The Bremerton Beat

You may have involuntarily cruised the Puget Sound waters with your governor Monday.

Democrats met at the conference center Monday in what Mayor Cary Bozeman described as a caucus. He was invited to give a “Welcome to Bremerton” speech, after which he was to be escorted out. Private stuff, you understand.

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You remember on 9/11 when there were stories about stores charging exorbitant prices for water? While the accident that happened Monday with the bus running into the building was nothing like that day, let’s not overlook the little bit of goodness that showed itself. From the story:

Contractors Ed Sangil and Joseph McCrary were working on a house nearby and rushed to help the crash victims before rescue units arrived. “We went into the store and grabbed bags of ice,” Sangil said. “They told us to take anything we needed.”

Way to go Sangil, McCrary and the store employees.

You may have seen our poll on the proposal to put in parking kiosks downtown. As of this writing, six out of 97 thought it was a good idea to put the kiosks in as soon as possible. Three liked it if concessions were made for low-income employees and volunters. Some allowed that paid parking will be worthwhile someday, but well more than half said not today, not anytime soon.

The Bremerton Area Chamber of Commerce has two surveys available until July 7. Silvia Klatman said they will share the results with the city.

Businesses, organizations and employees should click here for their survey.

Everyone else who would like to comment should click here.

Some parting comments from David Porter, the Kitsap Economic Development Council’s soon-to-be former executive director, are worth pondering. No doubt it’s pretty here. But does Kitsap County have a “quality of community” that would make people vow to stay forever?

Some of his conversation was in explaining the context for a statement Porter made last week to the Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council:

“My sense is there is an undercurrent of meanness in this community that needs to be addressed.”

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On Wednesday, the City Council was in a study session discussing the sale of
the Capital Hill fire station. There was more than one reference to its
disrepair and ugliness. The building is in City Councilwoman Carol Arends’
district and she was a bit upset by the continued references. She pointed
out that if the city took better care of things, the station would not look
the way it does now. Then she made this statement:

“We’re not going to get rid of everything old and ugly in this city, or some of us wouldn’t be sitting here.”

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On Tuesday, the city discussed its proposed parking kiosks for downtown. No
one there asked the question I asked in the previous blog entry: Is this too
soon?

One reason I would guess that was the case was because everyone acknowledges
there is a problem that requires a solution sooner rather than later.

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I’ve heard people say pay parking will be the reality someday in Bremerton, I’ve also heard people say it’s too soon.

What do you think?

Is this the right time to introduce pay parking for short visits? Or should the ongoing revitalization continue before the new parking kiosks are brought to town?

Or do you think no one should ever have to pay for a short stay downtown?

A few readers let me know they were disappointed I didn’t include a list of who voted “yes” and who voted “no” on the Highland height question. They were probably right. That would have added good information to the story.

Here’s how it went down and, from my recollection, the order.

Robinson: Yes
Arends: Yes
Maupin: Yes
Wofford: Yes
Gehring: (pause) No
Brockus: (pause) No
Priest: No
Shepherd: No
McConnell: I knew they would do this to me. Yes.

Weeks ago it seemed all was happy news about the building on 11th and Warren. The city signed a deal to give the Girl Scouts and Camp Fire organizations two to three years in the current site before having to leave. The city wants to improve the intersection there for traffic reasons.

The evening was a feel-good event, with leaders from both groups leaving thinking perhaps they could get the historic building moved.

Then the details. The cost to move the building even a short distance was estimated to be $417,000. A bit too much, the Scout and Camp Fire leaders say, to consider as an option. Now what?