“Elsewhere in this issue, we take a statistical look at the Bainbridge Island housing market, 2000 edition. A fair summary, it seems to us, is that the island offers a rich array of choices – for those who want the best and can afford it.Basically, Bainbridge is now a move-up market. While there is a decent selection of homes down into the low $200,000 range, that’s still a daunting sum for a first-time buyer – particularly the down payment.Trying to provide housing opportunities for the whole spectrum of the island is a little like salmon trying to swim upstream – the economic forces against you are powerful and unrelenting. But to its credit, this community has recognized that it has both a moral and legal obligation to put up a fight. “
“A Glove on My Heart is just what Judith Brown seems to lack. The title of Brown’s new book refers to her initial intent to shield her feelings by remaining detached from the mentally ill clients with whom she would work.Ironically, her eventual immersion in the world of mental illness without self-protection turned out to be her great strength. Her other asset was another deficit – a dearth of technical nomenclature and professional veneer, those other gloves on the heart.The most important thing I did was to stay upbeat, Brown said. I was not a therapist; I didn’t have to demand anything of them. I could be the one to give them hugs, because I was ‘only’ a friend, a volunteer. “
“Islanders want to preserve open space, promote farming and provide affordable housing. One way to do all three simultaneously is through a community land trust, according to the city’s affordable housing task force.The idea is simple. The trust will own the land itself, and will make it available on long-term lease for approved uses, including farming and affordable housing. “
“As the argument heats up in Olympia over ferry fares, those closest to the issue are sounding warnings that fares are only one part of the funding crisis facing the ferry system.The unaddressed part of the puzzle is capital funding – repairs, replacements and maintenance. And the lack of capital funding can stop the ferry system dead in the water. “
“A much-beloved ferry terminal fixture, the Commuter Comforts latte and pastry stand, will disappear within the next few weeks. But almost as fast as a barista can whip up a double-tall, a new and improved stand will take its place.The building is going on about 15 years old and has just had it, owner Carole Keyes said. We talked about remodeling, but it just won’t work.So Keyes commissioned Bill Nelson of Nelson Wood and Glass to design and build a replacement kiosk. And to save down-time, the new structure will be built off-site, trucked to the terminal and installed on a new foundation. “
“It’s said that centuries ago, as the age of exploration got under way, nautical mapmakers would caution sailors against straying too far into uncharted regions – warning them with such baleful inscriptions as Here be monsters. Those who dared navigate strange waters fared somewhat better than predicted. What they found were new lands, new riches – the whole point of taking the voyage in the first place.But the imagery seems apt, as Representatives Beverly Woods and Phil Rockefeller – key legislators who should be charting a course to save Washington State Ferries – seem reluctant to set sail and go. “
“‘So she took drugs and got herself knocked up.So what. It’s her own fault. To hell with her.There’s a certain predictability of response to tales like those of Marcie, a woman who’s been intermittently homeless on Bainbridge for 20 years. In a society often short on compassion for those who veer wide of personal industry – I got mine, get your own – or Victorian mores, our Marcies are likely to earn scorn or their presence willfully ignored.But behind each failure is a human face. “
“Imagine a tiger running through a field of lupine. There will be as many versions as there are readers, the tiger of the imagination being infinitely varied.Artists Sally Robison, Cameron Snow and Sue Christiansen imagine the great cat – and other features of Robison’s story, Ghost Tiger – three very different ways in an art exhibit opening at the Bainbridge Library Jan. 17. “
“It is a week before baritone David Williamson’s and pianist Jim Quitslund’s performance of Franz Schubert’s difficult, rarely heard song cycle, Die Winterreise, and the two are hard at work onstage at the Playhouse.Williamson breaks off in the middle of a particularly challenging passage and rubs his head in exasperation until his hair sticks straight up. That was very awkwardly written, he says. It’s supposed to be a gesture, and yet there are four syllables in that gesture – it’s difficult. “
“We remember it like it was yesterday. Slumped in the bucket seat, the rain on the windshield, the mindless chatter of sports chat on the radio, the petrol station and mini-mart off in the distance.Then out of the darkness, those eyes – big and beautiful and reflecting no thought whatsoever.And then the panic and the steel grip on the wheel and the screech of tires, followed by the view of the big black-tailed rump bounding giddily off into a nearby field.It was at that moment we realized: Bainbridge Island might need a wildlife corridor. “
“The National Geographic Bee was approaching the climactic moment. Fifty pairs of eyes were riveted on contestants Corbin Lester and John Leatherman.In August, 2000, teams from Russia, Norway and Great Britain attempted in vain to rescue a crew of a Russian submarine which sank to the floor of which sea? Odyssey Multi-Age Program teacher Barry Hoonan read the question, next-to-last in a series that had eliminated all but two of the 10 finalists. The number of fourth through sixth graders had already been winnowed from 40 by questions the day before. Danged if I know, whispered one parent volunteer to another, as the audience’s barely suppressed tension nearly levitated the entire classroom. “
“Because the voters are sending conflicting and unrealistic messages, an already divided state Legislature faces a difficult and lengthy session, Bainbridge Island’s resident legislator, Rep. Phil Rockefeller, says.The voters have expanded the state’s obligations, but at the same time reduced our means, the Democrat Rockefeller said, calling the budget the overwhelming issue facing the Legislature in the session under way this week in Olympia. “
“We found ourselves saddened by the recent demise of the local video arcade. There, when motivation proved elusive, we had been known to pass the stray half-hour (and many dollars) at one of several amusing pinball machines.We asked the proprietor why the establishment closed. He said parents had complained about the violent content of several of the games; when those games were replaced by more benign fare, business fell off by more than half. “
