Pasco Real Estate Blog

New Columbia River Bridge All But Dead?

I’m in the “we should really have one more bridge between Pasco and Kennewick/Richland” camp, but it looks like the chances of such a bridge becoming a reality anytime soon are pretty much slim and none.

Local government agencies have been talking about a new bridge lately, and the push was to put one in between Road 68 in Pasco and Edison St. in Kennewick. Given the dramatic growth in the Road 68 area, that location makes a ton of sense. But some Pasco residents in the area weren’t keen on it, and now it looks like the various governmental agencies never really coordinated well enough to get moving. The Herald reported today that the City of Pasco has removed itself from the process of studying what might be the best location for a new bridge:

The city previously had committed $35,000 to a $125,000 study that would lay out costs and feasibility of building a new bridge to alleviate anticipated traffic increases and congestion on the blue bridge over the next 20 years.

But for now, the city’s money is off the table, Crutchfield said.

It sounds like this idea is dying before it really ever got started. No one can agree on what to study, and no one wants to contribute money to a study that doesn’t fit their own interests. I’ll spare you the “this bridge is sunk” puns, but that’s about how it seems at the moment.

No Pool for Pasco

The final vote count isn’t in, but it seems impossible for the $5 million pool bond issue to pass based on the latest counts.

The bond has received 54% of the vote, but it needs a 60% supermajority to be approved. The auditor’s office says there are about 1,400 ballots still be to counted, so it would take a really unusual shift in voting trends to reach the 60% approval mark.

If it had passed, the bond money would’ve been used to build a new aquatic center in Pasco, and renovate Memorial Pool.

Fiesta Foods: Good and Getting Better?

I traveled back east last weekend for a friend’s wedding, and my flights home went through Seattle. While standing in the aisle waiting to get off the plane, a lady near me asked where I was headed next. When I said, “the Tri-Cities,” her eyes lit up and she asked me if I’d ever shopped at Fiesta Foods in Pasco.

I told her I hadn’t, and she proceeded to list a handful of foods that she and her family love — told me I just had to try them. She was a Seattleite, but visits relatives/friends in Pasco somewhat regularly and said they always go to Fiesta Foods.

Well, it seems like this good place is getting even better: According to the Herald, there are several major upgrades going on inside the store:

…an expanded deli seating area and selections, a bigger meat department, extra check stands, more storage for cold, perishable items, additional space and choice at the self-serve kiosk and general updates.

The upgrades should be finished by the end of the year.

(photo credit)

Pasco Business News and Event Updates

Here’s what’s going on lately in the Pasco community:

• The Pasco Specialty Kitchen, an incubator where aspiring food merchants can get started, will reopen its food gift shop this Saturday, August 9, with an open house from 10 am to 2 pm. It’s located at 110 S. 4th Avenue in Pasco.
• The renovated Pasco High School stadium reopened last week. It sports a new fieldhouse with two training rooms, four locker rooms (there were only two before), a new concession stand on the east side of the stadium, and more. Still to come is a new parking lot and scoreboard.
• A Building Bridges Networking event is planned for August 13 at the Pasco Fiesta Restaurant. It starts at 8 am and is being hosted by the Pasco Chamber of Commerce and Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Cost is $5 for members, $10 for non-members.

If you have Pasco business news or event information to share, please contact us today!

American Idol Tryouts in Pasco

Okay, they’re not really “American Idol tryouts” in Pasco — they’re tryouts to get a shot at trying out for American Idol. Here’s what’s happening:

On August 9, 70 people will compete at Legacy Ford in Pasco. The winner will go to East Rutherford, NJ, where the real American Idol tryouts are happening soon — and the winner will be able to skip the first round of screening and audition in front of the show’s producers. (If that goes well, from what I understand, the person then gets to sing in front of Randy, Paula, and Simon.)

If you want to sing in the Pasco competition, you must be between 16 and 28 years old. You need to show up at Legacy Ford at 9 am on August 9th. But you should probably show up a lot earlier to have a chance at being in the competition.

The actual auditions will start at noon, and the public is invited.

Dust Devil Stadium: Home of Future Stars

One of the great things Pasco has going for it is Dust Devil Stadium … whoops, sorry … make that Gesa Stadium, home of the minor league’s Tri-City Dust Devils, an affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. Minor league baseball is an absolute blast, and people all over the Tri-Cities love to watch the Dust Devils play in Pasco. As a sports fan, one of the things I love is the chance to watch the future stars of major league baseball right here at home.

A couple weeks ago, my son and I went out to watch Christian Friedrich pitch for the Dust Devils. You may not know the name, but someday you probably will. He was the Rockies’ 1st-round draft pick this summer and 1st-round draft picks usually makes it to the big leagues in a year or two. Here’s about 45 seconds of him pitching during his professional debut:

Beyond the chance to see future MLB stars, Dust Devil Stadium … whoops, there I go again … Gesa Stadium has been a huge boon for the Pasco economy. The area around the stadium has grown like gangbusters, and is the main reason why Pasco is the fastest-growing city in all of Washington.

The Dust Devils only have about a month left in their season, so don’t miss the chance to get out and enjoy some minor league baseball, and the chance to see some future stars working their way to baseball stardom.

CBC Enrollment Up, Grad Rates Questioned

Pasco’s Columbia Basin College has been in the news quite a bit in the last week or so.

First came news that the school is more popular now than ever. Enrollment for Spring 2008 was an all-time record of 4,822 full-time students. Even summer enrollment has set a record with 1,522 current full-time students — a number that may grow before the end of summer. CBC enrollment has now grown for 11 consecutive quarters.

On the other hand, a recent report compiled by Washington college officials suggests that CBC’s Hispanic graduation rate of 16 percent is the lowest of the eight community colleges studied. CBC points out that last year’s rate was only 8%, so things are getting better. On the bright side, CBC ranked first in keeping students from year-to-year; according to the report, CBC kept 65 percent of its full-time students from 2007 to 2008.

You can read more at the links below:

CBC student enrollment numbers break records
Report compares CBC graduation rates to other community colleges in Washington

A Night at the Ballpark

Not to get too over-sentimental, but on a night when the Dust Devils celebrated Independence Day (a couple days early), I couldn’t help but think to myself … I love this country. Think about it: Father and son, a minor league baseball game, only $2 for parking, hot dogs and popcorn before the game, a dominant 13-0 win by the home team, and then a 4th of July fireworks show after. I love America.

Wednesday night was my first trip to see the Tri-City Dust Devils play in probably three years. The stadium in Pasco is in much better shape now thanks to some recent upgrades. I think it used to be called the Pasco Baseball Stadium, but now Gesa Credit Union has stepped up and paid for naming rights … which means we now have Gesa Stadium in Pasco as the home of the Dust Devils. And you can’t miss the advertising as you walk up to the stadium:

The main change to the stadium is the addition of a huge sunblock structure on the west side (1st base), which means people sitting across on the 3rd base side of the stadium don’t have to bake in the early evening sun. We were sitting right under the sunblock, so there wasn’t much of a chance to get a photo. But it was clearly doing its own job for the folks on the other side of the ballpark. There’s also now box seats all the way up from home plate to the press box — the upper level used to be general admission benches. And they added some more seats down closer to the field right past the home team dugout, too. All in all, nice changes to Gesa Stadium.

Got a chance to see Christian Friedrich during warm-ups. He was the Rockies’ first-round draft pick last month, but still hasn’t played in a game. No idea why. The Tri-Cities media never seems to mention anything about him, even though it’s only the 2nd time the Rockies have sent their first-round pick to play with the Dust Devils.

The Dust Devils have a terrible history with their mascots, and this year’s version isn’t any better than the incarnations I remember seeing in previous years. How do you make a dust devil into a huggable, lovable, kid-friendly mascot? I don’t think they succeeded this year. Sorry, team. That thing just isn’t right.

The Dust Devils crushed Boise, 13-0, last night. Win or lose, we were getting a 4th of July fireworks show — which everyone enjoyed, perhaps even more because the game was such an easy win for the home team.

All in all, a super-fun night at the ballpark in Pasco! And if you want to see more pictures, including some pre-game and game action shots, click the Flickr link below:

Tri-City Dust Devils vs. Boise Hawks, July 2, 2008