News and notes for this week

There are a few items of news and note for this week:

• Cars need to be removed from lower garage on Tuesday, 10/3
  Tuesday, 10/3 there will be a cleaning of the lower parking garage. Residents are asked to please have all vehicles removed from the garage by 8:00 a.m. They should be able to return to the garage by 1:00 p.m.

• City of Tacoma's plan for homeless
  Esplanade HOA board member Pete Cribbin recently attended a meeting regarding the city's plan for reducing the impacts of homelessness on citizens, businesses, and individuals experiencing homelessness. Pete was able to acquire the informational slide show used at the meeting to explain the city's plan; the slide show can be viewed HERE. Note that there is additional information in the notes below each slide.

• HOA board meeting minutes
  The official minutes from the September HOA board meeting are available on the Esplanade documents page (click HERE). In addition, minutes are also available for two recent executive session meetings of the board.

• Gas leak resolved quickly; lessons learned
  After a resident accidentally drilled into a gas line last Sunday, Building Manager Karen DeGraw was able to mobilize an extensive effort to restore hot water and gas to all units as soon as possible. After the situation was stable, Karen sent an email detailing lessons learned from the incident; the email can be viewed HERE.

• Bill Baarsma provides local history to Esplanade residents
  Former Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma spoke to residents last week as part of the Social Committee's "Speakers Series." All accounts were that the talk was both informative and entertaining. Residents with further interest in Tacoma History may want to investigate the Tacoma Historical Society's small museum at 919 Pacific Avenue, or explore their website at www.tacomahistory.org.

• New banners provide aesthetics
  Sharp-eyed residents may have noticed that the Foss Waterway Development Authority installed new banners on esplanade light poles this week:

• Praise for Rock the Dock
  And finally, a reader wrote in to this blog to offer some praise for the Rock the Dock Pub, saying, "As we were riding past the outside seating area the waitress noticed our Scotty riding in her new trailer behind my bike, and yelled happily that they were dog friendly. It was enough to make us stop and have a couple of pints and an order of their magnificent, fresh, hand-dipped onion rings." For a thorough review of Rock the Dock, take a look HERE, at Ted Broussard's review of the establishment from last February.