City Council candidates Pegeen Mulhern and Ron Peltier met with
the Kitsap Sun Editorial Board earlier this week to discuss key
issues on the island, from transportation to affordable
housing.
Mulhern and Peltier are running for the at large seat, which is
currently held by Steve Bonkowski. He is not running for
reelection.
Anne Blair also is not running for reelection. Kol Medina is
running uncontested for her seat.
Michael Scott, who was appointed to the council earlier this
year after David Ward resigned, is running uncontested.
Councilwoman Sarah Blossom is running for reelection and is
uncontested as well.
Read more about all the island candidates, including school
board and park district candidates, on the Kitsap Sun’s
online election guide.
National effort to
amend the U.S. Constitution, declaring corporations are not people
and money does not equal speech, is coming to Bainbridge
Island.
David Cobb, founding member of
the national organizationMove to Amend, will be in Washington to support I-735. The
bill would ask state officials to push Congress to say corporations
are not people and all political contributions should be regulated,
as well as made public.
WAmend, the Washington Coalition to Amend the
Constitution is the group behind the local I-735 petitioning
effort and the move to get signatures for a 2016 ballot
initiative.
Cobb will speak at Eagle Harbor
Congregational Church — 105 Winslow Way — on Aug. 17 from 7:30 p.m.
to 9 p.m.
He will talk about how
corporations gained constitutional rights, how money influences
elections and voters can “win back democracy,” according to
WAmend’s website.
A map of the 18-house
development on Wyatt Way, known as Ashbury. Photo from DeNova
Northwest’s website.
DeNova Northwest has started
clearing a 4.5-acre lot on Wyatt Way for 18 homes near Lovell
Avenue.
The development, known as
Ashbury,
was originally for 19 homes, although one lot was removed to save
an old Black Locust, said Heather Beckman, an associate planner
with the city.
The tree is part of a community
park and garden area on the northeast portion of the property. The
development will connect to a trail on the south end of the site
for access to Winslow and the ferry.
DeNova will begin selling the
homes in the fall, according to its website, although no prices are
listed.
The Kent-based company also is
working on a 17-home development in Burien and 165-home development
in Tacoma’s University Place, which will include a playground and
dog park.
Work crews clear the way for
DeNova Northwest’s 18-house development on Wyatt Way. Photo by
Rachel Anne Seymour/Kitsap Sun
The island’s park district
received a grant to replace the Hidden Cove dock, which has been
closed because of safety concerns. Photo by Tristan Baurick/Kitsap
Sun
Bainbridge Island Parks Foundation is working to raise $100,000
to help the park district supplement money for a new Hidden Cove
dock.
The foundation is having a dock party at Hidden Cove Park on
Sunday from 3-6 p.m. with swimming, games and snacks for
donations.
Hidden Cove’s dock one of two public float docks on the island.
Bainbridge’s other float dock is at Waterfront Park in Winslow.
Hidden Cove dock had been a popular swimming and kayak launching
site on the north end of the island.
Another popular swimming and launch site is the Point White Pier
on the southwest end of the island.
Hidden Cove dock party attendees are encouraged to walk or ride
to the event. Those driving can park at the Hidden Cove ballfields
and follow balloons along the trail to the park.
Kitsap Sun reporter Andrew Binion sat down with Bainbridge
Island Police Chief Matthew Hamner to talk about his first two
years with the city and changes that have been made.
An editorial cartoon by Milt
Priggee mingling the uproar with the island annual Rotary sale
(shown above) ran in the June 28 edition of the Kitsap
Sun.
The petition came after critics were out in force when images of
the proposed logos were posted on social media the day after the
unveiling. Hundreds of comments, almost entirely negative, were
posted on Facebook.
Several readers have weighed in through letters to the editor —
“Bainbridge
already lost its brand” and “Branding
can do better on Bainbridge” — and an editorial cartoon by Milt
Priggee mingling the uproar with the island annual Rotary sale
(shown above) ran in the June 28 edition of the Kitsap Sun. (If you’d like to share
your opinion in the Sun or Islander through a letter, email David
Nelson at david.nelson@kitsapsun.com.)
The city took public comment on the branding process through
June 26, and revisions are expected in one to two weeks, said
Kellie Stickney, the city’s community engagement specialist.
That won’t be the last opportunity for public input though.
Feedback will be taken again after revisions are made public,
Stickney said, although no date for a presentation has been
set.
The axes in the proposed logos were nixed by the end of the June
11 presentation, and other options were nixed after online outcry
the following day. At this point the crest won’t be moving forward
in the design, and there could be a different font and color
scheme, City Manager Doug Schulze told City Council.
City officials are
calling Rockaway Beach residents to ask them to reduce water use,
specifically landscape irrigation.
A new release from the city said the Rockaway Beach water
system, which serves about 90 homes, is experiencing “unusually
high water consumption.” The increase is putting stress on the
system that pulls water from a single well with limited
capacity.
While it hasn’t been dangerously hot on the island, higher than
normal temperatures have hit the region, along with dry
conditions.
No other areas of the city’s water system have been affected,
according to the city.
Paper & Leaf co-owner Brendan
Hill is shown walking through the store in a reflection on a glass
case where marijuana products are locked up. (Photo by Rachel Anne
Seymour/Kitsap Sun)
Bainbridge Island’s first and only retail marijuana shop could
pass for an art gallery or café with its natural light, neutral
color scheme, vinyl music and refurbished wood décor, if not for
the smell of marijuana. Now, Bainbridge residents do not have to
scour and ramble around to
choose best kratom vendor, because that one’s right in the
townsquare.
Even the name, Paper & Leaf, doesn’t reek of weed
clichés.
Owners Steve Kessler and Brendan Hill held the
company’s grand opening Wednesday, after having a soft opening for
friends and family June 20. The 1,800-square-foot store is just off
Highway 305 in the industrial park at 8040 Day Road.
Although state regulations won’t allow more than one
retail shop on the island and Paper & Leaf won’t have competition
within a 30 minute commute, it is doing business a little different
from other pot stores around the Sound.
Shoppers won’t find candy-like edibles for one.
While islanders strongly supported legalizing
marijuana, there was a concern about can candy edibles appealing to
children and minors, Kessler said.
About 70 percent of the island’s voters backed
Initiative 502, which legalized marijuana in 2012, compared to 56
percent statewide.
Instead of candy edibles, Paper & Leaf has liquid
products customers can drop directly into their mouths or use to
bake.
When using products for the first time, Kessler
suggested taking it slow.
“I always tell people, ‘Less is better,’” he said,
especially with edibles that can take up to two hours to take
affect.
How Paper & Leaf
displays its marijuana products also is a little different from
most.
They are all locked in wood and glass cases on the
walls and not behind the register. Producers, including several
locals, have their own case with a variety of strains.
More than half of Paper & Leaf’s producers are in
Kitsap or North Mason, Kessler said.
Product not only arrives faster with
closer producers, he added, it’s a way of supporting other
local business.
Marijuana isn’t the only local item Kessler and Hill
want to hang on the wall.
One long, blank wall by the store entrance will
eventually feature artwork from local island and area artists. The
first exhibit will be a history of cannabis, Kessler said, although
future exhibits can be unrelated to marijuana.
The art is part of a goal to create a relaxed
atmosphere at Paper & Leaf.
To add to the vibe, customers can talk with staff or
among themselves — as some did Wednesday — at a long table made
from reclaimed wood by the local Coyote Woodshop.
Even with a relaxed feel, security is tight.
There are 28 cameras throughout the parking lot and
every room in the business, except the bathroom. Kessler and Hill
also had motion detectors, automatic locks and broken glass
sensor installed.
Paper & Leaf staff continue
working on the store as others help customers during the grand
opening on Wednesday, June 24, 2015. (Photo by Rachel Anne
Seymour/Kitsap Sun)
Speeding leads
to underage pot citation A teenager was cited for
possession of marijuana after a silver Lexus was pulled over for
going 42 in a 30-mph zone on Sportsman Club Road on June 20.
As a Bainbridge Island Police Department officer spoke with the
18-year-old female driver, he noticed a “strong odor of green
(non-burned) marijuana,” according to a police report.
The officer asked the driver how much marijuana was in the car. She
told him there was none, but there had been marijuana in the car
previously.
The officer told the driver that she had to be 21 to possess pot,
and asked her for the marijuana. She then pulled a small plastic
bag with 5.4 grams of “a green leafy substance” out of her purse,
before telling the officer, “I cannot believe I just gave you my
marijuana.”
The driver was given a warning for speeding and a citation for the
marijuana, according the police report.
Updated to reflect the edited code item in the June 26 print
edition of the Islander.
Bainbridge Artisan
Resource Network (BARN) has earned a $500,000 grant from the C.
Keith Birkenfeld Memorial Trust for a new facility.
This grant pushes BARN’s campaign for a
25,000-square-foot artisan center over $5 million, and closer
to its $7.5 million goal, said Carolyn Goodwin, BARN
spokeswoman.
BARN is currently in a 2,000-square-foot facility, which was
meant to be a temporary location for the nonprofit. It is home
to metalworking, fiber arts, writing, printmaking and glass work,
among others.
BARN is a nonprofit organization, which formed in 2012 to
operate a “hands-on center for craft and invention” on the
island.
The organization is hoping to break ground this fall on the new
center.
