In the course of “researching” last week’s column about our national obsession with accumulating stuff, I came across a kindred spirit in the person of Jeffrey Kaplan. Mr. Kaplan wrote an article recently for Orion magazine called “The Gospel of Consumption.” Rather than just mindlessly ranting and throwing verbal bombs unfettered by logic or facts as is my preferred method of communication (and also the standard that prevails in American presidential campaigns), Mr. Kaplan did some actual research and uncovered an article from 1929 written by a Charles Kettering. At the time, Mr. Kettering was the director of General Motors Research. The article was called “Keep the Customer Dissatisfied,” and it outlined a strategic shift for American industry – a shift away from providing for basic human needs towards creating new needs.
The Park District’s Finance Committee and commissioners have patiently been reviewing plans and finances to restore historic Yeomalt Cabin.
Once, at a party, the conversation was dragging a bit, when someone, asked: “What was the worst job you ever had?”
At the recent Town Meeting at the American Legion Hall, a citizen suggested that I institute a column in the Review to address citizen questions – to “loop back to the people that are paying the bills” – from you, our taxpayers. This is the first of a series of columns that will address commonly asked questions, and I want to use it to respond to some of the questions about the city’s financial well-being that I heard at the meeting.
In case you didn’t already know, the city has begun updating the 2025-30 Comprehensive Plan, its first priority being the creation of a stratagem for the future of the island’s open spaces. It’s essentially another plan within a plan, but it’s fortuitous that city leaders realize the judiciousness of protecting the island’s most valuable commodity against the threat of urban sprawl. They fear that if they don’t plan now and stick to their guns later, the almighty dollar will turn this Seattle suburb into an enlarged version of Mercer Island.
“It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate. “
I was in Spokane one day this past week helping my son pack up his dorm room for the summer. Adam is now a sophomore at Gonzaga University majoring in Afternoon Classes. That’s not as bad as it sounds. In another year, I’ll have a second child in college who quite possibly may be studying Advanced Tanning and Quantum Shopping Mechanics.
Last Friday, Sakai Middle School students packed the hillside meadow around their new – and two very old – blossoming cherry trees for the First Annual Cherry Blossom Festival, and to honor the school’s soon-to-retire principal, Jo Vanderstoep.
Housing experts say the affordable-housing market on Bainbridge Island is so depressed that people, most of whom are looking for one- or two-bedroom spaces, have written it off and stopped looking on the island. This is especially true for families because they often need three bedrooms, which means they’re searching for rare and very expensive rental houses.
I had to take a break from politics this spring. Cold turkey. I just quit.
It’s no secret, but let’s be very clear about this: During the next few years, the city’s financial health will…
Most people have accepted the fact that a helmet is a necessary safety item whether the wearer is operating a bicycle, motorcycle, a whitewater kayak or a board of one type or another. There are exceptions, of course, including a large majority of the bicyclists in Eugene, Ore., where going helmetless on city and University of Oregon streets is the cool thing to do. Those Oregon Ducks have a tendency to live on the wild side.
The unfolding financial crisis at the city makes it clear that we have failed the most basic tenets of local government. The value of government is to address common needs that cannot be met by individual citizens, such as life/safety and infrastructure needs by carefully spending the tax money it receives. It is important we learn how we got into this deficit position and how we get back on a responsible fiscal track.
