What will be making news in 2010?

The city: For starters, we get a new mayor

Yakima is likely to see a new mayor elected Tuesday, and although it won't be a newcomer, it's likely to be someone who will set a new tone in city politics.

The current mayor, Dave Edler, has all but signaled he'll pass on seeking a third term. And given events last year, it's no surprise.

Gang crime flared up with a vengeance in 2009, jail costs soared $800,000 over budget, and the city has no long-term plan for repairing roads or sparing parks from the threat of budget cuts.

Add to that the growing pains in the West Valley, the looming retirement of City Manager Dick Zais and persistent understaffing at the fire department.

With Dave Ettl and Maureen Adkison as newcomers, the Yakima City Council is expected to tilt to the right. And council members Micah Cawley and Adkison have made no secret of their interest in the mayor's job.

Under the city's council-manager form of government, the title is largely ceremonial. It's the city manager who hires and fires department heads and runs the day-to-day business of the city. But in contrast to previous mayors, Edler, a pastor, made the job something of a bully pulpit, speaking out on youth violence, skin-baring baristas and his unsuccessful campaign for an aquatic center.

Come Tuesday night, the council will make its choice between Cawley, a DJ on a country music station, and Adkison, a West Valley civic volunteer and president of the board of directors of Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center.

Local governments: More of the same

The sour economy took a toll on state and local governments last year, and most are expecting more of the same in 2010.

Cities throughout the Yakima Valley are cutting spending for parks and public works, raising rates for garbage pickup and sewer service while also laying off staff or letting vacant positions go dark permanently.

In Yakima's West Valley, the state plans to shut down the minimum security prison in March, forcing 86 state employees to transfer to different corrections facilities elsewhere in the state or look for other jobs. And local school districts are nervously waiting to hear if the budget ax will fall on millions of dollars in state funding they've relied on for years. Look for the lobbying frenzy to begin as soon as the Legislature convenes Jan. 11.

For now, the most draconian impacts seem to be facing Yakima County government. Commissioners plan to close the courthouse on Fridays starting in July and are negotiating with community organizations to assume ownership of Eschbach Park, a 50-acre park.

The county will have to negotiate reduced work hours with labor unions, and because of a state constitutional requirement that Superior Court be open every weekday except holidays it may be limited to closing administrative offices on Fridays.

A few communities are finding ways to invest in services. Prosser, the first city in Eastern Washington to impose a $20 vehicle tab fee, will have enough money to start a chip-sealing program. And Grandview, following their lead, has promised to put a possible vehicle tab fee on the table this year.

There was good news for Mabton residents last week, when the City Council actually lowered utility taxes and found enough money for an additional police officer.

The gang problem: New approaches

More creative approaches to combat gangs can be expected in 2010. There was already some experimenting in 2009, including a digital storytelling workshop inside the Yakima County Juvenile Detention Facility.

Another program is set to begin this month in tiny, gang-ridden Outlook. A caseworker there will help families with children in gangs or at risk of joining address basic poverty and health needs, and also organize residents into building alternative programs or spaces for young people.

Throughout the county, agencies are now sharing more information -- not just about wanted gang members, but also about social services and alternative programs for young people.

At the state level, there's a movement to allow civil injunctions to be issued and "safety zones" around public schools to prohibit gang activity. Under the proposal -- strongly backed by local law enforcement officials and Attorney General Rob McKenna -- police could arrest anyone near a school who is displaying colors, flashing gang signs or believed to be involved in criminal activity without probable cause.

Something new: Underpasses & parks

Yakima city officials expect to break ground on a $42 million street tunnel project in March. The first two street tunnels will go in under the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway on Lincoln Avenue.

City officials predict railroad freight traffic will increase over the years and say the goal is to keep vehicle traffic flowing on Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Commuters who rely on those two avenues to get to downtown from West Valley, however, are likely to quibble with that notion once construction begins.

The Committee for Downtown Yakima, meanwhile, is raising money in hopes of having a new park ready for the community by spring.

The county-owned site is located at Second and A streets, where a string of dilapidated buildings once stood. Workers have already prepared the ground for landscaping.

The committee has dubbed it "Performance Park" and plans to have an area designed for performances and public gatherings. The county has pledged to contribute $40,000 from its capital construction fund and provide underground electrical service.

Installation of a granite sculpture on Yakima's North Front Street District, however, is likely to draw more immediate attention. The Arts Giving Circle has said it will move forward with plans to place the art piece there within the next month -- despite loud objections from restaurant owner Karl Pasten.

Immigration debate: It's back

Expect the immigration debate to regain heat in 2010.

A proposal to overhaul the immigration system was put on the table by Rep. Luis Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat, in December. His bill provides for greater enforcement of immigration laws, employment verification, family reunification programs -- and a path for legalizing the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States.

Elements of both the AgJobs Bill and the Dream Act -- introduced multiple times without success over the years -- are included in Gutierrez's proposal. More proposals are expected this year, including one from Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who chairs the Senate's immigration subcommittee.

AgJobs provides a citizenship path for illegal immigrants in agricultural jobs while changing the current guest worker program. Groups like the Washington Growers Association favor the bill, but other groups, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, have withheld support, saying a better reworking of the current guest worker program is possible.

Meanwhile, the so-called Dream Act would grant legal status to certain illegal immigrant students who graduate from U.S. high schools. The legislation has gained plenty of attention in recent weeks as federal immigration authorities have delayed deportation hearings in a handful of cases involving college students who were brought here illegally as children.

The Obama administration insists it won't postpone controversial immigration legislation until after midterm elections next November.

We'll see if that happens. The president has a lot on his plate right now -- including fixing the economy, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and fighting domestic terrorism again.

Local housing market: More credits

An extension of a first-time homebuyers' tax credit may give the local housing market a boost during the first few months of 2010, typically a slow time for the local market.

First-time homebuyers who purchase a home or enter a binding contract by April 30 are eligible for the credit, which is valued at up to $8,000. (All purchases under contract must be completed by June 30.)

The credit, which was scheduled to end in November, contributed to the bulk of sales activity during the third quarter of 2009, where nearly 72 percent of homes purchased were less than $200,000.

Local real estate agents are hoping they'll see increased sales activity for more expensive homes in 2010 with the implementation of a second tax credit designed to spur activity from repeat buyers.

Homebuyers who have owned a home in five of the past eight years may qualify for a tax credit of up to $6,500 for homes that are under a binding contract between now and April 30. All purchases under contract must be completed by June 30.

State of the arts: Expansions planned

A pair of Yakima's most important entertainment venues undertook major renovations in 2009 and could look considerably different still a year from now.

The Capitol Theatre on South Third Street, which broke ground on an adjacent $9.4 million production center in September, will continue to expand. By summer, work is expected to be near completion on the production center, which will allow the Capitol to stage elaborate Broadway-style productions, and the 500-seat Black Box Theatre.

Those additions are only part of the planned $14.6 million project for the theater, built in 1920 and rebuilt in 1975 after a fire.

On a smaller scale, The Seasons Performance Hall on Naches Avenue also underwent renovations in 2009 that will continue in 2010. That includes a banquet room, heating and air upgrades and updated lighting and sound systems.

Struggling to break even as it maintains a policy of bringing in top-notch expensive performers, The Seasons looks to 2010 as a year to build on its 2009 fundraising successes.

Pro sports: More in the works

The Yakima Bears have been it as far as Yakima's professional sports scene goes the past couple of years.

That could change in 2010.

The American Indoor Football Association has announced that the Yakima Valley Warriors will debut this spring in the SunDome. The facility last held indoor football in 2001 when it housed the Yakima Shockwave during its lone turbulent season in the National Indoor Football League.

The SunDome is also fielding calls from a Los Angeles businessman who's expressed interest in placing a North American Hockey League team in Yakima. Ken Dennis, a minority owner of the league's Wenatchee Wild team, met with SunDome officials in early December to talk about the possibilities.

Two basketball leagues are looking at Yakima, too. And the International Basketball League has eyed the SunDome as a possible home for a team in the league that runs an abbreviated schedule beginning in spring 2011.

The American Basketball Association, a watered-down version of the former NBA rival, looked at expanding to Yakima but has been unable to find a facility to play in after it was rebuffed by the West Valley school board.

Kellen Moore: Heisman winner?

As a senior at Prosser High School, quarterback Kellen Moore was ignored by the power-conference schools during recruiting despite rewriting the record books in leading the Mustangs to deep postseason runs.

But the Boise State sophomore can't be denied anymore.

Entering his junior year with the Broncos, Moore could be one of the leading candidates for 2010's Heisman Trophy, given annually to the best player in college football.

Of the six players who finished ahead of him in the 2009 Heisman voting, only the winner, Alabama's Mark Ingram (who will also be a junior next year), will return next season.

Moore, who statistically ranked as one of the top quarterbacks in the country, will have plenty of options returning, with just five seniors graduating from a team that went 13-0 in the regular season and earned a berth in Monday's Fiesta Bowl.