Monthly Archives: January 2011

Foss High School

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Tacoma Public School has announced that it may close schools in order to save money. Foss is the high school they are considering and elementary schools with less than 300 students are also possibilities. These elementary schools are Franklin, Lyon, Roosevelt, Stanley, McKinley, Wainwright and Geiger. Geiger has had a program change and has been taken off the table.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/01/26/1517312/school-cuts-worry-parents.html

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/01/27/1840221/tacoma-school-board-urged-to-reconsider.html

Today’s school is Foss High School at 2112 S. Tyler. Their mascot is the falcon and the school opened in 1973.  Foss is the first school in Washington State and the second school west of the Rocky Mountains to offer the international baccalaureate diploma program, which began in 1982.  The school is named after Henry Foss, the son of the founders of the Foss Launch and Tug Company, making it the first school named after a Tacoma native.   With the exception of the School of the Arts and the Science and Math Institute, Foss is the smallest Tacoma High School. The Foss website can be found here.  http://www0.tacoma.k12.wa.us/schools/hsx/foss/

A student created website names 101 Reasons Why Foss is the Boss can be found here. http://101savehfhs.webs.com/

 

Save Our Buses, Proposition 1

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 I don’t usually take the bus. Sure, on occasion, maybe to the Puyallup Fair or when my car is in for repair. But my daughter does and she is afraid service will be significantly reduced if Proposition 1 doesn’t pass during the Pierce County general election on February 8, 2011. Pierce Transit (the folks that run the buses) receives 70% of its funding from local sales tax and because of the recession, sales tax is down. Fair increases, reductions in routes and layoffs have already occurred, but if Proposition 1 does not pass, an additional 35% of the current level of service will be eliminated.

What is the financial impact to my family? On a $10 purchase, we will pay an additional $0.03. What is the real cost impact? My teen daughter will wait longer for bus service, sometimes on dark, cold, rainy evenings. And for other folks? It will be harder to go to their jobs, the doctor, daycare and the grocery store. Like my daughter, folks will have longer waits between buses. Some of these people (those without cars, those with disabilities, etc.) have no other choice.

So my family voted yes for Proposition 1. It just seemed like the right thing to do for the most people.

Additional information can be found here. http://www.piercetransit.org/pdfs/Prop1_FactSheet_Dec10.pdf

http://www.tacomadailyindex.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=88&cat=23&id=1915221&more=0

Today’s new place is the Lakewood Transit Center, near the Lakewood Town Center shopping area.

Wainwright School, under 300 students

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Tacoma Public School has announced that it may close schools in order to save money. Foss is the high school they are considering and elementary schools with less than 300 students are also possibilities. These elementary schools are Franklin, Lyon, Roosevelt, Stanley, McKinley, Wainwright and Geiger. Geiger has had a program change and has been taken off the table. Wainwright, in Fircrest, is the last of the elementary schools that I am writing about.

Read more about possible school closures at : http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/01/19/1509242/foss-students-fret-over-possible.html#ixzz1Bn2OnEp6

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/01/26/1517312/school-cuts-worry-parents.html

Today’s school is Wainwright Elementary at 130 Alameda Avenue. Their mascot is the wildcat. The original school opened in 1911 and was called Regents Park. There was one teacher, Mrs. C.D. Bangs and she taught 1st through 3rd grades there. The one room school closed in 1914 because of lack of students. But it reopened in 1915. It almost closed in 1917, when there were 13 students. A new school opened there in 1924 and was named FIrcrest. In 1948 the school wa added on to and renamed Wainwright after a famous general in World War II. General Wainwright traveled from Texas to Fircrest to be at the school’s dedication. The school was again added on to in 1957 adn remodeling was done in 1971. In 1984 the school had a student population of 292 students and the Citizen’s Committee for School Facilities Planning recommends that Wainwright be closed.

To see the school as it appeared in 1924, see this link from the Tacoma Public Library.
http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1image.asp?j=1&o=1&n=10532&i=4838#text

Columbia Veterinary Hospital

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Columbia Veterinary Hospital

Originally uploaded by Gexydaf

I was in the market for a vet to handle the medical needs of my two pups. My last vet retired and closed up shop and I wasn’t too keen on the mega-vet I went to before that. It use to be that people usually went to the closest vet (or dry cleaner, or hair dresser, etc.), but nowadays we search for reviews. That’s what I did, I looked on Yelp and eliminated some vets with less than stellar recommendations. That lead me to Columbia Veterinary Hospital at 5916 6th Avenue, Tacoma, WA 98406-2016 (253) 564-7927 .

http://www.columbiavet.com/

It is a relatively small building and four veterinarians are listed as working here. They really seemed to love the animals and were good with them. My dog (unloyal animal that she is) would have happily stayed! They were kind enough to clip her nails, I job I truly hate! And the bill was somewhat less than I expected. So, all in all a good experience.

We topped it off with a trip to PetSmart for a new collar. I’m pretty sure the dog that I took went home and gloated to the dog that stayed home this time!

Stanley Elementary, Under 300 students

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Tacoma Public School has announced that it may close schools in order to save money. Foss is the high school they are considering and elementary schools with less than 300 students are also possibilities. These elementary schools are Franklin, Lyon, Roosevelt, Stanley, McKinley, Wainwright and Geiger. Geiger has had a program change and has been taken off the table. I thought over the next week or so, I’d take photographs of the mentioned schools and use them as my new places of the day.

Read more about possible school closures at : http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/01/19/1509242/foss-students-fret-over-possible.html#ixzz1Bn2OnEp6

Today’s school is Stanley Elementary at 1712 South 17th Street.  Their mascot is the cougar. The original school opened in November of 1925 and was designed to hold upwards of 480 students. It was named after George A. Stanley, a popular Tacoma Schools Administrator, who had died suddenly that same year. Additions were constructed in 1949, 1955, 1967 and 1973. In 1983 the main part of the building was declared unsafe in the event of an earthquake and it was closed and eventually demolished. The current building was constructed in 1986 and includes some decorative architectural elements from the original school (see photo below).

In 1970 Stanley became a “technologically advanced elementary [manet] school” and later it became a science magnet. It currently functions as a neighborhood school to a diverse student population.

   

Taqueria El Antojo

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 In the middle of a busy week we stopped at Taqueria El Antojo for some take out. The food is consistently tasty, the service cheerful and fast and the seating area clean.

3801 McKinley Avenue, Tacoma, WA

http://www.taqueriaelantojo.com/

The shopping center is on the previous site of a gas station. See this link to the Tacoma Public Library for more information.

http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1image.asp?j=1&o=1&n=32028&i=9468#text

Chihuly Bridge of Glass

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Originally uploaded by Gexydaf

What a busy day and I still hadn’t found my new place! Driving out of the Tacoma Art Museum parking lot I noticed how lovely the bridge of glass looked glowing in the darkness. The Tacoma Dome can be seen to the right. So here is the Bridge of Glass along with a few photos I had taken earlier. We are lucky to have so much wonderful art in Tacoma. This pedestrian bridge connects the Glass Museum to the museum/university area in downtown Tacoma.

Here are some links for some additional information.

http://www.museumofglass.org/exhibitions/bridge-of-glass/

http://www.chihuly.com/special-projects-chihuly-bridge-of-glass.aspx

Mary Lyon Elementary, under 300 students

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Mary Lyon Elementary

Originally uploaded by Gexydaf

Tacoma Public School has announced that it may close schools in order to save money. Foss is the high school they are considering and elementary schools with less than 300 students are also possibilities. These elementary schools are Franklin, Lyon, Roosevelt, Stanley, McKinley, Wainwright and Geiger. Geiger has had a program change and has been taken off the table. I thought over the next week or so, I’d take photographs of the mentioned schools and use them as my new places of the day.

Read more about possible school closures at :

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/01/19/1509242/foss-students-fret-over-possible.html#ixzz1Bn2OnEp6http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/01/19/1509242/foss-students-fret-over-possible.html#ixzz1Bn2OnEp6

Today’s school is Mary Lyon Elementary at 101 E. 46th St.. Their mascot is the lion. The school was constructed in 1910 and has a student population of about 270. Their official website states “The school is named after a 19th-century farm girl who was born on Feb. 28, 1897 who eventually became a teacher and established the first women’s college-Mount Holyoke-in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Mary Lyon Elementary was originally a one-room, wooden portable and has developed into a brick and stucco structure with 18 classrooms, along with classrooms in adjoining portables that were added to accommodate Lyon’s population growth.”

A photograph of the building as it appeared in 1924 can be found here:

http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1image.asp?j=1&o=4&n=6743&i=4814#text

Over the years, the building has had extensive renovation, as can be readily seen when comparing the historic photo from Tacoma Public Library to the new photograph.

Franklin School, under 300 students

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Tacoma Public School has announced that it may close schools in order to save money. Foss is the high school they are considering and elementary schools with less than 300 students are also possibilities. These elementary schools are Franklin, Lyon, Roosevelt, Stanley, McKinley, Wainwright and Geiger. Geiger has had a program change and has been taken off the table. I thought over the next week or so, I’d take photographs of the mentioned schools and use them as my new places of the day.

Read more about possible school closures at : http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/01/19/1509242/foss-students-fret-over-possible.html#ixzz1Bn2OnEp6

Today’s school is Franklin Elementary at 1402 South Lawrence Street. Their mascot is a panther. I’m sure when they constructed this school in 1998, nobody pictured it possibly closing in 2011.  They educate just under 300 students.

Roosevelt Elementary, under 300 students

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 Tacoma Public School has announced that it may close schools in order to save money. Foss is the high school they are considering and elementary schools with less than 300 students are also possibilities. These elementary schools are Franklin, Lyon, Roosevelt, Stanley, McKinley, Wainwright and Geiger. Geiger has had a program change and has been taken off the table. I thought over the next week or so, I’d take photographs of the mentioned schools and use them as my new places of the day.

Read more about possible school closures at : http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/01/19/1509242/foss-students-fret-over-possible.html#ixzz1Bn2OnEp6

Today’s school is Roosevelt Elementary School at 3550 E. Roosevelt Ave in Tacoma’s Eastside. Their school mascot is the Ram. Information provided by the Tacoma Public Library says the original school building was constructed in 1904 and later sold and moved to make way for the “new” building named in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt. The 1921 date can be seen clearly on the two columns on either side of the entrance. The building had major renovation, in fact looks like an entirely different building with the exception of the columns. Here is a photograph of the 1921 building

http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1image.asp?j=4&o=4&n=24285&i=4828#text