News and Notes - Glimpse the Future
When you walk beyond the fence, there’s no doubt you’re in a construction site. Equipment seems to be everywhere, and work lamps illuminate exposed plumbing in unfinished rooms with concrete floors. Hard hats are a must, and it’s best to watch your step.
But there are walls, there is a roof, and there is no doubt that after years of planning, pulling and pushing, this place has become real, built as much out of determination as concrete, glass and steel. It’s called
Eastside Community Center.
I took a tour on Friday afternoon several weeks ago with Ben Foster, the center’s future supervisor. We explored the pool (concrete, no water yet),
recording studio (wires ready to go in),
indoor slide from the second floor to the first (uninstalled),
gym (strips of wood flooring stacked and ready for installation) and other areas of the expansive soon-to-open center. I took short videos of Ben pointing out features that only a few months ago had to be imagined.
It’s one thing to see a big idea on paper, and another to walk through that big idea’s doors and experience it firsthand. With good planning, the initial ideas about a building’s uses will carry over into the actual structure. They did in this case; at Metro Parks many of us have talked for years about the pool, recording studio and other highlights. Exploring the center that day, it was easy to imagine people swimming in the pool, laying down the tracks of a future hit in the recording studio and barreling down the indoor slide.
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Districtwide improvements
Eastside Community Center is one of the biggest projects funded by the voter-approved 2014 Parks & Zoo Bond. There are many others, and you can get regular updates on their status by visiting the
Metro Parks bond page. Like Eastside Community Center, many have moved from idea to completion or near-completion in the past four years, usually with the help of additional funding partners, including state and federal grants.
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Michael Thompson is
public information manager
of Metro Parks Tacoma. Contact
him at (253) 305-1092 or
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Making the most of your tax dollars
A message from Park Board Commissioner Tim Reid
Four years ago, voters approved a record $198 million bond issue to pay for capital improvements throughout the Metropolitan Park District of Tacoma. But the real investment district residents are getting isn’t $198 million. It’s more like $265 million, and counting.
How’s that again?
Metro Parks doesn’t like to go it alone when it comes to community investment. Instead, your park district combines its financial resources with those of other government partners, nonprofits, foundations, donors and other entities. The result is more investment in your community than the 2014 bond alone would bring.
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Tim Reid has been a member of the Metro Parks Tacoma Board of Commissioners since 1995.
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Capital Improvement Projects
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Capital Improvement Projects
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Teens practice environmental stewardship in Tacoma parks, at Mount Rainier
Metro Parks Tacoma, Mount Rainier National Park and the nonprofit Northwest Youth Corps are again jointly sponsoring Sound to Summit (S2S), a work experience project modeled after the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps.
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Video: Behind the Scenes with Caribou Calves
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Caribou calves join bison and elk calves and a lamb in the free-roaming area
No Northwest summer is complete without a visit to Northwest Trek Wildlife Park to see all of the baby animals. And things just got a whole lot cuter...
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Point Defiance Park
This postcard from 1946 shows the ASARCO copper smelter and its slag peninsula. More than 70 years later, the old smelter site has been turned into Point Ruston, while Metro Parks is turning the peninsula into 11 acres of new recreation space named Dune Peninsula. Dune Peninsula will become a safe space for bicycling, running and taking in gorgeous views. A pedestrian bridge called Wilson Way will connect it to the rest of Point Defiance Park and to Ruston Way.
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Upcoming Events & Public Meetings
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Tuesday, July 24
Wednesday, July 25
Thursday, July 26
Friday, July 27
Saturday, July 28
Sunday, July 29
Tuesday, July 31
Wednesday, August 1
Thursday, August 2
Friday, August 3
Saturday, August 4
Sunday, August 5
Tuesday, August 7
Thursday, August 9
Friday, August 10
Saturday, August 11
Sunday, August 12
Thursday, August 16
Friday, August 17
Saturday, August 18
Sunday, August 19
Monday, August 20
Wednesday, August 22
Thursday, August 23
Friday, August 24
Saturday, August 25
Sunday, August 26
Thursday, August 30
Friday, August 31
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PUBLIC MEETINGS
Board of Park Commissioners Meeting
Monday, August 13 & 27
6:00 pm
Capital Improvement Committee
Wednesday, July 25
Wednesday, August 15 & 29
5:00 pm
Committee of the Whole
Monday, July 30
Monday, August 20
5:30 pm
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Metro Parks Tacoma | (253) 305-1030 | metroparkstacoma.org
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