Blood needed
Bloodworks Northwest is having a pop-up blood drive Oct. 7-8 and 14-15 at Rolling Bay Presbyterian Church.
The location is 11042 Sunrise Dr. NE, Bainbridge Island.
Make an appointment at schedule.bloodworks.org or call 800-398-7888. Lots of appointments are available.
Inspections
Appraisers from the Kitsap County assessor’s office are conducting onsite inspections throughout Bainbridge Island.
State law requires inspections of all real property at least once every six years. The inspections should be completed by April 2022.
Appraisers will be following social-distancing protocols and will attempt to stay in their vehicles while conducting inspections, however they will be masked if they approach an occupied residence.
Appraisers do not drive county vehicles, however their vehicles are marked with proper identification on both sides. Other verification options are to request to see individual credentials, call 360-337-7160 or check the inspection area map at www.kitsapgov.com/assessor.
Traffic study
You might have noticed black tubes across many roads on Bainbridge Island. They are traffic counters that the city is using to gather data at 126 locations to inform the traffic-calming program. The traffic counters measure speed and count how many cars travel that road.
The city has also installed cameras at 33 intersections to gather information on how many people are riding bicycles. That information will serve as a baseline for bicycle use and support future Sustainable Transportation Plan project planning and evaluation.
The project also includes an inventory of the speed limit signs to aid future traffic-calming evaluation efforts. The city most recently collected this data in 2019. This new data will be compiled into a map for departmental use and by the Traffic Operations Committee to address speed limit modification requests.
Burn ban lifted
The Kitsap County fire marshal recently announced that the outdoor burn ban has been lifted.
All outdoor burning may resume subject to the normal rules and regulations.
Land clearing burning is still prohibited throughout the county, and burning permits are required for general outdoor burning. Free permits are available through local fire districts’ websites. Recreational burning (fires in a designated pit and containing seasoned firewood or charcoal) may be done without permits.
Jobless mixed
During the week of Sept. 19-25, there were 4,914 initial regular unemployment claims, up 1.3% from the prior week. Total claims filed by Washingtonians for all unemployment benefit categories numbered 97,068 down 14.6 % from the prior week.Initial regular claims applications are 72% below weekly applications for the same period last year.
The four-week moving average for initial claims was 4,957, a decrease of 40 from the previous week. During the same time in 2019, it was 5,234.
Increases in layoffs in retail trade and accommodation and food services contributed to an increase of 64 claims over the previous week.
In the week ending Sept. 25, the Employment Security Department paid out over $40 million for 42,024 individual claims. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, ESD has paid more than $21.3 billion in benefits to over 1.2 million Washingtonians.
