Government Brings Changes to Chehalis

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The heart of Chehalis is likely to look a lot different in a few years after three or four buildings are flattened to create more parking for government agencies’ employees and customers.

Early last week, Lewis County commissioners moved forward with plans to purchase the Star Tavern on Chehalis Avenue, which they want to demolish to increase parking. They’ve negotiated a price of $255,000, plus closing costs, with the owner, Daryl Lund.

The Star Tavern was constructed in 1910 as the Royal Bakery, just north of the downtown area initially platted by Eliza Saunders Barrett. The building has served as a barbershop and liquor store, with apartments upstairs, and most recently a tavern.

The county’s long-term construction plans tentatively call for erecting an 80,000-square-foot building for about $30 million north of the existing Lewis County Health Building, which would be removed to make room for a courtyard, according to Michael Strozyk, the county’s Central Services director.

The Lewis County PUD also announced last week it has purchased two buildings on Northwest Pacific Avenue for $300,000 to construct a parking lot and drive-through payment box. Bob Geddes, PUD manager, said the two buildings, which housed Ciao Bella Boutique and Beautiful Skin with Kim, will be demolished. He said the PUD’s one lot doesn’t have enough parking for employees, let alone customers. The PUD may also purchase a third building.

We are a drive-through generation, and Geddes said the payment box will make it safer for customers to pay their bills.

I’ve enjoyed the drive-through window at the Vernetta Smith Chehalis Timberland Library, which makes it convenient to order books online and then pick them up (or return them) during a trip to town. It’s also convenient to mail letters by simply dropping them into a blue metal post office box.

Of course, this generation is also the most obese, perhaps because of all the drive-through conveniences.

 

Children’s Museum

It was disheartening to read last month that funding to help construct the Discover! Children’s Museum never made it into the state budget, although I understand why. However, I was pleased to read Marilynn Chintella’s letter in Saturday’s newspaper.



Chintella pointed out that the museum’s advisory board already has firm commitments for $450,000 from the Smith, Lintott and Shaw family foundations. Of course, the 18,000-square-foot museum near Home Depot is projected to cost $3.4 million, but it’s a great start. The people behind the museum have also submitted requests for $700,000 in local, state and national grants.

I do hope the community can build the children’s museum to provide learning experiences for children up to 9. The pilot project at the Twin City Town Center proved successful, drawing 14,000 visitors from 72 ZIP codes. Children like it; in fact, I had trouble persuading our then-3-year-old granddaughter to leave last year.

With its emphasis on education, the museum can provide children with early opportunities to learn while having fun, which is just what it will do … when it’s built.

 

Toledotel

I keep reading about the fabulous high-speed Internet we’ll be able to access after Toledo Telephone completes its $18 million fiber optic project. But as a customer, it’s frustrating to pay for a phone line we don’t need, simply because we want Internet access. The cost is half as much in Tacoma and other big cities for Internet twice as fast as what we have here.

Our home hasn’t been hooked up yet to the high-speed fiber optic lines, but when it is, we’ll pay more if we want the faster Internet, which we do.

I suppose we’re lucky, living in a rural community, to have high-speed Internet at all. And who knows? Maybe it’ll spur economic development locally.

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Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at memoirs@chaptersoflife.com.