By IAN WOODSON
Herald columnist

Editor’s note: Ian Woodson is formerly homeless. He writes this column once every three weeks to build awareness about homelessness in North Kitsap, its causes, and possible solutions.

This story is about a friend who started drinking and smoking weed when he was 13.

He was sent to a group home for troubled youth when he was 15. He began to sell drugs when he got back from the group home and got caught when he was 17. His parents sent him back to the group home for eight months. The group home had a boot camp feel to it, and residents did farm labor such as growing and harvesting alfalfa.

He got into college while he was living at the group home. There was still strict supervision, but he managed to get a job at a deli near the college. This was his way out of the work camp. He saved some money from his job, then ran away from the group home and caught a Greyhound bus back to Seattle. He lived with a high school friend in Indianola. He went back to selling weed again.

After six months, he left his friend’s home and began to sell cocaine to support himself. He moved in with his grandparents during this period. His addiction progressed, because he had free range to do what he wanted. He reached the point where he was doing any and every drug he could get hands on and make a profit on. Money was the priority and drugs eventually took over.

Many attempts to quit were foiled by his return to his drug of choice, cocaine. He left his grandparents’ home to pursue greater use.

He started to couch surf, looked for places to stay, living mostly in his car. Shortly after turning 19, he realized that he needed help to avoid jail and death. His uncle and grandma came back into his life, getting him into an inpatient recovery facility in Burien.

He’s now involved in the 12-step community and learning a new way of life. His grandparents have welcomed him back home and he has also found regular work doing landscaping with his father.

Upcoming Events

— Kingston Cares will meet on May 8, 9:30 a.m. in the Kingston Financial Center, 10950 Highway 104, Kingston. Topic: Making sure the Kingston community has a severe-weather shelter up and running for this winter, and the organizing of committees to address specific needs in the community. Come with your ideas and concerns.

— The North Kitsap Substance Abuse Pre-vention Coalition meets on May 12, 1 p.m., in the Spectrum building, 25800 Siyaya Ave. NE, Kingston. The goal of the coalition is to change the perception among children and teens that drug use is a part of growing up. The coalition invites new members and donations.

For the Year of the Boomer — 2014 is the year the youngest Boomers turn 50 — here is another installment in my survey of 50 Boomers across 10 career categories who have reinvented themselves within the last 10 years.

Many of us are increasingly aware of the countdown clock as we hit our 50s and then our 60s. What once seemed like a future full of opportunity, and time to take advantage of it, is increasingly looking like a looming deadline, and we feel like we’d better get our act together before we run out of time.

Let’s be careful not to act precipitously, however. Lifestyle and career reinvention have to be the result of a measured and conscious evaluation process at our age. We’re not 30 any longer, where an impulsive idea and a resulting five-year jaunt into a new business still has a pretty soft landing at 35 if we don’t make it work.

In researching these profiles, I came across Susan and Stephen Ristau, who seem to have done a very good job of taking their reinvention slow and steady, and serve as an example to the rest of us for letting our reinvention evolve naturally and organically out of a set of renewed and/or defined values. The Ristau’s process is a text-book approach to career reinvention best practices, and can serve almost as a template for those of us looking to take the plunge, but not sure where to start.

First things first: some tough decisions. Like it or not, reinvention will require shaking things up, whether it means downsizing, simplifying our lives, or even moving. We need to be prepared to invest in (don’t think “sacrifice”) and commit to what starts off as an unknown future. In the winter of 2007, the Ristaus, whose kids were out of college, sold their home in Connecticut, got rid of stuff, put the rest in storage, and headed to Oregon, where a friend loaned them a simple cabin on Mount Hood to use as a sort of base camp for them to incubate their next move. Each of them had been successful (he in non-profit management; she in insurance), but they needed to manage their funds carefully with no immediate career prospects in sight. The next few months unfolded as a kind of meditation retreat, where the couple each engaged in personal visioning processes to spark ideas for where and how they could live happily, productively and meaningfully in their Third Act.

As reported on MarketWatch, Stephen said “We suddenly felt this great sense of freedom to choose to live differently. We both knew we needed to return to work. But we didn’t think we needed to earn what we did before. We were ready to take a bit of a risk.” As idyllic as their surroundings were, this was no vacation. Stephen used journaling and other writings (e.g. creating a personal mission statement) as a way of discovering what was exciting to him on the inside, and bringing forward ideas that he could use to find purposeful professional engagement. Susan took a less formal approach, but interacted with people she met in the local community, and allowed herself to consider new ideas that she had never before considered.

The result was dramatic on the outside, and has clearly been transformational on the inside. The Ristaus stayed in Oregon, finding a new home in Portland, with Stephen returning to the non-profit sector, where he works as a consultant to the non-profit sector, providing project consultation and training services to organizations. He also dedicates more time to volunteering and service work. Susan did a complete career pivot and discovered a passion for gardening, so she has now become certified as a “master gardener” and opened up a small landscaping business. To qualify for health benefits, she also works part time as a personal shopper for a local market. As expected, they’re making less money, but they’re also living more simply. What’s important to them is the freedom and flexibility of their lifestyles, the control they have over their days, and the way that the work they are doing is making a visible difference and touching the people they work for and with.

While the Ristaus clearly had the resources to figure out how they were going to achieve their reinvention, their story exemplifies the steps that all reinventions have to take in order to succeed. There is always a series of inner processes that need to take place — time that we need to spend contemplating this change, and working out the details of what it’s going to look like before actually embarking on the plan.

Earlier on Huff/Post50:

• Several larger corporations such as Starbucks, Target and Land’s End are able to offer even their part-time employees benefits such as health coverage and paid vacation time (head over to ABC for a full list).

• For those with an entrepreneurial spirit and computer know-how, the Internet offers opportunities to bring in some cash from home — at any hour of the day or night. Take Jose and Jill Ferrer, a retired couple profiled by AARP for supplementing a freewheeling retirement with their website, Your RV Lifestyle. By highlighting certain products related to RV living, the pair earns 0 a month, AARP reports. “And we know the potential is there to grow our website business further,” Jill Ferrer says. Other ideas: Etsy.com allows the crafty to turn a profit from their hobbies.

• Personal care and home health aid topped the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ list of the fastest growing occupations in America. The time commitment may vary (between 10 and 30 hours per week, according to SmartMoney), but the median annual wage is around ,000 for both occupations, according to the BLS.

• Bartending is not just for twentysomethings — and for social butterflies, this part-time gig offers opportunity to rake in extra cash, not to mention tips, with a minimal initial financial investment (a 40-hour certification course at the New York City Bartending School costs a little less than 0, for example).

• Age discrimination is less of a problem in government agencies, reports The Fiscal Times. In fact, agencies such as the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Transportation Security Administration actively seek older workers. Visit USAJobs.gov to search for available positions.

• If you’ve got an artistic flair or an interest in theater, makeup artists can make up to an hour, and only work 20 hours a week on average, AOL Jobs reports. Disclaimer: qualifications may include formal training in cosmetology or theater, and a license is required to practice in several states.

• What better way to scratch that globetrotting itch? If you’re up for an on-the-go lifestyle, flight attendants also earn up to an hour, making it a very well-paid part-time job.

• The nonprofit sector can offer more than volunteer opportunities for retirees, and may be particularly appealing to those who “thought they wanted to change the world … [but] put that on the back burner for 20 or 30 years while they climbed the corporate ladder,” as Tamara Erickson, author of “Retire Retirement: Career Strategies for the Boomer Generation,” told The Wall Street Journal.

  To get started, Idealist.org offers listings for available paid positions in addition to volunteer opportunities: applicants with years of experience under their belts are sure to be met with open arms. Even cooler, Encore.org offers paid Encore Fellowships to “match skilled, experienced professionals at the end of their midlife careers with social-purpose organizations” — while earning a small stipend for part- or full-time work, midlifers can get their foot in the door to a fulfilling retirement job.

• The pay may not be great, but if you’re an arts lover, a history buff or a sports enthusiast, the perks certainly are!

• “I studied hypnotherapy and cognitive behavioural therapy 3 years ago and now I have my own business, couldn’t be happier” — Huff/Post50 reader Lee Adley

  It’s certainly a challenge, but as our amazing readers — and the many men and women featured on our page — can attest, going back to school and pursuing something totally different can be well worth the investment of time, money and energy.

Vice President Joe Biden will visit Cleveland Wednesday to promote expansion of a transit program that House Republicans would rather cut. The program is helping to pay for an RTA project near University Circle.Cliff Owen / AP

WASHINGTON, D.C. – When Vice President Joe Biden visits a Cleveland rapid transit station on Mayfield Rd. Wednesday, he’ll promote a form of federal spending that in its broadest outlines has few opponents.

Roads need paving. Bridges need fixing. Nearly everyone agrees.

But exactly what else counts as necessary for federal transportation spending, including a Red Line rapid station in Cleveland, is another matter.

If House of Representatives Republicans prevail, there could be much less money in the future for projects like the new Little Italy-University Circle Rapid Station, which is scheduled to open in 2015 and Biden will highlight Wednesday.

Biden’s Cleveland visit is part of a broader, week-long lobbying effort by the White House to draw attention to a desire to keep spending on improving infrastructure. The overarching issue – keeping the nation’s roads and bridges open and safe – has wide consensus.

Even the biggest pro-business lobbying groups in Washington, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, are spending the week much like Biden and his boss, President Barack Obama. They’re holding forums and other events to tell Congress that it’s time for a major new transportation bill.

The current bill expires Sept. 30, and the Highway Trust Fund, which provides the money, could run short a month earlier.

Obama is going to the construction site of the new structure that will replace the Tappan Zee Bridge, spanning New York’s Hudson River, the same day as Biden’s visit to the new Little Italy-University Circle Rapid Station.

But first, Biden today will go to St. Louis and highlight a pedestrian bridge being built over a highway that separates residents and tourists from the Gateway Arch.  And on Friday, the White House says, Obama will meet with workers to discuss infrastructure around Washington, D.C.

The White House says that 65 percent of the nation’s major roads are rated as being in “less than good” condition and one in four bridges require significant repairs or cannot handle today’s traffic.

But agreement on need is not the same as agreement on where to get the money, or on how to spend it.

Most current federal transportation projects, including money that gets funneled to state highway departments, are funded through a tax on gasoline (18.4 cents per gallon) and diesel fuel (24.4 cents per gallon). Those taxes have not been raised since 1993, although from 1993 to 1997, 4.3 cents of the gasoline tax was used for deficit reduction before being redirected to transportation projects.

The static tax is just part of the problem. Cars also get better gasoline mileage since the last hike, and with inflation, the money doesn’t buy as much steel and asphalt. 

So Obama would replace the expiring transit bill, called Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century, or MAP-21, with a $302 billion, four-year bill. Obama’s bill would supplement the gas tax with money from closing certain corporate tax provisions, including one that the White House and Democrats say has led to companies sheltering income overseas.

Republicans such as House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster have their own ideas — both for annual transportation appropriations, which last a year at a time, and for a longer-term road-and-bridge improvement program.

“While Chairman Shuster respects that the Administration has put forward its own detailed proposal, the first time it has done so, he will not agree with it on all the details,” said Justin Harclerode, Shuster’s spokesman. “Thus far, the chairman has not elaborated on any potential differences or areas of agreement as the Transportation Committee continues to develop its surface transportation proposal.”

The last big highway bill, MAP-21, authorized $105 billion over two years, marking the first agreement on a large highway bill since 2005. A series of Band-Aid approaches, as the White House had put it, sufficed in the interim.

Many supporters, including Ohio Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, say that spending on roads helps the American economy, not only by providing road-building jobs but also by keeping the economy moving.

“Road and bridge projects don’t just mean safer and less congested roads and construction jobs – they also help attract new employers and economic development,” Brown said in an email this week.

Brown said that more than 8 percent of Ohio’s bridges require major repairs or replacement. He also noted the better known projects awaiting funding, such as Route 8 in Akron and the Brent Spence Bridge in Cincinnati. 

Federal highway spending, however, has become a boondoggle in the eyes of some fiscal conservatives. This is where ideological groups split with those who have interests to protect.

Emily Goff, a transportation and infrastructure policy analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation, noted that MAP-21 funds go not only to build roads and bridges but also to build recreation trails and bicycle paths. These are important to groups pushing for transportation alternatives, but they siphon money that could go for even more roads and bridges to ease considerable traffic congestion, Goff says.

Yet MAP-21 requires states to set aside money for these kinds of alternatives, Goff says, to the tune of $27.5 million this year in Pennsylvania and $78.9 million in Texas.

“Identifying a connection between these activities and a federal highway program concerned with interstate highway system construction and maintenance proves difficult,” Goff wrote in a recent Heritage blog post. “Indeed, there is nothing federal or highway about bicycle paths, landscaping, or any of these local activities.”

The RTA station in Cleveland is a project that could raise a similar question, with its emphasis on meshing light rail with development around University Circle and Little Italy. The existing station, on Euclid Avenue at E. 120^th Street, is considered functionally obsolete, so the new station will be placed several blocks south, at Mayfield Road at E. 119^th Street.

About $8.9 in funding comes from highly competitive U.S. Department of Transportation grants, according to the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority.

The grant money did not come MAP-21. Rather, it came from a program created under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, or the recession-era stimulus act. The transportation component of the stimulus act, called Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER), gets money appropriated annually from Congress — $3.5 billion so far for 270 projects nationwide, including $600 million this year, the White House says.

The TIGER program will end soon, too — unless Obama and Biden get their way.

In that case, TIGER would become permanent, greatly expanded to $5 billion over four years. The Obama White House wants to fold it into the next iteration of a four-year road-and-bridge bill.

House Republicans are unlikely to go along. The House appropriations subcommittee for transportation on May 6 recommended a lower sum of $100 million for TIGER in 2015, and the GOP-led panel would further restrict TIGER grants to “projects that will address critical transportation needs, such as road, highway and bridge construction and improvement.”

In other words, while money for the Little Italy-University Circle RTA station appears secure, future projects like it could go unfunded.

That is apparently why Biden is coming to Cleveland: to highlight what the money has helped build and point out what would have happened were it not there.

The White House would not comment on this in advance of the vice president’s trip. In an email, White House spokesman Keith Maley said, “Members of both parties have put forward their own ideas on the Hill, and the most important thing is that we pass a long-term bill that creates jobs and provides certainty for cities, states, and businesses. It’s time to get the job done.”