“The test results are in, and the Bainbridge Island school district is happy.The much-awaited results of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning test were released this week, showing general improvement in reading, math and writing across the state.Bainbridge Island was no exception, showing some dramatic jumps – percentages of Woodward Middle School students passing the standardized writing portion of the test jumped from from 46.9 percent to 80.1 percent.What can you say? said Bruce Weiland, president of the school board. We are very, very pleased. “
“When we set out a few weeks ago to tackle the issue of affordable housing on Bainbridge Island, we weren’t sure where we’d wind up. Boiling down the market whims and social forces that are driving the gentrification of the island, and examining how best to harness the community’s resources and collective will to blunt those forces a bit, was daunting.Of course, if the issue was simple to explain, it would be simple to address. It’s not. Numerous interviews, hours of research and six news stories on, we’ve found cause for hope and equal cause for pessimism. But most of all, we’ve found need. Some ideas and images will stick with us, emblematic of the issues at hand: “
“The Bainbridge Kiwanis Club has named island real estate agent and civic activist Ed Kushner its Citizen of the Year for 2000.Kushner, owner-broker of the Bainbridge office of Windermere Real Estate, was honored for his broad range of involvement over many years.Ed has always been willing to donate his time, talents and money to maintain what we love and to improve what we have on Bainbridge Island, the club said in a news release announcing Kushner’s selection.Most recently, Kushner was the driving force behind the effort to create the Marge Williams Memorial Office Center as a home for island non-profit agencies. “
“When developer Kelly Samson tried to do his bit for affordable housing on Bainbridge Island, he ran head-on into a principle stated in jest by Johnny Carson:No good deed goes unpunished.When it was approved by the city council in 1998, Samson’s Weaver Creek development – which provided the land for nine affordable, sweat equity homes – was fiercely criticized by councilman Norm Wooldridge as creating a ghetto, and just the worst design I have ever seen in my life.I wouldn’t go through that experience again, Samson said, looking back on the meeting. I broke out in shingles, which is a stress-related problem.What Samson had done was carve up a 5.3-acre tract on Weaver Road, between Rotary Park and Hillandale, into 27 lots – nine of which were sold to the Kitsap County Consolidated Housing Authority for the self-help project. “
“They come to work a few years for valuable experience, then leave for someplace more affordable. That’s the increasingly common story as public employees struggle with local housing costs.From teachers to police officers, many of the lower-paid but essential members of the community are being edged off Bainbridge Island as real estate prices rise beyond their salary levels – causing some to question how Bainbridge is affected.Bill Cooper, police chief, said he believes the role of officers on Bainbridge is compromised by the high cost of living. Our ability to become a part of this community is damaged by our inability to live here, Cooper said. “
The Winslow Town Square parking structure and mixed-use complex will be a tough sell to Winslow businesses.But it may provide the best long-term way of maintaining downtown as a vital commercial core for Bainbridge Island.Those opinions emerged Monday night from the first of a series of small focus-group meetings on the ambitious plan to bring as many as 80 residential units and 600 new parking spaces to the area between city hall and the north side of Winslow Way.
“Don’t ride the bus?Swell. Just think of all the other drivers you can keep off the road and out of your way.And for users of local public transportation, too, this one’s a gimme – we urge a yes vote Sept. 19 on Proposition 1, a three-tenths-of-a-cent countywide sales tax increase to fund Kitsap Transit services.We’d like to say that this sales-tax hike will bring Bainbridge Island and Kitsap County a lot of never-before-seen bus runs and other perks. Instead, it’s a largely restorative measure, and would help fix the local mess created by I-695 – which slashed Kitsap Transit’s budget by 40 percent this year. Passage would bring back popular bus service for commuters, seniors and the disabled, getting the agency back on track to meet the needs of a fast-growing island and county population. “
“Remember how it felt?In kindergarten, everything was foreign, from the classroom to the bathroom. By senior year, little could be more familiar than the ring of a school bell.Bus stop schedules and the power of homework reasserted their influence on local youth Wednesday, when Bainbridge Island launched into the new school year. As tradition demands, there was some nervousness on opening day.I think my kids were probably a little apprehensive, said new island resident Rebecca Wilson, whose second and third graders started their education in Issaquah schools before the family moved here. But we all love it here – I’m sure they’ll do fine. “
“In a rare instance of neighbors voting for development, Fort Ward residents Thursday night voted overwhelmingly to support conversion of a long-vacant historic structure to eight residential units.The vote, by attendees at a Fort Ward Neighborhood Association meeting, supported developer and South Beach Drive resident Scott McFarlane’s plans to convert Building 16 to townhomes. The massive brick structure sits on Fort Ward Hill Road, just south of Evergreen Avenue and amidst a number of newly constructed or renovated homes. “
“One obstacle to affordable housing on Bainbridge Island is the operation in the marketplace of the law of supply and demand. When an area is as desirable as Bainbridge is perceived, demand for housing is strong. And where demand is increasing faster than supply, as has been true on the island, home prices rise.That’s not the only problem. Another is the cost of creating new housing for those with lower incomes.It is simply not possible to build units at a price our target population can afford to pay, said Martin Rowe, city affordable-housing coordinator.The only way to make it work is to reduce our cost of capital, Rowe said. “
“Debora House’s painting career began with something we’ve all done – making cards for St. Valentine’s Day.She began by painting large sheets of paper, then cutting fragments for collages and sending them. Then it was thank-you notes. Then birthday cards.Pretty soon, House said, it wasn’t just a card-making retreat a few times a year. And then I decided to paint a canvas – that way you can’t cut it up. You have to take responsibility for the whole painting.House began painting five years ago in Stockholm, Sweden, after working for years as a textile designer. Her work leans towards abstract expressionism and her main interests are texture and color.I rotate the canvas constantly when I paint to balance the colors, she said. And since it’s abstract, House said, I want it to work no matter how you hang it. I also do it to keep surprising myself. “
“On it’s face, affordable housing on Bainbridge is an equation that simply won’t balance.There are only seven homes on the island now selling for $200,000 or less. Qualifying for a mortgage on a $200,000 house requires an income of roughly $50,000, after scraping together $20,000 for a down payment.And that’s more than lots of islanders make. Islanders like nurses, teachers, policemen, store clerks, carpenters, plumbers and firemen.It’s the numbers, said Bill Reddy, director of the island’s Housing Resources Board. Lots of people on this island make $12.50 an hour. But to afford a house here, you have to make $50 or $60 an hour. “
“To most people, community-building is a metaphor. For the residents-to-be of Strawberry Place, it’s a hands-on reality.They are both the owners and the builders of nine Bainbridge Island homes made affordable by their own efforts. And before they could build houses, they had to build a team, because the rule is that nobody moves in until all the houses are finished.We’re a family, said Laura Harrison, a single mother who works as a medical assistant. We have to pull together.They are building the single-family, two-story homes under the self-help program of the Kitsap County Consolidated Housing Authority. Participants in the program do most of the construction work themselves, putting in a minimum of 30 hours a week under the tutelage and supervision of master carpenter Del Sutton, a KCCHA employee. “
