MICHAEL SWAN: LOVING TACOMA >>>

The BIA Blog reports that Friday's City Center Luncheon is the place to be. Topics will include the Center for Urban Waters ground breaking, Point Ruston development plans, Tollefson Plaza lunchtime concerts, and the arts experience Showcase Tacoma.

Details await on the BIA Blog.

DANIEL BLUE: MEET LIZ SPARKS >>>

Liz Sparks is a woman of class and pedigree. She moved to downtown Tacoma in 2003 and fell in love with the people. Currently she works at Veritas Mortgage, and lives in Sky Terrace.

Her father owned a flower shop in Auburn as she was growing up, and she still helps out with deliveries on holidays. Liz is an extremely compassionate person.

She loves wine and wants you to sit, sip and tell her all your troubles and triumphs. 

I have told Liz secrets that very few living people know about me - I trust her without hesitation.

A giver of gifts, Liz has a near obsessive quality that turns her house into a factory around Christmas and wedding times. No one is forgotten, and she has multitudes of friends. I think she wants people to feel included and welcome in her life and in our city, she understands how important those kinds of gestures can be. Aside from being an excellent neighbor and community coalescent, she dreams of being a mother and continuing her goal of making the city a better place to live for everyone.

DANIEL BLUE: MEET AMY >>>

Amy never told me her last name, but I met her while tooling around the Lincoln District when I stumbled in to Asia Gift and Aquarium, a hybrid store with more Feng Shui coursing through the fabric of my energy field than the time I put my finger in the light socket. She answered all of my dumb questions about the various idols that were hanging out on her shelves. She was very nice to me and appreciated my interest in the stories behind the images. The most memorable of these was about "the man of justice" who was a character in the story of the three kingdoms. I've heard about this dude before, but what I didn't know is that many gangsters worship him, because he is not a god.

Amy and her husband Nghia, have been in that location for 18 years, selling fish and statues to the fine people of Tacoma.

"My husband bought some fish tanks and some fish and all of the sudden had so many fish to sell, we took them to the supplier and they would not buy them, so we decided to sell the fish ourselves."

At some point the lucrative import market expanded to the maze of visual delights that It is now; Amy is a delight and an anchor to Tacoma's international district.

SIMON MOON: BLID GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY >>>

The Weekly Volcano braved the summer weather and attended this morning's BLID Groundbreaking Ceremony.

After years of hand wringing, businesses in and around Broadway will see construction begin for the Broadway Local Improvement District project. The project will include streetscape improvements along portions of Market Street and St. Helens Avenue between South 9th and South 7th Street, and portions of Broadway from South 9th Street to North 2nd Street.

Improvements will include utility upgrades, lighting upgrades, sidewalk repair and upgrades, and a number of other cosmetic improvements. If that sounds like a good deal, consider that some businesses will not survive construction and street closures long enough to enjoy the benefits of all that sprucing up. Rather than bemoan their fate, downtown business owners are advised to start planning now. A little strategy, say experts, will make the difference between survival and demise.

The City of Tacoma’s Small Business Construction Survival Guide is a good place to look if the whole thing has you feeling overwhelmed. Download a copy of Tacoma’s Small Business Construction Survival Guide here.

MATT DRISCOLL: JAZZBONES OWNER LOOKS TO PURCHASE THE CLUB >>>

While there seems to be some confusion about when exactly the changeover will take place, at this point I’ve heard the news from enough people to believe it.

Jazzbones owner Terry Suzuki is in the process of buying Station 56. His plans for the venue have not been confirmed, though Station 56 bar manager Tim Smiedala says he’s heard a sushi bar is likely in the works for the club off of South Tacoma Way, and as far as he knows the music and entertainment will not change.

“They were both in here five or six weeks ago and kind of dropped the bomb on us,” says Smiedala of a meeting current Station 56 headman Max Messmer and Suzuki had with employees of the club.

“Today was supposed be the day, but that hasn’t happened.”

Smiedela says he expects an announcement of the deal to come within the next ten days, though he couldn’t confirm that as the official plan. After hearing rumblings for some time, Smiedela preferred to take a wait and see approach.

A source close to Jazzbones confirmed Suzuki’s interest and intent to purchase Station 56, but declined to offer any specifics, and said the deal would likely take 2-3 months to close.

We’ll let you know more as we now more.

For now, sushi at Station 56 seems imminent, though when exactly it will happen remains anyone’s guess.

JAKE DE PAUL: BE THE BAIR >>>

The Steilacoom Historical Museum Association is seeking proposals for operation of a business in the historic Bair Drug Store building in downtown Steilacoom. The association has been remodeling and upgrading the structure during the last few months and hopes to have it opened early this summer.

The Request for Proposals can be found here.

LINK: Suburban Times

STEVE DUNKELBERGER: THEATER FESTIVAL >>>

I was talking to a theater lover this morning about the demise of the South Sound Playwrights Festival (formerly the Pierce County Playwright Festival) a few years ago and how the Festival of New Works opening Feb. 21 is set to not only replace but eclipse that effort.

The entire pool of scripts readers pondered ran close to 50. I'm excited.

The festival, the biggest festival solely devoted to fully-staged Northwest plays ever produced, will  offer three full-length plays, 33 10-minute plays and more than 150 actors from Tacoma, Seattle, Olympia and Bellingham. The gig runs Feb. 21  to March 2 at Tacoma's Broadway Center for the Performing Arts.

Visit www.northwestplaywrights.org for more information.

A Monday night in front of “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” may be hunky-dory for Mrs. John Q. Appleseed, but you, dear friend, demand more from life. You make a serious dent in the business world. You demand your Monday nights to be dynamic, educational, entertaining, and about 90 proof.

FEMM is back and it’s so you. Female Executive Martini Monday kicks off this Monday, Jan. 28 at Woody’s on the Water. Women’s Resource and Business Directory will be the sponsor host â€" the organization that strives to provide fun opportunities to socialize, network, learn and mentor with other businesses and services in the Puget Sound. Women's Resource is credited for such popular events as the monthly Business Network Tours, Wednesdays with Writers, JazzyJune, and Bad Banana on Broadway (not sure about the last one).

Admission is free, and Woody’s will mark down its martinis half-price for FEMM.

To RSVP, e-mail here.

USA Today’s Money section focuses on the Tacoma housing market.  Christine Degas reports that Tacoma’s housing market is largely insulated from the collapse of the subprime market and foreclosures due to the two military installations.

True. With guaranteed paychecks, the brigade returning from Iraq, and war pay, the military will help stabilize the housing market in Pierce and Thurston counties. â€" Michael Swan

If you’re the one who keeps telling yourself, “This month, I am going to go down to Barefoot Studio’s ‘10x10’ thingy. I am going to learn all about the supposed cultural side of Tacoma.”

You’re going to have to wait.

Paul and Josephine Zmolek will reorganize and relocate their Barefoot Studios after a Pierce Transit bus crashed into their building, the City’s “D” Street Project disturbance, a 50 percent rent increase and a tenuous month to month agreement. â€" Suzy Stump

• Barefoot Studios Press Release: Saturday, June 30th, 2007 will be the last day of classes offered at Barefoot Studios' present location, 311 Puyallup Avenue in Tacoma.  Barefoot Studios will close as a for-profit business to be replaced by a new 501(c)3 not-for-profit business, Barefoot Callous Arts, which will continue and extend the work of Barefoot Studios. September/October 2007 is the target date for Barefoot Callous Arts to commence operations in yet to be determined location(s).