Apr. 28, 2008 at 10:36am

Alcohol Impact Area Hearing

The final hearing is here!!!  On May 7, 2008, the Washington State Liquor Control Board will be holding a hearing at the City Council Chambers to determine the final outcome of our AIA efforts.  The hearing will start at 6:30 pm.

We are asking that you come and support the South End and Eastside by attending this important hearing. For me, this has been almost a three year process - we could not have gotten this far if not for the suuport of the city and the community.

Thanks again for supporting the efforts down here in Whitman.  We have many more to tell you about in future posts!!!

Pat

comments [3]

Mar. 21, 2008 at 12:34pm

Public Safety Inititiative

As I sat and listened to the panel at last night's jail forum, I could not help but be reminded that we are short staffed throughout the entire criminal justice system.  Below, I'd like to discuss my reasons for a public safety initiative, which in my mind, is way overdue.

I kept hearing last night about how we need to prevent crime by knowing our neighbors, working with outside agencies and other groups to assist the police in lowering the crime rate.  I agree 100% and my neighborhood (the Whitman Area Neighbors) has done that with several groups such as the Dome Top Alliance, Lincoln Lawgs and  LiSN (Lincoln South Neighbors).   We have pursued the Alcolhol Impact Area, written grants, patrolled our neighborhood and I know just about all my neighbors within a five block area.  We under stand that we are a part of the solution.

 But, I have an overworked Community Liaison Officer and not enough patrol officers to cover a sector with the highest call rate in the city.  We do not have any street level crime teams or bike patrols in business districts.  Chief Ramsdell told us last night that his detectives are operating at a 1975 level with triple the caseload now..So, even if we put more cops in the streets we don't have enough detectives to investigate crimes or court staff to prosecute.

I believe that the system is trying to become more efficient - they have to due to the lack of staff, but that doen't mean they will become effective when the sheer numbers overwhelm the system.

Look, I know people do not want to pay higher taxes.  I work as a school teacher and make roughly $35,000 a year before taxes.  My son's daycare is 500.00 a month, I pay 300.00 a month in car payments and my mortgage around $1,000.00 - just an avergae salary paying the bills.  I would be more than willing to pay for some sort of sales tax/levy to pay for what we need.  We heard last night that there is a tight budget - how can we expect our city or county council to properly fund those departments when there are so many other priorities they have to fund?  I do not believe that we can get the numbers we need out of a general fund budget.  This is not an issue of recruiment - that gap is closing - we donlt have enough money for what we really need to be effective and we are paying for that in the form of a higher crime rate than many cities our size.

We figured out along time ago that fire departments and schools cannot be fully funded with busdget dollars.  So, a system was put in place to raise additional money.  We never hear about the fire department being understaffed and very rarely does an EMS levy go down in defeat. 

Past efforts were disscussed last night to raise the sales tax and how they failed.  But what would it take to make them pass - what do people want in the criminal justice system? How many cops, detectievs, judges and correction officers would we be willing to pay for?  Perhaps the last effort simply wasn't what people were looking for, not an anti-tax sentiment.

Efficiencies only go so far - with Tacoma expecting another 100,000 or so people in the next 15 years, we need to be prepared.  I hope the disucssion starts soon and seriously about a public safety intiative that looks at the whole system and how we can best fund it - Our county and city councils are doing their best in my opinion - let's step up as a community and properly fund a systen that is underfunded.

Pat McGregor

comments [0]

Mar. 10, 2008 at 11:06am

Lincoln Park

I thought I would pass this information along, as the LiSN Group (Lincoln South Neighbors) are our friends and partners here in the South End. Please come and join them – We finished the Lincoln Park Updrade plan last year and now are ready to make this our community park!! If you have not been to Lincoln Park, you are missing a real treat,as we consider it the “Central Park” of the Lincoln and Whitman Area..Please read below and join the LiSN group, Whitman Area neighbors and Lincoln Lawgs as we enjoyone of the most beautiful aprks in the city. Thanks to the LiSN group for organizing this event..

Pat

Please read below..

Let’s bring back the old time feeling of weekends in the park,
Socializing with families and neighbors!

You are invited to come hang out at Lincoln Park on Saturday, March 15th, at 2:00 p.m.!

Why:
Our goal is to have as many neighbors as possible come and socialize at the park.
We are hoping to also send a strong non-verbal message to some park inhabitants (homeless individuals) that we deserve a safe park to walk through and play. Let’s start USING this park and make it less desirable for unwanted activity to happen in this park.
This idea was created by the LiSN Citizens Patrol Group

comments [4]

Feb. 20, 2008 at 12:34pm

Whitman Meeting Minutes

Here are the notes from last night's meeting - we didn't get to everything, but we tried...

Whitman Area Neighbors Meeting Notes – February 19, 2008

Meeting  Start time : 6:05 pm

Meeting End Time: 7:30 pm

Present at Meeting – 25

Guests: Marshall McLintock, Reuben McKnight

Note: Jan Gish, one of our Whitman regulars passed away just over a week ago.  She was very energetic and involved in her community.  She was just at our January meeting, asking what she could do to improve her neighborhood.  We will miss her – our thoughts are with her family.

Agenda item 1 –Community Cleanup

The community cleanup will take place on March 1, 2008, at 9:00 am.  Volunteers will meet in front of the school and then be sent to a cleanup area (we have 3 currently).  We will also have a pressure washing and paint crew painting graffiti and another crew will be doing curbside sweeping.  We will provide gloves and bags but will need flat shovels and brooms for the curbside cleanup.  A reminder e-mail will be sent.

Agenda item 2 – Grant meeting

The innovative grant meeting will happen the first week of March.  The committee will discuss potential projects from our project list created at the last meeting and decide on some that fit the grant criteria.  An e-mail will be sent to the group and all are invited to attend.

Agenda item 3 – Historic District

Much of the discussion centered around criteria and effects on the neighborhood.  Reuben gave an overview of what a historic district is from the zoning perspective.  He also discussed tax incentives and the other benefits of creating this district.  Reuben also mentioned that there is money available to assist in gathering data and history and putting together what data we already have collected. Marshall discussed changes in the North Slope Area, before and since the creation of the North Slope Historic District.  Currently, the proposed boundaries are 38^th to 43^rd and from Thompson to M Street.  There was discussion about expanding boundaries, as there have been several requests to do so.  However, it was suggested that we keep to our original boundaries and expand later if necessary.

Questions asked:

1)      Will this gentrify our neighborhood and price people out of an affordable area, since affordability is part of our neighborhood’s history?

2)      Vinyl windows vs wood – why?

3)      What is the design review process?  Would it apply to new structures?

4)      What is “grandfathered”

5)      Will St. Pauls’ church need to tear down addition built in 1960s?

The consensus seemed to be this was a good idea, as we all want to make sure this neighborhood retains its character.  Several examples were given of quality craftsman homes knocked down to build something else.  One home on J Street was being planned for demolition and a duplex was proposed.  The home was built in 1895.  The owner eventually decided to restore the home after requests from the neighbors.

Action items:

·         Set Up Meeting with Reuben to go over next steps

·         Consolidate neighborhood history (Dave and Chad)

Item 4 – Crime Issues

·         Note – In going over past meeting minutes, much of the crime in the area has been committed between 41^st street and 43^rd Street on J, K and L Streets.  This month was no different.

Crime Issues

·         Car theft on 43^rd & K Street and several break ins

·         Duplex on the corner of 42st and L Street.  Was the site of shots fired last month – continues to be lots of nuisance behavior.  WAN will attempt to contact owner of duplex.

·         Corner of 43^rd and K.  Home for developmentally disabled clients.  Reported that clients are often out, unattended.

·         4123 South K Street.  Continues to be lots of nuisance behavior and increased traffic in and out of the house. 

·         Tagging – Sur 13 gang tagged up the neighborhood, along 41^st street and at Whitman School

·         The BGM (Black Gangster Mafia) Gang has begun to mark our neighborhood as well – they have marked around the 43^rd and J Street area, but seem to come from 48^th street or so, according to their tags.  The graffiti was photographed and washed off..

 

comments [1]

Feb. 19, 2008 at 7:08am

Whitman Area Neighbors Meeting

Because of my unusually large sausage hands, I mistyped the time into the events calander.  The Whitman Area Neighbors meeting should start at 6:00 pm and end at 7:30 pm...

Our topics this month are the creation of an historic district in our area and our neighborhood cleanup...

We will also be setting up a time for our grants committee to meet and the streetcar strategy team to discuss drafting a letter voicing concerns over the current streetcar proposal.

You are welcome to attend - the more, the merrier!!!

Pat

comments [0]

Feb. 5, 2008 at 8:17am

Whitman Historic District

 

The Whitman Area Neighbors are looking to make history!!  Actually, we are looking for history - our group is in the beginning stages of the historic district process.  To date, we have photographed each home in our very rough boundaries.  In our 38th to 43rd, Thompson to M Street boundaries, we have 240 parcels.  67 of those homes are 100 years old and roughly 10 more just turned 100.  Many of the homes were built in the 1920s. 

We are looking for any history or pictures that folks may have or resources that may point us in the right direction.  We have found much already (My home is on old church property and my neighbor's house is the rectory), but we need more information.  Anything on builders, architects or just a good story about the neighborhood will help.

Thanks for your help -

Pat

 

comments [5]

Jan. 16, 2008 at 10:30am

Alcohol Impact Area

The Tacoma City Council passed their portion of the Alcohol Impact Area last night with a unanimous vote.  This ordiance will requesta Liquor Control Board hearing to get final approval for the AIA.  A BIG THANKS to the Tacoma City Council, TPD,TFD all the neighborhood groups and everyone who made this happen.

Our work is not done though - we still need to present our case before the Liquor Control Board.  We will find out a date soon and the hearing will be held in Tacoma.

This has really sparked some strong ties among the neighborhoods and I have made friends as well..

Hopefully, our next project will be to fund the Tacoma Police Department so that we have more cops, bike patrols, street teams, forsensics and whatever is needed to make TPD sucessful.  Also, we will be concentrating on our historic district efforts as well in order to ensure our wonderful old neighborhood stays that way!!!

We'll see you on the next issue...

Pat

comments [8]