I hope I\u2019m not the only one who\u2019s beside themselves with joy over the latest Kent City Council decision.<\/p>\n
At long last, the ShoWare Center will have a video marquee sign. Finally we\u2019re going to know, as we are driving down the street, what is going on in Kent\u2019s biggest sports and entertainment venue.<\/p>\n
When ShoWare went in, on taxpayer dollars, major signage was not part of the initial plan because of costs, although we do have state-of-the-art toilets. The sign was planned as a future investment.<\/p>\n
As I\u2019ve noted in a past column, that sign isn\u2019t just a sign: it\u2019s a sure-fire way to inform those of us who live in Kent just how far our nickel is going.<\/p>\n
Not to mention a way for the rest of humanity \u2013 to the tune of about 26,000 cars a day \u2013 to figure out what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n
The Council also found a way to do it without dipping into the city\u2019s general fund. The roughly $225,000 lighted edifice will come to us from lodging tax, a state measure which directs that 1 percent of city taxes collected on hotel rooms be used for tourism. The city\u2019s reserve fund from that 1 percent has built up to roughly the estimated cost of the sign. So it appears to be an easy call – the city needs to use those dollars for tourism-related investments anyway.<\/p>\n
Thanks to all those who kept this important element to the ShoWare Center on the front burner.<\/p>\n
Moving right along, I\u2019d like to introduce you to another topic, this one concerning a major demographic in Kent:<\/p>\n
Families struggling to make ends meet, and who are facing a new school year.<\/p>\n
Yes, that means backpacks and a small truckload of school supplies for most kids in our schools, and a hard time for parents who have been hit with the worst this recession has to offer.<\/p>\n
Kent\u2019s families need our help. And our local Kiwanis Club has an easy way for anyone who wants to hand a backpack stuffed with school supplies to an excited youngster.<\/p>\n
With help from Communities in Schools of Kent, and the Kent Food Bank, the Kiwanis will give away 400 backpacks full of supplies Aug. 30.<\/p>\n
You can drop off new school supplies at a variety of places in town, including our office at 19426 68th Ave. S. Needed are three-ring binders, notebook paper, folders, No. 2 pencils, pens, glue sticks and scissors, to name a few items. You also can donate money to the cause by sending checks made payable to CISK (Community Schools In Kent) to P.O. Box 62, Kent, WA 98035.<\/p>\n
Volunteers also are needed for a backpack-stuffing party Aug. 24.<\/p>\n
For more information, go to the Kiwanis Web site at www.thekiwanisclubofkent.org.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d also like to send out a tickler about a novel way the city of Kent is trying to get more folks to license their pets. Did you know that your pet license will be a required accoutrement starting Oct. 1? Funds from licenses are critical to the function of the regional animal-control organization, of which Kent is a part, and keeps city tax dollars at home.<\/p>\n
On Sept. 25, head to Kent Station for a pet-friendly event where you can license your pet, as well as participate with your dog or cat in a variety of activities: pet-owner lookalike competitions, a costumed pet parade, canine exhibitions and pet-food samples (not to mention people-food samples put out by local eateries.) I have the dubious honor of being a judge in some of these contests, so brace yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I hope I\u2019m not the only one who\u2019s beside themselves with joy over the latest Kent City Council decision.
\nAt long last, the ShoWare Center will have a video marquee sign. Finally we\u2019re going to know, as we are driving down the street, what is going on in Kent\u2019s biggest sports and entertainment venue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-16257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16257"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16257\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16257"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=16257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}