“The old strawberry cannery property on Eagle Harbor. Pastoral fields at Wyatt/Weaver. The Winslow ravine. Large wooded parcels near Gazzam Lake. A waterfront strip near Wing Point.The list of desirable properties unveiled at Thursday’s park board meeting certainly dazzled.The real challenge, committee member John Eremic told park commissioners, is that there are so many opportunities.Indeed, the presentation by the district’s Land Acquisition Committee – commissioned last spring to give board members a better idea of what’s out there in the way of potential parks, open space and ball field sites – was both provocative and exhaustive. “
” Sakai Intermediate School honored its namesakes this week with the dedication of an etched glass photograph of Yoshiko and Sonoji Sakai. I am honored – the picture puts a face to the name, said Dean Sakai, the grandson of the Sakai couple.The portrait, which is displayed in the main entrance of the school, is one of several art projects the Art for Sakai Committee hoped would crystallize. Tammy Melby, a committee member, said that several years ago when the committee envisioned different art pieces for Sakai, the now-deceased Don Nakata came up with the idea of displaying a glass photograph of the family in the school. Don said that there needs to be something more representative of the Sakai family, Melby said.Last February, committee members and Sakai school officialsd approached Al Philips, Bainbridge glass artist and owner of Dolphin Glass, with the idea and vintage photograph. We knew that Al was a glass artist, said Sakai Principal Jo VanderStoep.But then he told us about his son Ben who had some work in the Bainbridge Library, and we thought, ‘Let’s have a real Bainbridge Island student do this art work.’ “
“A new cottage industry – smaller, clustered homes – could be an entirely new approach to affordable housing on Bainbridge Island.That’s one approach being considered by the city council, after a protracted debate over the current affordable-housing law that deals with price but not size.Maybe we should get away from all these rules and income levels and look instead at encouraging smaller and therefore more affordable houses, said councilman Michael Pollock. “
“The Bainbridge Island School District will likely use a baseline model to determine its 2001-02 budget.First, everything would be cut away except bottom-line program elements and staffing required for the school system to function. Then items deemed both desirable and financially feasible would be returned. “
“The man with the full white beard and head of hair not only looked like Santa Claus – he brought a full load of Christmas cheer to Madison Avenue Tuesday morning.Roger Waid, deputy director of the Kitsap County Consolidated Housing Authority, told tenants at the 550 Madison apartment complex that his agency, not a private investor, has purchased their apartment building.Does this mean we don’t have to leave? asked tenant Kathy Brown. That was exactly what the news meant. Monday, the housing authority learned that its bid for the 13-unit complex had been accepted. After a staff briefing, Waid visited the building to share the purchase with tenants Tuesday morning. “
“We were starting to question the fairness of it all – the very relevance these days of concepts like loyalty, justice, faith.Watching the best shortstop in baseball leave town for a division rival will do that for you. And boy, were we in a mood.Regular readers of this space may have noticed a certain Seattle Mariners partisanship peeking through from time to time. So you can picture the scene in the editor’s office Monday – closed door, low lights, contemplative music (like most days, but more so) – at news of Alex Rodriguez’ defection for a reviled Texas squad. For a quarter-billion-dollar salary, no less, the absurdity of which transcends rational comment. “
“As Bainbridge braces for a blast of arctic air, Puget Sound Energy has told the school district to curtail power use in some buildings during evening hours. While some evening activities will be impacted, the regular school day will not. Bainbridge Island School District (BISD) was given the order by PSE Thursday, to cut power to Woodward Middle School, Ordway Elementary and Bainbridge High School’s 200 building, Sunday through Tuesday, 5-8 p.m. It’s unprecedented – we have never had a curtailment so early in the season, PSE representative Don McDaniel said. We typically expect them in January and February. “
“The crunch between rising health-care costs and lagging revenues is a national issue, but like a flu outbreak, it hits some areas harder than others.Particularly hard-hit are outpatient facilities in economically prosperous areas – a description that fits the Virginia Mason clinic in Winslow.The economics at the Winslow clinic are very challenging, said Sarah Patterson, the Virginia Mason vice president who is responsible for the system’s satellite clinics.There are no present plans to close the Winslow clinic or make major changes, she said. But I can’t tell you where we might be in a few years. “
“The idea of an island radio station is crystallizing – with kids hoping to run the show.It would be the voice of Bainbridge Island, with creative content for adults, kids and churches, said Tomas Smeeth, the (adult) brainpower behind student-operated Bainbridge Radio.I love kids and want to give our kids a voice, said Smeeth, an employee of NetNanny.com and a former radio program manager and Bainbridge school bus driver. Smeeth said that while driving his school bus, instead of telling the students to be quiet, he would bounce his ideas around with the kids about a Bainbridge radio station. “
“Think inside the box.The rubric prescribing creativity is turned inside out as viewers peer into Mysteries Contained: Box Constructions, opening Dec. 9 at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts.Box means container; store a box in the attic, and it becomes a repository of memory. A box is a frame that distinguishes inside from outside. Pull the lid off a box, and one even has a small theater.These and other metaphors – neatly boxed – are presented by artists Jocelyn Curry, Michael Gibson, Barbara Kowlaski, Frank Samuelson, Kenny Smith and Hidde Van Duym. “
“The battle of Fort Ward is over, and the neighborhood didn’t come out the victor.Plans for a new historical preservation committee notwithstanding, there is scant cause for cheer among denizens of the little outpost that once stood sentinel over Rich Passage and the gateway to the Bremerton shipyard. Construction of scores of new luxury homes – none of them subject to review for architectural propriety – continues apace around the district, with the eventuality of Winslow-like buildout in a neighborhood served by a single two-lane roadway.So with nothing much to look over save for the eight-unit Building 16 apartment project – which would be subject to public comment with or without a formal review body in place – we have to ask: what’s the point of the committee? “
“Sewers promote growth. Do not! Do too!We can already hear the debate that will come with the new south-end sewer plan, released in draft form last Friday. A year in the making, the document is long on technical data – cost estimates for homeowners, where to put a force-main line or a charmingly named grinder pump – but fails to answer an essential question:What will extension of sewer lines mean for south-end zoning? “
“Extension of sewer service to several south-end neighborhoods is under way, at least formally, with the official release of a consultant’s service plan.Under state law, we have to have a general sewer plan before we can begin any work on the ground, city manager Lynn Nordby said. The release of the report gets us to the point where public process starts, including city council hearings. The plan, which had been circulated in draft form last spring, would guide the extension of service to Emerald Heights, Rockaway Beach, upper portions of Pleasant Beach and Point White, where widespread septic-system failures have been reported. Blakely Elementary School could also be connected. “
