“Rather than fighting growth and change, Bainbridge Island should make it happen in a positive way, architect Peter Brachvogel says.But, he adds, the opportunities to do so are slipping away.Growth is good if it’s done right. It’s exciting, Brachvogel said. But planners and developers have generally made such a mess of it that it has given growth a bad name.Brachvogel favors traditional neighborhood design, or TND, which he says has the purpose of creating and sustaining community.TND involves a few well-tested principles. Everything should be within a five-minute walk of everything else. There should be enough roads and paths to offer a variety of routes.Building should occur on small lots, with focused open space. And while the automobile should be downplayed, it should be a part of the design.You shouldn’t have to drive across town for everything, Brachvogel said. You can’t have community if you have to get into your car to do everything. “
“Of the five public-service agencies scheduled to occupy space in the new Marge Williams Center, the least-known may be the Health, Housing and Human Services Council.But the agency’s obscurity is a testimony to how efficiently it is functioning, some observers say.We rest easy with them because their work is well-documented, City Council member Merrill Robison said. “
“A retired insurance executive and veteran volunteer firefighter will be the Bainbridge Fire Department’s interim operations chief for the next 90 to 120 days.Ken Beach will be the department’s temporary second-in-command, replacing Kirk Stickels, who retired at the end of last month to move to Alaska. “
“Back in 1994, when the city council was considering a bicycle helmet ordinance the first time around, a letter-writer to the Review suggested offhandedly that the law should be more inclusive. After she and her husband sat through the council’s deliberations on other matters, she wrote, our heads hurt for days.We thought back to her droll comment last Wednesday, as the council passed a law mandating helmet use by bicyclists – and skateboarders, scooter riders and those on horseback – on public roads, sidewalks and trails. The hour was 11:30 p.m. Our noggin still throbs. “
“Fifth and sixth grade students were bused to a performance at the Playhouse last week, capping the second year of a program to integrate drama and dance into Sonoji Sakai Intermediate School.Students attending the performance fell silent as Susan Thompson appeared onstage.Tall and stately, Bainbridge Dance Center director Thompson was a commanding stage presence; the students seemed riveted.We’re doing a dance called Flight, Thompson said, but before we do it, I’m going to tell you how the dance got made up. “
“The land comes with stories, and Jim Salter comes with the land.Over here is a pile of cedar shakes, some of them fashioned by Salter’s own hand. Over there is a fallen tree that bucked up as Salter cut into it with a chainsaw, giving him a smack that landed him in the hospital for 32 days. They’re still not sure how he got out of the woods for an airlift to the hospital.The stories go back 80 years. And at age 85, Salter still heads out to the Wardwell Avenue property as often as he can, to renew his connection with his five wooded acres and his past.There’s a lot of happy memories out here, Salter said, looking past the woods toward the rolling fields of Meigs Park next door.It’s a piece of property I’ve loved ever since I bought it, he said. Even before I bought it.Salter hopes to see his land preserved, and so do Bainbridge Island officials. “
“Establishing an internment memorial at the Taylor Avenue road end has the support of city officials. But including the road itself, from Eagle Harbor Drive down to the water, remains in question.Right now, a well that supplies water to Rockaway Beach sits squarely at the end of the pavement, enclosed in a brick building surrounded by a chain-link fence.Abandoning the well and drilling a new one is expensive, and might not be practical, Mayor Dwight Sutton said. But it might be possible to drop the whole thing below surface level, or to the point that it is less visible. We’re trying to figure out what kind of engineering needs to be done. “
“This space has hurled its share of brickbats at those officials who we have elected when we think they have not served us well.Today we bestow a bouquet on three islanders we didn’t elect, but who have done this community great service.The laurels go to Forrest Six, Kirk Robinson and especially to Alice Tawresey, members and the chair, respectively, of the Tariff Policy Committee that recommends ferry fares. “
“The public will get its first chance Tuesday to comment on the proposed connection of Ericksen Avenue and Hildebrand Lane.And the comments are expected to be numerous and heated, because the issue appears to be a flash point in the ongoing debate about growth and change on the island.This is the first step toward installing a freeway between High School Road and the waterfront, said Sheila Crofut, who has drafted an objection on behalf of Friends of the Ravine. “
“Ann Lovejoy wants to get island gardens off drugs. Ann Lovejoy’s Organic Garden Design Book, from which she reads at Eagle Harbor Books on April 5, helps readers design easy-to-care-for and ecologically sound gardens without chemicals. Tackling such subjects as cooperation, not control and making beautiful dirt, Lovejoy espouses her belief there are organic alternatives – simple, natural ways to garden.I’ve been saying the same basic things for 20 years. I would talk about compost and manure, and people would get antsy, Lovejoy said. The book is total common sense – which is in itself radical. “
The Bainbridge city council Wednesday imposed a moratorium on filing building-permit applications that seek to include any wetlands or buffers in their density calculations.The moratorium takes effect April 6.
“Ferry fares did not go up Wednesday. But it appears only a matter of time until they do.The Washington State Transportation Commission postponed a final vote on proposed 20 percent-plus ferry fare increases, because the state Senate has not yet lifted the spending caps that limit increases to the rate of inflation.Commission members, though, left little doubt that they will impose the rate hike once the Senate acts.After all the work they have done, it would be hard to ignore the Tariff Policy Committee and say I can’t support this, said commission member Chris Marr of Spokane. “
“Jim Taylor bought batik fabric from an upbeat Yoruba woman, Nicky Davis, at Seattle’s Folklife festival in 1972.It proved the start of a friendship reflected in a heartwarming photography exhibit opening at Pegasus March 31. The batik is beautiful, but it also has mystical and spiritual meanings I can’t begin to grasp, Taylor said of the West African cloth design. I’ve maintained these close friendships, but I won’t ever be able to understand, in entirety, the culture.Taylor purchased batik fabric at the 1972 Folklife; at the next year’s event, he and Davis exchanged pleasantries. Over a decade of once-a-year interaction, the acquaintance deepened to friendship. Taylor became Davis’ point of contact in Seattle, and in 1996 she invited Taylor to her Nigerian homeland, where she teaches crafts at a school in the town of Osogbo, near Africa’s west coast.Taylor spent five weeks in Osogbo. “
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