Lakewood is in the news again – mentioned in an August 16, 2016 Editorial Opinion of the Tacoma News Tribune – for having created buffers surrounding children in public parks to distance them from obnoxious adult behavior, i.e. smoking. Unlike the Fife City Council whose members voted 4-2 earlier this month to ban “all tobacco […]
To Know
Westside Story – KUDOS To City of Lakewood
During the past several months I have suffered from the pain of writing numerous articles critical of an idea promoted and passed by our city council, the Rental Registration & Safety Inspection Program (RRSIP). I strongly support the concept that each of us should be as diligent with our compliments as we are with our […]
Letter: Lakewood’s RIP, a glorified ‘HOA from hell’?
“Home associations that once protected residents now prey on them,” read the August 3, 2016 headline in the Kansas City Star. Author Judy L. Thomas describes some of the highlights – or perhaps more appropriately the lowlights – of home associations gone bad.
Letter: What’s in a name?
The French have a proverb: “Bonne renommee vaut mieux que ceinture doree.” Loosely translated the meaning is, “A good name is better than gold.” A good name. Is that a never-rock-the-boat name? An accept-the-status-quo name? An aversion to calling-power-to-account name? A go-along-to-get-along name?
Letter: Rental laws analogous to ‘Soviet-style regulations’
“The current wave of regulations being considered . . . (among them) telling landlords who they must rent their property to . . .” leads Shiftwa.org (Aug.22, 2016) to conclude Seattle’s “liberal leaders’ ‘progressive’ reforms are becoming synonymous with Soviet-style regulations.” With its Rental Inspection Program (RIP), Ordinance 644, passed 6-1 August 1, 2016, Lakewood’s […]
Letter: Clawing their way toward profits
The claw hovers over the cute little stuffed toy hamster. Descending via joy-stick control, the claw pinchers close around the hamster’s head, snatching him away from his friends, fetching him closer and closer to dangle over the chute serving as the exit that will permanently extricate him from his enclosed glass prison to enter a […]
Letter: Heads I win, tails you lose
It’s a game I sometimes play with groups of youth: flipping a coin after announcing the rules – ‘heads I win, tails you lose.’ Hand after hand goes up to win the quarter (nickel, dime, penny, whatever I have in my pocket). Nobody ever wins, only me.
Letter: Is Lakewood’s Rental Inspection Program (RIP) subject to referendum?
Yes. Three reasons. Reason #1: Lakewood’s rental inspection program does not appear to be included in the list of exceptions.
LPD’s Gang Unit to speak at Tillicum meeting, Aug. 4
The Gang Unit of the Lakewood Police Department will be the featured presentation at the Thursday, August 4, 2016 (6:30 P.M.) meeting of the Tillicum Woodbrook Neighborhood Association. The meeting will take place at the Tillicum Community Center, 14916 Washington Ave. SW. Learn more from the Association’s newsletter.