and ceremonies every day, but I can’t think of a better, more meaningful, more joyous ceremony than this one.”

He then said Emilio Gonzalez, the director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, had “the toughest job in the world.” Gonzalez, a 26-year Army veteran, delivered a talk and led the group in the oath of citizenship. He had this to say to the soldiers:

“It seems a little trite to raise your hand and swear to bear arms for the United States because you’ve already done this.”

He also had a really cool line about the United States; it’s something I think many natural-born citizens forget:

“America is still the place everyone wants to come to, and America is still the place where everyone wants to come from.”

Listening to the nine new Americans take the oath of citizenship at Fort Lewis was pretty cool. The atmosphere in a conference room on a Monday in October had a more patriotic aura than most Fourth of July celebrations. But one thing got me thinking: Is it time to update the oath of citizenship? Most of it is still OK, but parts of it are a bit dated.

Seriously, how many people know what a potentate is?

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion.

Todd Iverson and his friends celebrated Halloween a bit early and with a different twist: They went “reverse trick-or-treating,” where they knocked on doors in Old Town Tacoma and handed out free chocolate.

They also passed along a message.

The chocolate was fair-trade – a growing trend in which consumers pay more for certain brands that guarantee they don’t exploit labor in developing nations – and Iverson said they wanted people to think about trade agreements the United States has with other nations, and to pressure lawmakers into rejecting a proposed free-trade pact with Peru.

The cocoa and coffee industries are under increasing scrutiny for trade practices. Critics point to vast cocoa plantations in developing nations like Ivory Coast as evidence of near-slave labor, often involving children.

That’s what Iverson and America in Solidarity, a Tacoma-based nonprofit dealing with workers’ rights, hopes to end.

“I only had one person shut the door in my face and say he wasn’t interested,” Iverson said. “A lot of people were surprised and had not seen fair-trade chocolate before. But we definitely got a good response.”

Later this afternoon, I'll be heading to Fort Lewis to watch eight soldiers and a military spouse take the oath of citizenship. There will be more in tomorrow's paper and I'll update the blog after this afternoon's ceremony. I haven't been to a citizenship ceremony on post before, but I've been to others; they're usually quite emotional.

Here are the new American citizens (one can't be named for security reasons):

I’ve received several calls and e-mails about homeless camps throughout Tacoma and Pierce County.

Among them:

• Forest Hill: A caller (who didn’t leave a name or number) says he sees homeless people entering the area near the old airport at South 41st Street and Tyler. He also says he’s seen prostitution and drug use.
• Swan Creek: An e-mailer said she’s been e-mailing officials for two years about this and has received no response. She said trash, cooking supplies and porn are strewn across most of the park on the Eastside. She also adds, “I am sure hookers go to the main park to smoke crack and have sex.”
• Parkland: Another e-mailer sends this in: “Hey, you didn't hear this from me, but there's an encampment on A St, between 133rd & 135th. There's a creek (of sorts) that runs along there with heavily wooded areas. Sit out on Pac Ave near there and watch 'em come and go.”
• Summit: Columnist Kathleen Merryman checked out a camp at 112th Street and Canyon across the street from a branch of the Pierce County Public Library. She saw
  two habit trails: one went to camps that looked deserted with big piles of junk everywhere. The other went to what she called “the camp’s living room.” That was littered with beer and malt-liquor cans, and there were active camps bordering that.
• Blueberry Park: An e-mailer reports "homeless or evidence of their living there all the time."

Got any more? Send ’em my way.

There's a Google map of them after the jump:

=> Read more!

Jon Lester is a great story. The Bellarmine Prep grad starts an amazing baseball career, gets cancer, beats that and comes back in time to throw Game 4 of the World Series.

And Pierce County officials don’t want you to forget that both his parents still live and work here. Here’s a release they put out Monday:

Boston starting pitcher Jon Lester, who earned the plaudits from teammates Sunday after pitching the Red Sox to their second World Series victory in four years, is the son of Pierce County Sheriff's Sgt. John Lester and Road Operations Maintenance Technician Kathie Lester.

The parents attended all four Red Sox victories, including the finale in which their son shut out the Colorado Rockies on three hits over five and 2/3 innings. Sgt. Lester supervises his department's Civil Division, and Kathie works at the Puyallup Road Shop. Jon Lester is a 2002 Bellarmine Preparatory School graduate.

"We feel like he's our kid," said Community Service Officer Sandi Estep of herself and colleagues. "We consider him part of the Sheriff's Department family."

The 23-year-old, who overcame chemotherapy after being diagnosed with lymphoma last year, was making his first postseason start.
Mike Lowell, named the World Series Most Valuable Player, offered up special praise for Lester after Sunday's 4-3 triumph. "I'm ecstatic for him," Lowell said of the left-hander. "I don't think too many people expected him to be in that situation and against a very good hitting team in a tough park to pitch in. He did an excellent job."

Manager Terry Francona thought it was fitting for Lester to cap off the World Series sweep. "I'm so proud of Jon Lester," Francona said.
"There's so many things to talk about with Jon. But the way he pitched, the way he composed himself, the way he competed, I thought it was very appropriate that he got the win."

There’s a story about Richard Thompson, a champion of solar energy, in Saturday’s New York Times. It’s worth checking out.

(And for those who love to read what non-Tacomans think about Tacoma, the reporter called it a “port city just south of Seattle.” That’s not so bad.)

My story on the homeless encampment near East 72nd Street and Portland Avenue has led to plenty of voicemails (don’t worry callers, I’m going to get back to each and every one of you). Many are calling to inform me of similar camps around the country, and there are a bunch of them. I’d like to create a Google map with them, so if you know of any, please e-mail me the address or general location.

The Portland and 72nd story will run Monday. For those checking the blog out for the first time that morning, here's the video again:

I just talked to Carl Halsan, a project manager with Halsan Fry who is developing a piece of the property at East 72nd Street and Portland Avenue (as part of a separate entity, 2010 Investments LLC).

They're building a mini-storage site accessible by Portland Avenue. He said he was unaware of any homeless encampments on the property.

“It was my impression they were on the other properties,” he said. “I was just out there a few days ago with a surveying crew and we didn’t see anyone.”

Among the litter at the homeless encampment at East 72nd Street and Portland Avenue were dozens of prescription-medicine bottles from the Kmart pharmacy. I just talked to Dennis Stewart, the general manager of the store.

"Quite frankly, we take all our precautions seriously and according to the law," he said. "We’re aware of what happened, and there is an investigation into it."

He said he can't disclose the scope of the investigation or a timeframe of its completion. He did say the store has been in contact with the police, but he didn't have much else to say.

I just got off the phone with Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff's Department. He said the department is aware of the problem and plans are already in motion to clean up the homeless encampment at East 72nd Street and Portland Avenue.

He said a team involving representatives of the sheriff's department, the county executive, the health department and the public works department are planning to clean it up:

“We’re in the process of putting a multi-agency team together to get that taken care of. We’re already in the process of cleaning it up. ... The ball’s already rolling on it. And obviously, the sooner we can get started, the better.”

He says Tacoma's tough anti-panhandling laws and other anti-crime legislation has pushed a lot of crime out into the unincorporated portions of Pierce County:

“It’s a problem we deal with all the time in the county. We’re developing the same tools as the city to deal with it. We don’t want (the city) dumping their problems in the county.”

My story on Rodney and Annie Bliss’ large family ran in today’s SouthSound section (you can also check it out here). Like a lot of stories, there was some good stuff that didn’t make it in, so I thought y’all might enjoy reading Rodney and Annie explain a bit more about their family:

Here’s Rodney explaining in a bit more detail about adopting the sibling group from Haiti, which was at the time in the grip of a civil war:

We had identified a sibling group. And during the medical check that they do as part of the adoption process, they found a problem with James’ heart. They said he should be seen by a doctor in the United States in 30 days. And that’s fine – you can get a medical visa; it’s not difficult. As soon as we started that process, the rebels got close enough to Port-au-Prince that the United States shut the consulate. They said, ‘Well, we don’t know how long it’ll be closed, but it’ll at least be a month.’

Once (President Jean-Bertrand) Aristide left the country, the rebels said, ‘That’s all we wanted, we’ll go back to the north of the country.’ So he got his medical visa and came over here. The doctors said it was a slight murmur, he didn’t need surgery and it wasn’t as serious as the doctors in Haiti believed.

They wanted to see him again in six months. The medical visa was for six months and he had already been here a month. We said, ‘Well, if you say you want to see him in five months, than we can tell the government he needs to stay here with us because he has a doctor’s appointment.’ They said, ‘Yeah, sure, OK.’

So he got to be with us during the process of adoption. Normally you have a picture and you just think about it for months.

Meeting the Haitian kids’ birth mother was an emotional experience, Annie said:

I met her, her first question through a translator was, ‘Do you love my children?’ She was visibly very stoic, but that was her first question. She also asked about where they were going to be and stuff like that. But that was her first question, and I could tell her that not only would I love these children, but I already did.

Rodney praised Annie’s ability to handle the children while he works:

She could do what I do with a little bit of training because she’s got a background with computers, but we both know there’s no way I could do what she does.

Rodney said people shouldn’t overly praise Annie and him for adopting so many kids:

Some people look at us with what I like to call the ‘saint complex.’ They’ll say, ‘Good for you, saving the poor orphans of the world.’ Hey, we just wanted more kids. The best parents of adopted kids are selfish.

If you’re adopting them because you want to save the world, it’s a very noble act, but that child, as they get older, they’ll disappoint you. They’ll lie to you, they’ll break things – they’re kids. And if you’re adopting them just to give them a better life, you’ll feel resentful. You’ll think, ‘Don’t you know how much better of a life than you had than that orphanage back in Haiti or wherever?’ '

But if you adopt because you want more children, then you’ll just say, ‘Well, that’s what kids do,’ and you’ll deal with us. When people tell us what a noble thing we did, I’ll nod and say thank you. But our motivation was never to save the world. We were interested in our family.

I’m going to finish up calls about the homeless encampment at South 72nd Street and Portland Avenue, and I’ll update this blog as I talk to people.

I’m also going to add some more information about my story I did on the Bliss family of Spanaway. The story ran today.

Clarence O’Neill, owns property behind Kmart and East 72nd Street and Portland Avenue. He doesn't want the homeless encampment there and is looking to sell the property.

He and a sheriff's deputy went on the property several months ago, he says:

A Pierce County Sheriff’s deputy came out with me and looked over that property and the property adjacent to it. I didn’t hear back from them, but I assume they were going back that night with a police dog to chase them out, but I don’t know what the result of that was.

He's worried about illegal activity:

I’m afraid they’ll set up a methamphetamine lab or something and it’ll cost me a fortune to clean it up.

He tries to keep them out but is often unsuccessful:

I had some signs on the fence – private property, no trespassing – but I don’t know if they’re still there. I haven’t been there for a few weeks.

I talked to a few business owners at East 72nd Street and Portland Avenue about homelessness. Here's what they had to say:

Joe Blevins, a manager at Big Lots, said the problem isn't out of control.

The only real problem is panhandling. Sometimes they’ll go through the garbage, but it’s mostly panhandling.

And Debbie Hinson, co-owner of Baskin Robbins, said other crimes are bigger problems.

We’ve had more crime problems than anything else, and problems with response time. We’ve had a homeless guy sleeping behind the store. But overall, there are more problems in this area than prostitutes and drug dealers than homelessness.

Another parcel of land behind Kmart at East 72nd Street and Portland Avenue is owned by a Gig Harbor company called 2010 Investors LLC, according to county assessor's Web site.

When reached by phone Thursday, a representative from the company says he doesn't know anything about the land. A public notice sign, though, says the company wishes to build a dry-storage facility on the site.

"It's news to me," he said.

UPDATE: Apparently it helps if the assessor's office gives you the right number. They made a mistake, sending the fine folks at Marine Floats Corp. to head down to Midland to check out a piece of property that they apparently don't own. D'oh!

Gary Thompson, who owns part of the property that has become a homeless encampment behind the Kmart at East 72nd Street and Portland Avenue, voiced his opinions about the situation. He's not happy.

He wants to sell the property:

It’s listed right now. I’m expecting a phone call today and either bulldoze the whole thing and clean up all 2½ acres are cut a couple of large swatches through it.

The land was an investment, but he says a new designation quickly derailed things.

My dad purchased this piece of property around 1988 for an investment purpose for the family. Then they come in and deem part of this thing wetlands. You can’t touch it. We tell them that we have to touch it to clear the people out of there. Either they’re gonna be there or they have to clear the wetlands.

He says it's tough to sell because of parts of his property is designated as wetlands. He says that never stopped development in the past.

What was west of Kmart was a lake. You could go fishing in it. Well, they sure paved over that. Look at all the zero-lot line stuff they’re doing down 72nd. Everybody can do something but us. It’s crazy.

Here's a map of the series of undeveloped lots behind Kmart at East 72nd Street and Portland Avenue:

Today I'm going to make some calls about the lot behind Kmart at South 72nd Street and Portland Avenue.

And later today, columnist Kathleen Merryman and I are going to check out the scene. The issue seems to have her pumped.

I looked around the disgustingness that was the vacant lots behind Kmart on East 72nd Street and Portland Avenue yesterday and snapped some photos. It's clear some people are living here now, but the most shocking part is what was scribbled on the body of an abandoned truck. I won't repeat what was written, but it basically offerers people drugs and money to do unspeakable things with children. (There is a preschool just a block away.)

Here are some photos of the bridge closure from über-talented Trib photog Lui Kit Wong.

One major concern people in the Tideflats are expressed after the closure of the Murray Morgan Bridge was a possible hindrance of emergency vehicles.

But the closure shouldn’t affect the response of the police department, spokesman Mark Fulghum said.

Police cruisers are already on patrol throughout the Tideflats and Northeast Tacoma area and therefore wouldn’t necessarily have to cross the bridge. And if there’s something that would require extra cruisers, many would come from Sector Four, which includes most of the Eastside (and, again, wouldn’t have to cross the bridge).

If it is something that would draw responses from cars in downtown and the North End, Fulghum said, then they’ll have to go around. But there haven’t been a lot of things to respond to in the area.

I left a message for a fire department spokesman and am waiting to hear what its response is.

Paul Ellis, the director of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce, received the director's award from Safe Streets at an awards luncheon at the Bicentennial Pavilion on Wednesday.

Ellis shared his experiences of growing up in a dangerous neighborhood in Spokane and said it helped shape his views on crime as an adult. He has helped clean up downtown through his work with the Business Improvement Area.

The community organization also awarded superstar awards to Tacoma Police's Ira Stephens for his involvement with prevention of meth abuse, Ed Morrison for helping to establish the 36+ Neighbors Community Watch group, Avary Corey for helping to plan the Youth March for Peace on the Eastside and the Larchmont Safe Streets Block Group for pushing drug dealers and prostitutes out of their neighborhood.

I talked to some businesspeople on the Tideflats side of the Murray Morgan Bridge. They're not happy with the shutdown.

Soon Jin Kim, owner of Sam’s Café, has already seen a dropoff in customers during the breakfast rush.

Our breakfast business, it is lower than it has been. Many people come over the bridge and eat here, so I think it might be a big problem.

Now if many people want to come here, they will have to drive all the way around.

It shouldn't be much difference for the lunch crowd. That's mostly people from the port and the area who only have 30 minutes anyway.

Philip Riley, supervisor at ReHarvest Center, sees the impact already.

It’s definitely affecting our business already. It’s taking a lot of our customers. A lot of people don’t want to go all the way around to get here. Since the bridge has been closing on and off for the past few weeks, out business has dropped a lot since then.

The quick trip across the bridge has been one of our selling points. I-5 is convenient to it. Now it’s getting to the point that customers will call and ask if the bridge is open or closed.

Char McLees, rental manager of Coast Crane Co., calls the shutdown “absolutely ridiculous.”

My daughter has moved to England. They’re so proud of their historical items – castles, cemeteries, war memorials. And we’re tearing down a bridge with a lot of history and just not going to use it?

It’s easy to tell customers how to get here. It’s easy to get to the post office. It’s easy to get to the banks.

If there’s a problem, (ambulances)don’t have to worry. They can hit the lights and go. I’m concerned greatly about emergency vehicles. If there’s a tie-up on Highway 509, you feel like you’re trapped in this area. They’ve spent money on other things – why not this project?

Greg Grenier, owner of Tacoma Marine Repair, rides his bicycle to work across the bridge. He says a significant portion of his customers live downtown or in the North End.

They should have been maintaining it all along. I honestly haven’t seen them doing anything major on it since the early ’80s. They talk 17 years, but it’s been way longer than that.

I’m very lucky to be established in what I do, so I don’t worry about going out of business too much. But it’s hard to tell people how to get here. They just dead-end everywhere.

Hell, I’m an old dude and can have a heart attack at any time. (57 years old)

That’s pretty gutsy to come in after a week and doing that when the thing just went through a ton of inspections – changing the cables out, stuff like that. You think (the inspectors) don’t notice? They have an inspection, and suddenly it doesn’t pass when there’s someone new involved? That’s a little tough to swallow.

I’m chasing down a few things:

This morning, I’ll be at the permanent closure of the Murray Morgan Bridge.

At noon, I’ll be at a Safe Streets luncheon.

And for the rest of the day, I’m going to chase some info from the problems at South 72nd Street and Portland Ave.

Pierce County resident Stacy Emerson uploaded a video to YouTube about the solid waste problem in the neighborhood of East 72nd Street and Portland Ave. It also delves into the crime in the area.

Before you watch, a reminder: Part of this video (which reprints the scribblings of a pedophile) are disturbing.

UPDATE: I'm heading to meet Stacy in about 15 minutes. She'll show me the area and talk a bit about what motivated her to shoot the video.

A day after I receive word the haunted house at Sanford & Son Antiques at 743 Broadway has made the necessary corrections to avoid a shutdown by the fire department, another reader e-mails me that a permit issue is going to keep it closed. I can't reah Alan or Cheryl Gorsuch, the co-owners, and the store is closed today.

Has anyone else heard this?

Saturday is national Make a Difference Day, and the Whitman Area Neighbors have two community projects on tap.

The first project involves uprooting blackberry bushes, hauling away garbage and cutting back undergrowth for a family in the neighborhood.

"At our last neighborhood meeting, a house in our neighborhood was discussed at length due to the amount of overgrown vegetation and junk in the yard," said Pat McGregor, one of the organizers. "We talked about calling code enforcement but decided that this was simply a case of a family getting overwhelmed and needing some help from the neighborhood."

The other project involves fixing up a house in University Place. There are three home-schooled boys there whose father is deployed in Iraq.

"This family has had plumbing leaks, broken cars, and various unexpected malfunctions," said another organizer, Nancy Siems. "We want to help them with exterior odd jobs including yard work, minor repairs, splitting and stacking firewood (their winter heat source), and setting a base of 2-man rocks for a rock wall they will then be able to finish."

It's about the veterans today.

I'm meeting with someone from the VA this afternoon about a program that would allow investors to put their money in CDs (certificates of deposit, not Solid Gold Hits of the '60s). The interest accrued would be then be diverted toward programs assisting veterans coming back from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I'll add more details when I get them, but it seems like a cool, relatively easy way to help out those who have trouble readjusting.

I will also (hopefully) hear from someone else at the VA about its homelessness program. I've been hearing that soldiers are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and soon are living on the streets of Tacoma.

I self-Google.

Actually, I believe almost anyone who's Internet-savvy has self-Googled at some point. It's fun. People who Google my name in quotes will swiftly discover that "Scott Fontaine is a good reporter working on deadline with space constraints." (Thanks Eric.) Or they'll see some other stories I've written, like a book review about AIDS in Africa, an upstart basketball league and an Air Force competition at McChord.

Or they'll read about another Scott Fontaine. Like Scott Fontaine, who likes to post photos of his son. Or Scott Fontaine, who was appointed auto underwriting manager of RVI Group. Or Maj. Scott Fontaine of the North Dakota National Guard.

So where am I going with this? Just to tell you that self-Googling sometimes has pretty cool benefits. For instance, I stumbled across my story about the Samoan community's White Sunday celebrations on the Web site of the Samoan Observer newspaper (to the right).

I'm no copyright expert, but I'm sure this isn't exactly kosher. Still, it's kind of flattering. Most of our content goes out on the McClatchy-Tribune wire service, so stories appearing in other papers is no big deal (a book review I wrote was printed in the Chicago Tribune, for example). But a paper 5,200 miles away? That's kind of neat.

Either way, I'm going to send an e-mail to an editor there. If it made the print edition, I think the least they could do is send me a copy.

I read this post on the Neighborhood Blog about the Evergreen Station post office by the mall ending its 24-hour service. As a South Tacoma guy, I use this place after hours a lot (it’s just too dang crowded during the day).

I just talked to a customer service rep at the Postal Service, and he says it’s not true. No plans at all to cut back on the automated postal machines or access to the lobby.

Laura Hanan hasn’t been shy about her views about Brick City (she’s not a fan of its location), and she sent this e-mail just before midnight Saturday:

Brick City's Saturday night group - Club Impact - was 100 percent better tonight. It was greatly appreciated by the neighborhood. Club Friday operated very professionally as well on Friday night. Thanks to everyone, especially the BIA for hanging tough on graveyard in the miserable wind and rain.

Sincerely,

Laura Hanan

Hopefully it’s a good sign of better things to come.

I'm (hopefully) going to spend time this week chasing down a bigger story: Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are winding up homeless and living in Tacoma. I'll let you know how this develops.

The story of the big Spanaway family should also hit the paper this week.

I received this e-mail from a reader over the weekend:

Did you hear the one about the fire marshal shutting down the haunted house hosted by Alan Gorsuch of Sanford & Son? Numerous violations were cited... most correctable. But why was the fire marshal mentioning things like nudity (the girls were bikini-clad), underage drinking (not true), and someone feeling threatened by a chainsaw (it's actually a table saw, and it's stationary)? Those are issues unrelated to what a fire marshal handles. So, there are obviously some people who have to just chime in and ruin a great thing. Hopefully Alan can fix the code stuff, and we can get on with having fun and entertaining people. I mean it's a haunted house for crying out loud! Some people need to just lighten up!!! Thanks for your time. Any questions... feel free to ask.

I’ll make some calls today and see what’s going on.

Want to look like you just got back from Studio 54 and make little kids happy at the same time? Tapesty Covenant Church on the Hilltop is looking for some folks to dress up in ’70s attire and distribute candy to trick-or-treaters from the trunk of their cars.

They’re still looking for 10-20 cars to make it possible. If interested, contact Don Ruzicka at Ruzickaregion@aol.com.

Here’s more information about the event:

Tapestry Covenant Church (on the northwest corner of Ninth and MLK) is holding the second-annual Trick or Trunk event on Halloween night. Last year, it involved 23 cars and about 200 children. The cars (and sometimes their drivers) were decorated (optional) and each, with open trunks provided a safe alternative to conventional trick or treating.

Participants dispense their candy from containers within their trunks.

This year the group has selected a theme for decorations – "The 70s" – and prizes will be given to the best decorated car. There are also plans for a bonfire.

Police and Fire will be on hand to ensure safety, please consider participating and/or bringing your children by. The event will be held in the vacant lot on the southwest corner of 8th and MLK.

The first clue was the blue, 15-seat passenger van in the driveway. It was the biggest vehicle in the subdivision, and it also had a license-plate frame that read, “This isn’t a daycare – they’re all mine!”

All 13 of them.

The Bliss family are still settling into their new digs in Spanaway, and there’s a lot to settle. There are 15 people in the Bliss family, including 10 adopted kids from five countries.

I just spent about 90 minutes talking to Rodney, a small-business consultant, and his wife, Annie. I half-expected to see a dozen kids running around the house with near impunity, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that the kids behaved well. The younger ones, when getting a little too rambunctious, quieted down when told to. The older ones, upon returning from school, were courteous.

I also cringed at the idea of talking to pure idealists, but it was clear they’re not out to save the world. Rodney said they adopted more kids because they wanted them and because they felt God wanted them to. (The Blisses are devout Mormons.)

The kids were adopted from the United States, Colombia, China, India and Haiti. The issue of ethnicity came up a few times, and the Blisses seem to handle it well. “We’re not raising our kids to be colorblind,” he said. They mix different aspects of the kids’ ethnicities at holidays (such as piñatas at birthdays), and they believe the Northwest provides good role models for kids because, he says, normal people of various ethnicities live normal lives and are successful.

Rodney also shared a couple of fun exchanges he’s had with people who, upon looking at his family and giving an odd look, decide they’d like to know more. They tend to go like this:

Stranger: Which ones are yours?
Rodney: All of them.
Stranger: Oh. (Pause.) Where are they from?
Rodney: Spanaway.
Stranger: Oh, I was asking what nationality they are.
Rodney: American.

Classic.

There are more photos after the jump:

=> Read more!

Wally Giffin's a man on a mission. He wants to save Wapato Park in South Tacoma. Want more information about it? Here's his Web site.

It's apparently a full- service Web site: You can learn about the polluted lake and take advantage of low-interest home loans at the same time!

Things seem mighty quiet there today. What's going on out there?

I've got one story on tap: I'm heading out to Spanaway to chat with Rodney Bliss. Rodney and his wife are raising 13 kids. Ten of them are adopted from five countries.

The owners weren't home, so I couldn't get a story on how long it had been there or other details like that.

Strong winds and gray skies have a tendency to ruin the image of an idyllic golf outing for many, but that didn’t stop several brave souls from hitting the links at North Shore Golf Course.

Matt Wamsley was one of them. The 39-year-old was putting on the practice green before playing nine holes. He said he enjoys playing in the wind because he doesn’t get the chance to play in such conditions often.

“Sometimes you’re playing in a tournament when it’s really windy,” he said, “and you have to be prepared for that.”

As of 3 p.m., 11 people played a round at North Shore.

Brett Davis didn't, but the 22-year-old still took time to hit a few balls on the driving range. He admitted the wind was messing with him a bit. Still, he says it was “absolutely, absolutely worth it.”

“After all, “he said, “it was better than going to work.”

And who can’t agree with that?

What's wrong with the sign announcing the closing of the Murray Morgan Bridge on 11th Street?
(Soon to be seen in The Nose!)

It’s the morning after the community forum about Ninth Street and Pacific Avenue, and the issue continues to stir up opinion. My original story just topped the 200-comment mark (whoohoo!), and others are starting to comment on my follow-up story from last night’s forum.

A few people around the office have asked me what the meeting was like. Here, in no particular order, are seven few random thoughts and opinions that couldn’t make it into the story:

1. The forum, held on the ground floor of Sanford and Son Antique, was absolutely packed. People were forced to stand on the stairs just to listen to what was going on. If you’re a fan of community-based action, you couldn’t help but smile.

2. Marty Campbell, the chair of the New Tacoma Neighborhood Council, moderated the event. He brought a gavel and pounded it when things got out of control. Smart idea. Really, really smart idea.

3. It was obvious all people involved were deeply passionate about what they envisioned happening with Brick City. And that could almost be a shame, because the two prevailing views seem irreconcilable at times.

4. The few times the meeting descended into a bout of finger-pointing and name-calling, there were enough adults in the room to steer the talk back to a level of civility.

5. It’s tough to escape the racial undertones of a lot of what is said. I believe many of the people who don’t want Brick City in its location are not racist or making their decisions on racial grounds, but it seemed obvious many of the Club Friday volunteers and clubbers (many of whom are black) feel it’s a big factor.

6. Deanna Neidlinger, the project manager for World Vision, made a good-natured crack at me during the forum. That was appreciated Deanna – it meant people were reading.

7. Lastly, this is a topic that isn’t going away for a long time.

I’m on parka duty today.

You’re probably scratching your head and asking what I’m talking about.

You know those TV weatherman who often make fools of themselves by standing in the midst of a Category 4 hurricane and try to stand up straight and deliver a story (one that’s just as easily told from the lobby of a Hyatt or somewhere like that) with a straight face? That’s me, minus the TV camera and the cool Columbia jacket with the company logo prominently displayed.

Got any stories about today’s windstorm? Gimme a buzz: 253-320-4758.

Just back from the forum at Sanford and Son Antique. I'll paste my story below. Sorry I couldn't give you guys more before cranking out the story, but given the turnaround time (the meeting ran late, deadline was looming), I had to get writin'. Here's the story.

Nancy Alleman dresses up in a powder-blue jumpsuit with a sparkling tooth and uses an oversized toothbrush on the perfect pearly whites of dragon hand puppet for good reason.

“If I can just help prevent tooth decay in one child,” the dental hygienist said, “it’ll be worth it.”

That’s why Alleman takes time away from her day job at a Tacoma dentist’s office and gives free screenings to schoolchildren around the county as part of the state’s Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program, or ECEAP. She’ll see 600-700 kids this year. She was at Sheridan Elementary School today.

Alleman calls herself the Tooth Fairy when talking to the preschoolers, and she said dental care among youngsters is more important than most people realize.

“There’s an increased amount of dental decay in preschool,” Alleman said. “In elementary school, we’re getting a handle on it. But we still need to work on it in preschool.”

Children receive a free screening, a report card sent to his or her parents, a fluoride treatment (with parents’ permission) and referral to a dentist if needed.

Sheridan principal Kelly Evans said the feedback from parents on the program has been “extremely enthusiastic.”

“In society, we see the school taking on more an more of a social role that the family used to be able to handle,” he said. “We know that kids can’t learn if they’re not healthy. There’s a direct link with their ability to perform in a classroom and what they’ve had for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

Listen to Alleman give a primer on the importance of fluid here.

Listen to Evans talk a bit more about the ECAEP program here.

You don’t often hear about guys like Tony Painter. He’s working in Baghdad, but he’s not in the military. Nor is he a diplomat. He’s a contractor – and not that kind of contractor. He’s one of the thousands of Americans working in the shattered country.

Who is Tony? He’s a 37-year-old Tacoma guy who, when living stateside, is within easy walking distance of Frisko Freeze. He graduated from Wilson and UW-Tacoma. He's worked in Tacoma and also spent some time with KBR in Afghanistan.

I’ve asked him to provide occasional slice-of-life pieces for us. I thought his perspective on things could be a bit different than the usual stuff we read coming out of the Baghdad. Here's his first letter

I can only give you an account from my perspective, which is limited since (thankfully) I am confined to the base. We don’t go driving around in the streets like the military. I can tell you that our base still experiences multiple daily ‘indirect fire attacks’ – mil-talk for insurgents lobbing in random mortars and/or rockets. There were just a number of people lost a few days ago. I was woken up twice last night by two large explosions, once at about 10 p.m. and another around 1 a.m. Tends to make you think what the heck you’re doing working over here.

It’s not as hot now as it was during the summer…our highs are only reaching about 100 degrees during the day, which is much better than the 120-130s it was during the summer.

I occasionally run into guys that area based out of Fort Lewis and it’s always fun to talk about where they’ve been in T-Town…nightlife-wise, I’d say the Loft comes up more than any other place. I can only imagine the increase in business the downtown clubs are going to experience when (or if) these guys (and gals) get to go home. Other than that, don’t often run into people from the Northwest.

Here are some events I’ll be covering today:

I’m going to watch Nancy Alleman, a dental hygienist who provides services to underprivileged preschool kids in Pierce County, give a presentation and screenings at Sheridan Elementary. Cue the warm and fuzzy feelings.

I’ve put in some calls and e-mails about the possible closure (and sale?) of Trinity United Methodist Church on McKinley Hill. I’m hoping someone from the church’s regional office will get back to me today, and I’ll pass on the info as soon as I get it.

Tonight I’ll be at the community forum dealing with the friction at Ninth and Pacific (where Brick City is located). I’ll update live from the meeting (it starts at 6 p.m.) and have something in tomorrow’s paper.

I’ve spent the past 90 minutes watching students from Bates Technical College help load up trucks at the Resource Distribution Council’s old building, move it to the food bank’s new location in Lakewood and come back for more. It’s part of the overwhelming response from an article that appeared in The News Tribune on Oct. 5.

Here are some of the highlights from several conversations I had. I’m going to talk to Kris Manning of Bates later in the day, so look for an article in the paper tomorrow.

Anna Wingate, president and founder of the RDC:

The day of the article, I get a phone call. The guy says, ‘Hi, I’m Kris Manning from Bates College. We have a lot of trucks and can bring 20 trucks in if you need them.’

I’m thinking I’m talking to someone from the truck-driving school. I’m telling him about the (heating, ventilation and air conditioning system) and other stuff. He says, ‘That’s good to know.’ I asked why. He said, ‘I like to know what my instructors are doing.’

I asked him if he was the head of the truck-driving school, and he said, ‘No, I’m the dean of instruction. And while we’re at it, you have several issues you need done. You need construction, you need this, you need that.’

He put out a mass e-mail to the departments and so far, we’ve received help from the HVAC, the electrical, the truck-driving and the facilities and maintenance schools.

She said they’ve received about $2,500 in donations so far from 16 people, including some from Seattle. Others gave what they felt they could: They received single donations of $10, $25 and $30.

A few of them drive over and handed the money to us and apologized that they couldn’t give us more. Those are the ones that are precious.

They were absolutely swamped with offers of help:

The amount of physical labor people have offered to give us has been amazing. It’s overwhelming. We’ve actually had to turn people away – that’s how much people have offered.

Tommy McClure, a student at Bates, said he read the article and sympathized with the food bank:

They’re helping out as much as they can in the community and they do good work. So when we were told we were going to help them out, and I was more than happy to do it.

There’s also a practical purpose to helping out, he said:

It’s a pretty good situation for both sides. We get real-life experience, and we also get to help the community.

Dan French, a truck-driving instructor at Bates, said he and his students have donated about 30 hours of labor, and they’ll contribute another 14 over the next two days. He says it helps give perspective:

These guys get to see what truck driving is really all about. It’s not just about making money, but about helping people.

There are more photos after the jump:

=> Read more!

Tony Painter contacted me all the way from Iraq, where he's a civilian contractor, to give his two cents' worth on Brick City (among other topics). You'll be hearing more from Tony in the future; he's a local guy and I've asked him to send updates every once in a while about life as a contractor in Iraq.

But for now, here's his take on Brick City:

It’s ridiculous that the neighboring biz owners are blaming any lack of business of Fri/Sat nights on a few teenagers hanging out in front of one of the very few places they can go to socialize. They should be looking at what they are lacking in services as to why they are not being patronized, not shifting the blame to what they must view as the ‘scary youth’ across the street. The streets of downtown nightlife areas are supposed to be filled with people enjoying themselves and the accompanying bit of noise comes with the territory. I speak now towards the people choosing to live in that area – it’s a choice and they should know what they are getting in to. It’s a lot better than when Drakes will still operating down there! Pacific between 7th and 9th used to get really crazy!...and that’s a good thing, not something evil.

He later added this:

Yes, you may post my comments about the Brick City issue. Full disclosure – I used to be one of the promoters for the ‘Paradox’ club that was on Puyallup Avenue (now Barefoot Studios I think) that Club Impact also operated out of…and having said that, I can see how that particular location was maybe better suited to our type of business, as there were not any neighbors to bother with noise or outside activity. In fact, at the time, the old Bubble Room kitty corner to us used to appreciate the extra biz they drew from the over 21 crowd who patronized some of our bigger shows but couldn’t drink on our premises since it was an all ages event. We even sent the entertainers over there for meals. My comment still holds though – downtown areas area supposed to be vibrant at night and you have to take the good with the (perceived) bad that accompanies crowds of people out enjoying themselves.

I'm heading to the Resource Distribution Council soon to watch volunteers help move the food bank from South Tacoma to its new location in Lakewood.

After that, I'm going to chase a few leads I have.

Any other ideas for me? The number is 253-320-4758.

Patrons at The Spar watching an NFL game Sunday suddenly found themselves watching something unexpected.

An employee at the Old Town restaurant switched one of the TVs from the Washington-Green Bay game to a pay-per-view pornographic movie.

It turned out to be an honest mistake: An employee was attempting to order the South Africa-Argentina game in the Rugby World Cup semifinals. Instead, he accidentally ordered “Sex Starved Prison Girls,” bar manager Bob Anderson said.

It was on-screen for less than a minute, Anderson said. He wasn’t sure how much it cost to accidentally order the movie.

“You know, if it was just the rugby team, I don’t think they would have minded too much,” Anderson laughed. “But some of our other customers probably weren’t too happy.”

The city of Tacoma helps these odd-shaped cylinders can help protect the environment.

It's called the CAN IT program, and it encourages smokers to toss their discarded cigarette butts in these things instead of on the ground. Cigarette butts often get washed into storm drains and into Commencement Bay, said Alicia Lawver, a community relations specialist with the city.

It's a pilot program right now, and 20 cans should be on the streets by next month. The city hopes to measure the effectiveness of cigarette-butt receptacles before possibly expanding the program.

Lawver said anti-smoking laws have forced many smokers outside, where many just toss their cigarette butts. She said the city also plans to distribute pocket ashtrays, where the butts can be stored to cool before being thrown away.

The cans are relatively inexpensive (less than $80 at Costco), and the city wants to give businesses a discount if certain guidelines – such as an education program – are followed.

According to the city's Web site, littered cigarette butts are probably worse than you imagine: It says 4.3 trillion butts are littered every year, making it the single most littered item worldwide; the butts contain toxic chemicals like cadmium, lead and arsenic; the chemicals seep into the water within an hour of contact; and the plastic butts won't deteriorate for 25 years.

There’s more information here.

There’s a party Saturday on the Hilltop to celebrate renovations on South I Street and Yakima Ave. The 8th & I Neighbors organization worked to close the intersection to cut down on speeding cars and, with the reduction of outlets from the neighborhood, reduce people circling the neighborhood looking for drugs.

8th & I Neighbors will host a Community Celebration Saturday, October 20, 11:00 a.m. at the 600 Block of South I Street.

8th & I Neighbors invite the public to join in celebrating the completion of the I Street Closure Project. This project closed South I Street where it formerly intersected with Yakima. Additionally, street parking was increased by 12 spaces, the street was overlaid with new asphalt, and a pocket park was created. The pocket park features a stunning landscape design and sculpture, entitled “Community”, by local artist, Scott Gruber.

This community driven project was made possible by the following financial contributors: New Tacoma Neighborhood Council; MultiCare Health Systems; Tacoma Arts Commission; City of Tacoma, Community Based Services; and 8th & I Neighbors.

The event is free. For more information, call (253) 396-1979.

Feedback continues from the Brick City story. A lengthy letter is from reader Teresa Mullins if after the jump:

=> Read more!

I’m in the office for most of this morning with a meeting, but here are a few things I’m planning to chase down:

Porn at The Spar (tactfully poached from The Spew): While some patrons were watching football on Sunday, an employee apparently changed a TV to a pay-per-view channel, purchased a porn movie and played it for about 30 seconds before someone else intervened. (If you were there, my number’s on the right).

Power soccer: I’ll be at the Life Center tonight to watch a game of power soccer. I’m still getting the specifics of it, but it sounds it’s a game for quadriplegics. Metal plates (to hit the ball) are installed on their chairs, and they play on a basketball court.

Anything else going on in town? Gimme a buzz at 253-320-4758.

They spent a month not eating or drinking from sunrise to sunset, so a group of Tacoma Muslims broke the fast with plenty of good food. They were celebrating Eid al-Fitr to celebrate the end of Ramadan, the holiest month of Islam.

The celebration at the City Association of Colored Women’s Clubs on South Yakima Avenue started with Imam Amir Abdul-Matin reciting from the Koran – in lyrical Arabic and English – and leading the group in prayers of thanks.

Then it was time to hit the spread: plenty of fried fish, salmon, baked chicken, salad, fruit and pies. Someone arrived later with some Krispy Kreme donuts. Dawud Hassan Mateen then played saxophone for crowd.

That meant most of us ate too much (in a good way) while talking about everything from politics to religion to football.

During Ramadan, Muslims are required to abstain from food or drinks (including water) during sunlight hours. On the Eid, they wake up before sunrise, attend morning prayers and then begin celebrations.

And it was a pretty happenin’ celebration Saturday.

There are more snapshots after the jump:

=> Read more!

Here’s a press release from Bates Technical College about helping out the Resource Distribution Council, the food bank I wrote about last week:

Bates Technical College instructors and students have stepped in to help the Resource Distribution Council (RDC) keep their doors open. RDC, a community food bank, serves nearly 9,500 people a month, operates five mobile pantries in Pierce County, and distributes approximately 1.5 million pounds of food a year. The South Tacoma building they had leased for the past nine years sold, and RDC was forced to relocate.

A News Tribune article of October 5 featured Anna Wingate, RDC president, issuing a plea for help. The installation of an electrical system sufficient to handle the walk-in freezer and refrigeration units and the moving of that equipment and provisions was estimated to cost $20,000, a near fatal blow to the nonprofit’s annual operating budget. Bates Technical College answered the call with an offer of assistance from several of its technical programs.

This week, Bates’ electrical construction students have installed the needed electrical wiring at the new Lakewood location; Bates’ truck driving students have transported all of the equipment and food supplies to the warehouse; Bates heating, ventilation and air conditioning students shut down the freezer and refrigeration units and reinstalled them. The freezers and coolers are operating once again, and the Resource Distribution Council is back in business.

“Talk about human kindness,” says Wingate. “I had no idea that an entire institution would literally adopt us. The response from Bates has been truly amazing. Because of their swift and generous actions, we are able to get back to what we are meant to do -- feeding our people.”

Kris Manning, Bates’ Executive Dean of Instruction, considers it a win-win situation. “We are helping our neighbors, we are helping needy families in our community, and our students are gaining practical, hands-on experience that helps them build industry-specific skills,” Manning says.

I’m back from practice for White Sunday at New Life Samoan Assembly of God church. White Sunday is a big deal in Samoan culture: The children perform the entire service, and adults use the day to honor the kids.

Most of the service will be in Samoan, with some English thrown in. I know Samoan about as well as I know Mongolian, but I discovered it’s a beautiful language (how can you not love vowel-heavy Polynesian languages?), so I didn’t mind sitting there while watching skits and listening to hymns in Samoan.

I recorded two songs with my digital recorder. It’s obviously not CD quality, and it picked up on some people handing out instructions, but it’s worth a listen. Here’s a hymn in English and Samoan.

And here’s Tala Mikaele-Malo giving a short explanation of the holiday in Samoan.

Dax Williams said his company, Williams Properties, was "sick of dealing with grass" in front of an apartment building at 315 N. Yakima Ave.

It cost about $28,000, but Williams won't have to worry about grass too much anymore. The building is undergoing a major renovation, and the company decided to shake things up a bit - with a 12-foot-tall waterfall.

"We wanted to do a little less cookie-cutter-style landscaping," Williams said.

Mission accomplished.

Williams hired The Pond Store of Sumner to build it. The price tag included cleaning up the area and other landscaping in the area, and he says the area still needs smaller landscaping to finish the effect. So far, he says, they've been getting a lot of compliments.

(Here’s what will hopefully be a regular feature about what stories I’m chasing down each day. Of course, things are always subject to change, but it should give you a better idea of what to expect.)

An e-mail got bounced around to a couple people in the newsroom before landing in my inbox. Apparently someone has built a waterfall near an apartment complex at Yakima and 10th. Here’s the message:

A 10-foot cascading waterfall has mysteriously appeared on Yakima, before it intersects with N. 4th... you must drive by and check it out. The apt building it sits in front of doesn't even face the street and is in need of a makeover though at times it appears abandoned. What the H?

In the early afternoon, I’m going to an Eid al-Fitr celebration as part of a profile I’m writing about Amir Abdul-Matin, who is a Muslim imam and helped form The Islamic Education and Community Center. I’ll take some photos and post those later today, but I likely won’t write something for the paper – the religion beat is covered by my colleague, Steve Maynard.

And, keeping on the religion track, I’m going to go to New Life Samoan Assembly of God on South 56th Street. I’m writing a feature about White Sunday, a big celebration in Samoan culture, for (you guessed it) Sunday’s editions. I’ll post something tonight to give you a taste of what’s to come Sunday.

My story about Brick City and its neighbors ran today. You can see highlights from the interviews from this story below. Tell me what you think. Do you think the finished product was fair?

I'll be back with an update later about what I'm chasing down today.

I like Tacoma. I like pho at Than Brothers and gallons of iced tea at the West End. I like Titlow Beach at sunset and tennis at Point Defiance. I like stiff drinks at Knapp's and coffee shops on every corner. I like watching downtown transform itself. I like being able to walk several blocks on South 38th Street and rarely see a sign in English. I like chatting with guys like Ruggles Larson, a 73-year-old regular on the running circuit who can put younger athletes to shame but is completely humble. I like driving past the gal dancing with the Little Caesar's sign on Pacific and 38th. I like how grown men still argue about high school football and how there's a tension in the air before the Apple Cup. I like community pride and how the city seems to burst with different charities.

There are thousands of stories to tell in Tacoma, and I've been honored to cover hundreds of them so far as a sports writer. There have been stories that left me feeling like I got hit in the gut with a sledgehammer, and stories that reaffirm my faith in mankind.

I want to continue telling great stories from a great city, and that's one reason why I recently left the sports department to become a mobile journalist covering news. There are gaps in coverage – immigration, community concerns and a lot of the good work done by charities, among others – which I hope to fill. To do so, though, I'll need help from you, the readers.

This position is still a work in progress. I'm going to meet regularly with my editors to tweak it. We'll figure out what works, what doesn't, what needs more coverage and what needs to be scaled back.

That's where we'll need help from you. We want your input on this too. What do you think needs more coverage? What needs less? If you have a good story idea, send it my way.

My beat – and this blog – is a new approach on the news. There will be more audio and video presentations. More photos. More graphics. To help make this blog the best it can be, I'll receive help from my coworkers here at The News Tribune. You'd be hard-pressed to find a group of people anywhere in the city with more knowledge of the past, present and future of the South Sound.

I often ask personal questions during interviews, so I feel it's fair to give you a quick background on myself. I grew up in a suburb of New Orleans. I went to the University of Missouri, which one of our sports columnists, our executive editor, my fiancée and my alumni association tell me is the best journalism school in the country. After my senior year, I interned at The News Tribune and set foot in the Northwest for the first time. I then traveled a bit and took a job in Albuquerque, N.M. In October, I returned to Tacoma.

Unlike most reporters, I'm not going to head back to the newsroom to write and file my stories. Instead, that guy drinking an Italian soda at Forza with a laptop could be me cranking out a story. If you spot me out and about, stop me, say hello and tell me how I'm doing. Or call or e-mail me - my number's in that nifty little box to your right.

Thanks, and I'll see you around.

Laura Hanan isn't a fan of Brick City's location in downtown, and she has rarely hidden her views about it. She e-mailed me last night (becoming the first non-TNT employee to read the blog -- and a day before it went public!) with her take on my reporting on Brick City.

Read her comments after the jump, and feel free to leave any comments or e-mail me about it:

=> Read more!

The volunteers were there, but I missed them.

After a morning at the Tacoma Dome, I went past the (soon-to-be-vacant) site of the Resource Distribution Council. The volunteers were gone -- and so was much of the equipment and stock from the warehouse in South Tacoma.

"The phone started ringing when the papers hit people's doorsteps," said founder and president Anna Wingate. And yesterday's mail delivery brought several checks.

They're not there yet, but they're getting close.

Almost 400 homeless people from Pierce County were at the Tacoma Dome today for Project Homeless Connect, an event helping connect them with all sorts of medical and social services.

I spent some time with Robert Fraser, who’s receiving a free haircut in the photo to the right. He was funny; he kept telling people that he actually lived in a $30 million condo – a bridge. (He didn’t tell me which one.)

So after a close crop and an eyebrow trim, Fraser made the rounds of some of the other booths. He’s been homeless since 1972 (and mainly living in Tacoma during that time), and after eating from the free buffet, he looked around the Dome, smiled and said, “It doesn’t get any better than this.”

I'll have more in tomorrow's paper.

Anna Wingate at the Resource Distribution Council sent me an e-mail yesterday. People have been volunteering services and donating money to help keep afloat the food bank that serves about 9,500 monthly.

I'll get more details Wednesday.

Reporters often get e-mails from readers looking for a bit of publicity for an issue or story they hold dear. For some reason, an e-mail forwarded to me stood out. Kyle Bradbeer, a student at Truman High School in Federal Way, wrote our NewsTips address to look for some publicity for the organization for which he volunteers, Toy Rescue Mission.

I'm not sure what exactly made me take an immediate interest. It wasn't just because he referred to The News Tribune as an "excellent publication" (but it didn't hurt). Or maybe it was because, after my cell dropped our first call, he called me back and called me "Mr. Fontaine." (Respect out of a high school kid? I've covered enough prep sports to never take that for granted.) I decided to go take a look at what they were doing.

I visited Tuesday, and I was impressed. To start, it's tough to argue with giving toys to kids whose parents otherwise would struggle to afford them. It's got one full-time employee, and volunteers keep the rest of it going. And, on a completely personal level, I felt like a kid again seeing all the toys I used to play with. Transformers. Plastic fighter jets. Hot Wheels. That kind of stuff. It was a really, really good time.

Watch the movie below to hear Kyle talk a bit about volunteering at the charity and a bit about its history.

I recently talked with Lt. Corey Darlington, the sector commander whose territory includes downtown, about Brick City and the friction with its neighbors. It sounds like the police really don’t see much of a problem there. Here are some of the highlights from our conversation.

About working with Brick City on security:

We’ve been working with them from the very beginning. This is nothing new to us. We have a pretty good working relationship with them.

On the overall situation:

We feel we have an acceptable level of public safety in that area. The calls for service are certainly manageable and not excessive. We do have some flare-ups every once in a while.

We haven’t had any issues on Friday (since the shooting). We’ve had one or two incidents on Saturday night because they don’t have any off-duty officers – that’s one reason.

He says it’s the nature of the business:

I don’t care if it’s a club that serves liquor to of-age people or if it’s an underage teen club. It’s the nature of the business. There will be spinoff activity on the sidewalks, groups of people just hanging out. There will be some degree of nuisance activity.

=> Read more!

There was a theme that came up in many of my interviews with business owners and employees in the Nalley Valley that, because of the nature of my story, I just couldn’t get in: Most people went out of their way to thank the police and other first-responders.

Dennis Stacy said he was still near his building when police closed off nearby streets. Another propane tank could have exploded at any minute, but a police officer still drove near the site of the foundry, picked Stacy up and peeled out of there.

“The officer risked his life to save mine,” he said.

Betty Schwingler was the only person working at Rosen Supply Co. when the blasts started. She said she was “so, so impressed” with the fire and police departments.

“They seemed to have control of the situation quickly,” she said. “It made a bad situation a little better.”

I just popped into several businesses in the Nalley Valley to talk about Saturday's explosion at Atlas. And at each place, there were broken windows -- except at Stacy Plumbing Supply. It's at 2909 S. Wilkeson St. or, in layman's terms, right across the street from Atlas.

I mentioned this to co-owner Dennis Stacy. Like me, he hasn't won a Nobel Prize in physics. But unlike me, he has a pretty good theory about it.

The windows in the offices were double-paned, thin windows. All the broken ones were thick panes. He believes the smaller ones flexed during the concussions -- apparently enough to avoid breaking. The thicker glass has less bend and apparently couldn't withstand the blast.

This piece of metal was still smoldering when it was blasted from Atlas (where it likely was the top bar on a chain-link fence) to Stacy Plumbing Supply office at 2909 S. Wilkeson St.:

It landed on some boxes and scorched them. But it could have been worse: If it landed on the roof of the building, it could have burned it down.

Jennifer Cajucom, the owner of the Manila Center Diner at 1607 Center St., returned to her restaurant to find the front window broken from the blasts at Atlas. She raises a good point: Who's responsible for paying to fix it?

The explosions at Atlas were obviously powerful -- and apparently they were powerful enough to lift the warehouse roof at Rosen Supply Co. at 2920 Chandler St.

Those slots of light in the photo below are the sky peeking through the roof:

I'm heading out to talk to people at the surrounding businesses near the Atlas Castings & Technology (where, in case you missed it, there was an explosion on Saturday). I'm trying to get an idea if they're apprehensive about working in the area or if what might have happened if they were at full staff on the weekend. Know anyone who works in the area? E-mail me or call me at 253-597-8646.

If you want to help:

The Resource Distribution Council needs up to $20,000 to continue its mission of distributing food to more than 9,500 people in Pierce County each month. If you’re interested in helping, contact Anna Wingate at 253-473-7669 or awingate@therdc.org. You can also send a check to the food bank’s new location at 3423 Chapel St. S., Lakewood, WA 98499. The charity also takes credit cards.

As I was walking out of the Resource Distribution Council, a food bank that serves 9,500 people each month, executive director Randy McElliott wasn't too proud to appeal to The News Tribune's readers for help.

"We're in need," he said after stopping me on my way to the parking lot. "We're really in need. We're going to need help to keep it going."

I wish I had my recorder going at that time because it's tough to describe the sound in his voice. It wasn't desperation, but it was close.

I'm about to head out to Resource Distribution Council food bank in South Tacoma. I don't have all the details yet, but the situation looks grim for the charity. It lost its lease and needs a boatload of cash -- somewhere in the neighborhood of $20,000 -- to move and install new equipment.

I'll update more when I get back.

I've been chatting with Tala Mikaele-Malo, the wife of Isaako Malo, the pastor at the New Life Samoan Assembly of God church. They're preparing for White Sunday next week, when the congregation's children plan and run the entire service. It's one of the biggest events each year in Samoan culture, she told me.

That got me thinking: Is there something unique to your culture that's more important than most people realize? What do you look forward to all year?

I was in a coffee shop earlier today. Not that I was eavesdropping or anything (OK, maybe I was), but two people a few tables away were getting into a pretty heated debate. The subject: Blackwater USA, the private security company.

(Not, for the record, Blackwater Café on Fawcett Avenue. There’s not much debate about that place, other than that thin parking lot that can be a bear to get in and out of.)

Friend A said the company’s dealings in Iraq weren’t perfect, but they filled a necessary gap.

Friend B called the company evil, a bunch of mercenaries and “a savage group of Hessians.” (I can’t make that last one up.)

Friend A responded by saying mercenaries were better than drafting kids, and we couldn’t wage the war without them.

Friend B said that was exactly his point.

And the debate kind of went on like that.

There’s a point to why I’m writing this. We live in a town with an extremely large military presence. A friend of mine is considering a post-discharge career with Blackwater, and many of his Fort Lewis friends have gone that route. It sounds like a lucrative choice for thousands in the Tacoma area. So do you know anyone that has worked for Blackwater or one of the other private security contractors in Iraq and/or Afghanistan? What’s their take on everything going on there? Or have you crossed paths with a private security contractor while on duty overseas? I’d like to get your spin on this decisive issue.

Here are some of the highlights from my conversation with Deanna Neidlinger, the Brick City project manager.

She said claims of out-of-control teens are out of control and defended the club's security:

We have two police officers that are hired at our own personal expense every Friday night outside. Everyone knows right now that there are a lot of challenges about stress and challenges concerning resources available to them. So the fact we hire two police officers here every week, that means we’re bringing in extra security that might not have been on location. One of our agreements with Lt. (Corey) Darlington is that police who work here outside aren’t just responsible for our sidewalk in front, but they’re responsible for the entire neighborhood. We feel like we’re bringing in an additional bit of security downtown.

Some of the kids involved with the club have been unfairly maligned, she said:

We’ve had kids who have been here who were here because they were getting trained to do work in Washington D.C. this summer. But they were featured in a picture because they were standing on a sidewalk. But they were here because they were learning how to talk to (Rep.) Norm Dicks. So, perception is an issue.

She dismisses the idea that downtown should just be a string of bars and condos:

The intention of a downtown area is really to be a downtown for an entire city. The fact that we’re at the end of a bus line, the end of a light-rail line – we’re in a very strategic location for the work we want to do. And that’s important to us.

She's worried what the impact on the teenagers will be:

When we’re criminalizing kids before they’re criminals, what does that do for a generation of kids of this city? Instead of bringing them in and helping them build up the city, we’re criminalizing them.

And Brick City isn't going away soon, she said. Its lease is valid through 2010, and there are no active plans to move the building:

I think we need to be realistic about where we are and who we are. Tacoma is kind of transitioning from this big town into this small city. We need to recognize there are challenges related to that and be realistic about looking at it.

Just got out of a meeting with Marty Campbell, the chair of the New Tacoma neighborhood council. He, like many of the business owners who neighbor the Brick City building on Pacific Ave., praised the work done at the all-ages club but questioned if it was the best location for it.

Among the highlights of our hour-long conversation:

They have a right to downtown. And if this wasn’t in the middle of what I think should be one of our top bar districts and entertainment districts, then, well, an all-ages club just doesn’t fit into that.

He suggested a big problem downtown is related to its different uses: residential spaces, bars, an all-ages club, retail stores, etc.:

Because it doesn’t have a solid definition, entities can pick a building here, pick a building there without really looking how other things work. So you get conflicting uses.

He thinks a meeting that lead to concrete decisions would drastically improve the situation:

What I would like to see us do is sit down, bring everyone together to the table and see what we can do. Not an endless series of meetings, but see if we can have one or two conversations and get the big stuff out of the way and find a way to make it a worthwhile solution.

He also said rewriting ordinances would be an overreaction, and the Tacoma Police Department's decision to take two bicycle cops off the swing shift didn't help the situation.

I've also talked to Deanna Neidlinger, the World Vision project manager for Brick City. I'll post her quotes later today.

The small-business owners across the street from the Brick City building at 754 Pacific Ave. have been complaining about illegal activity. Because the Tacoma Police Department puts their statistics on the Web, we can look up crime stats for this year.

I should point out that (obviously) not all crime in a particular area is related to any business, club, residence or anything else on there. And (again, obviously) not all crime goes reported. And the police release statistics to within a half-mile radius, so that means large parts of other neighborhoods are included -- especially in a compact neighborhood like downtown. And it shows that police aren’t making many arrests.

(Depending on what side you’re on, that means either it’s becoming a safe neighborhood or the police aren’t doing their job.)

So, as imperfect of a barometer as it is, here are some of the year-to-date stats though August. I included the ones many people have been saying the clubbers are committing and omitted others, like warrants arrests:

But as more businesses (and high-priced condos) move into the area, is it getting safer? As much as I hate to ask questions in my writing (I'm in the business of answering them, after all), I'll have percentage increases and decreases after the jump.

=> Read more!

I just got back from a quick meeting with two of the guys who run Message Magazine, a Pierce County publication that prints 10,000 copies each month. The magazine’s executive director, Korbett Mosesly, seems like an impressive guy: full-time student, full-time dad, has a job and runs a magazine.

I’m going to write something about the magazine – what Mosesly stresses is civil journalism – but I want to put the question to you: Have you read Message? What do you think of it? Is there room in Pierce County for more publications?

I just got off the phone with Des Moines Mayor Bob Sheckler. He wants next year's Tall Ships Festival to expand, and he wants some of the extra ships to stop by his city in southern King County.

The event's director of marine operations, Bob Bearden, said it's too early to comment (Des Moines has yet to submit a proposal), but he said DuPont, Olympia and Gig Harbor are also interested.

What do you think? Is this the first step to making the festival a region-wide extravaganza, or will it dilute Tacoma's role in it?