Turning Point Call For Bids, Groundbreaking Dinner Planned For New Southside Senior Activity Center

Thu., Oct. 26, 2000

By Mike Prager mikeprager15@gmail.com (509) 459-5454

The campaign to build a new Southside Senior Activity Center moves ahead next week with two watershed events.

The board of the senior center on Wednesday is expected to call for bids for construction of a new $2 million center on Ray Street north of 27th Avenue.

Bids are being solicited from a select list of contractors.

Next Thursday, the center is hosting a special groundbreaking dinner at 6 p.m. in the Jewett House at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.

Guests will be entertained by the musical group, Intermezzo, and the Senior Serenaders. Tickets are $15 and available through the center.

Myrna Johnson-Ross, center director, said the events mark a turning point for the project, which has been gathering donations for two years.

“This is a community facility being built with private dollars,” she said.

Actual construction won’t start until next year and still hinges on the project campaign receiving another $500,000 in pledges.

The campaign for the new center has moved into its last phase of seeking smaller community donations. Most of the past two years was spent working on large corporate donations and grants.

The new center next to the developed portion of Thornton Murphy Park is being built on city-owned land with a lease with the Parks Department.

Glen Cloninger and Associates was hired to design the facility.

Planners want it to become a community center for all ages.

The senior center is developing a tutoring program with schoolchildren. Adult recreation programs and neighborhood meetings also will be at the new center.

Already, 20 members of the senior center have been accepted as volunteers at Lincoln Heights Elementary School.

Currently the senior center is housed in leased space in the Lincoln Heights Shopping Center.

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