The Melon» Chris Van Vechten

Pierce County Arts Commission Turns 25

Chris Van Vechten — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:00:40 +0000

On Thursday, June 3^rd, The Pierce County Arts Commission will celebrate its 25^th Anniversary. Though it may all but be defunded (currently facing a proposed budget for 2011 that will comprise a mere 10% of the funds it received in the year 2000, effectively ending Artist-in-Residence programs in Pierce County Schools and annual community grants to deserving Pierce County non-profits) the commissioners have nevertheless decided to celebrate yet one more year of public funding for the arts – at least in theory, if nothing else.

Therefore, Commission President Bonnie Egbert is organizing an awards ceremony – using funds from the commissioners’ personal bank accounts, to honor some of the individuals and organization that over the past 25 years played a crucial role in the rise of Pierce County’s cultural economy. Dubbed, The President’s Awards, the recipients include: Pierce County Councilwoman Barbara Gelman (A Founding Member of PCAC), Elida Kirk Lathrop (PCAC’s first president), Arts Downtown (Puyallup’s Outdoor Gallery) and more.

Artists and Arts Advocates who have already RSVPed include: Tacoma Sculptor Larry Anderson (whose works can be seen at places like Slovonia Hall, Fireman’s Park and Union Station), Melanie Kirk Stauffer (Vice Chair Dance Theatre Northwest), Judy White (President of Arts Downtown) and Becky Condra (Chair of Valley Arts United).

The Ceremony will be held at 3602 Pacific Avenue, Suite 200 in Tacoma at 5:30. We would like to invite any and all interested members of the media to attend this very special occasion.

University Place Under Siege

Chris Van Vechten — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 22:26:39 +0000

For consecutive weeks now, the City Council of University Place has been the target of TEA Party (my description – not necessarily theirs) protests and ploys. These activist have at times filled the council chamber to capacity, dominated public comment, and – although I have not personally witnessed it – reportedly threatened elected members once the camera goes off.

Their aim is to derail possible attempts by the council to put levies on the ballot – levies that would provide for the maintenance of streets, to replenish a depleted police force, and to keep parks and recreations afloat. Some have openly stated that they would like to see the Cirque/Bridgeport Skate Park closed and paved over with cement – suggesting that the park represents an undeserved luxury for local youth and promotes unlawful behavior.

These activists believe that by dominating the discussion at council, they can convince those council members who remain on the fence that they speak for the majority of their community. This assertion is unlikely, given that University Place recently approved a school levy by a +60% majority.

Nevertheless, inside sources suggest that their weekly protests are proving effective, and that if more moderate members of the community don’t begin to attend and address the council immediately – UP residents could see a steep decline in terms of public services and general quality of life.

Key meetings will be held at City Hall on April 26, 27th and May 3rd to decide the fate of countless boards/commissions, parks and public services. I urge anyone living in UP to check the city’s calendar and compare it with their own to see if they are available to attend one of these upcoming meetings and share their thoughts on these proposed actions in a calm and constructive way. I also encourage anyone who is reading this to forward this article to their UP friends and spur a real debate: before it’s too late.

A Democratic Approach to Preserving History

Chris Van Vechten — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:00:25 +0000

Last night I received the following email from Historic Tacoma.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation in partnership with American Express has chosen 25 historic properties in the Seattle-Puget Sound area to compete for $1 million in preservation grants. Of those 25 properties, two are located in Tacoma, the Spanish Steps and westside’s Titlow Park Lodge. Sites in Pierce County include the Anderson Island Historical Society’s Johnson Farm; the Orting Soldiers Home, Garfield Hall; and Skansie Brothers Net Shed in Gig Harbor. How can you help assure that these funds come to Tacoma and Pierce County? You can VOTE! Just go to www.partnersinpreservation.org where you can vote for one project each day from April 15th through May 12. Not only can you vote, you can forward this information to friends, family and co-workers or post it on your Facebook page and encourage them to vote. Not only will your vote inform the overall grant making process, but the top vote recipient is guaranteed to have their project funded; a number of the other 25 properties will receive some level of funding. You can learn more about the process on the Partners in Preservation Website….Historic Tacoma encourages you to VOTE for funding for these Pierce County projects and to help spread the word by encouraging others to vote too.

The criteria that determined how these historical sites were selected for this process is explained here.

Several hours after casting my first vote and I still find myself stuggling with the concept of assigning significance to a historic place based upon the contemporary sentiments of the modern majority. Granted, that’s not what Partners In Preservation is advocating – all of these sites are already winners for having made it onto the ballot and this election will not, in itself, determine anything beyond a “grant” to the most popular place. Nevertheless, it would certainly seem absurd if the National Parks Department, in the face of declining revenue, were to hold an online election asking citizens to vote for their favorite national treasure to ensure funding.

Imagine being asked to dissect and then appraise the historical significance of Pearl Harbor relative to Gettysburg. Then again, by offering this very analogy I betray my own message and reveal that in fact I have already placed greater value in Pearl Harbor and Gettysburg as historical landmarks than Tacoma’s Spanish Steps or the 5th Avenue Theatre. In the end, perhaps I’m really just full of myself, and this whole article is just about me trying to fill space on The Melon.

Still, the fact that after two days of voting only one Pierce County historical site - the Skansie Brothers Net Shed – has climbed its way into a top-ten ranking suggest to me that something about this process is sacrilegious.

Ideas Not Pitched at Last Night’s NENC Meeting

Chris Van Vechten — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 01:43:10 +0000

1) On North 11th and Cedar there is a stop sign in front of a roundabout. A few blocks North on Cedar there is a second roundabout at a similar four-way intersection without a stop sign. This is ridiculous. This is unnecessary. And this is something the city shouldn’t have to trouble itself with. I propose we ask for permission to chop down said stop sign at North 10th and Cedar and recycle the contents.

My former residence. We spent the majority of the Fall of 2009 and much of the winter with this hole in our ceiling.

2) Despite its relative wealth, Tacoma’s North End has long been blighted by slumlords, particularly around the University of Puget Sound. I have rented several apartments with hallways that stank of cat pee, lacked adequate ventilation, featured uncertain staircases and lacked locks on the doors. I have also stayed in mold-infested homes and even had a landlord who allowed a 40 year old roof to go untreated so that a 4 by 1 foot hole developed in the ceiling which allowed rainwater to leak in from October through January.

In my experience, the people who live in these North End homes/apartments are disproportionately single-parent families, immigrants, seniors and the disabled. They often lack the resources to investigate their rights (which, truth be told, are more limited than most people believe anyway) or are too poor to explore better options.

This issue is incredibly complex and requires multiple actions, but one small step the NENC could take is to allocate funds for a targeted informational pamphlet outlining the basic legal rights of tenants and whatever community/nonprofit resources are available to them when those rights are violated.

3) Tacoma needs a Burgerville. It’s a Northwest fast food chain with locations stretching North from Salem, OR to Centralia, WA. Burgerville uses only local organic ingredients to produce quality seasonal dishes and combo meals at prices that are only slightly higher than McDonalds. Burgerville restaurants are powered exclusively via wind power credits; the bulk of the cups, food wrappers and other non-edible products they produce are mostly recycled or used as compost; and all Burgerville employees are provided with healthcare.

Burgerville was exploring opportunities in the Puget Sound region prior to the crash of 2008. The NENC could draft a formal endorsement of their business and its future intentions to invest in the region. Mark my words, if we don’t do this, Seattle will.

The stupid stop sign

Tacoma Water Calls for New Conservation Goal!

Chris Van Vechten — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:12:58 +0000

This just in……

Tacoma Water is developing a new water conservation goal that will affect the types of conservation programs we offer our customers for the next seven years. As part of this process, we want to know what you think about water conservation and the types of programs we should offer.

To gather input we have developed a short online survey. The results of the survey will be used to design a draft conservation goal, which we will present at a public meeting in the spring. Please assist us by taking our survey at www.tacomawater.com/watergoals. Please be advised that the survey will close March 19.

If you would like more information about the water conservation program and our offerings, please contact us at 502-8723 or visit our webpage at http://www.mytpu.org/tacomawater/conserve-water/water-conservation/Default.htm.

Thank you very much for your time.

Daniel L. Muir
Water Conservation Supervisor
Tacoma Water
3628 S. 35th Street
Tacoma, WA 98409
253-502-8191

Renaming Washington

Chris Van Vechten — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:00:56 +0000

It may be political suicide for me to say this, but when I forget to take my adderall I lose all fear of such things. I’ve been saying it for years, as a name “Washington” is the least creative nom de guerre awarded to any state in our union.

Aside from the obvious fact that our state shares its name with the nation’s capitol (consequently leading to unnecessary confusion across the heartland) our state lacks any of the indigenous flavor that peppers our neighbors. States christened in native tongues include: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North/South Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

Other states were named by explorers who found something unique about the land, it’s climate, or people. These include: Colorado (from the spanish, “ruddy” or “red”), Florida (from the spanish Pascua Florida, meaning “feast of flowers” (Easter)), Maine (used to distinguish the mainland from the offshore islands), Montana (from the spanish word meaning “mountain.”), Nevada (spanish for “Snow-Capped”), Vermont (after the french “vert mont,” meaning “green mountain”)

A few were named after similar places. These include: New Hampshire (From the English county of Hampshire) New Jersey (from the English island of Jersey), New Mexico (you guessed it) and New York (after the English city of York), Rhode Island (after the Greek island of Rhodes)

Finally, there are states whose names were derived from the imaginations of Europe’s most popular writers, like California and Indiana; and states with names whose origins remain a complete mystery to linguists and historians alike. These include: Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho and Oregon.

True, a few states were named to honor certain individuals – but that was usually accomplished by adding an “a” at the end of the name: Georiga (after England’s king Georgia II), Louisiana (in honor of Louis XIV of France), Maryland (in honor of Henrietta Maria (queen of Charles I of England), North/South Carolina (in honor of Charles I of England), Pennsylvania (in honor of Adm. Sir William Penn), Virginia/West Virginia (after Queen Elizabeth).

Washington remains the only state named after a president and that president is usually ranked second to Lincoln in the public’s esteem.

So I vote we change our name to something more appropriate and fitting of this great land we call home. I have a list of suggestions and will be accepting more as the days and weeks go by before asking you – The Melon’s loyal readership – to vote on which name you like best. We will then draft a proposal to the state legislature asking our elected leadership to adopt legislation to formally change the name of our state (a first in United States history). In 2010, The Melon will endorse only those candidates who agree to change the name from Washington to our newly endorsed alternative. (We would have settled for a pledge to introduce a flat income tax but that seems unrealistic.) The following is my brief list of alternatives.

1) North Oregon

2) West Idaho

3) New Canada

4) American Columbia

5) Cascadia

6) Salmonia

7) Seatacolycane (Seattle -Tacoma -Olympia-Spokane)

8) Clevelend’s Folly

9) Middle Earth

10) Altruria

11) Ecotopia

12) Camelot

13) Wankalupa

14) Aquaterra (water land)

15) Verdeterra (green land)

16) Washingtonia

17) Skoocoom (lummi for “supernatural”)

18) Sasquatch

19) Holistic

You may vote for any of these or suggest your own. The top 10 will be funneled into a poll until we reach the final name.

ARTS UPDATE 1/15/2010

Chris Van Vechten — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:26:37 +0000

It’s been a long time since my last arts update. In that time, the Pierce County Arts Commission held its annual Margret K Williams awards and doled out around $30,000 worth of community grants. Among the many programs we supported I was particularly proud to have played a leading role in securing funding for both Lincoln Center and First Creek Middle School to provide in-depth personalized arts education to underprivileged youth – but I failed to deprive the Pierce County Library System of funding for a short story contest. The library wanted the money to hire professional judges to select winning short stories and poems which the gifted authors could then purchase in published book form for a fee. I don’t recall how much exactly said fee was but it was considerable and led me to believe that this was more about securing business for vanity presses than anything else.

And so, I heroically – and publicly – declared to my fellow commissioners that the Pierce County Library was out to screw us and the children we support. Ironically, though in hind-sight predictably, I was met with extreme hostility and when the votes were tallied – it was 9 to 1 in favor of giving the Pierce County Library System the maximum allocation allowed. In the future, when I’m against something, I’ll just keep my mouth shut and emphasize the greatness of other programs so that non-priorities like poetry contests will walk away with a $500 pat on the back and nothing more.

The consultants from Wolf Brown that were hired some months back have developed an outline of Findings and Questions as part of their cultural planning process which has been in effect since October of 2009.

Of all these questions, the one that sticks out to me the most appears in Sec 4, paragraph D, line 3. It reads: “Are there particular approaches that can bolster vibrant but fragile entrepreneurial efforts or small arts and heritage groups?”

R.R. Anderson Fails to Secure Appointment…now what!!!

Chris Van Vechten — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:25:44 +0000

It’s official. The first round of tryouts is over and none of my top picks made it into the top 8 (for the record, they were Julio Quan and Jim Merritt). There were few surprises (Spoiler Alert: Ryan Mello and Rick Talbert have been slated to fill the positions from day 1). But then again, no matter who had been selected charges of cronyism were inevitable.

Even before Julie Anderson, Marilyn Strickland and Victoria Woodards had won their respective races there were those encouraging me to tryout for one of their seats. I declined because:

1) My lack of experience makes me unqualified to fill those positions.

2) I’m a married man now, which – like it or not – makes politics more difficult (notice that neither Julie, Victoria or Marilyn have “taken the plunge” yet – although Strickland’s time is coming). Politics takes time and money – I now want to be a homeowner and am thus focusing my efforts elsewhere.

3) And FINALLY – I would be unbelievably self-conscious and timid if I was appointed to any elected office because I would not be able to speak with the authority that comes from being backed by the people.

Which leads me to my greater point – we need some sort of charter amendment forbidding those appointed to hold elected office to run to retain that seat. These people are place holders who should be selected specifically because they lack grand political ambitions. They should be wonks, not hacks.

Don’t get me wrong – I’ve known Ryan Mello for years. He works hard, holds to a progressive agenda, and would be an outstanding city/county councilman or state legislator. (I don’t know Rick Talbert so I’ll leave him out of this.) Nevertheless, the appointment process dilutes the democratic process into an insider’s game. There’s no way it can be done fairly without compromising the credibility of the system.

Tacoma’s Tops of 2009

Chris Van Vechten — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 01:33:13 +0000

TOP NEWS STORIES

#1 LAKEWOOD POLICE OFFICER SHOOTINGS

#2 THE RISE AND FALL OF JUDGE HECHT

#3 MARILYN STRICKLAND ELECTED MAYOR OF TACOMA

#4 RCV REPEALED IN PIERCE COUNTY

#5 SAMI and FIRST CREEK open doors and minds

#6 RUSSELL LEAVES TACOMA FOR SEATTLE

#7 QANNIK THE PDZ BELUGA DIES but BALI THE TIGER MOVES IN

#8 TPS SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER CONNIE RICKMAN ELIMINATED IN RECORD-BREAKING 6-WAY PRIMARY

TOP TACOMA PERSONALITIES OF 2009

#1 R.R. Anderson

#2 Victoria Woodards

#3 Marty Campbell

#4 Jim Merritt

MOST MISSED TACOMAN

#1 Elliot Trotter

Close Second is Matt Stevens

Hill Announces Candidacies!

Chris Van Vechten — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:49:48 +0000

The venerable state-master Robert (Jessie) Hussein Ivanovitch Santa Dela Vega Hill announced his candidacy today (Nov 3) for the following races: re-election in 2010 to his position as a 27th LD precinct committee officer; Tacoma City Council position #7 (currently held by Julie Anderson as of the drafting this post) in 2010 and 2011; and for Pierce County Sheriff in 2012.

Melonites may remember that Mr. Hill ran against Mr. Pastor in 2012 in a 3-way IRV race in which Hill finished second after outspending his opponent (somewhere around $36K). Shortly after the election, Hill was arrested after insinuating that Pastor was in physical danger on a broadcast episode of Equal Time Radio. In fact, Hill claimed that god was angry with Pastor and was about to strike him down. Hill also ran against Anderson before in 2007.

Since losing his 2008 bid for Sheriff, Hill has undergone forced treatment at Western State Hospital, run (unsuccessfully) for chair of the Pierce County Democratic Party, made it onto the FBI’s “Who’s Who” terror watch list, been ejected from an airplane in New Jersey by a federal sky martial etc. In short, Hill’s antics have become a staple of The Melon, inspiring modestly priced t-shirts and even an ongoing series called “Hill Watch.”

While Hill has yet to outline any sort of platform for his pending races, his strong finish in 2008 clearly seems to have inspired a second run for Sheriff. His PCO race is merely intended to provide him with access to democratic resources and his 2010/2011 bid is clearly intend to keep his name on the ballot and in the minds of the voters in 2012.