The City Council meeting on July 30 was right out of an old movie about small-town controversy and simultaneously a wonderful expression of democracy at work. If we can all recollect it in that fashion, it will go a long way toward cooling some of the emotions and providing some perspective about the issues themselves.
As I write these words, I am on the cusp of starting an extended vacation. I’d call it a “well-deserved” vacation, but I don’t know if the available evidence would support that claim. Continuing an ancient and time-honored tradition that I started last year, I went to Eagle Harbor Book Co. the other day to pick out a little vacation reading material. I already have in my possession an unopened copy of Junot Diaz’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” which I received as a birthday gift from the woman who is my wife, which gives me a big head start on my holiday reading list.
There’s not a lot of room for error on island roads this time of the year. Or anytime of the year, for that matter. The speed limit may be 55 mph on State Route 305 and 35 to 40 on the island’s main arterial roads, but the increase in the number of both vehicles and bicycles during the summer months behooves all of us to reduce speed for safety’s sake.
I’m very fond of the weeds we grow so successfully on Bainbridge Island. Volunteers I call them, plants that pop up wherever we don’t keep them at bay.
Business and residential members of the Rolling Bay neighborhood held a raucous meeting Thursday night in City Hall, often angrily airing their opinions about the recent parking of two or three dozen cars on the large vacant lot at Valley Road and Sunrise Drive. The group, numbering about 50, also had heated discussion about the city’s handling of the permit process regarding the remodeling of the building occupied by Rolling Bay Automotive.
Several years ago, I read a book called “The Power of One.” I was reminded of that title when I learned of what happened after Linda Coble wrote a letter to the Bainbridge Review lamenting the city’s decision to not hang, or fund, the traditional flower baskets on Winslow Way this summer.
First, let me remind all that we now live in a condo at the Vineyard, for this column is all about living in a “green” development.
Here’s something: Did you know that the sedentary lifestyle of your average bivalve has caused it to develop a very simple nervous system, a nervous system so simple that it does not even include a brain? As those of you with access to Wikipedia know, bivalves are aquatic mollusks with two-part symmetrical shells. Popular bivalves include our friends the scallop, clam, oyster and mussel. Although scallops can swim, most bivalves spend their lives firmly attached to flat surfaces or buried in the sand, feeding themselves by siphoning off passing particles, reproducing asexually, and getting by just fine without a functioning brain. The more I learn about bivalves, the more they remind me of my high school friend Reuben.
The City of Bainbridge Island is considering revisions to the Critical Area Ordinance to better protect the health of Puget Sound. After hearing concerns from some of our neighbors and friends, we believe myths are being spread that need to be corrected. Below are some of the common questions, along with answers based on what’s stated in the draft and existing regulations, as well as on conversations with city officials. We think it is important to help people understand the draft ordinance because the proposed regulations are not a threat. They represent a really positive step toward preserving and rehabilitating the Sound.
Some islanders would like everyone in the community to get along and to settle their disagreements with civility and calm. That would be nice, but it isn’t always going to happen on an island that has a recent history of heated dispute over its makeup and the direction it has taken. However, while the dialogue has been contentious at times, generally it has been healthy since Bainbridge Island’s voters decided on Nov. 6, 1990, to annex all of the island to Winslow, which a year later became the City of Bainbridge Island.
Here are two of Mildred and Walt Woodward’s timeless editorials, the first published on Sept. 19, 1962 and the second a week later:
A real estate broker said at last week’s Chamber of Commerce luncheon that the messenger (the media) was spreading fear that caused potential buyers to become immobilized. Headlines, she said, were a particular culprit since “frequently, the facts (in the story) aren’t as harsh…” No doubt, the media’s ability to influence readers is tremendous, which means we have an important responsibility to get it right.
Perhaps you watched the 2008 All-Star Game last week, or at least the first six or seven hours of it. And if you did, then maybe also heard Fox Sports analyst Tim McCarver call Ichiro Suzuki the best right fielder he’s seen since Roberto Clemente.
