“By the end of the month – possibly even by the end of the week – the Census Bureau will disclose how many of us it counted as of April 1, 2000.The city’s population figure, a matter of considerable debate, will trigger a broad range of consequences. “
“Saying that new parkland is needed to accommodate new residents, the Bainbridge Island Park District wants to impose an impact fee on new construction.The plan is to levy a fee of roughly $1,200 to $1,500 on a typical new home. Larger homes would pay more than the norm, and smaller homes and apartments would pay less. “
“While officials consider an impact fee to fund new recreation areas, the park district’s newest holding comes cheap.A dollar a year for 99 years.That’s the lease price approved by the city council Wednesday, transferring control of John Nelson Park to the Bainbridge Island Park District.There is potential here, whether it be for picnicking, play or (nature) interpretation, park district director David Lewis said Friday, touring the five-acre parcel. I guess we’re pretty wide open.The property, just north of the Bentryn winery off Highway 305, was bequeathed to the city of Winslow by the Nelson family some five decades ago. While the family’s intent was to see it used as a park, it became a public works yard and materials storage area instead. “
“A Bellevue developer hopes to break ground this summer on the first apartment complex on Bainbridge Island more than a decade.The mixed-use project, known so far only as the High School Road Mixed Use Project, calls for 50 apartments and almost 30,000 square feet of commercial and retail space. The planned project is on the north side of High School Road between the Texaco station and the American Marine Bank. “
“Can island philanthropy thrive in a down market?If you’re bullish on Bainbridge, there’s plenty of opportunity to beef up your portfolio as various local fund drives run through the spring.We were reminded as much after morning coffee this week with the Marge Williams Center board.Regular readers of this space know we’ve backed this project from the start, to create a permanent home on Winslow Way for five island non-profit agencies and a nexus for local social services, and have been offering regular updates on its progress. “
“A roundabout was approved by the city council Wednesday, settling the future of one of Winslow’s busiest intersections.By a 6-1 vote, the council OK’d construction of a 105-foot diameter, single-lane circle at High School Road and Madison Avenue, rather than a traffic light that had been proposed earlier. “
“Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.Americans may pay the sentiment lip service, but Scott Russell Sanders believes that the Stephen Foster lyrics do not resonate as they might with the people he calls this nation of restless movers.Novelist/essayist Sanders, whose down-to-earth demeanor belies a distinguished resume, stresses the importance of staying put when he lectures on The Character of Community March 16 at the Playhouse. “
“Walter C. Walt Woodward, Jr., age 91, award-winning journalist who with his late wife Mildred edited and published the Bainbridge Review during the years before and after World War II, died March 13 on Bainbridge Island. Two memorial services are set for March 24, at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church and at Woodward Middle School. Times for those services have not been set; information will appear in the Saturday Review. “
“Now entering the roundabout of public opinion are four vehicles, one coming from each direction:Driver 1: The World Traveler – Has seen and/or driven roundabouts in Europe and elsewhere; thinks they’re swell once people understand them. Comment: If the French can live with roundabouts, so can you clowns in your SUVs…Hey! Nice Citroën! (A variant of this group vehemently disagrees, believing that nothing the French might do could possibly be worth copying; also avoids films with subtitles.) “
“The city council will take another shot at curtailing development near island wetlands, after a recent ordinance was declared void.One of three boards that administers the state’s Growth Management Act struck down the wetlands ordinance in February, citing the city’s failure to provide proper notice of the change. “
“Walter C. Walt Woodward, Jr., age 91, award-winning journalist who with his late wife Mildred edited and published the Bainbridge Review during the years before and after World War II, died March 13 on Bainbridge Island.Two memorial services are set for March 24, at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church and at Woodward Middle School. Times for those services have not been set; information will appear in the Saturday Review. “
“Rep. Phil Rockefeller’s ambitious proposal to more than triple the portion of the gas tax dedicated to the ferry system sank without a hearing. But the Bainbridge Island Democrat believes that with the idea sown, his proposal may return in some other form.This was a way of making a statement about the need to recapitalize the ferry system, Rockefeller said Friday, and to stake a claim on any new revenue source that might emerge. “
“Just one word: Plastics.Those four words from the 1967 film The Graduate, define a generation of alienated youth.The Graduate and three other films that influenced an era – Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Rebel Without a Cause and The Truman Show – were selected by islanders in an online poll for the humanities inquiry Classic American Film Festival, March 12-15. Although all of the films can be rented and viewed on videotape, John Ellis, one of several islanders noted for polling eloquence, makes the case for the big screen.In seeing film as film, Ellis said, you are seeing an image that has kissed the celluloid, the negative run through the camera on the set. When that’s projected, you have a direct relationship you don’t get with video. New York Times Film critic Richard T. Jameson, who will discuss movie influence on American culture before The Truman Show screening, agrees with Ellis. Jameson points out that Rebel Without a Cause, an early rendition of disaffected youth and the first Cinemascope film – movies shown on dollar bill-shaped screens – contains scenes that literally cannot be viewed as video. In what Jameson characterizes as one of the most compelling sequences filmed in the 1950s, James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo are questioned by police simultaneously, in a split screen effect.When you see the movie, Jameson said, the scene is so dynamic it looks like the film is almost tearing itself apart, but as video it’s just about incoherent. “
