News and notes for this week

A few items of news and note for this week:

• Walk Tacoma begins Wednesday: "Walk Tacoma" is a series of guided, informational walks around downtown Tacoma. The walks are held every first Wednesday of the month, at various times and locations. The first walk is this Wednesday, April 6. Learn about Tacoma's historic schools on the 1.7 mile walk through Wright Park and the Stadium District, led by Dr. Garcia, Tacoma Public Schools, and Jonah Jensen, BLRB Architects. The walk, sponsored by Commencement Bank, will begin at the south side of Wright Park by the lion sculptures, at noon. For the complete schedule of walks, with times and meeting places, click HERE.

• Su Dowie follow-up: Su Dowie was present at the last HOA board meeting to answer questions and give information about developments on the Foss Waterway. Su is the Executive Director of the Foss Waterway Development Authority. After her visit, Su sent a follow-up email to Board President Debra Goodrich, providing some information that residents had requested at the meeting. Su wrote:
  
  "For homeless-related issues contact Positive Interactions at 253-382-2677 (funded by City of Tacoma and available after hours and weekends). For issues to be addressed by city services go to www.cityoftacoma.org and click on 'Tacoma First 311' at the banner on top of the home page. It will take you to a menu of items. Click on 'Make A Request' and an entire menu of items comes up. Can report graffiti, homeless issues, trash, street light out etc."

• Book Club rescheduled to next week: The book club has rescheduled its meeting from this week, to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 14 in the community room. The book for discussion this month is Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, by Timothy Egan. Do come whether you've completed the book or not. Wine and snacks are also on the agenda; feel free to bring something to share if you like. The books for the next four months are:
• May:  Paula McLain, Circling the Sun
• June:  David Mitchell, Slade House
• July:  Paul Theroux, Deep South
• August:  Gabrielle Zevin, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry

• Exit 133 says we will have another grocery store downtown: In case you missed it, the Exit 133 news blog reported last week on the development being called the "Tacoma Town Center." It's not as close to The Esplanade as City Grocery (aka "The Spaghetti Factory") was, but still, it would be just a stroll up the yet-to-be-completed Prairie Line Trail to get some milk and eggs. See the Exit 133 article HERE and even more fun stuff HERE. (Editorial comment: this is another project that falls into the "I'll believe it when I see it" category.)