Richland Real Estate Blog

This is kinda cool. PNNL has created an account and begun posting photos on Flickr, the super-popular photo sharing and photo community web site.

Sadly, all the photos are listed as “all rights reserved” — since this is government stuff, it would’ve been nice for them to share these images under a Creative Commons license. Maybe they’ll change that at some point.

The irony here is that Flickr is a blocked web site internally at PNNL! Not true, as we’re told in the comments!

This is cool. For the second straight year, Newsweek magazine has named Hanford High School one of the top 1,500 high schools in the U.S. The Falcons are ranked #1435 this year — congrats!

Here’s how Newsweek describes the ranking system:

Public schools are ranked according to a ratio devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2008 divided by the number of graduating seniors. All of the schools on the list have an index of at least 1.000; they are in the top 6 percent of public schools measured this way.

[where: Hanford High School, 450 Hanford St. Richland , WA 99354]

Here’s another look at what’s going on in the Richland business community.

• Edward Jones Investments has a new branch at 2735 Queensgate Drive. Troy Binfet is the financial advisor there.
• New Horizon School of Massage has relocated to 290 Torbett St.
• Sakura, a restaurant offering both Chinese and Japanese food, is now open on Keene Rd. It’s in the new strip mall behind Albertson’s, right across from Ace Hardware.

If you have business news to share, please contact us.

State rep. Larry Haler wants to chat with his constituents next week about the recently completed legislative session in Olympia, and whatever else might be on our minds.

He says: “There were some wins, some losses and some close calls this session. I’m looking forward to meeting with 8th District residents to answer any questions and address any concerns.”

There’ll be two coffee meetings:

THURSDAY, June 4
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Rep. Larry Haler’s District Office
719 Jadwin Bldg. Suite 24
Richland, WA 99352

SATURDAY, June 6
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Apollo Hall
35 Apollo Boulevard
Richland, WA 99354

If the warm weather these past couple weeks has you thinking about a swim, the George Prout Pool will be ready for you starting on June 11. That’s when the pool opens for the summer. It’ll close for the summer on August 23rd.

As always, the pool will host all kinds of swim activities (like swimming lessons) on various days and times, but the public swim schedule is already set for the summer:

Monday through Thursday: 1:15-2:45; 3:00-4:30; 7:00-8:30 pm

Friday: 1:15-2:45; 3:00-4:30

Saturday: 1:00-2:30; 2:45-4:15; 4:30-6:00; 6:15-7:45 pm

Sunday: 1:00-2:30; 2:45-4:15; 4:30-6:00 pm

And here are the fees for Richland residents and non-residents to use the pool during public swimming hours:

Youth (17 and under) - .50 cents (Richland) / .75 cents (non)

Adult (18 and over) - $1.50 (Richland) / $2.00 (non)

Family (1 visit) - $3.50 (Richland) / $4.50 (non)

Family Season Pass - $83.50 (Richland) / $111.25 (non)

There’s more information about swim lessons and other activities on the city’s web site. And if you’r not familiar with the pool and where it’s located, here’s a handy map to help.

Close

[where: 1005 Swift Boulevard, Richland, WA 99352]

Do you remember the “Name the Park” contest that the city put on earlier this year? The one where they wanted the public to choose the name of a new park & athletic complex that’s going in along SR 240?

Well, you did your job in choosing a name: Rattlesnake Mountain Community Park. The city council rejected that idea. So, the Parks Commission suggested Atomic Community Park, which was presumably the second-highest vote getter. The City Council said “ixnay on at-thay,” too.

According to the Herald, the council was afraid of what those names might say about the area:

“…some council members thought the name Rattlesnake Mountain could deter those from the west side of the state who might fear fields slithering with snakes.”

How silly. Serious, what’s the point of asking the public to choose a name if you’re just gonna ignore the choice? Well, I’m here to help the council, so let’s call the park something that West-siders will be attracted to. Some ideas:

• Chris Gregoire is the Best Governor Ever Park
• Free Starbucks for the Next 15 Minutes Park
• There’s No Traffic on I-5 Park
• Nirvana Was the Greatest Band of All-Time Park
• Huskies Rock, Cougs Suck Park

Any others? Leave a comment…I promise not to ignore you.