West Richland Real Estate Blog » where:99353

West Richland Earth Day Cleanup Coming Soon

Matt McGee — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:15:38 +0000

It’s that time of year again — time to clean out your garbage, round up the debris in your yard, and get rid of the hazardous waste around your West Richland home.

West Richland’s annual Earth Day cleanup is set for April 17th from 8 am to 3 pm at Enterprise Middle School.

Just like in previous years, there are different entrances/lines depending on what you’re doing. There’s one for yard debris like tree branches, another for household garbage, and a third for household hazardous waste. There’s no limit to how many times you can drop off your unwanted stuff, but you can’t drop off refrigerators or air conditioners.

One new twist this year: Goodwill will be on hand to accept any items that are too good to be thrown away.

If you have old/unwanted tires, you need to go to the Benton Co. Mosquito Control office at 4951 Van Giesen. That spot is open from 7 am to 3 pm on Saturday and there’s no charge for tire disposal.

Volunteers Needed

The city is looking for volunteers to help out with this year’s Earth Day cleanup. City officials, staff, and elected leaders will be volunteering — as will local firefighters, Chamber of Commerce members, and your neighbors. Call the Public Works Department at 967-5434 if you can volunteer, or just want to learn more.

[where: Enterprise Middle School, 5200 Paradise Way, West Richland, WA 99353]

This is a post from the West Richland Real Estate Blog by Cari and Matt McGee.

West Richland Earth Day Cleanup Coming Soon

Baum’s Chocolates coming to West Richland

Matt McGee — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:17:36 +0000

Baum’s Chocolates will have a new home in early 2010 — a new home in West Richland. KEPR reported the move a few days ago, saying the store will be moving to the old GESA location right on Van Giesen Avenue.

“The big advantage of moving to West Richland is better exposure from the street. We won’t be hidden quite as much as back in this corner,” says owner Rick Vance.

The story says Baum’s will open in West Richland after Valentine’s Day.

This is a post from the West Richland Real Estate Blog by Cari and Matt McGee.

Baum’s Chocolates coming to West Richland

West Richland Crime Map now online

Matt McGee — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:53:36 +0000

“We don’t have much crime” is always one of the first things I say to people who ask what I love about West Richland and why we’ve decided to settle here. And I’ve seen some reports (and blogged about them) that tell how low West Richland’s crime rate is.

Now, the West Richland Police Dept. has launched an online map that shows crimes that have happened within the city limits.

That’s a screenshot of incidents between November 1st and November 30th. (You can click for a larger version.) You’ll notice that I’ve unchecked the “PUBLIC” category from the left column and you should probably uncheck some other categories, too, to get a real snapshot of actual crimes. (The “ALARM” category, for example, shows police responses to false alarms, which don’t count as actual crimes.) You can move your mouse over any of the lettered incidents to learn more about what happened.

According to this KEPR-TV story, Police chief Layne Erdman says the online crime map isn’t costing the city any more money.

You can reach the West Richland Crime Map online at this URL:

http://map.citizenserviceportal.com/default.aspx?agency=wrpd

Note that it may not work with all browsers and you may have to download Microsoft’s Silverlight software.

File Police Reports Online

Also new is an online tool for sending reports and information to the West Richland police department. Obviously you don’t use this for emergencies, but if you want to report things like traffic problems/violations, theft, or malicious mischief, you can use this URL:

http://report.citizenserviceportal.com/Report.aspx?agency=wrpd

I have a feeling this may be both helpful for the PD in that they’ll get more information and reports from the public, from people who may not have otherwise called or visited the station … but it also may create a lot of nuisance/busy work for the department. We’ll see.

In any case, I think these are very cool developments. Hats off to the West Richland PD.

This is a post from the West Richland Real Estate Blog by Cari and Matt McGee.

West Richland Crime Map now online

West Richland Veteran’s Day Parade this Saturday

Matt McGee — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:00:58 +0000

This one kinda snuck up on me, what with all the travel and craziness happening in my life lately: The annual Veteran’s Day Parade in West Richland is this Saturday. Yikes. They say it’s the biggest and best Vet’s Day Parade in all of Eastern Washington, so if you’ve never been, why not check out this year’s edition? Looks like the weather will be pretty good — bit chilly, but not wet.

The parade starts at 9:30 am at the Van Giesen/Grosscup intersection, and will head east along Van Giesen into the downtown area before ending at the City Hall complex on 38th avenue. There’s always a lot of floats, bands, horses, cars, and so forth — and they’re usually tossing out candy for the kids along the parade route, too.

You can stick around, too, for the awards ceremony and chili feed after the parade at Flat Top Park.

Road Closures

Even if you’re not gonna watch the parade, be aware that Van Giesen Street will be closed for a few hours on Saturday morning.

From 62nd to Grosscup, closed between 7 and 11 am.
From Grosscup to 38th, closed between 9:30 and approximatey 11 am.

Don’t say you weren’t warned…

(That photo above is one that we took at the 2006 Veteran’s Day Parade.)

This is a post from the West Richland Real Estate Blog by Cari and Matt McGee.

West Richland Veteran’s Day Parade this Saturday

Club 24 Fitness coming to West Richland

Matt McGee — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:12:05 +0000

UPDATE, DECEMBER 29: Please see this post, Club 24 Fitness opening next week in West Richland, for the latest information about Club 24 Fitness in West Richland.
———————

This is good news: Club 24 Fitness is coming to West Richland, perhaps as soon as next month! If you’ve been in the Yoke’s/Paradise Place shopping area on Bird Hill, you may have seen the signs in the windows:

From what I could tell, the fitness club is taking up the spaces that used to be occupied by three separate businesses. So it should have a nice amount of space for equipment and such.

The Club 24 web site only says “December 2009″ about a grand opening date for the West Richland location. Perfect. Just in time for everyone (like me) who’ll surely be over-eating during the holidays.

There’s no information on their site about pricing at the West Richland location, but the Richland facility pricing runs $25 per month with a year-long contract, or $35 per month with no contract. All of the Club 24 locations have that same pricing, so our local one might, too. Unfortunately, there’s also a one-time $69 “membership fee.” Ugh. I much prefer the fitness clubs that skip the membership thing and just charge a monthly fee (like River Walk Fitness in Richland does). But I may still give some thought to signing up at our local Club 24 when it opens.

This is a post from the West Richland Real Estate Blog by Cari and Matt McGee.

Club 24 Fitness coming to West Richland

West Richland City Council candidates in the TC Herald

Matt McGee — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:37:36 +0000

Politics is a bit outside of the zone of stuff we like to write about here on the West Richland Real Estate blog, but I don’t think we need to avoid it altogether, right? You’ve probably already received your ballots in the mail, and they need to be postmarked by August 18. So time’s running out to learn about the candidates. The Herald is trying to help with a couple articles that have short bios of the folks running for city council:

West Richland City Council Position 4 – Mark Hanneman (incumbent), Susan Fahey, & Richard Bloom

West Richland City Council Position 1 – Angie Tyree, Craig Sloughter, & Brent Gerry

There’s a not a lot of depth in there, but it’s better than not knowing anything about the people who are running for office this year.

This is a post from the West Richland Real Estate Blog by Cari and Matt McGee.

West Richland City Council candidates in the TC Herald

Do You Use Facebook? Follow Cari there

Bird Hill Road Work Begins

Matt McGee — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:33:58 +0000

And they’re off! Just as promised, the repaving of Blue Heron Blvd. began bright and early this morning. It’s kinda strange to see so many cars pulled around and parked on the side streets, and BHB itself totally empty … except for when all the heavy equipment comes by, as you see below.

Chukar Drive — it’s your turn tomorrow.

This is a post from the West Richland Real Estate Blog by Cari and Matt McGee.

Bird Hill Road Work Begins

The Scoop on Bird Hill Repaving

Matt McGee — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 05:51:01 +0000

As I wrote in our previous post, a couple streets on Bird Hill are due for some repaving soon, and now we’ve received the full plan of attack from the city. Public Works Director Roscoe Slade tells us that Blue Heron Blvd. will be paved on Tuesday, July 28, and Chukar Drive will be paved the following day, July 29. In both cases, work is estimated to last from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.

If you live on either street, or if you live on any of the cul-de-sacs that branch off those two roads, look for an informational door hanger tomorrow – July 22 with all the details of next week’s roadwork. If your car is parked on either road the day before work begins, you’ll get another notice that you need to move your car. Also look for “No Parking” signs along both roads starting this Friday — 72 hours before the work is due to begin.

What Do You Need To Do?

Here’s what you need to know, word-for-word from Roscoe Slade at the city offices:

Blue Heron Blvd.

On Tuesday, July 28th between 8am and 4pm, Blue Heron Blvd will be closed between Bombing Range Road and Paradise Way to all traffic except for pedestrian traffic on the sidewalks. The road closure will be strictly enforced for the residents’ safety and for the safety of the construction workers. Residents will need to either leave for work before 8am or park their car on another residential street (and not a cul-de-sac off of Blue Heron). The roadway is estimated to be fully open by 4pm but, unexpected delays may delay the opening of portions of Blue Heron. This is a temporary, but necessary inconvenience to complete the work; resident’s patience is appreciated. Emergency Services, police and fire, have been notified of the road closure. Any vehicles, trailers, etc. parked along Blue Heron Blvd on Tuesday, July 28th at 8am will be towed to the West Richland Police Department. Due to the closure, the post office will also not be able to pickup or deliver mail on this day. Any questions or special requests should be directed to Heath Mellotte, City Engineer, at 967-5434.

Chukar Drive

On Wednesday, July 29th between 8am and 4pm, Chukar Drive will be closed between Bombing Range Road and Blue Heron Blvd to all traffic except for pedestrian traffic on the sidewalks. The road closure will be strictly enforced for the residents’ safety and for the safety of the construction workers. Residents will need to either leave for work before 8am or park their car on another residential street (and not a cul-de-sac off of Chukar). The roadway is estimated to be fully open by 4pm but, unexpected delays may delay the opening of portions of Chukar. This is a temporary, but necessary inconvenience to complete the work; resident’s patience is appreciated. Emergency Services, police and fire, have been notified of the road closure. Any vehicles, trailers, etc. parked along Chukar on Wednesday, July 29th at 8am will be towed to the West Richland Police Department. Due to the closure, the post office will also not be able to pickup or deliver mail on this day. Any questions or special requests should be directed to Heath Mellotte, City Engineer, at 967-5434.

This is a post from the West Richland Real Estate Blog by Cari and Matt McGee.

The Scoop on Bird Hill Repaving

Coming Soon: Repaving on Bird Hill

Matt McGee — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:59:55 +0000

If you pay attention to the West Richland newsletter that comes with every city utility bill, you may have seen the notice about some repaving work coming soon to portions of the Bird Hill neighborhood. Specifically, Blue Heron Blvd. (pictured) and Chukar Drive will both be repaved in their entirety. And this is going to cause some inconveniences for folks living in the area. Here’s how Public Works Director Roscoe Slade explained it to me via email:

The paving operation will last about two days and will inconvienence people as access to their homes will be restricted while the roadway is paved and compacted. Residents will also not be able to park along the side of the roadway during the paving days. The City plans on providing detailed information on the contractor’s schedule, where they are starting, etc. so that reidents can determine where they need to park their cars to not get trapped in their driveways or get their cars towed.

Slade says residents should be on the lookout for a door hanger with information, or look for the next update in your next utility bill. The exact schedule of work is still TBA, but it should be late this month or early August.

This is a post from the West Richland Real Estate Blog by Cari and Matt McGee.

Coming Soon: Repaving on Bird Hill

Do You Use Facebook? Follow Cari there

Photos: Hogs and Dogs 2009

Matt McGee — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:19:29 +0000

UPDATE: If you’re looking for current information about West Richland’s Hogs & Dogs event, please click here: Hogs & Dogs Event Information.

————

Another Hogs and Dogs is in the books, and this one was surely as big a success as any. The McGees are early Hogs & Dogs attendees (as the pictures below will reveal), and it was already pretty darn packed during the 5/6 O’Clock hours when we were there. More crowded than I remember it being last year, so I’m guessing the final numbers will set a new attendance record.

I’ve posted a full set of Hogs and Dogs 2009 photos on Flickr, but I’ll include a few of my favorites below, too.

If you took any photos and posted them online, leave a link in the comments, please!

This is a post from the West Richland Real Estate Blog by Cari and Matt McGee.

Photos: Hogs and Dogs 2009