I had some extra time between assignments, so I went to the Proctor District Farmers Market and created this audio slideshow:

A reader sent this photo along. The church is near the corner of South 56th and South Cheyenne Streets.

Umm, I’m not exactly sure what to say about it.

For reasons that are much too uninteresting to type here, I’m scouting locations around Tacoma (and the immediate area, but not too far) that are really scenic.

If you’re going to take a snapshot and send it to someone who has never been here and likely never will, what locations would you shoot that you feel could really show off Tacoma’s beauty?

Ruston Way? Browns Point? The skyline?

I’m looking for a few good ideas, so feel free to just brainstorm — even if someone has already mentioned it.

I’ve got meetings and transcribing.

I’ve also got my hands on the city’s database of curb ramps around Tacoma and their compliance (or non-compliance) with the Americans with Disabilities Act. And it ain’t pretty.

Photographer Peter Haley and I spent a few hours last night patrolling with the Larchmont Safe Streets organization. Click below for a taste of what it was like:

Read more »

July is gonna be busy. The Tall Ships are returning. Freedom Fair is back. If you’re my age, apparently everyone you know from college and your hometown is getting married.

Well, squeeze in another event.

The folks at McChord have set up a Web site for the Air Expo 2008. The event on July 19-20 will be free (!) and feature the Thunderbirds, among a bunch of other exhibitions.

According to a release the base sent out, here are some of the performances on the schedule:

�—� C-17 Aerial Demonstration

�—� U.S. Air

Read more »

Today I’ll be sitting in on a discussion with our all-star graduates to write up something for our annual.

And later today, I’ll be posting highlights of my ridealong with the Larchmont Safe Streets group last night.

I just got off the phone with Moni Hoy. He’s the community mobilization program manager for Safe Streets. We were chatting about the neighborhood patrol academy, which began last year and has seen more than 200 people graduate from six sessions.

The model they want other neighborhood groups to emulate is that of the Stewart Heights patrol, which began in 2003.

"We saw how effective the Stewart Heights citizens’ patrol was. The impact it had on the neighborhood was just tremendous, and we saw it as an opportunity to extend the block watch program into a citizen patrol

Read more »