Brad Gehring, Bremerton city councilman revealed today that he
will seek the mayor’s position in the November election.
Gehring joins fellow council members Mike Shepherd and Will
Maupin as candidates who have announced their intentions to
run.
Other names surfacing as possible candidates include former
county commissioner Patty Lent, who on Monday said she had not
ruled it out.
Gehring said he likes both Shepherd and Maupin, but “I just
don’t feel Bremerton needs to go in the direction they would take
it.”
What has been done so far to revamp Bremerton has been
“fabulous,” Gehring said, praising outgoing Mayor Cary Bozeman for
laying the groundwork for re-establishing Bremerton’s economic
strength.
Gehring said there needs to be more emphasis on private
investment into the city and more effort to benefit small and
medium-sized businesses.
First elected to the seat in 2003, Gehring was re-elected in
2005. He also ran for state representative in 2008, coming in third
in the primary to Kathy Haigh and Marco Brown.
Here at the Beat we sling arrows at others, mostly Port Orchard
and on one occasion Seattle. It’s our way of staying powerful,
under the notion that you really can make your own lawn look better
by peeing on someone else’s. (Was that inappropriate? I miss
Binion. He never would have bothered to ask.)
It’s also a way of distracting people from our own missteps.
“Hey look at that marquis. HA!”
Well, the condos are high on the list of lapses that get
attibuted to us. In our first story we had Mayor Cary Bozeman (for
now) speculating that the prices might have been too high.
But on another Bremerton blog, appropriately named the
Bremelog, Bozeman went into more
detail, and well before this all blew up.
You talk about bringing people downtown: Did the housing
authority overshoot with the condos in not making it something more
affordable?
Yes. Chris, to answer your question, they missed it. They built
too far above the market. Their initial sales interest looked
encouraging. They really felt like they were OK, the county backed
the bonds on it, and in the end, they misjudged. I think had they
built a nice project but a little less expensive, they’d have all
sold.
The entire Q&A with the mayor (for now) is a good read. So
is the entire blog, though readers shall be warned that on it
you’ll find words on it that you’d never find here. I’m guessing
they wouldn’t ask about the appropriateness of the imagery I
created up top. And over there they have an ongoing bickerfest with
Bainbridge Island, er, Old Man Winslow. Who’s willing to take on
Poulsbo?
And now, back to our regular programming.
Did you notice Port Orchard stores no longer have the marquis?
Me neither.
Former Kitsap County commissioner Patty Lent’s name has been
among those bandied about as a possible mayoral candidate for
Bremerton, but I had no luck contacting her until last night.
Lent attended the county commissioners’ meeting in which the
commissioners restructured something Lent did while a commissioner.
In 2005 she, Chris Endresen and Jan Angel approved a move that put
the county as second guarantor on the loans for the Harborside
Condominium project. Since the complex opened the Kitsap County
Consolidated Housing Authority has had little luck selling the
units, laying the blame on a construction delay that led to the
real estate and broader economic meltdown.
Lent took responsibility for the county’s decision in 2005. From
Tuesday’s story:
Former county commissioner Patty Lent took responsibility for
the current situation. She was a commissioner in 2005 when the
board agreed to back the housing authority’s loan for the
condos.
“It was an economic time that we thought we were well
protected,” she said. Lent said the federal government was
investing heavily in economic development at the time and the
housing authority leaned into that role. She then praised the
current commission for taking the step it took Monday.
“I was part of the problem in the past and you are really moving
in a forward direction,” she said.
After the meeting I asked if she was running for mayor. “I
haven’t decided, but I’m not saying ‘no,'” she said.
Monday night cleared one thing she said she had to do before
deciding. “Tonight was a hurdle I needed to face.”
She described her choice in 2005 as a “poor decision,” but as
she did in the meeting she said it was a time when the federal
government was spending heavily on local economic development.
“There was lots of money for revitalization,” she said.
City council members Mike Shepherd and Will Maupin have
announced they are running and Shepherd has been campaigning for a
while.
The Herald in Everett reports that
a 35-year-old Bremerton man was entering homes in Edmonds, removing
his clothes and telling folks he was looking for Jennifer Aniston. Oh, and he was
drunk. I guess the guy was expecting to see this.
Herald writer Jackson Holtz wrote,
Police don’t know if the man’s life was always stuck in second
gear, but if his alleged behavior Saturday morning is any
indication, it wasn’t his day, his week, or even his year.
Not his month either, presumably.
We partially blame ourselves here at the Bremerton Beat. In our
smackdown with Seattle we
mentioned that the alluring Zooey
Deschanel was engaged to former Bremertonian Ben
Gibbard of the most excellent musical ensemble Death Cab for Cutie. Perhaps our
drunken co-citizen got the two ladies, one of
whom can sing, mixed up.
But we don’t absorb any responsibility for the nudity or
breaking into homes. Bad form, drunk man! How much alcohol does one
need to think that even if Aniston were to be found in Edmonds,
that this is how she would like to be approached? I know she wants
to be a mother, but I doubt this is how she plans to fulfill her
goal.
From what I’ve heard, you need flowers, a nice dinner, and to be
a movie star or a famous singer with mad texting skills.
Still, we doubt this is the first time this has happened.
And we’re guessing that this blog post is going to get a lot of
hits from people (mostly guys) using the search terms “naked” and
“Jennifer Aniston.” Sorry to disappoint you, but thanks for
stopping by.
This is just a little note in case you’re feeling a little blue
lately. You’re walking around with pride in chest and a comfortably
fitting hat because you held your own in that smackdown with Seattle.
All is well in B-Town, you think.
Let me start with a story I think you can relate to.
There was this guy. Job. (Pronounced Jobe, and it’s not the one
from “Arrested Development,” but the one
from the Bible.) According to the books written about him, he had
it goin’ on, if you know what I’m saying.
OK, he lived in a place called Uz, but otherwise he had a pretty
good gig.
He had a hot wife, amazing kids, tons of bank, a loyal posse of
friends and a killer crib. Actually, I don’t know if his wife was
hot or if it’s appropriate at all for me to speculate. But the guy
had 10 kids. You decide.
Word was he was a righteous dude, but Satan didn’t buy it. God
and the devil get into this conversation and decide to let Job get
tested. First he loses his stuff and some of his kids.
Job shaves his head, which is something I can relate to, because
I once shaved my chest hair after a girlfriend broke up with me.
TMI. Sorry. Then he says something like “Easy come, easy go.”
So then he gets boils all over his body. Now I don’t know what a
boil feels like, but I had an abscess that got me hospitalized for
a couple days and off work for a week. I had the benefit of drugs
to get me through it. Job’s boils were so bad his wife suggested he
curse God and die.
Job’s friends came to see him and didn’t recognize him, then
didn’t say anything for a whole week. When they do speak they tell
him all this stuff is probably his fault.
Job complained a lot, but not about God. In the end Job
eventually gets it all back and twice as much.
This could be your lot (not “Lot”) Bremerton. Sure things look
tough now, but let’s just call this a Job moment on the way to the
“twice as much” part. We’ve got a new downtown park opening this
weekend and I had someone tell me it’s pretty kickin.’
And if we needed any other reasons to feel good about ourselves,
there’s this display on Sixth Avenue:
We’ll be fine, Bremerton. Keep your chin up. We’ll be making fun
of Port Orchard again in no time.
What a week in Bremerton.
News,
news,
news; Apparently someone left the back door to the
city open. No confirmation yet on whether the Armed Forces Day
Parade has moved to Port Orchard.
One thing that is staying: the Bremerton farmer’s
market. Tomorrow afternoon at 4 is the season opener,
down at Evergreen-Rotary Park. If a seamless, sunny start to the
outdoor shopping season is the top story in the city for Thursday,
it’ll be a nice break from the recent flow out of the news hose. At
least for a day, then we’re back to craving six-column
headlines.
In the rush since Friday, there has been something I’ve been
meaning to pass along. We were prepped for the Westsound Bank
seizure last week, as our fleet of Sun tipsters kept hinting that
something was going down. Of course, given the bank’s recent
dealings with potential litigants and SEC investigators, rumors of
something awry on the way could have meant anything.
I kept telling people here about a 60 Minutes video I had seen
earlier this year. When community banks began to fail a few months
ago, the FDIC let those reporters ride along on a seizure. It would
always happen on a Friday, and very clandestinely — or exactly as
our sources were hinting toward with Westsound. I have no idea if
this is the same way things happened at Pacific and Sixth Friday
afternoon, but there are some similarities between the video and
what Kitsap Bank President Jim Carmichael
told us Monday afternoon.
So here’s the link (or, a link to the link, I suppose). The
video is long, but an interesting look at how you sweep a bank out
of town.
What the . . .
heck?
This story is being updated as the day goes on. By now it’s not new
news, but it’s still news that Bremerton Mayor Cary Bozeman is
resigning as hizzoner to become CEO at the Port of Bremerton.
The mayor said it was a tough decision, but that it was a
decision made in his best interest. He said history will show
whether it was the right decision for Bremerton. “Change is
inevitable,” he said. Indeed. Mike Shepherd could have beat him in
November and he’d be gone anyway.
So Bozeman will take his cheerleader role to the port, where he
hopes to have much success in getting businesses to locate into the
South Kitsap Industrial Area.
In the early 1980s, Bremerton child chic included acid-washed
jeans, double slouched socks — and Charly B sweatshirts.
It was Bremerton’s hometown brand during a time of brand-logo
mania and when there were department stores and lots of people
downtown.
Local kids saved allowances and begged their parents for the
shirts. An elementary school had a Charly B day. The shirts popped
up in spots across the country, though they were sold only in
Kitsap.
Maybe it’s because some things from the ’80s (I said
some) are trendy again. Maybe Bremerton pride is back. Or
maybe its because those ’80s kids are old enough to be
nostalgic.
Whatever it is, Charly B shirts are back.
A few shirts are appearing around town and being shipped off to
former Kitsap residents across the country.
But before we get into that, a little background on the
shirts:
They are the creation of longtime businessman Chuck Bair, who
sold them first at a clothing store he owned with his wife, Patty,
on Pacific Avenue, across from JC Penny — when there still was a JC
Penny.
Chuck had created the logo, a doodled script, for their retail
store and eventually printed shirts that he sold there and later at
stores in Redwood Plaza and the South Kitsap Mall.
Nearly 70,000 shirts sold in the four years the Charly B
clothing stores were open.
But then the Kitsap Mall happened to downtown Bremerton.
“We were one of the first ones to leave because we saw the
writing on the wall,” Patty said. And they didn’t have the capital
to open a store in the mall, Chuck said.
And with the Charly B stores went the Charly B shirts.
Since that time, the couple focused on other businesses: their
property management business; Patty ran franchise Baskin-Robbins
ice cream stores; they briefly opened an Ivar’s in Redwood Plaza;
and in 2006, they opened Kitsap Lake Storage.
All the while, people kept asking about the shirts. They’d
regale the couple with memories of their shirts, remembering even
the color.
So the Bairs started printing them again and as people asked for
more, they printed more. They lined the shelves of an office room
with shirts in multiple colors. They put out a sign in front of
Kitsap Lake Storage, “and lo and behold it’s taken off again,”
Chuck said.
Some thanks for recent demand goes to online social
networks.
One fan created a “Charly B. Resurrection”
group on Facebook and news of the shirts’ comeback was posted on
the wall of the Facebook group “I Can’t Believe
I grew up in Kitsap County in the 80’s”, which has 1,700
members. They’ve referred to it as “AWESOME,” with exclamation
points and called it a “great blast from the past.” One person
wrote, “are y’all for real? i’ve been wanting another one. to match
my black w/ multi-colored lettering Esprit tote bag that i am STILL
rockin’ after all these years ;)”
In April, the Bairs put up a web site to sell
the shirts and post old photos and memories from customers.
About 400 to 500 have sold.
LeAnn Williams worked in the clothing stores as a young adult,
and now works at the storage facility.
“Who’d have thought 30 years later I’d be folding Charly B
sweatshirts (again)?” she exclaimed.
The shirts’ renewed success may not portend the return of Charly
B clothing stores.
“I think it still has potential,” Chuck said, though he said he
doesn’t really spend a lot of time thinking about it. “Right now
its a fun sideline.”
“We’ll just see where it goes. We’ve mad e a little investment
in it again. Its not about making money, its about bringing
something back that was important to a lot of people.”
Following up here on Gardner’s post about the Cary Bozeman vs.
the Seattle waterfront prize fight that Knute Berger of
Crosscut.com wrote yesterday.
We’re back because, well, Crosscut contributors apparently
haven’t had enough. This time a Highland Community College
professor returns Berger’s volley, pointing
out that maybe we Northwesterners should suck it up
and live with our industrial, productive, and, yes, ugly
waterfronts that help drive the economy more than a row of Hawaiian
Shaved Ice and Ye Old Curiousity Shops would. He doesn’t point it
out, but Bremerton’s waterfront, the one that kind of started this
whole thing, still promotes it’s relationship with the city’s major
industry fairly prominently.
Wherever you fall on the debate, and it is a decent exercise in
urban planning, you’ve got to give Bozeman credit for igniting what
apparently has become the Tastes Great/Less Filling debate of late
April 2009.
Moving on, one of the Crosscut readers on Berger’s piece
argues
that the mayor was merely riding coattail on the condo, marina and
tunnel projects, and his only real contribution downtown was two
parks. If watching government teaches us anything it’s that two —
and quite often three or four — are needed to tango in the
redevelopment biz, so I’d question that the city played no role in
securing those projects, even if the funds come from elsewhere.
But the point is, those parks have
come to pass. (Here’s where the “news” in this post comes in.)
Yesterday Sylvia Klatman with the Greater Bremerton Chamber of
Commerce, the organization that hosts the Armed Forces Day
Festival, told me they’re planning for the annual heroes barbeque
to take place at the Pacific and Burwell plaza still under
construction. I raised my eyebrows, seeing how the intersection at
Pacific was just torn apart again Wednesday (note that, weekend
ferry commuters).
But she said she’s been told construction will be done in the
two weeks until the festival, and the city would be ready to
dedicate the park. Before I could get a call in to Gary Sexton
today to check, this arrived in my mail from the city:
So there you have it, on the Post Office’s record. I’m guessing
the trees won’t be quite as mature as this drawing, nor the
shipyard as subtlety monolithic as the architects imagine, but the
park is scheduled to be done. Our last report had the tunnel
opening no later than mid-June, so maybe this will all be ready for
summer.
And then maybe Crosscut will have something else to write
about.
