Nothing builds bridges like the chance to blow one up, even if it’s still a figment of the fevered Kitsap County imagination.
So if you wandered off to the refrigerator at the wrong moment while watching Wednesday’s City Council meeting on BIB, you may have missed the brief reappearance of that great uniter in Bainbridge politics: opposition to any plan for another span from the Kitsap mainland. For the second time in four years, the council passed a formal resolution opposing a second bridge, citing the usual litany of objections: condemnation of property, relocation of families, environmental consequences…everything except Bainbridge exclusivity, which is probably implicit in the text anyway.
Such resolutions are becoming a rite of passage for public service here; by our count, the last 12 folks elected to the council have their names on such declarations, Christine Rolfes and Jim Llewellyn twice. The latest, we’re given to understand, was prompted by recent scurrying heard
coming from across the water, with pro-bridge interests again
promoting a span to Crystal Springs, a cross-island expressway and a regional ferry terminal at Blakely Harbor. It’s a
proposal that seems to rise from the grave every few years, resuscitated by otherwise earnest folk driven to distraction by the simplicity of the geography – if you were designing a regional transportation plan from scratch, you could indeed draw a mighty short line between those two points.
There is, of course, much more in the way of new abutments and lanes than a few tony island houses. Should the proposal come up again, we suggest that someone phone the state Bar Association and get a list of all the attorneys who call Bainbridge Island home. Check their addresses to see how many live within, say, a three-mile radius of the proposed bridge and highway route; then publish their names, announcing them as Bainbridge Island’s anti-bridge legal team.
The cadre surely runs into the dozens, if not hundreds. And we suspect the list would be more formidable than any council resolution.
Think ‘water’
On March 31, Bainbridge families are encouraged to do something together. Dinner out, a game night, a bike ride and free ice cream – all are rewarding activities supported by the many local businesses and community groups participating in the first Ready, Set, Relax family night. May we also suggest reading your local newspaper?
So it doesn’t feel too much like homework, we’re offering a fun contest to encourage conversation – and a chance at a prize, as well. We invite kids and their families to answer the following question:
How is the technique used to measure the turbidity of water (described in the article about the Beach Seining Project on page A3) related to the famous pen name of writer Samuel Clemens?
You can use any sources of information you like, including each other, but we encourage kids to be the family members who write down the answer. All the correct entries we receive by next Saturday, April 3, will be entered into a drawing for four tickets to the Poulsbo Marine Science Center.
Email your answer to us at khaines@bainbridgereview.com, or mail it to Mark Twain, c/o the Bainbridge Review, Box 10817, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110. Be sure to tell us your name and age, and the names of the family members you consulted.
