Tacoma Weekly

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FREE s Friday, July 20, 2012

PNW RETURNS

CANOE JOURNEY A4

GAY WEDDING CHAPEL C1

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TACOMAWEEKLY 24 YE A R S O F SE R V I C E BE C A U S E CO M M U N I T Y MAT T E R S

ELKS BREAK GROUND ON NEW CENTER By Steve Dunkelberger

stevedunkel@tacomaweekly.com

E

RENDERING COURTESY OF TACOMA ELKS LODGE #174

COMING SOON. Tacoma Elks #174 held a ground breaking gala for its club house and public restaurant at the Allenmore Golf Course last week. Pictured above is a rendering of the new facility.

lks Lodge #174 began a new chapter in its storied history in Tacoma last week with the groundbreaking of its new lodge and restaurant complex on the Allenmore Golf Course property it owns. The former lodge along nearby Union Avenue is set to be reduced to rubble later this month following its sale this spring to a developer set to build a WalMart on the site. The Elks sold the five-parcel Union Avenue property for $12.2 million in May to Jeffrey Oliphant and his Allenmore Medical Investors, LLC. The 18-acre sale allows the Elks to downsize from an aging facility that once housed 10,000 members to fit the needs of its current, 2,200-member roster See ELKS / page A6

NEW TRAILS, DOG PARK AND MORE GREET RESIDENTS AT IMPROVED WAPATO PARK

PHOTO BY STEVE DUNKELBERGER

NOSE FOR ART. Leroy, the card-

board canine that guards Tacoma Art Museum’s entryway, will soon have company with the addition of a wing dedicated to the Haub family donation of American West artworks.

Haub donation springboards TAM to top-tier status By Steve Dunkelberger stevedunkel@tacomaweekly.com

The donation of some 280 pieces of art from the Western American art collection gathered by Erivan and Helga Haub to Tacoma Art Museum launches the local museum into the top rungs of the American art world. “There are always great moments in the history of a museum,” said museum Director Stephanie Stebich. “This is one of those wonderful moments. This is a moment. This is a transformative moment for us and for Tacoma.” The Haubs’ donated Western American art collection provides the artistic depth and breadth that now puts TAM, in one swoop, among the top dozen museums of its kind in the nation. Haub is a German billionaire with business and personal ties to Tacoma, where three of his sons were born Stebich said, noting that the Haub family has long supported TAM and its efforts through the years. The donation also comes with a sizable contribution to the museum’s $15 million capital campaign that will essentially double the gallery space with an addition of some 15,000 square feet of new space on land between the museum and the federal courthouse in the former Union Station next door. Work on the new wing is being folded into the museum’s renovation plans that also include the plaza. Designs are underway by Seattle See MUSEUM / page A8

Tarnished legacy A5

CHALLENGED: Incumbent faces four challengers in race for county assessor/treasurer. PAGE A7

PHOTOS BY JOHN LARSON

NEW AND IMPROVED. The renovated pavilion has a nice view of the nearby lake. (Left) Visitors to the dog park

on July 14 put their pups through the paces on an obstacle course, while children (Right) enjoyed the new playground equipment. By John Larson jlarson@tacomaweekly.com

Wapato Park is a much better place now with completion of $4.6 million worth of improvements. Area residents gathered at the South Tacoma park on July 14 for a celebration of the finish of the projects. Improvements to the park were largely funded with $2 million from a bond measure approved by voters in 2005. This put Metro Parks in a position to obtain matching grants for land acquisition, water quality improvements and water access totaling $728,000. These funds made it possible to purchase and demolish two private homes within the park’s footprint. The reason there were houses in the park is that the area was developed before Metro Parks was established. R.A. Radebaugh, an early settler in South Tacoma and owner of the Tacoma Ledger news-

“Most of the improvements were geared toward helping the lake surive.” – Joe Lonergan, Tacoma City Council paper, purchased more than 300 acres in this area. He wished to create a desirable residential district and a park. His Wapato Lake Park opened to the public in 1889. Like many other prominent Tacoma businessmen, Radebaugh did not fare well during a major recession in the 1890s. He lost most of his property here, but the lake continued to be a popular recreation area. Shortly after Metro Parks was created in 1907, Tacoma residents began requesting Wapato Lake be added to the park system. In 1920 Horace and Helen Scott donated 20 acres of lakefront property,

Big shots B1

Local News ..............A2 City Briefs................A3

which was the beginning of Wapato Park. Demolishing the last two houses allowed for the installation of a path nearly a mile long around the lake. A short distance away, a fully fenced dog park was established. It is split into two sections, one for dogs under 25 pounds and the other for dogs above that weight. The first phase began in 2006 with a restoration of the pavilion that cost about $1 million. It had been damaged in an arson fire. Insurance covered the majority of the cost to renovate the historic structure. See PARK / page A8

Soccer playoffs B2

Sports ......................B1 A&E ....................... ..C1

Java drama C3

Make A Scene ........C5 Calendar .................C6

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