“Passions run high on Ericksen Avenue.This we learned while covering the city council back in 1992, when Ericksen residents and neighbors beat down an attempt to open the quiet road as a temporary thruway to Hildebrand Lane, even as the dusty reconstruction of High School Road tossed the rest of Winslow-area traffic flow into chaos.In the years since, we’ve strolled the quaint Ericksen corridor many times. We’ve come to value and appreciate the historic character so treasured by neighbors. We’ve also been brushed by countless passing vehicles, or forced to tread the lawns of the old funeral home and other properties to keep a safe distance from the roadway.Now, with a sizeable multi-use development planned for nearby Hildebrand Lane, the fire district and city engineers have again raised the possibility of running Ericksen through to High School Road, creating a new north-south arterial next to the highway.”
“The project team responsible for the new pool is recommending a new start, after all four bidders for the construction contract belly-flopped the first time out.For reasons that are not yet clear to park district officials, all four bids came in roughly $1 million over the project’s budget and higher than estimates.”
“Community car washes may leave sparkling automobiles, but when it comes to Puget Sound, their impact can be decidedly dirty.So say Bainbridge Island public works officials, who, citing environmental violations, this week issued a ban on future car washes at the Village Chevron station at 305 and High School Road.The action was met with chagrin by representatives of local youth sports teams and community groups, who have held sudsy fund-raisers at the site for over 10 years.Thousands and thousands of dollars were raised down there, said Mary Clare Kersten of the Bainbridge Roller Hockey League. (Car washes are) a positive interaction for the kids with the rest of the community.But the interaction of soapy runoff with the environment has been far from healthy, said Melva Hill, the city’s senior engineering technician.Normally, surface water draining off the gas station parking lot does not cause major environmental harm, she said, because it passes through a separator device that removes most oil and grease before sending the runoff out to the sound.However, Hill said, When you allow that soapy water (from car washes) to go through the separator, it dislodges the oil and the grease and makes that separator ineffective.”
“Hunting for Easter eggs isn’t the only tradition to draw holiday observers outdoors this weekend.Tree planting has become a similarly emblematic ritual for a more secular holiday, Earth Day, which kicks off its 30th anniversary this morning.Since the first Earth Day in 1970, observance of the annual eco-event has expanded to include such actions as reducing personal energy use, eating less meat, and substituting bicycles for cars. But over the decades, tree planting has remained an earth-friendly favorite.The answering machine of Bainbridge Earth Day organizer Michael Sheehan this week confirmed as much.I’ve had a bunch of calls from people, Sheehan said. They’re like, ‘Can we please do tree planting?’Insuring that this zeal won’t go unanswered, park maintenance supervisor Roger Belieu has obtained 700 trees from Puget Sound Energy’s (PSE) Community Forestry Program, which volunteers will plant at Gazzam Lake Park today. The event begins at 10 a.m. at the main park gate off Marshall Road.”
“We kept an eye out all week for a Save the Earth sticker on the bumper of a local SUV – alas, to no avail.So much for our attempt at some easy irony heading into Saturday’s observation of Earth Day. But undaunted, we are still inclined to offer a few thoughts on our annual observance devoted to all things green.”
“Everyone deserves a high school teacher like Bob McAllister. He talks in sound bites no pupil could forget.If I hadn’t taken up teaching, I’d be dead, said McAllister, longtime BHS English teacher.His latest achievement is Northwest Folklore Scholarly Journal’s publication of his short story, The River Boys. The thriller focuses on the effect of crime on folklore. The work draws on McAllister’s own experiences when stalked by a disturbed teenager, and has been dramatized every year since he began teaching.”
“Want to have an in-depth conversation with public officials about how they use your tax money?This year’s Bainbridge Economic Vitality Conference will give you the chance.We hope to promote dialogue on where we are and what we do about the (tax) situation, said Jeff Brein, outgoing president of the Bainbridge Economic Council, alluding to recent citizen ballot initiatives on taxation and spending.We expect provocative discussions from the audience.”
“Can a man who has spent his career in the world’s hottest flashpoints bring peace among the often-contentious factions of Bainbridge Island?No, says Christopher Snow. Bainbridgers love their island too much for that.People here are passionately involved with the community, says Snow, a retired foreign-service officer who is chairing the Bainbridge Economic Vitality Conference. And people who are passionate about something tend to see things differently.The whole purpose of the conferences is to give participants a chance to air those differences. Elements on the island that need to have their views more adequately explained can use the conference to communicate, he said.Snow believes that government is just such an element.Government is not generally well thought of these days, he said. But often, I think government is simply caught in the middle, and that is true of the Bainbridge city government.”
“When it came to promoting local produce, vendors at the debut of the farmers’ market Saturday were not timid, even if some of them were chickens.Rocky the rooster, for example, made a confident sales-pitch premiere.He was our radio spot announcer, said Sundown Ridge Farm owner Chuck Muller. Every five minutes, we would have a commercial break and he’d let loose.But the caged-yet-cocksure fowl could not compare to one performing lamb, which was far from sheepish. The animal flailed to the beat of the Dirt Road Philharmonics bluegrass band, delighting a crowd of children dancing by the stage at the market’s new location next to city hall.My kids love the market because they see their friends, said island artist Debbie Lester, one of a sizeable contingent of islanders who crowded the market site on opening day.I do this every Saturday, Lester said. It’s a ritual. My kids remind me every (week).”
“Stored magic. If boxes of tricks or treasured memories spring to mind, think again. Twentieth century English bard Robert Graves coined the phrase to describe poetry – small wonder islanders have such diverse views on what good verse means. ”This island stores magic in so many ways,” says Cindy Harrison, coordinator for An Island’s Stored Magic, Sunday’s reading in observation of National Poetry Month. ”We have a rich poetic heritage here on Bainbridge.””
“We’re feeling a little low on the admonishment scale today – what, like we’re supposed to have the answer to everyone’s problems? – so we’ve decided to don our ombudsman cap, reach into the mail bag and try to answer a couple of reader queries.”
“Without a tornado in sight, the house at 701 Madison Avenue was lifted several feet above the ground. Then it sailed down the road like a tribute to The Wizard of Oz, to touch down on Weaver Avenue.The hardest part will be passing the house under the fiber-optic (overhead) line, said Jeff Monroe of Monroe House Moving, adjusting the remote control by which he steered the motor beneath the historic home Thursday.We move a lot of buildings because of natural disasters like floods and erosion, Monroe said. Right now, though, development growth management is big business. The Monroe firm was commissioned to move the structure, donated to the Housing Resources Board for use as subsidized accommodations, and to make way for a new Madison Avenue development.Built in 1904 and once the residence of Sadie Woodman, the first postwoman on the island, the family home passed from son Bob Woodman and then into the hands of developer Rod McKenzie, who intends to build a courtyard of 30 houses on the site. McKenzie donated the home to the HRB, a non-profit agency that seeks to provide affordable housing.There’s a whole load of history here, said Janice Thomas, Bob Woodman’s daughter.”
“The police are moving northwest, and the courts southwest, someday to meet.The Bainbridge Island City Council Thursday approved purchase of a 15-acre parcel at Sportsman Club and New Brooklyn roads, for the future construction of a new police station and municipal court building.Purchase price was $495,000, which city Administrator Lynn Nordby said was far less than other properties under consideration.We were looking at two- and three- and five-acre parcels for the same kind of money, Nordby said.”
