“The headquarters for Project: Backpack is a home garage fitted out like a stationery store, with spiral notebooks and other back-to-school items in neat piles. The impression of a small but well-tended commercial enterprise is reinforced when neighbor Barry Schuler strolls to the garage’s open door.What do you have on special today? Schuler asks project coordinator Michelle Hutchins, tongue-in-cheek.Schuler has come to pick up a backpack and supplies a fifth grader needs to start the school year.Every kid deserves the basics to start school on the same footing as every other kid, and people get that right away, she said. “
“Having survived the battle of the buffer, the Re-Doogal’s project at Winslow/Ericksen is now imperiled by the city’s ruling that 11 more on-site parking places are required.We will concede a certain bias in favor of the project – it’s a shame that a once-vibrant part of downtown Winslow is now a strip of asphalt fronted by weeds. And we have no particular opinion on the merits of the latest obstacle, namely, whether square feet for purposes of computing parking requirements should be based on net leasable footage, or on gross footage, which is considerably greater.We do, though, have an opinion – and a strong one – about the timing of the planning department’s ruling on the matter. “
“The mixed-use development proposed for the site of the former Doogal’s restaurant cleared a known obstacle when Planning Director Stephanie Warren OK’d building within 40 feet of the Winslow Ravine.At the same time, though, Warren decided that the development needs to provide 11 more parking spaces than previously thought. That decision, if it stands, could be a deal-killer, project backers say. “
“One form, three voices – authors John Fulton, Kathleen Alcala and Tamora Sellman will discuss the short story in readings from recent works, Aug. 9 at Eagle Harbor Books. “
“If you think the island is crowded today, you just might try thinking about it over time.Inspecting a shoreline midden bursting with shells, just down the hill from his Bayview Boulevard home, Al Philips imagines a long history of habitation by local tribes.He knows they were here for the rich salmon run that endures to this day through Little Manzanita Bay. He finds their lives revealed in the shells, the cooking stones, the arrowheads. And he knows they were here for a long time.I’ve concluded that thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people have lived here, Philips said.Philips’ Dolphin Place Gallery will be one of seven open this weekend as part of the first-ever Summer Studio Tour. “
“It was a stop sign that got Houston Wade going down the road towards a city council race.Specifically, it was the stop signs that the city put on Wyatt Way at the intersection with Grow Avenue, where Wade lives.The city is slowing down traffic in the wrong spots, he said. Wyatt is a major arterial between the ferry and the south end of the island. Why stop traffic there, when there’s never anybody on Grow?Wade began to ask himself who was making decisions for the island. “
“Environmental concerns are driving out other values in city decision-making, contractor Bill Nelson says.In what he calls an effort to restore balance, Nelson is running for the central ward, position 4, city council seat being vacated by Merrill Robison.For the sake of protecting Bainbridge Island’s environment, we’ve forsaken other parts of the quality of life, such as human interaction, Nelson said. “
“Who are you? What do we know about you? What can we guess about your heart, your mind?Given your means of expression – toppling gravestones in cemeteries, defacing the island with racist slogans – it’s tempting to conclude that you are blessed with neither.But that’s too reductive. For you are one of us; surely we know you and talk to you and see you every day living in our midst, even if we have no idea that it’s you who’s responsible for these acts.So we ask: Who are you? And why do you do this? “
“Acts of vandalism have marred Port Blakely cemetery’s history, president of the cemetery’s board of trustees Barry Sacks says. Shortly after I became involved there, in 1992, there was a large amount of vandalism, Sacks said. Every stone that could be knocked down was.Since the early 1990s, there has been sporadic vandalism that Sacks speculates may have been perpetrated by island youth. “
“The toppled headstone took more than a casual shove to upend; thick rebar once anchored the 400 pound marker to granite. Now the bent iron, the shattered base and the inscribed Star of David turned skyward give mute testimony to the desecration, a record of this crime and an echo of others.The cemetery vandalism and discovery of the words white pride sprayed at the Filipino-American Hall last week continued a series of incidents of vandalism and graffiti that bear racist messages. “
“Calling for better programs for special-needs students, civil and consumer rights attorney Peter Harris is seeking a post on the Bainbridge Island School Board.Harris challenges one-term incumbent Susan Sivitz for the District 2 school board seat. The theme of my campaign is community, Harris said. I feel we have a strong community on Bainbridge Island, but many parents of special needs kids find that when it comes to those special needs, and the requirements federally imposed on school districts to provide services, the community breaks down. “
“All-mail balloting comes to the off-year primary election this fall, the first time ever for Kitsap County voters.The decision was announced Friday, after a hasty effort by Kitsap County Auditor Karen Flynn to get all local jurisdictions – the four Kitsap cities, as well as fire, school and park districts – to sign on. Flynn cited the increasing popularity of mail balloting, even with voters who won’t be far from polling places when election day rolls around. “
“The fledgling Bainbridge Youth Orchestra is attracting another outstanding musician to the island – definitely to work, perhaps to live.Diane Lange, who already has a remarkably rich and full musical life on the other side of Puget Sound, joins friend and long-time associate Gary Anderson to conduct the junior division of the orchestra.Not only is Diane a fine violinist, but a fabulous violin (and) strings teacher as well, Anderson said. We are fortunate to have her looking to relocate here. “
