Douglas Tooley

As this blog moves into it's second year, more or less, I'm gonna shift focus just a bit.

I'm going to be attempting to focus a bit more on specific problems folks that I see and be a bit of a hound dog on such. These do include personal matters, but those you will most likely not see here. Rather I will use my personal experience to validate other problems, and vice-versa.

I do still have several more constructive projects - however pursuing those publically is not prudent - unfortunately.

...hopefully that can change by next year, perhaps even well before my Gemini birthday...

I worked as an Apartment Manager on South Capitol Hill, across the street from SU's Xavier Dorm, while completing my transfer Honor's B.A. at the UW. (In Economics).

We renovated the building off of cash flow, over four plus years, through to its sale. One of the projects was the planting of trees in front of the building. Japanese maples are common in the area, on the Seattle University Campus and in the residential neighborhood, home to respected Japanese gardeners. (King TV and KIRO radio personality Ciscoe Morris is most commonly thought of as the SU gardener, but it was the Kubota's, of SE Seattle's Kubota gardens who did this work, prior to Mr. Morris's arrival.)

Japanese Maples are not, however, on the approved list of Street Trees. I won't say I had the approval of City Arborist Jerry Clark in order to do this planting, but it was also not done without 'consultation' of this City provided expert.

These pictures are from last week some 20 years or so after the planting - and I think we can call it a successful experiment. The trees are thriving in the harsh street environment, not interfering with power lines, nor with the sidewalk.

BTW, can't say enough good things about my employer, Weber and Associates. Mr. Weber, and company are definitely not your typical do nothing real estate speculators.

The building remains in the same ownership from those that purchased it from Mr. Weber, rents though have not remained the same. I can't remember if we were getting $275 for the 3-4 hundred square foot studios or the slightly larger one bedrooms - these days, $800 and up!

Like a wave crashing on the Southern California shore suburban America spread inland from the western US coast starting in the 1950's.

I was born in that wave, at the crest of another wave in the history of America, call it John Kennedy's Camelot, of the early 1960's. It has been said that as goes California so goes the nation, and our family was much a part of that.

As you know, southern California was once under Spainish rule, and the last remnants of that were the citrus groves of 'Orange' County and surrounding areas, just to the south of LA. This county is the conservative balance point to weat Hollywood and it's global influence. It is where John Wayne died with 50 pounds of 'stuff' in his colon.

My elementary school, in Yorba Linda, was built on the site of Richard Nixon's family Lemon Grove. The trees were gone, but the modest family house remained, housing the school's custodian.

Continue reading "Wandering in the President's Lemon Grove" »

My four week trip, in part exploring relocation, was coming to an end, a good one. From a slow simmer in SW Colorado, to the full heat of the Great Basin desert, to the cool green of Oregon it had been a western odyssey of personal significance. Capping things off with a traditional Fourth of July visit with Bro and his kids was great.

On that final day coming home, I came back through Tillamook, crossing over to Longview, via the Wilson River and the Trumanesque/Harley Destination of Vernonia, outside of Portland.

I knew a girl from Tillamook once. She tells a story of a life after death experience, crashing into the Devils Fork of the Wilson River, returning from a High School trip to Portland. It was an event that meant a lot to her, and I think I knew her well enough to be able to plug into at least a small portion of that experience. Call it empathy, call it what you will, but it was certainly something.

My particular travels had never taken me down that particular stretch of road, but as a whitewater guy with several Oregon first descents to my credit it was a river definitely on my list. Like all of the Coast Range rivers the Wilson is a rainfall driven creature, and this was not the time to paddle. But I do think I was able indulge myself a bit healthily in making a guess as to the spot.

Not exactly Freudian, but heck, he was a crack head, at least later... I wonder what Mom's opinion would be... :-)

Doug waits anxiously for the Acme Real Estate Agency to bring him a buyer....

MLS Listing of my house

The remodel work is mine. It's a bit rougher than it looks in the pictures, but not bad. It did take longer than I orginally thought, hence the sale right now.

In reflecting on comments regarding the Dalai Lama I realize I made an ommission about my religious influences - and a great little story.

I worked for a year as a legal messenger - S. King and Pierce County every day - plus legal service in SE Seattle, a large minority area. The biggest thing volume wise were these small claim suits over bounced parking checks. The biggest dollar wise was probably New Hope Baptist church.

New Hope had been burned a few years earlier and the suit was regarding the construction loan to rebuild, which they had defaulted on, or some such. The reverend, Robert Jeffries, is known as an activist type - taking on Nordstrom most notably. Though he might be a bit of a Jeremiah Wright type he also worked closely with the mostly white Church Council of Greater Seattle. I didn't know him well, but we had met, and I liked him.

In order to get ahold of people for the legal service I had to show up just prior to the Sunday Church service. So imagine, if you will, the white boy entering perhaps the most radical successful black church in Washington when the most faithful have already gathered. Key the church choir warming up and the church elders gathered at the Baptism pool. This is where I needed to wait, until that morning's baptisms were completed. The one face I remember was an early teen female getting the fear of god put into her followed by a quick dunk.

I don't know if that writing captures the experience, but it was certainly quite memorable.

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Curiously my earliest memory ever is of playing with black children at one of the first Head Start programs, I believe just as that program was getting started. Mom had been a social worker in L.A. County, getting promoted to supervisor just before getting pregnant with me. She volunteered for this Head Start program - perhaps with an eye to a job.

My memory is mixed - I do think there was some sort of an incident - nothing any more significant than any other non-racial playground incident. I remember that vaguely - the two strongest memories are more emotional ones - I remember stopping going and Mom's emotional state as we left. I was sad about leaving, even in spite of the incident. The overwhelming memor was one of curiosity - of having kids to play with that were very different from me and trying to figure out what it all meant.

On the occasion of the Dalai Lama's visit to Seattle let met tell my two tibetan stories. I'm not very religious at all, though I do have some sense of faith - call me, if you will, 20% Budhist, 10% Catholic, 10% Protestant and who knows about the rest.

I had the opportunity to visit one of the last pockets of unblemished Tibetan culture - pockets of which exist in northern Nepal, near the Chinese border. I was 18, less than a year out of High School and it was definitely a formative experience. I did the Annapurna Circuit, half of which had only opened to foreigners the previous year. It's a 3 week hike around the Annapurna Massif, best examples of Tibetan villages are Manang and Pisang. That valley is awesome The floor at the lower end is ten thousand feet up and the ridge above is another 15, all in all probably 30 miles or so long, leading to an 18,000 foot pass.

It would take a feature length movie to give the experience it's full due. One interesting story - Tibetan rebels had operated out of the area with CIA funding. Nepal put a stop to it, and still keeps a small military presence in the area. I had the chance to spend an evening with the Commanding Officer in small Inn. He was probably checking me out, but it was well done. I don't remember his name, but he definitely had an influence on me with his stories.

Second story is about the Dalai Lama himself - I had the opportunity to see him in Eugene in the days before that Nepal trip. It was a date with one of my best relationships ever (in hindsight, sigh) - the crowd was probably less than 50. I do remember making eye contact with him, a strange remembrance as one passes his image in the press and films. Perhaps the best of which is Heinrich Harrer's '7 years in Tibet'.

No great conclusions, save perhaps though I do respect the Chinese history they really should step up here and do the right thing.

This is a picture of me from early spring, 1985. Like the recent Evergreen riots in Olympia a party resulted in some anti-police action. In this case a cruiser didn't get rolled and burned, rather just 'keyed' - scratching a paint job with a set of keys.

Standing next to me is John B. Mitchell, a great friend.

In hindsight, I have to wonder if the on-campus, unarmed, security force blamed me for that. Not the case, though I was certainly known to play a prank or two.

This posting marks the start of some biographical and portfolio items - these will be filed by original date, so won't show up on the home page. They all can be accessed easily from the Biography/Portfolio Category page.

The Tacoma News Tribune makes it possible for any reader to attend both an editorial board and a news meeting. After four years in the City I'm now making my first civic rounds, and made stops at both of these meetings in the last day.

Definitely two thumbs up for both sides of that storied operation. As Pierce County's only major news operation(save perhaps the Fort Lewis Ranger), they are more stable than most dailies in this Country. They also have great staff - including the Security Guard in the Chihuly decorated lobby.

I haven't thought about Journalism as a career seriously, save perhaps for some freelancing, but I do think I'`ll add their listings to my online reading list...

One of my pet issues is the question of the political parties and the primaries in Washington State. The points aren't immediately obvious, but upon reflection do become unavoidable.

Peter Callaghan, long time columnist with the Tacoma News Tribune, communicates the problem better than I:

No-count elections: A lot has been said about the oddball presidential nominating process in our state. A lot more will be said.

But any debate should include this troubling fact: Tens of thousands of ballots cast by registered voters were not tabulated. Elections officials were ordered by the Legislature not to count ballots from voters who refused or neglected to declare themselves a Republican or a Democrat.

This isn’t about the Republican Party’s refusal to accept the primary votes of those who identify themselves as independents. This isn’t about the Democratic Party’s refusal to accept the primary votes of anyone.

The federal courts have let them do whatever they want.

But state and local government should tabulate all votes and let the parties decide which ones to count and not count. State and local government should not be in the business of discarding ballots of those who refuse to go along with the charade.

If Primaries are solely for the benefit of the two major parties they should pay for them. If the State is to pay for them all parties should be allowed to use them - and anyone who choses to run as an independent should be able to accept votes from ANYONE.

Voters have deigned to have a top two primary system in this State. Personally I'm okay if the courts modify the initiative to require that the top two candidates NOT be from the same party. The current modifications though are perhaps the worst example of judicial activism that this country has ever seen. The Federal Courts, and those AWARE Olympia legislators should be ashamed.

Not to mention opening their checkbooks.