East Siders have jumped all over Tacoma City Manger Eric Anderson's challenge to make the city cleaner and safer.

They held one community cleanup in July, and they'll be having another one on Aug. 23. They brought the city and the Puyallup Tribe to reclaim T Street Gulch and rename it First Creek. They have a partnership with Lowe's to get inexpensive plants into public spaces that need prettifying.

All that's very civic minded, which is fine. But they go one step better. They make it fun. Every work party has a celebration attached to it. And they are delighted when young people show up. They make a big deal about praising the kids and telling them how important they are to the community.

Everyone's welcome to get involved. If you're interested, you can learn more at 6:30 tonight - that's Wednesday, Aug. 6 - at the Portland Avenue Community Center, 3513 Portland Avenue.

McKinley Park will soon undergo a major renovation.

The construction firm that will improve the park on Tacoma’s East Side has begun staging work on a $1.665 million project. Among the improvements will be elevating the promenade to street level, removing some unhealthy trees, expansion of the play area and installation of a new plaza and restrooms.

The work is scheduled to be completed in the spring.

Today I'll either be heading to Mount Rainier to talk ozone or finish reporting on a middle-school mentorship program. Not sure which one yet, though, so stay tuned.