It seems like, “There’s nothing to do in North Kitsap” is an all too common lament among youth here. Yeah, all this wide open space, ballfield accessibility, woods and water, what the heck’s fun about any of that? But adult residents can only take so much of the “are we there yet?” attitude before they feel the need to reply, or as the case may be, do something about it.
I usually don’t get too excited about pageants. Beautiful, talented girls take the stage, one wins a crown, right? Call it being a guy or what you like, that’s just the way it is for me. Do I feel a sense of pride when I see Miss Poulsbo, Miss Viking Fest or Miss Kitsap at a parade? You bet. As a member of the community, I feel this should come naturally.
Pride in the accomplishments of one’s neighbors, that is.
Once in 55 years. That was the closing thought Kitsap Regional Library Director Jill Jean left members of the North Kitsap Herald Advisory Board with Monday night. She was talking about a levy lift for the library system, which has seen its usage here bloom and revenues wilt since Initiative 747 took hold across Washington.
There wasn’t a whole lot of discussion Monday night after members of the North Kitsap Herald Advisory Board met with proponents of the Poulsbo Fire Department levy lift. It wasn’t needed.
PFD Chief Jim Shields and commissioners Jim Ingalls and Conrad Green stated their case for a 49 cent increase — bringing the fire tax Poulsbo residents pay from 80 cents in 2008 to $1.29 per $1,000 assessed property valuation — to a T.
As far as parks go, it might be Poulsbo’s best kept secret. Residents and visitors alike drive by the Front Street site, tucked away on a hillside across from Martha & Mary and nestled amongst the trees and the shoreline of Liberty Bay so often they probably don’t even realize it.
Last year, when gas prices soared past the $3 per gallon mark, North Kitsap residents were up in arms. It was an outrage, after all, and the hunt was on here and throughout the country for unseemly gas station owners who were price gouging.
The tactic was sort of like the hopeless war on drugs in which the Feds bust the street dealer for selling a dime bag of crack whilst the Colombian cartels have lunch with the politicians. Ah, the swift and vengeful hand of justice.
A few years ago, the Poulsbo City Council came to an agreement that it would no longer endorse taxes of its citizenry or candidates as an elected group. While individual members were free and clear to do so on their own, they decided that as a whole, it wasn’t fitting for them to do so.
International Speedway Corporation’s push for a NASCAR track in Bremerton hit the wall of opposition with enough force to push it out of Kitsap County for the foreseeable future. The loss of the proposed speedway is still sinking in to those financially-minded folks down south who saw dollar signs as opposed to true economic improvement.
Poulsbo’s neighbors to the west are to be thanked profusely for stepping up to the fuse and igniting the fireworks show for the annual Third of July celebration. The donations from Port Madison Enterprises (owner of the Clearwater Casino) and the Suquamish Tribe provided the bulk of what it will take to launch the popular event.
Where does it all come from? One moment it’s not there, the next it is. No one really ever lays claim to it, even fewer ever step up and do anything about it. Yet, its very presence says something about each community in North Kitsap. Are we incorrigible slobs, or do we care about a basic quality of life that many seem to overlook? Cleanliness.
Trash is still a problem in North Kitsap.
It’s an oddity, too.
This space apparently has heavier ink than that which appears on every other page in the North Kitsap Herald and because of that, people tend to take more notice when their names are mentioned here.
That lesson was learned by an aspiring editor because of statements made in the March 17 editorial about Poulsbo’s Critical Areas Ordinance.
With workers plugging along Highway 305, widening the available roadway from two to four lanes, and improving the way motorists get through Poulsbo it is interesting that, across North Kitsap, Kingston residents are having a very different experience with the Washington State Department of Transportation.
In what could best be described as anti-climactic fashion, Mayor Kathryn Quade and the Poulsbo City Council closed the latest round of public hearings on the city’s proposed Critical Areas Ordinance Wednesday night.
As my family and good friends know, and as many of my professional acquaintances are starting to figure out, I am a self proclaimed horse geek and I’ve been riding for about eight years now…
When Kingston residents first heard that breakfast was not making its triumphant return to their community as hoped — and by breakfast we mean, of course, the Kingston Inn — the response was not one of shock but rather resignation.
Distrust and ill feelings are running rampant between North Kitsap School District officials and members of the Spectrum Alternative School community, the latter group is claiming that it has been shunned, ignored and is now being forced to shove its square peg through a round hole at Kingston High School.
When the trees started falling in Little Boston in 2006, we were concerned. For those who drive past the site on a regular basis, watching the clearcutting start and then spread like an ugly scar across the North End was difficult, even heart wrenching.
After all, here was a gorgeous stand of trees that the environmentally minded Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe had purchased and it was being felled.
It takes a lot of green to put the red, white and blue into Poulsbo’s pre-Independence Day celebration but organizers of the annual Fireworks on the Fjord might be stuck with a dud this July. Losing its title sponsor, the event will be hard pressed to raise $11,000 in the next month to ensure the show does indeed go on above Liberty Bay.
The North Kitsap School District has its work cut out for it, which is a bad thing and a good thing. It’s a bad thing in that determining library and counseling staff levels at the schools it represents is an ominous chore. It’s a good thing because apparently NKSD’s budget is so tight, officials there lack the funding to purchase the scissors needed to cut out their own work in the first place.
It seems Washington State Ferries and the Washington State Transportation Commission might want to consider sending their representatives to meetings in Kingston in flak jackets and armed with tasers. Or, at the bare minimum, the best running shoes money can buy.
