“Some suggestions for prudent, lawsuit-free land use decision-making: * City councils should be loathe to fiddle with the recommendations of the planning staff, presumed to be skilled professionals. No reconfiguring projects, adding or subtracting lots or what have you, when subdivisions come up for approval;* The best way to keep politics out of controversial, project-specific decisions is to leave them to a hearing examiner; * A council should not try to make broad policy changes through its decisions on specific projects.”
“Quick: How do you save a great blue heron stranded and dying in a jumbled tangle of metal wire?That question confronted Bainbridge resident Nan Lofas two weeks ago, when her dogs discovered one of the giant birds trapped and thrashing in the frigid waters of her neighbor’s lake.He looked terrified, Lofas said. The more he tried to flap and free himself, the more he ended getting tangled up.I didn’t really know what to do at first, she said. You feel helpless because as much as you want to rush in yourself and rescue it, you realize that it’s a wild animal and you could do more damage than good.Lofas called local veterinarian Elizabeth Greenleaf, who extricated the heron with a blanket and heavy gloves. She transported the bird – chilled and exhausted – to the Island Wildlife Shelter on Dolphin Drive.That’s when rehabilitation Director Emily Meredith stepped in, nursing the weak heron to recovery.He came in, and we tubed him with warmed fluids and he was fine, Meredith said. He flew away that afternoon, beautifully.”
“Herb DeBoer plans to hold a party soon, but he certainly wouldn’t call it a celebration.The Point White resident intends to invite neighbors, journalists, and city officials to his beachfront property, to observe the beginning stages of erosion along his shoreline. The damage, he says, is sure to occur, since the Washington Supreme Court ruled last week to allow the high-speed Chinook ferry to again fly through Rich Passage at its full velocity of 39 miles per hour.”
“They’re talking about the law, but you’re not invited.At 5 p.m. this evening, the Bainbridge Island City Council and Bainbridge Planning Commission will meet in a joint executive session, or closed-door discussion, in the Bainbridge Commons.”
“Rising gas prices can be daunting at the local Arco, especially if you happen to be the employee charged with updating the station’s outdoor sign.We want to wear our bullet-proof jacket when we go out there, said Arco manager Michelle Reynolds, who has seen prices at the pump rise over 60 percent since the station on High School Road opened a little more than a year ago.”
“What a great idea.Take some damaged street signs about to be discarded by the city. Add a couple of creative high school students. And, voila, a fence that resembled bars of a jail cell is transformed into a climbing wall for lizards and jungle plants.”
“It is, as they say, all about the Benjamins.The moolah. The greenbacks. The money.That Census 2000 form that appeared in your mailbox this week means big bucks for Bainbridge Island, and economic determinists that we are, we ask you to take a few minutes to fill it out and send it in.”
“You count, and they want to count you – and your kids.That was the message for ferry commuters Wednesday, as the Census 2000 Road Tour rolled into the Winslow terminal.The Bainbridge commuters are very delightful people, considering the hour of the morning, said Melannie Cunningham of Tacoma, local publicist for the $8.2 billion federal nose-tally.”
“Peeling out up a hill on Koura Road, we fishtail slightly into the other lane, then straighten out and blast ahead with a vicious roar as the Model A hot rod hits second.So I bet this thing goes a bit faster than it did in 1929? had been the question, and that answer was delivered in a shock of frigid wind as Aaron Strom demonstrated that his blue convertible showcar wasn’t just a looker.”
“City code enforcement complaints are down from a year ago. But is enforcement improving?Not if you ask code enforcement officer Will Peddy, who says the city council is preventing him from doing his job effectively.I keep getting interrupted by council people in our code enforcement actions, especially the critical ones, Peddy said in an interview with the Review last week.Peddy said he can’t levy fines for code infractions, because council members have convinced the Bainbridge Island city administration to exempt some development projects from punitive action.”
“You might think that for the kind of time and effort that Don and Marilyn Shaver put into their work, the material rewards would be incalculable.You’d be right.The pay is good, Don Shaver said with an ironic smile.For the past five-plus years, the Bainbridge Island couple has taken phone calls at all hours from agitated help-seekers. They’ve run up countless miles on their vehicles in response to those calls. They’ve kept painstaking records, developed priceless working relationships and periodically provided a place for their clients to stay.You couldn’t pay for the service we’ve provided, Marilyn Shaver said. It’s 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – no amount of money could cover it.”
“We drive, and sometimes we speed.Not egregiously, and not chronically. But sometimes the orange needle edges up a little past the posted limit – particularly heading east into town on Wyatt Way, on that annoying uphill stretch of 25 – and we flout the law with momentary impunity.And now, if we ever get stopped by one of Bainbridge’s finest, we now know what we’ll say:We’re with the Review, and we’re late to a city council meeting. We’re speeding in the public interest!”
“Chilly winter nights, no patient master’s feet at which to curl up and doze, and not a supper dish in sight.Pity the stray dogs of Bainbridge – and pity this community as we try to find a new way to help them get home.Indeed, we were dismayed this week to learn that the local chapter of the Progressive Animal Welfare Society is at the end of its leash, as longtime volunteers Don and Marilyn Shaver retire. The couple’s phenomenal efforts – taking in innumerable strays and tracking down their owners, at all hours and for no tangible recompense – are documented elsewhere in this issue. We urge readers to consider their story, a tale as remarkable as it is cautionary.”
