Park names winnowed
Port Madison Cove is in, Dead Man’s Cove out.
A volunteer committee has narrowed the field of possible names for three new island parks, with a decision expected from the Park Board this week.
“We’ll see where they go with it,” said Perry Barrett, the district’s senior planner.
Under discussion are formal names for parcels now referred to as the Spargur property on Port Madison, the Hall property on Eagle Harbor, and a mile-long trail connection between the Grand Forest and Battle Point Park on the island’s west side.
The properties were acquired under the city’s open space program and turned over to the park district for stewardship.
A citizen committtee was formed to research the historic and geographical significance of each parcel and its surrounding neighborhood. Names proposed include:
Spargur property: Port Madison Cove, Port Madison Park.
Hall property: Eagle Harbor Wetlands, Eagle Harbor Estuary, Hawley Cove Park, Hawley Wetlands, Tillicum Park.
New trail link: Forest Sky Trail, Tolo Trail, Battle Point/Grand Forest Link, and Battle Point/Grand Forest Trail.
Among the names already rejected – many of them inspired by the presence of the Ed Ritchie Observatory at one end of the Battle Point-Grand Forest connection – were Fish Camp Beach, Dead Man’s Cove, Driftwood Beach Park, Earth to Mars Trail, Star Trek Trail, Pines to Pluto Trail, Cones to Comets Trail and Big Mosquito Park.
The board will consider the proposals at its regular meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at Strawberry Hill Center.
– Douglas Crist
Teen center on the move
It was more of a caravan than a chain.
Still, the end result was the same, as box after box was transferred from the Bainbridge Teen Center to its new, temporary home a few hundred yards away in the aquatic center.
To help with the move, Teen Center Director Shannon Buxton tried to organize a “chain” of students through which items could pass from one building to the other. Several showed up, but not enough for a chain.
“WASL’s and weather,” Buxton said, referring to testing week and the gloomy clouds overhead.
Buxton said she volunteered to move the center, which offers teens a place to relax after school, so the space could be used for storage during the coming Bainbridge High School renovation.
Students and staff will operate from the smaller space at the aquatic center for the next 18 to 24 months.
The center has about 100 regular users in addition to several other students who drop by occasionally.
WSF hears island voice
It should be easier to walk to, safer to bike to, convenient to bus to – and it should look nice.
Those were some of the main concerns islanders expressed in comments to the state ferry system about proposed upgrades to the Winslow terminal.
Washington State Ferries received over 100 comments on the terminal improvement project between November 2006 and January 2007.
The comments have been summarized in a report now available online at www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/ferries/bainbridgeterminalMPU/.
According to WSF, residents asked the ferry system to consider integrating “community character” into the terminal and create a visual “gateway” to Bainbridge. Respondents also asked WSF to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety and access to Waterfront Park and downtown Winslow.
In addition, island residents urged WSF to address environmental concerns, such as air quality, shoreline management, stormwater run-off and noise.
For more information, contact WSF’s Joy Goldenberg at 206-515-3411
