Joyce Community Center Plans

Mayor Hopkins provided this update on the town's plans for the new community center space (the former sales center for The Commencement). Many of amenities and appliances will be donated to the town by The Commencement and reused to enhance the new community center. Here are the current plans from the mayor. We'll get photos posted as the work progresses.
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I am attempting to round up a plumber and electrician in an attempt to make the kitchen and bathroom functional. The Commencement is currently having their engineers review the load on the wall where the kitchen currently sits. The plan is to move the kitchen and all the fixtures (donated by The Commencement) into the northeast corner of what used to be the bedroom. The kitchen island will move into the former bedroom as well.

Then the wall that currently has the kitchen against it will be removed – leaving us with an open meeting area. The double doors will be moved to seal off where the former bedroom – now our kitchen – will be. That way during meetings or events the kitchen can be sealed off from the meeting room. They will be leaving the gas fireplace that would be wonderful to get plumbed and vented. The wall that currently hides the stage will we removed and the storage areas to the east will remain for storage of tables & chairs etc…

We are hoping to have everything completed and ready for us by the end of July. This is going to be a first class meeting facility and the possibilities for the space are endless.

The Commencement Grand Opening

The first unit at The Commencement condominium project has been completed. It will used as a sales center for the time being. The the new location should be up and running in the next week or so. The condo management and the town have reached agreement on turning over the former sales center in the school building to Ruston for use as a community center. I'll get more details on the town's plans for that space soon.

A grand opening celebration was held last Thursday, complete with live music. Two hundred guests came in to look at the luxurious finishings, gorgeous views and meet potential new neighbors.

The whole project is due for completion by the end of summer. So far, 14 units are sold and should start closing by early August. After lots of battles, the end is sight. We will soon be expanding our community, just a precursor to more growth already in progress at Point Ruston and Stack Hill.

Welcome to all!

Post-Taste Clean Up

Over a dozen folks helped clean up Ruston streets last night as darkness fell. Most helpers commented that the town seemed cleaner than in years past, but there were still several bags of garbage gathered and deposited behind town hall. Local seniors baked goodies as a reward for the workers.

It was a great feeling of community - a chance to say hi and feel like you made a difference. I have to admit, trash collection can be addicting. On the way home, my daughter and I could not walk past any garbage on the ground. We came down Pearl Street (which had not been cleaned up yet).

Having already deposited our garbage bags, we collected quite a handful. A woman we didn't know noticed us from her yard as she was heading in from the store. She not only gave us her shopping bag for our garbage, she offered us a Klondike bar. Just another example of how community connections are built and the value living in a small town.

Karen


Sherri Forch, organizer of the baked goods

Lynette Hopkins (Mayor Bruce in the background) and their other "child"

Some of the goodies you missed out on if you didn't attend!

Excitement At The Taste

Ruston saw two major incidents this year as the Taste was winding down. The News Tribune has details about an accident that sent a car into the building at 50th and Pearl. It appears injuries were not life-threatening, but a pretty spectacular scene. Sorry for the poor picture quality, I'm not too good with my phone camera...

A few hours before, a high speed chase ended in Ruston. It started along Ruston Way when a car decided to try to ram a Tacoma police cruiser. The chase came through the tunnel and Ruston police were able to get a device onto the road that took out some of the tires on the car as it sped down Winnifred. The entrance to the parking lot had been cleared at 54th, but since the road was blocked the vehicle turned east on 54th. The car stopped shortly after turning onto Bennett and the driver was arrested.

Another interesting weekend in town! More on the post-Taste clean up fun later.

Life In The Big City

The News Tribune recap of the Tacoma police activity has some interesting notes for the area around Ruston, including more harrasment at Point Ruston. Read details here.....

Business License Required

If you are planning on making a few extra bucks this weekend parking cars in your yard, you'd better get to Town Hall tomorrow. Business licences are required for anyone charging for parking during the Taste of Tacoma.

In addition, you cannot allow cars to drive over the curb to access the yard since this causes damage. Homeowners will be responsible to pay for any repairs. The police will be enforcing these rules, so be prepared.

Let the weekend festivities begin!

Reasons Wendell Withdrew

I ask former Council Member Mike Wendell, who had filed for election for this fall, why he decided to withdraw his name. Here is Mike's response:

On the 10th on this month I had my second surgery on my spine. My first was last July on the 3rd of 08. One month later, on my first day back to work on I-5, I was hit from the rear end quite severely while at a dead stop. This fouled up my back even worse and hence the need for another spine surgery, the one on the 10th of this month.

I registered for position #4 just before this last surgery, thinking I would be up for the task. Then, just prior to this latest surgery I had a discussion with my surgeon and we decided that to effectively campaign for the position I would be putting the healing process of my surgery in severe jeopardy.

That is the main reason I backed out, but there is another. Jane Hunt has changed considerably since I was on the council looking out, and she was Joe citizen looking in. I guess, as you must know, there really are two sides to every political situation, and after some time on the council, she to has figured this out. Anyway she is not so bad now and at the moment I just don’t have it in me, maybe next time.

Oak Brothers Antiques

Oak Brothers Antiques sits next to Point Defiance Books on Pearl Street. Wendy Malovich and her husband Mike have operated out of this storefront for many years and are a regular feature to our business core. Besides having a unique niche selling his talents in bending glass for Tiffany-style lampshades and cabinet (recently featured in a News Tribune article here), you can stop in and visit Mike in his signature coveralls or pet one of Wendy's beloved cats. Check out their web site at OakBrothers.com.

Here are more details from Wendy:

About Oak Brothers Antiques. It all stated when Mike was working here refinishing furniture. In 1973 Mike got the opportunity to purchase the shop. We kept the business going until July of 1998 when the fire department requested that we do upgrades. We could not afford it so we decided since we both liked collecting things, me anything cats and Mike antique clocks, we decided we would open an antique store and rent display cases to people to sell their items that they no longer wanted.

It is 2009 and we are still here. Because of the economy business has been slow. A steady stream of regular customers keeps us going. Even though business is slow we have gotten to know many people and add new people to our list of friends every day. We have become a place to hang out. We don't have any plans to expand, we like the the feel of a small mom and pop type business.

I would like to see the district have out door sculptures that tie into the zoo theme and Fort Nisqually theme. I would like to see this area be more of a close knit community. Right now we are a community divided. There is Ruston and there is Tacoma. Even though we are two communities we are still known as the Ruston district or Ruston area.

The town of Ruston has events that I know nothing about. It would would be nice if Ruston would include the Tacoma side of the area. It would be nice to be known as a community that comes together rather than a community that is divided. It would be nice to have Christmas tree lightings and Halloween candy give aways put on by the business district that promotes coming together as one. It would would be nice to feel welcome by Ruston.

Missing Woman Found At Park

A bit of news out of Point Defiance Park this morning... a missing woman found in the water... read the News Tribune account here...

Point Defiance Books

As I have time, I want to introduce you to some of the local shops in our Ruston-Point Defiance Business District area. Not all will be business district members, but each one puts everything on the line to run a business at our doorstep. Stop in, say hello and spend a few dollars to support our local economy.

The feature today is on Point Defiance Books, aka Primary Source Books. Proprietor Jim Bennett has been a visible part of the storefront along our Pearl Street core for several years now. Jim is the current president of the Business District and gives much of his time to make our community better. Here are his answers to my questions:

1) When did you get started? What is your background prior to this business? I have my bachelor's from Central Washington and my master's in education from UPS. For 30 years I worked as a teacher and a middle school transition coordinator in the Tacoma District at the 8th grade level. I taught health, English and US history at Hunt and Jerry Meeker middle schools. I retired for health reasons in June of 2002. I began collecting books in the late 1960's.
2) Describe what your business is/does. I sell used, rare and out of print books focusing primarily on non-fiction and particularly US history, although I have a bit of everything except romance and modern travel guides.
3) What motivated you to open a business? Thinking to have a bookstore as a retirement business to augment my non-cost-of-living-adjustable pension I put together a catalog and advertised in publications such as American Heritage, American History Illustrated, Civil War Times, etc. in 1996-7. I broke even. I began selling on Ebay in 1998 and eventually ABEBOOKS.COM and ALIBRIS.COM as well as my own website: PRIMARYSOURCEBOOKS.COM. These were very profitable. After retirement I began looking for a place to open a 'brick and mortar' bookstore.
4) Why did you locate here? Well, honestly, my first choice was Proctor, but then Jerry Culpepper opened a shop a couple of years before I was ready to take the plunge. I decided the Ruston area showed promise. It was close to my home and I expected decent shopping traffic due to the antique stores and the Antique Sandwich Company. I felt that with the clean-up of the Asarco site the area would experience a boom as new development came in.
5) How would you describe your success? Quite frankly while the first couple of years were good, the last three have been tough, not only are in-store sales down, but also internet sales have suffered from the massive increase in online selling competition and the increasing fees the listing services charge.

What are your primary markets? My regulars tend to be folks from the North End, Ruston and Vashon ferry-riders. Online, the bulk of buyers are from New York, Washington DC, Virginia, Florida and California. I also sell at various specialty shows.

6) Any plans to expand or are you satisfied with your current operation? I am not satisfied with my current operation, but cannot afford to expand as originally planned until the economy picks up. Also, we are planning on moving to the Tri-Cities when my wife retires in a year or two. As of now, the business is no longer prosperous enough to pay for someone to manage it or to attract a buyer. I am planning on opening another store over there.

7) What has the business district done for your business and for the local businesses as a whole? What do you see as the primary goals for the district over the next year? I think the Ruston Business District has helped to make more folks aware of the shopping available here through the Music Fest and group advertising. Our participation in City of Tacoma tourism programs has brought more tourists through my doors. In fact, some of my biggest sales each year are to tourists who find my prices for rare and collectible books too good to pass up.
The biggest challenges for the district remains upgrading the appearance and pedestrian-friendliness of the area. We have a lot of auto traffic, but not many places where it is convenient to stop and park. In the next five years, it is unlikely that all of the current smaller businesses will remain as rising rents become too much for sales to support. A major challenge will be integrating the "new" Ruston center developing on the smelter site with the businesses of the "old" core centered at 51st and Pearl Streets. It may be that the "old" core will not be able to participate in the draw of the "new" center resulting in business along Pearl becoming relatively marginalized. Developing strategies to avoid this outcome will be important for long term success of these businesses.
8) Anything else you think folks would like to know? At present I am looking to buy books in nice shape in the areas of hunting/firearms, and American military and political history.