Old Place Takes New Teen Look -- In Redmond, They're Finding An Innovative Way To `Hang Out'

REDMOND - In the garage that used to house five firetrucks, Matt Matsuoka is meticulously sticking wide pieces of masking tape across a black concrete wall.

The 24-year-old Art Institute of Seattle student comes here several times a week, blocking out and painting a mural that evokes scenes of a city of the future - a place where a three-eyed citizen takes a winged dog for a walk and a silvery UFO loiters on the street.

With gallons of latex paint and hours of work, youthful volunteers are in the slow process of turning this drafty former fire station into a teen center, a hangout, a place they can call their own.

Two years ago, voters here rejected a $7.9 million bond issue to build a community and teen center. Since then, Mayor Rosemarie Ives has cobbled together a teen program on a shoestring budget, and the 50-year-old building at 16510 N.E. 79th St. has become its focal point.

It was built sometime in the 1920s or 30s - city officials aren't sure just when - and over time it has housed the Redmond City Hall, the one-cell Redmond Jail, the Redmond Fire Department and, most recently, the Redmond YMCA.

For the past two summers, it's served as the home of the popular Club Red, a drop-in supervised hangout for teens that featured live music. This fall, the "Y" moved out and the teens are getting full use of the building.

Curmudgeons might wonder why suburban teens need their own center. Kate Becker, city youth coordinator, notes that youngsters in the 1990s are faced with problems their parents didn't have to deal with - the proliferation of gangs and weapons on the streets, the availability of drugs like crack cocaine, the influence of violence on television. "We need to provide them with another positive option," she says.

The Old Firehouse is open three nights a week now - as a drop-in place for kids who want to play pool, lift weights, shoot some baskets. Every other week the center hosts band concerts for a $5 cover charge, and twice a month on Wednesdays there are free art classes.

Ives has proposed spending $70,000 next year for building repairs and renovation, $25,000 for a part-time recreation assistant and $35,000 for maintenance and operation of the center. Ives would like to expand its services to four nights a week and post a Redmond officer and Youth Eastside Services counselor in the building. The budget proposals are subject to approval by the City Council this fall.

The Old Firehouse is not a fancy place. A big patch of stucco is coming off the outside walls in front. It's ice-cold in some rooms.

But that doesn't really matter.

It's one of the few places Meghin Gjerswold's parents will let her hang out. Gjerswold, 15, has pitched in to help fix up the place. "Everyone likes to go there," she says.

Among the big draws of the center are the twice-a-month band concerts. Groups such as Jawbreaker, Seaweed, The Posies and Sunny Day Real Estate have played here. The opening act is often a local startup band like Red Rocket, The Green, The Plan, Pillow, I Fergit?

The quality of the music is important. Dave Krone, a 20-year-old Redmond resident who has his own band, is one of the teen center's musicians. "As time has progressed," he says, "they really started getting some good bands in there."

"These kids tend to be more into music and art than sports," add Becker, the youth coordinator. Some have dropped out of school, and others are valedictorians. "It's really a diverse group - we've tried to make it not comfortable for just one clique."

City officials consider the Old Firehouse an interim measure. They'd like to propose another bond issue to build a community and teen center in the next five years, perhaps with contribution of corporate funds to lower the public cost.

"We're trying to decide if there might be a way to tap into the private sector," says City Councilwoman Nancy McCormick.

The group is holding a meeting Wednesday night to discuss the possibility of a new teen center in the future. Anyone interested in the issue is invited to attend. ----------------------------------------------------------------- New teen center?

The possibility of a new teen center for Redmond will be discussed at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Redmond Chamber of Commerce, 16210 N.E. 80th St.