Wednesday, November 6, 2024

'Cougar Bridge' in Pullman, Washington

 




PULLMAN’S ‘COUGAR BRIDGE'

Pullman's cougars will move to new bridge

Aug. 3, 1994, Lewiston (Idaho) Tribune

PULLMAN --The cast-concrete cougars on either end of the Main Street bridge will be preserved and installed on the new bridge during Washington Highway 270 construction.

The four cats were incorporated into the bridge's design when it was built in 1938-39.

The bridge is being demolished and replaced as part of a $7 million package of improvements to the highway.

Al Gilson, public information officer for the Washington Department of Transportation, said the cougars will be repaired and reinstalled on 2-foot-tall pedestals to make them more visible to motorists.

Transportation department and city officials broke ground Tuesday for the work on Highway 270, also known as the Moscow-Pullman Road.

Work on the 1.4-mile stretch between Spring Street and Forest Way is expected to take 18 months.

Contractors have already begun moving equipment to the site and setting up construction barriers.

The existing bridge is actually two bridges: one over the South Fork of the Palouse River and the other over the railroad tracks.

Contractors will keep one lane open in each direction during bridge construction.

Main Street will be widened to four lanes, and a new traffic signal will be installed at Bishop Boulevard.

The signal at Stadium Way will be improved.

Left-turn lanes will be installed at Bishop, Stadium Way and Forest Way.

Weaver Construction of La Grande, Ore., is the primary contractor for the project.

The Highway 270 project was put on hold indefinitely when the 1993 Legislature took $135 million in gasoline taxes away from the transportation department and deposited the money in the state's general fund.

 The project was reauthorized this year when legislators restored $94 million for road projects.

The state will pay the full cost of road and bridge construction, but Pullman is responsible for about $150,000 for sidewalks and installation of the Bishop Boulevard signal.

 A grant will cover about $90,000 of that, and the remainder will come from the city's budget.

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Saturday, October 5, 2024

Third Pullman business to close fall 2024

Third Pullman business to close fall 2024

By Olivia Harnack, Whitman Count Gazette, Colfax, Oct 3, 2024

PULLMAN — The Pullman business community is facing another setback as The Batting Cage, an indoor batting practice facility, has announced it will close its doors on Friday, Oct.11, 2024.

Open for just over a year, The Batting Cage occupies the old Higginson’s Furniture store, a building that was once home to Finch’s Grocery.

This closure is part of a larger trend in Pullman, where several long-standing businesses have recently announced their shutdowns.

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From Pullman Cup of the Palouse blog, the following amplifies what was in the story:

=Pullman Building Supply opened in 1996 on North Grand Avenue just north of downtown A “super store” location was built on the south end of town (400 S. E. Fairmount Dr.). It opened in 2015. =

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In a press release, Moscow & Pullman Building Supply cited a lack of demand and economic factors as the reasons for the decision to close the Pullman location on Fairmount Drive by the end of November 2024.

The company stated that the closure was not made lightly and was driven by market changes and future economic forecasts. Moscow Building Supply, however, will remain open.

Pullman Building Supply expanded in 2015 by opening a larger “superstore” on the south end of town.

The store’s managers had previously opposed the arrival of a Home Depot in the region.

The University of Idaho approved a lease for a Home Depot to be built behind the Palouse Mall  in Moscow, though construction has yet to begin.

The trend of business closures in Pullman began earlier this month with the permanent closure of Pullman Village Centre Cinemas. The theater, which had been operating for 21 years, closed on September 5, 2024, citing increased property and admissions taxes and the rising Washington state minimum wage as contributing factors.

According to a statement on the theater’s website, these factors made it financially unsustainable to keep the Pullman location open.

Thursday, October 3, 2024

BEAUTY (Poppies of Pullman) and the BEAST (Mimosa, Pullman’s eyesore)


BEAUTY (Poppies of Pullman) and the
BEAST (Mimosa, Pullman’s eyesore)


This photo was posted at 'Remember Pullman when.....' Facebook of a painter “from over near Seattle” by Cecil Williams on Sept. 12, 2024. It’s a great view of poppies in Pullman. In the background is Pullman’s eyesore, Mimosa.

Saturday, September 28, 2024

PULLMAN: Project Downtown is behind schedule

PULLMAN: Project Downtown is behind schedule

Main Street in Pullman slated to open in November instead of anticipated October date

By Emily Pearce Moscow-Pullman Daily News Sept 28, 2024

PHOTO A crew works to prepare a segment of the sidewalk for cement pouring along Main Street on Thursday in Pullman. Another portion of the sidewalk across the street was poured earlier this month. Liesbeth Powers/Moscow-Pullman Daily News file

PHOTO Construction equipment lays along Main Street on Wednesday in downtown Pullman as the project nears its estimated halfway point. Liesbeth Powers/Moscow-Pullman Daily News

……….

The city of Pullman’s project to revitalize downtown is running behind schedule.

Mayor Francis Benjamin said the city’s consultant Welch Comer, a Coeur d’Alene-based engineering firm, notified staff the project’s completion date has been delayed to November. It was anticipated the six-month construction period would finish in October.

The project is a city-led initiative to fully upgrade downtown’s utilities, streets, sidewalks and more. The venture encompasses all of Main Street, from Grand Avenue to Spring Street.

Since April, the area has been closed to traffic while crews from Apollo Inc., a Kennewick, Wash.-based construction company, rebuild downtown.

Benjamin said the contract stipulated Main Street would reopen to at least one lane of traffic by Oct. 15, but is now pushed to Nov. 1. The project should be fully completed by Nov. 22, which he said is two days behind the agreed upon timeframe.

The delay was mainly caused by contaminated soil and underground work. Benjamin said many utilities haven’t been touched since being installed around a century ago. And over the course of Pullman’s life, a few gas stations, car repair shops and fertilizer stores have been housed downtown.

Soil contamination was anticipated, he said, and a plan was put in place to address the pollutants. Early this summer, crews sampled and treated the area while properly disposing of the contaminated soil.

Benjamin said the contract specifies Apollo would face fines from the city for being over schedule, however change orders have been put in place that may prevent this. He said the Pullman City Council approved the new timeline and may consider adjusting the contract during its next meeting.

Other than the delay, Benjamin said construction has gone well. Crews have run into a few issues, but he said there hasn’t been any significant crisis.

According to past Moscow-Pullman Daily News reporting, a gas line ruptured in May which caused an outage to downtown customers for a day. A water line rupture in June caused a couple businesses to lose service for a short period of time.

The city ran into more hiccups while planning the project. It was anticipated the rebuild would begin in the summer of 2023, however inflated construction market costs led the council to push back the start date.

When the city first sent out the project to bid in the fall of 2023, it received no contractors willing to do the work for an initially anticipated four-month construction timeline.

Early this year when Apollo accepted the city’s bid, the council was informed the project was over budget. According to past reporting, the project was first estimated to cost $9.4 million total. Apollo agreed to rebuild the area for $8.7 million, and the project ended up at nearly $11.7 million total after contracting Welch Comer to create the design.

The project was funded by $9.5 million from the American Rescue Plan Act. Earlier this month the Whitman County Commissioners gave the city $200,000 to help fund Project Downtown.

Francis said the city plans to make up for additional costs by using money from local city tax dollars like the city’s water and sewer utilities fund along with other options. Taking from these reserves won’t negatively affect the city’s operations or delay any future projects.

Some downtown business owners have voiced frustrations, saying business is hurting because of the construction project.

Pam Dabolt, owner of Palouse Country Candy, said while downtown sidewalks have stayed open, she’s seen a significant decline in customers.

She saw a 25% decline in business when the rebuild began, which dropped further to 50%. Dabolt said she’s been forced to take money out of her personal accounts to cover the bills of the store.

“I’ve never been against this project,” she said. “But it’s just made life challenging. I think, you know, people just don’t like to be around the construction zone.”

She’s not alone. Michelle Kelly, owner of Michelle’s Closet, said her business is struggling to operate because of the project. She and other retail businesses anticipated sales to fall 30%, but she said they have seen anywhere from a 40% to 80% decline.

Kelly said there aren’t a lot of options for loans or financial relief, either. She said many businesses already used COVID-19 relief funds, and there isn’t much else to apply to.

“We all knew that the construction needed to be done,” she said. “But it’s hitting everybody a lot harder than all of us anticipated.

Dabolt and Kelly said they hope construction will wrap up as soon as possible and not run into the holiday season.

“The only redeeming thing this year will be the holidays,” Dabolt said. “We just want to get back to some degree of normalcy.”

Benjamin said he’s heard owners’ concerns, and encourages people to visit downtown and to support businesses.

More information about Project Downtown Pullman is available at projectdowntownpullman.org

 

Monday, September 16, 2024

Not in Pullman, but Domini Sandwiches of Spokane is an 'institution' patronized by many Pullmanians

 Not in Pullman, but Domini Sandwiches of Spokane is an 'institution' patronized by many Pullmanians




 

Downtown institution Domini Sandwiches closing in December

By Thomas Clouse, Spokane S-R, Sept. 15, 2024

The most famous sliced meat of the Lilac City, and a side of free popcorn, will soon vacate downtown Spokane.

 

Domini’s Sandwiches, a family-legacy business that has served generations of customers, will officially close on Dec. 6, owner Tom “Tommy” Domini said.

 

“It’s going to be sad,” said Domini, 67, who has been looking to sell for some time. “I’m sure I will be crying and hugging everybody. I’ve been here for 50 years.”

 

Domini’s built an institution through customer service, a sandwich that will stretch any stomach and a menu that changed slower than glacial melting.

 

It’s anchored the spot at 703 W. Sprague Ave., on the first floor of the Washington Trust building, for more than 60 years.

 

But Domini has been looking for someone to buy his business for more than a year.

 

He said he couldn’t go into details about the potential buyer, who has his permission to carry the Domini name and its signature sandwiches.

 

The next owner, however, won’t be operating at the current location in the Washington Trust building.

 

“The bank decided they wanted to keep that space, so we couldn’t continue operating in this location,” Domini said.

 

Despite the uncertainty, Domini said he’s ready to leave the early mornings and long hours behind.

 

“It’s time. You’ve got to do something with the rest of your life,” Domini said. “I feel bad for my employees. They have been with me through thick and thin. I’m going to treat them well, too. It’s just a shame.”

 

A legacy meeting place

Domini’s dining room just before noon on Friday mostly had empty booths.

 

But the one in back was patronized by Mike and Mike, both retired Spokane bankers.

 

“My first job interview was with (AgWest) Farm Credit in 1979,” said Mike Palmer. “For lunch, they brought me here.”

 

Palmer has been meeting Mike Ekins once a week since then. For a long time, the Mikes joined a group of five who always took a corner booth.

 

“It’s that familiarity – it feels like home,” Ekins said.

 

One of the Domini’s employees knows the Fiat that Palmer drives, which she refers to as the “clown car.”

 

Just like most regular customers, their favorite sandwiches are already being prepared as they enter the restaurant.

 

“I brought a client here and they ordered a small. (The client) said, ‘Geez, that’s a big sandwich,’ ” Palmer said. “We started coming here when Al ran it. Then Joe (Domini) was here for a while, cousin Bobby (Bruce) and Tom. The room always smelled like fresh popcorn.”

 

Over the years, the “Mikes” have seen changes, not only to Domini’s, but the overall logistics of downtown.

 

“It used to be, you had to be here no later than 11:30 a.m. to get a place to sit,” Ekins said. “There used to be more people working downtown. But it’s good for us. We always get a seat. But in the old days? No way.”

 

He noted that Domini’s had a unique way of shaming customers who wrote a bad check. They simply taped the returned check to the post above the cash register with the name showing for all the other customers to see.

 

“You couldn’t hold your head up in Spokane,” Ekins said of those who bounced checks.

 

The “Mikes” were unaware until Friday of Domini’s pending closing on Dec. 6.

 

“It will be the second ‘Day of Infamy,’ when Domini’s closes” Ekins said, referring to the Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor attack.

 

Gerrit Kischner, an educator from Seattle who was in Spokane to take a class at Washington State University Spokane, said he knew nothing of Domini’s lore. He just needed lunch on Friday and saw the place.

 

“I did not expect it to be that big,” Kischner said of his Reuben sandwich. “The bread is great.”

 

Kischner mostly eats a vegetarian diet.

 

“I did look for a salad on the menu. I didn’t see it. I didn’t ask any further,” he said.

 

Michelle Petretee was getting her regular – roast beef and cheddar on French bread with mayonnaise – and had a bag of sandwiches for others on Friday. It was her second visit to Domini’s this week.

 

“I’ve been coming here since I got my driver’s license when I was 16,” she said.

 

Petretree, a manager and a member of the family that owns Trudeau’s Marina, said the two businesses have been linked by history.

 

“We were founded in 1948. They’ve been here since we’ve been there,” Petretee said. “My parents ate here. My son eats here. My grandson eats here. You can’t get roast beef like this. It’s made fresh every day.”

 

Petretree said few places anywhere can see a customer and start the order.

 

“When they see me, they start making it,” she said of her sandwich.

 

‘Spokane’s loss’

The restaurant was founded in 1947 as the Stockholm Bar on Howard Street by Tom’s father, Al Domini, and uncle Fred Domini. That business competed with another set of Domini brothers, who ran the New Deal around the corner.

 

A fire in 1962 at the business next door ended Domini’s tavern. It reopened in 1963 as Domini Sandwiches at 703 W. Sprague Ave.

 

It moved for a couple years to the Davenport Hotel, which coincided with Expo ’74, but returned to West Sprague in 1975 after a major renovation to the Washington Trust building.

 

Brother Joe Domini left Spokane in 1970 and earned a psychology degree at the University of Washington before returning home in 1992 to help run the sandwich business. He retired in 2013 and moved to Phoenix.

 

Joe Domini said he was waiting to play tennis about six months ago in Phoenix when he overheard a woman in the group ahead of him talking about how she often visits Spokane and always goes to Domini’s.

 

“I’m standing around listening to this lady’s conversation. I said, ‘I’m part of the family.’ She was shocked,” Domini said. “She thought it was funnier than hell.”

 

He said it was a reminder of all the customers who have come through, including movie stars, former Seattle Supersonics player Jack Sikma and even the late Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, who patronized Domini’s when he was in Spokane managing the Dodgers’ farm team in the early 1970s.

 

The restaurant would stay open for Hoopfest, Lilac Parades and even take orders for the University of Washington band. The biggest order topped 2,000 sandwiches, he said.

 

But Joe Domini said he’s happy for his little brother.

 

“Yeah, he needs a break,” Joe said of Tom. “I think he would have rather sold it and had someone keep it going. It’s Spokane’s loss, too.”

 

Passing the bun

Domini said the new owner has his blessing to carry the name and signature sandwiches that customers have embraced over the decades.

 

Before that can happen, however, the prospective owner needs to find a location.

 

“I don’t think it will be downtown,” Tom Domini said. “It’s just too hard to find a location that is safe enough, and it’s expensive.”

 

He’ll help the new owner get set up and work with them to learn the processes.

 

In the meantime, customers only have until Dec. 6 to order Domini’s signature sandwiches.

 

“Hopefully, people will come in to say, ‘Thank you.’ Some have been coming here for 40 or 50 years. It’s incredible,” Tom Domini said.

 

“I love my job. It’s been a great experience.”

 

 

Sunday, September 8, 2024

Lewis-Clark Valley College at Linfield JV Football Sept. 8, 2024; Wildcats win, 36-0

Lewis-Clark Valley College at Linfield JV Football Sept. 8, 2024; Wildcats win, 36-0

“Loggers” of Lewis-Clark Valley College football played a game Sun. afternoon, Sept. 8, 2024, on Maxwell Field in McMinnville, Ore., on the Linfield University campus versus the Linfield “Wildcats” Junior Varsity team.

Note: All “Loggers” are full time students at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho.