This is the first in a series of editorials about things we’d like to see accomplished in 2017.
1. Fix the bottleneck on Highway 3 at Charleston Boulevard. For some reason, southbound Highway 3 turns from two lanes to one lane at Charleston Boulevard, then widens back to two lanes. The result: vehicles backed up to Loxie Eagans Boulevard and beyond during commute hours. This is a hazard, as well as a burden for commuters and commercial vehicles. We believe there’s sufficient shoulder at Charleston Boulevard to accommodate a second lane. State and/or county traffic engineers should also identify an alternate route, such as Union Avenue, that can accommodate local traffic only. These changes would benefit commuters and commerce, and improve traffic safety.
2. Improve directional signage and road surface markings in Gorst, particularly where motorists in both directions turn to get to businesses on either side of the highway in the area from Peninsula Subaru to Elandan Gardens. At night, this area is particularly risky, but it’s not much better in daytime. Better signage, new Botts’ dots (those raised pavement markers also known as “turtles”), and new painted road-surface markings to make turning lanes more visible would improve vehicle safety and movement of traffic.
3. Designate downtown Poulsbo as a cultural district. We editorialized on this in April 2014 and it deserves repeating: Downtown Poulsbo has evolved into a cultural district, a destination for diverse artistic, cultural and social experiences. The City Council’s designation of downtown as a cultural district would have positive economic and social impacts.
Across the United States, local governments have designated cultural districts in their communities, with remarkable measurable results. In Maryland, arts and entertainment districts noted a 17 percent growth in new jobs, goods and services, and wages — during the recession. Creative businesses in California’s Coachella Valley “employ nearly one out of every five persons” working in the valley “and produce a raw impact of close to $1 billion per year.”
A Downtown Poulsbo Cultural District designation would draw visitors here for those diverse artistic, cultural and social experiences — galleries, museums, restaurants, live theater — where people can create, experience and taste. It would encourage the location of more artistic and cultural businesses and the continued revitalization of downtown’s heritage buildings. And it would spur more arts and cultural events.
In major metropolitan areas and small rural towns, research shows that the arts and culture attract audiences, spur business development, support jobs, and generate government revenue, the NEA reports. Times change, but human beings will always have a need for artistic, cultural and social experiences that enrich their lives.
4. Get real with our public art. Art tells a story — about a place, about its history, about its people. Art should be accurate to the story.
So, um, about that magnificent “Norseman” sculpture on Viking Avenue and Lindvig Way.
We’re all probably in agreement that Vikings did not wear horned helmets. And we know that the first European settlers of Poulsbo were not actors from a Wagnerian opera; they were Scandinavia’s children, seeking a better life in a new land. The sculpture created to honor them should accurately reflect their culture and tell their story (see the sculpture, “Viking,” in Muriel Iverson Williams Waterfront Park).
Sure, horned helmets you buy in a local shop are “fun.” But the “Norseman” is a serious tribute. And it tells a story. The Norseman’s horns should go.
