Merging fire departments in UP and Lakewood
Lakewood residents were voting overwhelmingly to dissolve their 70-year-old fire district and merge with the University Place Fire Department, according to preliminary returns tonight. If approved, West Pierce Fire & Rescue would become operational March 1. via blog.thenewstribune.com I’m disappointed about the Pierce Transit results tonight, but I do like these vote results. This is a great example of how cross-municipal governments can often do better working regionally than working alone. There are often real difficulties in getting these things to happen. But here it looks like the plan was well thought out and with each municipality already having the Read more…
We are a world of readers … McSweeney’s on global literacy
At the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787, nearly 60 percent of about 3 million American adults could read1 but in the following 19th and 20th centuries, literacy rates in America grew rapidly. In 1870, almost 80 percent of 38.5 million Americans were literate and by 1940, almost 95 percent of 131 million citizens could read. Now, nearly 294 million Americans of about 300 million are literate and most children can read by the time they’re six or seven. According to the Census Bureau, 25-34 year-olds are now the best educated group of Americans: nearly 58 percent have some Read more…
I know I’m late to the party but I saw 127 Hours this weekend. Really impressed with it. Good flick!
A writing update
As I said before, The Marinara Murders is simmering in a drawer, waiting for me to pull it out and edit it. If all goes as planned, that will be next Saturday, where I try to read the book all in one sitting. I'm very excited to re-read it and see how I did, but in order to know that, I need some distance from it (which is why I've waiting more than 7 weeks since I finished it. But I've also decided that the best way to get a little distance from the book is to start the next Read more…
Abandoned Lake Shore Drive
via chicagotribune.com Ok, that’s a lot of snow.
Just getting back from snowshoeing at Paradise. A really fun day!
See the full gallery on Posterous
Why we need a strong Pierce Transit
In case you haven't noticed, gas prices are up almost $0.40/gallon over this time last year. And it's possible that they will reach the same level as the summer of 2008. If you remember back to that summer, people turned to the bus in record numbers. And then in September the collapse of sales tax meant that right when people needed transit the most, Pierce Transit had to cut service. If we don't pass the sales tax for Pierce Transit in two weeks, we might be looking at the same scenario only much, much worse. Gas prices will be near Read more…
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