“Jay Inslee hopes constituent service and a record he says reflects the values of the local electorate will turn the volatile 1st Congressional District into a safe seat.I get my marching orders from people in the neighborhoods, Inslee told the Review in an interview this week. My successes come from being home grown.The Bainbridge Democrat is trying to fend off a challenge from Dan McDonald, the former Republican floor leader in the state Senate, for the congressional seat that Inslee took from Rick White in 1998. “
Ray Williamson Pool will no longer be drained into a field across the street.The city has ordered the Bainbridge Island Park District to connect the pool to the Winslow sewer system after an Aug. 15 code violation in which chlorinated water was discharged into a Class 1 wetland across Madison Avenue.
“After a rebuff from Superior Court, the city will appeal to prevent Earl Miller from rebuilding the old strawberry cannery over Eagle Harbor.The 20,000-square-foot structure at the foot of Weaver Road was destroyed by fire in 1997.The city denied Miller’s application to rebuild, saying that the proposed use was prohibited by city zoning, and that Miller had lost his grandfathered rights because the use of the property had changed over time.You can’t build structures out over the water anymore, city attorney Rod Kaseguma said. But if you are making a valid non-conforming use of the structure, you can replace it. “
“Even now, you can see the courtroom scene.The aggrieved and angry plaintiff; the solemn city attorney in defense; the insurance photographs of the fallen tree and the mangled vehicle; the personal-injury lawyer waving the plant pathologist’s report before the jury:See! They knew!Fear of liability isn’t the best basis for policy decisions. But given what the city knows about the relative health of two aging maples that find themselves in the way of the Winslow Way East reconstruction project, it’s time to fire up the chainsaw. “
“He already knows the lay of the land.That’s because Randy Witt, hired this week as the city’s new director of public works, has been driving Bainbridge roads for eight years.It’s a little different opportunity, (and) a promotion, said Witt, who will join the city staff Oct. 1 after an eight-year stint as engineer for the city of Bremerton. It’s a little more hands-on on the operations side, and some more challenges. I’m excited. “
“Faced with a million-dollar deficit for the coming year, the school district will make budget cuts that hit the salaries of administrators and classified employees.We’re not in an emergency, but they’re not easy, school board president Bruce Weiland said of the cutbacks.The spending cuts passed final review at a board study session Tuesday evening.District officials blamed the deficit on too-high enrollment projections and the opening of Sakai Middle School this past year. “
“Ax two, trees zero.Two aging broad-leaf maple trees on Winslow Way East will likely be felled, after testing found them to be diseased, damaged and weakened by past bad pruning.It’s sad for everyone, the trees included, said South Ward City Councilwoman Christine Nasser, who had lobbied for the trees’ preservation. But we did our best.An initial inspection of the trees last week, by Bainbridge-based plant pathologist Olaf Ribeiro and certified arborist Darren Strenge, suggested that at least one of the trees was healthy enough to be preserved during road and sidewalk improvements that get under way this week.But using a resistograph, an instrument that measures the density tree trunk matter, they found measurable decay in one tree, and extensive decay in the trunk and main branches of the other. “
“If the price is right, a small-boat repair facility may come back to Eagle Harbor on a corner of what is presently the Washington State Ferry repair yard.But if that happens, small boats will coexist with the huge ferries, not supplant them. Dashing the hopes of some islanders who hoped the repair yard might relocate, a spokesman for the WSF told the Review last week that Eagle Harbor will remain the hub of ferry repair and maintenance operations. “
“For Christopher Charles, the past is his future.Long a collector and occasional seller of antiquarian print material, Charles is in the process of opening Fleet Street Gallery on Winslow Way. The business will sit between Roberts Jewelers and the Roby King Gallery, in the front portion of the space formerly occupied by Dwight’s Floral.This is something I’ve wanted to do for 30 years, said Charles. I’ve got six kids – one at Bainbridge High School and the rest in college. So now is the time. “
“When you look at them – really look at them – they must be among the ugliest trees in town.Horribly topped a decade or so ago by someone from the city or power company, the old maples next to the Flying Penguin building on Winslow Way are a mass of raggedy suckers shooting up out of old wounds, random growth trying to pass itself off as healthy limbs and branches. Despite their mass of broad shady leaves, the trees aren’t thriving so much as clinging to life.Even so, we can see how their imminent removal sparked a minor protest over the weekend, their massive trunks adorned with ribbons and banners reading I am your elder. Please give me a chance and other sentiments. “
“Your speed is…Each vehicle fills in the blank.And one by one, they drive past – not speed past, or roar past, but drive past. Most are within 5 mph of the 25 mph speed limit.That’s a rare sight, Grow Avenue neighbors say.People are driving with their brake lights on – you never see that, said resident Todd Egan.The instrument of change this week, on a street where residents have lodged ongoing complaints about speeding drivers, was a radar gun hooked to a large digital display, both mounted atop a private vehicle at the roadside.The apparatus was borrowed from Bainbridge Police, and used for several hours on Monday to monitor traffic in both directions.They want to speed, but they see (the sign) and they slow down, said Dave Corn, one of a group of neighbors who have been monitoring traffic for weeks. It has a great effect. “
“The park district received a stop-work order Friday for draining highly chlorinated water from Ray Williamson Memorial Pool into a wetland across Madison Avenue.And after a reportedly heated exchange, pool officials maintained that the water discharge is nothing they haven’t been doing for years.I told them to shut it down, city Code Enforcement Officer Will Peddy said, and the guy looked at me like I was an idiot. I actually had to start yelling at him – ‘turn it off!’According to the city’s tests, the water draining into the class I wetland carried unacceptable amounts of chlorine – 0.4 parts per million – while city regulations say pool water drained into the ground must have no higher than 0.3 ppm, and 0.0 ppm if drained into a water body. “
“Open-space requirements in Bainbridge’s light-manufacturing zoning have cost the island a 40-year-old manufacturing business that employs 100 people.It makes people feel good, but does open space in a manufacturing zone actually do anybody any good? said Clif McKenzie, president of Watson Furniture Systems, who announced this week that the company would move off-island within a year. “
