The Bremerton Beat

Two items for a Friday morning that I’ll just send you other places to read, if you haven’t seen them yet:

Just posted on the Sun’s main page is this story about state school superintendent Randy Dorn’s visit to Washington, D.C., where he shared some successful ideas from our state — including Bremerton — with Education Secretary Arne Duncan. To me the surprising thing isn’t Bremerton — it’s that for once it’s not the early education model getting the praise.

The Associated Press reports that the program he highlighted provides incentives for Bremerton dropouts to return to school. It’s not something we’ve covered recently, though sounds akin to the new Washington Youth Acadmy in town, so I’d expect we’ll check in on it soon if it’s being proven as something that works for the district.

The morning’s second story is here, from the Kitsap Education blog by correspondent Marietta Nelson. The city council and school board heard last night from Robin Waite, who’s behind the Kitsap Pumas soccer club that will be playing at Memorial Stadium this summer. Waite floated the idea of a new soccer complex being built at the closed junior high on Wheaton Way. I’d heard about talk of some type of collaboration between different entities (city, schools, OC, parks department, etc.) on such a project last year, so maybe the Pumas can be the private-sector catalyst for that effort. Clearly there are a lot of what ifs on the venture, but Waite seems like a guy who dreams big and doesn’t wait around to make things happen. That’s how the soccer team got to Bremerton in the first place.

It’s worth a read, and we’ll keep tabs on where this plan goes. If the existing fields were removed (there’s two backstops and a football field there now), my softball team would have to move our practices. But that may be a blessing — ground balls are always reminding me that an infield the texture of the moon’s surface is not the place for a guy who values his teeth.

— David Nelson

I cracked wise on the recent pleasant weather in that last post, but I have enjoyed the sun. The seeds I ordered for my garden arrived Thursday, I read on the porch one afternoon, I ran through a fairly full Lion’s Park on Monday morning.

Which reminded me to pass along an announcement about a public meeting coming next week. The city is planning a renovation of the park, and asking for insight from users as they finalize plans. The city has grant money in hand for low-impact development as part of the renovation, and among the goals are water quality improvements in Port Washington Narrows. That may not directly enhances the Sunday night softball experience, but maybe someone will get creative and explain how new dugouts and a beer garden are needed holistic improvements.

The meeting is Tuesday at 6 p.m., at the Sheridan Park Community Center, just up the street on Lebo.

Also next week, if you’re really feelin’ civic-minded, is another round of the Manette Sub-Area plan meetings. At 5:30 p.m. at the Norm Dicks building, there will be an open house on the draft plan. According to an email from the Manette Neighborhood Coalition, they’ll likely bring up zoning issues concerning the R10 designation, or where the commercial core zoning of the neighborhood will be, and maximum height designations for the entire neighborhood, or whether any part of the plan will include buildings over 35 feet.

After this open house, the Sub-Area plan is scheduled to head for the Planning Commission March 17.

For more, see the city’s Web site, which includes a new photo gallery by participants of examples elsewhere of models Manette could follow, or check www.manetteneighborhoodcoalition.org. Have fun planning!

— David Nelson

The city of Bremerton would like to know who the woman is pictured at the end of this entry. Gary Sexton, the city’s economic development director, picked her photo as one representing what went on at the shipyard during the first world war. A statue of the woman will be placed at the newest downtown park, expected to open in a few months.

If you know who she is, contact the city at (360) 473-5269 or by e-mail at alyce.fierro@ci.bremerton.wa.us.

Photo Credit

The mercury on Friday is expected to get as high as 88 degrees.

But the forecast calls for snow, localized entirely in East Park.

Using cutting edge technology, shaved ice from the Bremerton Ice Center will be transported via bobcat to East Park. There a summer snow mound will be built for kids – and immature adults – to play in and build snowmen.

Hence, the the East Park Summer Meltdown, an evening festival to reacquaint neighbors with their old friend, East Park.

But that’s not all!

The festival held at the park near the corner of Magnuson Way and Homer Jones Drive starts at 5 p.m. In addition to the mound of snow for the playing, there will be free swimming, free ice skating, carnival games, face painting, Cosmo the clown, Sparky the fire dog and much, much more!

Click here for more info for the fest.

The party is sponsored by the City of Bremerton Parks and Recreation Department, Bremerton Ice Center and Kitsap Family YMCA.

City of Bremerton

Above, courtesy of the Parks and Recreation Department, is a picture of one of those pesky hollow poplar trees in Evergreen Park that are worrying city officials.

The trees have become potentially dangerous and the city plans to remove them lest a strong wind comes along and knocks them down and onto a person.

The community meeting about the tree removal and also tree installation at Evergreen Park is Thursday at 6 p.m.

The meeting will be held at the WSU Cooperative Extension conference room on the Fourth Floor of the Norm Dicks building.

In advance of the meeting, Parks and Recreation Director Wyn Birkenthal told the City Council Wednesday that Puget Sound Energy planned to remove 22 maple trees lining the street that have been tangling with power lines.

The city would need a special license to remove the trees itself, Birkenthal said, and PSE plans to grind the stumps which would save the city an additional $5,000. The city and PSE will work together on what trees to plant as replacements.

The wood from the poplars will be given to the logger to offset the price. Birkenthal said if the city opted to keep the timber the $6,000 price tag would be doubled. However, the branches will remain with the city and be fed to a woodchipper and used for trails and mulch.

The Bremerton Parks Department is seeking input at a March 6 planning workshop to discuss the options for tree replacement at Evergreen Park near Park Avenue, a statement from the city said. The meeting starts at 6 p.m.

Read the un-Binioned press release HERE.

For background on the plight of the park read Sun Reporter Chris Dunagan’s story HERE.

The meeting is to be held at the Norm Dicks Government Center, 4th floor, in the WSU Conference Room.

The same post is running on the Kitsap Caucus blog.

If you are to believe those on the losing side of tax levies since last year, the tax the port passed is still affecting other tax measures. They brought it up when South Kitsap’s school bond failed. The library bond failed, the port became a question.

If tax boosters are right, residents didn’t get to vote on the port’s Industrial Development District tax to build the marina, so they’re voting against it now every chance they get.

Tonight, Bremerton City Councilman Will Maupin said the IDD tax not only affected Bremerton’s parks levy, it affected his own margin of victory. He’s winning his race with a 53-47 margin against former councilman Eric Younger.

“I guess it’s just that it’s just that there is always the feeling because of the unrest in property taxes and the port tax and the feeling that we need to make a change, that somebody else might be looking out for my well being or my property taxes more.”

You can draw attention to the fact that the other incumbent running in Bremerton, Dianne Robinson, won handily. But Robinson ran against a first-time candidate with no history on the council and a short history in the city. Maupin’s opponent, Eric Younger, does have experience on the dais and has stark differences with the incumbent.

Maupin might have a point on his own race, but that the port tax may have had an impact on Tuesday’s parks levy is easily more believable.

“I thought that when we first put that on the ballot that we had built up enough good will in the city that citizens were willing to invest some of their money in the Bremerton redevelopment. I think the port tax was an issue that didn’t die. It built up an unhappiness. I heard that over and over again as I was doorbelling and I think that’s what doomed our parks levy.”

The question then becomes how it will affect the city’s move to boost car tab fees to pay for roads. In pre-election debates all Bremerton council candidates said they favored putting a $20 boost in car tabs on the ballot. Maupin said Tuesday’s parks levy defeat will impact how the council moves forward with the street issue, but perhaps not substantially.

“It’s going to have some effect on our decision-making process, but I think the process is still what we planned all along. We’ll have a very vigorous public information campaign and see if we have support for $20 car tabs in order to support street repair.”

If all this is true and I’m running any government agency with an ability to ask voters for money, I’ve got to wonder if I would instead conspire to make do until the hangover from the port tax wears off, assuming people really are still voting against it.

If they are, when will it stop?

On the Kitsap Caucus blog I posted much of the same information, but asked why groups support measures like these, while individuals who don’t join tend to vote against them.

I saw this today on the Manette Neighborhood Coalition site.

The Manette Coalition Board of Directors has unanimously endorsed the Neighborhoods Now! Levy.

We believe in supporting measures that promote parks that we can walk to from our homes. An investment in maintaining and retaining open spaces in our neighborhoods fits with our core values. The Neighborhoods Now! Levy is affordable, has a time limit (6 years) and will benefit all citizens of Bremerton; many of our parks are in dire need of revitalizatioon.

As an autonmous neighborhood organization, we have become more involved in attending city council and park commission meetings. The process has been enlightening and interesting. We may not always support everything coming out of city hall, but this is one measure that is highly beneficial and gives great value for a very small personal investment. Please mark your ballot “YES” on proposition 1.

If I lick my finger and put it in the air, I can’t tell you which way the wind is blowing on Bremerton’s Proposition 1. I’ve heard lots of support from different groups. Supporters canvassed the city’s likely voters and have planted signs around town.

Bremerton City Councilman Cecil McConnell and council candidates Roy Runyon and Cassandra Helmrick have all said they planned to vote against it, but I’ve heard of no organized opposition actively campaigning against it.

src="http://web.kitsapsun.com/1newsroom/blogphotos/burpat.jpg"> A rendering of the Harborside Park extension from the corner of Burwell Street and Pacific Avenue, over the tunnel.

Gary Sexton, Bremerton’s economic development boss, gave a presentation about the new park extension that will top the tunnel along Pacific and drew applause. There were only about four people there who weren’t reporters or with the city, but the applause was a noticeable distraction. The rendering above is just one of those that appeared to draw the awes of the city council and everyone else in the room, except for Sexton and maybe this jaded reporter. I’m not confessing anything.

This goes on top of a story in the Seattle P-I that went online Wednesday. Gordy Holt writes:

As soil was being turned just one year ago, Mayor Cary Bozeman promised another “great public place” for his city’s emerging waterfront.

Turns out he was wrong.

Bremerton’s new Harborside Fountain Park is plainly incredible, and likely will be seen as unmatched anywhere around Puget Sound.

If any of the sentiment expressed Wednesday captures what will happen when the park’s finished, Holt and others might have to come back.

In Thursday’s edition we tackle the parks levy request you find on your ballots in Bremerton. An explanation, with arguments on both sides, can be found here.

The city does some explaining of its own at its Web site.

Here I’ll give you a couple of charts. The first is supposed to be part of the print edition. It’s fairly simple. Look here and if you’re a Bremerton resident you should be able to guess about how much extra the Proposition 1 levy would cost you per year.

Source: Kitsap County Assessor

This second chart, however, is a little more complicated. It’s what I wanted to have for the paper, but the more I looked at it the more I thought there was too much data. Sure, a nerd like me loves it, but I couldn’t expect anyone else to spend more than a few seconds on it.

Nonetheless, for you, our sophisticated blog audience, I invite you to examine the complex world of big charts.

What I was trying to do was show not only the difference between a yes and a no vote, but the difference between the 2007 levy and the 2008 levy in either case.

Source: Kitsap County Assessor

One of the reasons I wanted to spell that out is because I hoped someone could look at real world examples and be interested enough to do their own math. The middle number is the median, both in 2007 and 2008.

You’ll notice that for one homeowner the property tax levy would actually go down in 2008 if the levy fails.

So for the owner of a home that was near the median price both years, the tax increase is in the $42 neighborhood if the levy passes and around $6 if it doesn’t. Does that kind of information matter to anyone but me?