West Richland Real Estate Blog

Coyote Park Improvement

Cari McGee — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 02:34:52 +0000

I’ve heard that this is how it works – kids who pursue their Eagle Scout designation have to take on a project. A young man named Jeff Weyand is constructing a covered pavilion and two horseshoe pits just down the street at Coyote Park. He’s a freshman at Hanford High and he was able to get all the necessary materials and labor DONATED! No city funds were used! How great is that?

In addition, Jeff gave the plans to the city so that if West Richland wants to build something similar at another park, they don’t have to start from scratch.

Three cheers to enterprising young people!

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

Coyote Park Improvement

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Survey Says: Retiring, Working, and Raising Kids in West Richland

Matt McGee — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 19:17:16 +0000

A few weeks ago I wrote about West Richland’s citywide survey that was conducted earlier this year — specifically about the survey result that shows we really love West Richland as a place to live.

Here are a few more interesting survey results; these are about how we rate West Richland as a place for various lifestyles and life decisions.

Raising Kids in West Richland

City residents rate West Richland as a very good place to raise kids. If you toss out the 78 “don’t know” replies, 95% of the other 714 replies were either “good” or “excellent.”

Working in West Richland

This question is interesting because of all the “don’t know” replies. That’s a testament to the fact that many/most West Richlanders work somewhere else. And it also reflects somewhat, I’d say, on the slower business growth in the city — slower than population growth.

Retiring in West Richland

Is West Richland a good place to retire? The survey results say that most of us think it is, but perhaps not as enthusiastically as being a place to raise kids. There’s another survey question where the replies suggested that the city has room to improve its services for seniors, so that probably impacts these results. Still, 67% rated West Richland as “excellent” or “good” as a place to retire.

I’ll do more posts on the survey results in the future. You can still download the PPT from the city’s web site, or right here on WestRichlandRealEstateBlog.com.

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

Survey Says: Retiring, Working, and Raising Kids in West Richland

Black Heron Spirits Planning Grand Opening

Matt McGee — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 18:30:17 +0000

Black Heron Spirits, the new liquor distillery that’s located at Keene Rd. and Van Giesen Ave. is planning a grand opening and ribbon cutting on October 1st. KNDU-TV ran a story on the new business last night. Here’s the video if you missed it:

Looks like a nice facility!

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

Black Heron Spirits Planning Grand Opening

Charter Cable Update: Late October/November in West Richland

Matt McGee — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 01:47:07 +0000

Charter Cable had a booth at Saturday’s Harvest Festival, and since I’m the most frustrated Frontier Telephone/DSL customer alive, I had to talk to the Charter folks about when they’d be taking new customers here in West Richland.

The answer: late October or November.

The Charter crew said they’re still in the process of upgrading Suddenlink’s existing cable system/eequipment. All of that was explained in their letter this summer announcing the move into West Richland. That letter said service would be ready and available in September, but now they’re saying late October or November.

Not gonna be soon enough for me. Need better Internet service, and fast!

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

Charter Cable Update: Late October/November in West Richland

Harvest Festival 2010 Thoughts & Photos

Matt McGee — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 01:10:28 +0000

We may have arrived too early — 11:15 am. Or maybe it’s because I wasn’t feeling too great this weekend. Anyway, something just didn’t seem right about Saturday’s annual Harvest Festival in West Richland.

If I had to put it in a single sentence: What’s the purpose?

Longer version: Why are we all showing up at Flat Top Park? What are we supposed to be celebrating? What are we supposed to be doing?

Don’t get me wrong: I think it’s great that West Richlanders can get together like this on a beautiful fall day and visit with neighbors. But it seems like such an odd mish-mash of things going on:

The fire department is there showing off their equipment and letting kids sit in a real fire engine and get their pictures taken.
Local businesses are there with booths selling their products and services.
There are school-based singing and dancing groups putting on performances.
At least one branch of the military had a booth, presumably to recruit new members? I’m not sure.
There are games and contests, like sack races and such.
There’s a big BBQ-style lunch area.

Again, not complaining. Just wondering where the “harvest” aspect is in all of this? Shouldn’t local farmers be there selling their crops and homemade goods? To me, a “harvest festival” is like a bigger, better farmers’ market-type of event. I don’t even know who organizes our Harvest Festival, but if they happen to find this, there’s my hope/request: little more focus on the “harvest” aspect of a Harvest Festival. Our other big city events — Hogs and Dogs, the Veteran’s Day Parade, etc., all have a very clear theme/focus. I think Harvest Festival needs one, too.

So now that I’ve shared my two cents, here are three pics that we took while we walked around Flat Top Park on Saturday. Had an interesting conversation with the Charter Cable reps, and I’ll write that up in a separate post.

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

Harvest Festival 2010 Thoughts & Photos

Enterprise Sign Finally Up

Matt McGee — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 03:36:30 +0000

I think it’s been a couple months since we first posted about the new readerboard that was planned for Enterprise Middle School. They finished the concrete base and then … nothing. And more nothing. Until I drove by today and saw that the sign is finally up.

It’s a little smaller than I expected, and only the one side is done so far. They need to finish the side that faces west. But still, it’s a nice addition for EMS students and parents.

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

Enterprise Sign Finally Up

Getting Ready for School

Matt McGee — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:25:58 +0000

Today was “meet the teachers” day at Wiley Elementary. We took our youngest over this afternoon and it looked like half of West Richland was there! Kids are in school starting tomorrow — please drive safely around all school areas. Well, drive safely everywhere, actually.

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

Getting Ready for School

West Richland Survey: We Love It Here

Matt McGee — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:20:10 +0000

West Richlanders don’t just like living in West Richland; we love it. According to the city survey conducted earlier this year, a whopping 91% of West Richlanders rate their neighborhood as a “good” or “excellent” as a place to live.

No matter how you slice it, that’s a pretty amazing stat.

A total of 805 people returned the survey, and 733 of those voted either “good” or “excellent” on this question. Only 12 people — that’s 1.5% — rated their neighborhood “poor” as a place to live. (I’d love to know where those 12 people live.)

The city has posted the survey results (in Powerpoint format, from the presentation made at the August 16 council meeting) on its web site. But in case that link goes away in the future, I’ve also uploaded it here on WestRichlandRealEstateBlog.com for downloading. It’s a pretty big file — about 6.6mb.

I’ll be posting more survey results in the coming days and weeks and would love your thoughts on the survey as we go. Comments are open!

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

West Richland Survey: We Love It Here

West Richland Beer & Wine Store Profiled in Paper

Matt McGee — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 23:06:44 +0000

The Tri-City Herald ran a nice feature in Sunday’s paper on the West Richland Beer and Wine Shop, a unique business that Steve Many opened more than a year ago at 4033 W Van Giesen St. It’s a cool, somewhat short article, but talks about what make’s the store stand out: being unique.

The 63-year-old retired grocery store owner offers microbrews made in California, Oregon and Washington, and bottled beer from Germany, Belgium, Ireland, Jamaica, Thailand and China.

He also regularly carries about 15 of the nearly 30 beers made by Samuel Adams. A big grocery store typically carries five, he said.

He also sells a limited selection of local wines. Most are from wineries that don’t have distributors.

If you missed it, here’s the full article. Nice to see West Richland businesses getting publicity like this.

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

West Richland Beer & Wine Store Profiled in Paper

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West Richland Harvest Festival 2010: September 18

Matt McGee — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:47:36 +0000

Mark your calendars now for this year’s Harvest Festival at Flat Top Park. It’s scheduled for September 18th from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm.

There’ll be food, artists’ booths, live music, games and other kids activities — plenty of stuff for the whole family to do. It’s sponsored by the Red Mountain Lions Club, West Richland Chamber of Commerce, and the City of West Richland.

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

West Richland Harvest Festival 2010: September 18