Common(s) interest

On any given Monday there’s a good chance anyone looking for Maryse Monteiro, Fern Adams or Patricia Sheehan can find them playing Mah Jongg at one of six tables in the Friends of Third Place Commons meeting room.

Sometimes they’ll arrive as early as 9 a.m. and stay until after 4 p.m. Mondays are for Mah Jongg whether they win, lose or even keep score at all. The space is simply theirs.

Those who fill the meeting room at Third Place Commons in Lake Forest Park to play the game are a dedicated group but only one example of the activities happening and people meeting on a regular basis in the Commons.

Discussions about the many ways people use the Commons erupted as a group of fifty residents broke into small groups to discuss the future of the space on Sept. 22.

Group members eagerly shared the reasons they like to visit Third Place Commons: For the books, for the restaurants, for meetings, to study. Voices overlapped as members chatted in their small groups.

“This is my third place just as it is for all of you,” Roger Loschen said. “I buy a lot of books here. … It’s a feeling, a sense of togetherness.”

Third Place Board member Teresa Lingafelter asked her group to brainstorm how the Commons had changed in the past five years. Some noted the addition of a black curtain around the stage area, while another observation included the closure of both a cooking school and a wine shop and the opening of Shoreline Community College’s Center for Business and Continuing Education and the Farmers Market.

The final question for each group asked how the Commons should change in the next five years. Answers included possible improvements to the acoustics, restaurant changes, and the addition of a bicycle repair shop run by residents, a place for visual art and an outdoor cinema, among lists full of other ideas.

“My friends and I come here to study here all the time,” Janina Alcantara, 16, said. “We like the big tables. I don’t know if it’s possible but it would be nice to have computer stations with Internet access.”

The ideas will be part of the Board’s consideration in devising a strategy for the future of the Commons, according to Karen True, co-chair of the Friends of Third Place Commons Board.

“The biggest mistake that we can make would be to be complacent,” she said. “We feel the times changing and we want to know what the community would like to see here. I don’t know what the next phase is but we want it to be relevant.”

Before the group discussions, Ron Sher, the founder of Third Place Books shared his thoughts on Third Place Commons.

“I think this success (of The Commons) is one of the things that make me less cynical,” he said. “It’s easy to get cynical in this day and age. …The norm is people want to be together.”

Joining Sher on a panel of opening presenters who remarked about the Commons were executive director of Northwest Hospital Foundation John Kim and 32nd District Rep. Ruth Kagi, D-Lake Forest Park.

“I meet my constituents here for meetings more often than in my own office,” Rep. Kagi said. “I really think this (space) is ideal, welcoming and it gives people the opportunity to come together. I wish we could replicate this in every city across Washington state.”