Someone with the handle “pattymonster” posted video on YouTube of tests for the new fountains between the ferry terminal and the shipyard. This is a night shot, but it’s pretty impressive. Go to the link below the picture.

Bremerton Fountain YouTube link

On Tuesday a group of 20 Manette residents met to see how they might be able to save a property they’ve known for decades as a place to learn to ride bikes, play tennis or some kind of recreation. It used to be a reservoir, but now the city is selling it. A developer could put as many as six homes on the site. Residents in the neighborhood want it to be a park and have until Monday to prevent the sale. If they get 100 property owners willing to sign a letter stating they’d be willing to tax themselves to own it, they might pull it off. Look for more later about this later this week in the Kitsap Sun.

Before I left for vacation, the city was planning to have a dedication event for its new park, the “Harborside Fountain Park.” It’s the park between the ferry terminal and the shipyard. They were hoping to do something around noon Saturday (Nov. 25).

On Sunday we offer you more information about the proposed use of cameras to assist in traffic enforcement. There are two Dayton, Ohio videos you can see. One was provided by Redflex Traffic Systems. The other one is on Snopes, which is one of my favorite Web sites.

I’ll be away this week, so I won’t be able to post your comments for awhile. Feel free to leave them, though and I’ll post them when I return on Nov. 27.

At the end of Wednesday’s Bremerton City Council meeting, City Councilman Adam Brockus read a letter from Mayor Cary Bozeman stating the city would not sell or swap the NAD parks or Forest Ridge Park. The letter ended speculation that had been going on for months and that was the subject of a Nov. 4 story in The Kitsap Sun.

Go to the Kitsap Sun home page for more details.

A special governing body recommended, sort of, shrinking the Kitsap Transit service area, a move designed to help the agency win elections. Think that’s editorializing?

“We’re not denying that this is about economics and the ability to win elections,” (Richard) Hayes said.

The move wouldn’t change the agency’s service. It’s primarily about getting voter approval for passenger-only ferry service. All five on this board said they want the ferry service, but three said they don’t want to eliminate people from voting on it. Gehring was one of those, but voted for it Thursday in part because it wasn’t a final decision.

That will happen Dec. 12.

Gehring is the one who said the decision will be “tough.”

Some of you think it shouldn’t be a tough decision at all.

The Bremerton School District will have 1,200 kids in a middle school at Mountain View, so building a new school on the NAD Soroptomist Park site is one option up for consideration.

This is all very preliminary, according to both sides. If there were a property swap, the city would get the gym at what is now called Bremerton Junior High School. It was once a high school, so the gym is pretty nice.

The swap, or any sale of NAD, would require a unanimous vote of the city council for the city to let it go, and a reader has suggested there may be restrictions on what can go on the NAD site anyway, which may render the discussion moot.

NAD, by the way, stands for Naval Ammunition Depot.

I can’t begin to tell you how many stories I’ve written lately that referenced the increase in construction costs. I can name some:

On Tuesday we had a story about the municipal court building costing more than projected, making the city wonder whether it will ever build a new permanent place.

The Manette Bridge has been pushed back and its unique features downscaled because of escalating prices.

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