A banner day for citizen discontent

Published 11:00 am Wednesday, August 2, 2006

“IS THIS ROAD SAFE?”

For several years in the mid-‘90s, that pointed question – emblazoned on a large roadside banner – confronted anyone motoring up to the Vincent Road dump. The implicit answer of course was “NO”; heavily traveled by garbage trucks and the old-newspaper-and-empty-wine-bottle-hauling public, the hilly back road had been neglected for years and was horribly gouged and pitted, a kidney-pounding ride in even the most rugged vehicles.

Vincent Road’s condition became something of a civic embarrassment, an ongoing nuisance to the recycling center’s many patrons yet far enough out of the way that it never seemed to get the attention of the Department of Public Works beyond occasional and ineffective grading. So up went the banner, placed by an irate citizen urging motorists to call then-councilman Andy Maron (whose home phone number was prominently displayed) to get some action. The city eventually found some money and the road was paved; the banner was given to Maron as a memento.

We’re not sure if the infamous Vincent Road banner was the inspiration, but motorists sneaking through the private parking lots between Ericksen Avenue and Hildebrand Lane these days will find a similar call to action on an identical medium. A new banner there reads: “If this private access was closed, would you like Ericksen-Hildebrand connected? If so, call your City Councilperson.”

It’s the latest volley from the Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce, which has lobbied for a formal connection to link the burgeoning Hildebrand commercial district with downtown.

The linkage has been blocked by a combination of neighborhood opposition and council inertia for at least 15 years, leaving motorists – including you, admit it – to cut across private property to shave a few minutes off the drive to the Village shopping area. The driveway nearest North Sound Bank was chained off by the owners a few years ago, but scofflaws had only to move one driveway north and “Not A Thru Street” was open again.

At Ericksen-Hildebrand, the issue hasn’t been a lack of funds; it’s been lack of political courage by successive councils to even confront the question of an opening. If and when it comes, the vote will be one of those minor watersheds to which will be attached great gravitas and symbolism: neighborhood interests vs. the needs of the larger island, pocket parks vs. more asphalt, pedestrian routes vs. the hated but curiously indispensable automobile.

Yet good transportation planning says the Winslow core needs another north-south traffic corridor to relieve the pressure on Madison and Grow, and common sense says that so many motorists cut through the business parking lots, Ericksen and Hildebrand are already connected. So as the city has begun traffic studies and a lengthy public process to address the connection, let this be our collective goal: that the council will finally take an actual vote on the matter, rather than relying on inaction and distraction to avoid it.

Parenthetically, Maron says that in all the time the Vincent Road banner was up, he only received a handful of phone calls from constituents. We trust that folks on both sides of the Ericksen-Hildebrand debate will be more forthcoming, if only to urge the council to make a decision – any decision.