Bremerton is getting new condos along the waterfront. It’s private money financing the venture, next to some very public projects.

The issue raised in Aid Agency Seeks Funds for New Building is one that’s been discussed before in this paper and makes perfect sense. As a neighborhood improves, the cost of being there increases. The folks at Kitsap Community Resources could sense the prevailing winds and their response is what you see here.

The drawing was provided by Rice Fergus Miller, architect for the building, through KCR.

In more detail regarding Gary Sexton’s job, what he does is something cities usually find a consultant to do, Bremerton’s financial services director Laura Lyon told me following Wednesday’s meeting. I’ve never covered a city that had someone doing specifically what Sexton does, which Eric Williams described in a story earlier this year as overseeing most of the city’s redevelopment projects.

On Bainbridge Island the city has a project manager hired for two years to oversee a visioning process for its downtown.

My first and perhaps only conversation ever with Merrill Wallace occurred Tuesday and was about his departure from the executive director position of the Bremerton Housing Authority.
The agency’s board of directors decided to not renew his contract. Wallace is credited with diversifying the BHA’s financial base, but the board is looking for a better communicator and someone better able to adopt a regional perspective.
There have been rumblings behind the scenes for months that this was going to happen.
Wallace had the job 23 years. His last day is Friday.