Brent Champaco | February 24, 2010
Lakewood may be on the hook to pay for maintenance of its fire hydrants - an annual expense to the tune of $195,000 annually.
City Manager Andrew Neiditz said this week that the Lakewood Water District — citing a 2008 state Supreme Court decision that placed the responsibility of fire hydrant maintenance on local governments — [...]
Brent Champaco | February 23, 2010
Lakewood City Manager Andrew Neiditz announced Monday night that the city will have to trim its budget another $500,000 this year.
That's about 1.5 percent of Lakewood's $37 million budget, and it comes as cities across the South Sound are reducing expenses in the tough economy. Staff is proposing to eliminate two positions - one in [...]
Brent Champaco | February 3, 2010
University Place and Lakewood fire officials say merging the two districts makes sense financially, but some residents are questioning whether their tax dollars would be spent wisely.
On Tuesday, about 60 people attended the University Place Fire District 3 board meeting to discuss the proposed merger.
Some residents said they support the move; others argued against it.
“I [...]
Brent Champaco | February 2, 2010
Residents interested in the proposed merger between the Lakewood and University Place fire districts can attend the first of two open house meetings tonight.
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. today at the Evergreen Primary School cafeteria in University Place, 7102 40th St. W.
On Jan. 25, the Lakewood Fire District Board of Commissioners voted in favor [...]
Brent Champaco | January 5, 2010
Holiday blue lights have been synonymous with Lakewood for decades.
But given the city's tragedy Nov. 29— when four of the city's police officers were gunned down at a Parkland coffee shop — the blue lights took on new meaning this past season.
On Monday night, the Lakewood City Council unanimously adopted blue as the official [...]
Brent Champaco | November 10, 2009
As reported in my story today, Lakewood residents and their elected leaders voiced their concerns over the state Department of Transportation's plan to reroute passenger train service through their community.
Monday night's tight deadline meant I had to leave out most of the back and forth between the city and DOT representatives from the meeting.
Councilman Walter [...]
Brent Champaco | September 22, 2009
The Lakewood City Council amended its contract with its school-zone camera provider Monday, which means no more camera vans that nab speeders.
But don't drive pedal-to-the-metal just yet, as the city will now install fixed cameras at two school zones and provide officer patrols at others.
Here are the first few graphs of the story is scheduled [...]
