Kitsap Caucus

There have always been people dubious about Kitsap SEED. What's happening now, though, is people who once embraced the concept now find themselves wondering if the time to call it quits is approaching.

In the earlier post I mentioned the comments from state Sen. Phil Rockefeller, D-Bainbridge Island and County Commissioner Josh Brown (also a Democrat).

Brown's newfound withholding appears to stem more from the effort by the port to be annexed into Bremerton. When I asked Port Commissioner Cheryl Kincer to respond to Brown's comment that the county might keep its $1 million, she said he told her the same thing. He added that the county might also reconsider its commitment to a Highway 3 corridor study and Lake Flora Road plans.

Rockefeller early on said he was once skeptical, but became a fan of the concept. He was instrumental in getting the port $1.1 million in 2007, a move that earned him a scolding from Bremerton Mayor Cary Bozeman. The money came from funds that had been set aside for work in downtown Bremerton. Hizzoner was none too pleased. Now Rockefeller is suggesting the public well may be dry.

The port commissioners are unsettled about whether it should invest its money in an incubator building that isn't likely to have committed tenants until construction is assured. Kincer is the swing vote in all of this. No reviewer has been picked, so we'll be at this for a while.

In response to a question on the other post, I read our archives and don't find a single instance in which anyone assured that private money would help build this first phase. There is a clear expectation that private interests will drive construction of the subsequent phases. My cursory looks through the stack of business plans going back to 2004 reveal no commitment of that sort, either.

That doesn't mean it didn't happen. There were repeated implications that private companies were interested in the project generally. And the fact that Rockefeller and Kincer, who have not been naysayers on this, are now calling for some private presence suggests to me that even if no one explicitly said there would be early private money, enough people inferred it that the message was in there somewhere. I don't know enough about the earlier conversations to tell you whether the expectations now are based on innocent miscommunications or lies. Either way, the impression is hurting the project now.

Posted by Steven Gardner at 7:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'll acknowledge that I've sure been posting a lot of stuff you can find elsewhere, especially for a local blog. If you think this is overkill, feel free to publicly flog me (metaphorically). I can't promise I'll change my ways, but let me know. Let me know if you appreciate it, too.

That established, I've been among the pack saying this is the end for Clinton.

Nevertheless, let's look at the next couple of weeks, not relying on comments from her campaign team or supporters, but from a bean counter.

Jay Cost at RealClearPolitics lays out a scenario for how she could win.

However, it is possible that she could counter Tuesday's blowout with two big blowouts of her own in the next two weeks. This could undo most of the damage done by her big loss in North Carolina, and put her back on track.

Clinton would have to win huge in West Virginia, Kentucky and Puerto Rico, lose respectably in Oregon, Montana and South Dakota. She could end up with more popular votes than Obama by the end of it, strengthening her case with the superdelegates.

Minimally, I will predict that West Virginia will be either her best or her second best finish, behind only Arkansas. Kentucky should come in right behind the two. This alone should be enough to induce some caution. I think it is too hasty to declare her finished just days before two of her three best states.

OK, so I'm hasty.

Posted by Steven Gardner at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and Barack Obama at Feb. 8 rally in Seattle. Seattle Post-Intelligencer photo by Joshua Trujillo. See it here.

I brought it up because I heard former speaker of the California State Assembly and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown suggest it the other night.

On one of the late-night shows on election night (My attempts to pinpoint which show failed.) Brown said Obama (should he get the Democratic nomination) might want to pick a woman as a running mate, either the senator from Missouri or the governor of Washington.

So I thought I'd do some checking to see if there's evidence that anyone else of any repute has made the same suggestion.

Ann Medlock writes at Huffington Post:

"Obama/Gregoire 08. I'm looking for a downside and I can't find it."

I'm sure someone here can.

Posted by Steven Gardner at 1:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

In an entry on Sept. 4 I quoted a Sound Politics blog writer who opined of Hillary Clinton's campaign:

Disregard their politics for a minute. They're efficient, they know what they're doing, they perform, and they rarely make mistakes. Republicans worrying about the challenges of facing Hillary, Inc. - even with her high negatives - are not just whistling Dixie.

I was in lockstep with Sound Politics in its assessment then. I saw the Clinton campaign getting the endorsement of King County Executive Ron Sims as a brilliant example of a machine that couldn't lose. I didn't know if Clinton would beat the Republican nominee, but I had a difficult time seeing what we're seeing today.

Time's Karen Tumulty writes how what we're seeing today came to pass. Ironically, one of them comes because of Mark Penn, who was the subject of another post of mine on Sept. 5. Tumulty pinpoints five mistakes.

As aides looked over the campaign calendar, chief strategist Mark Penn confidently predicted that an early win in California would put her over the top because she would pick up all the state's 370 delegates. It sounded smart, but as every high school civics student now knows, Penn was wrong: Democrats, unlike the Republicans, apportion their delegates according to vote totals, rather than allowing any state to award them winner-take-all. Sitting nearby, veteran Democratic insider Harold M. Ickes, who had helped write those rules, was horrified -- and let Penn know it. "How can it possibly be," Ickes asked, "that the much vaunted chief strategist doesn't understand proportional allocation?" And yet the strategy remained the same, with the campaign making its bet on big-state victories. Even now, it can seem as if they don't get it.

George Will likens Clinton's characterization of the Democratic Party results to those who would argue that the New York Yankees should have been world champs in 1960 because they scored more runs over seven games than the Pirates.

Unfortunately, baseball's rules -- pesky nuisances, rules -- say it matters how runs are distributed during a World Series. The Pirates won four games, which is the point of the exercise, by a total margin of seven runs, while the Yankees were winning three by a total of 35 runs. You can look it up.

Posted by Steven Gardner at 8:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Josh Brown, speaking to Kitsap Conservation Voters Wednesday night, said the $1 million pledged by the county to the port for Kitsap SEED is in jeopardy.

The county had been waiting for a third-party review of the port's business plan (which, by the way, has not been put in front of a reviewer yet. Information in an earlier post was incorrect. The port has three companies narrowed down and may invite another group as well.) before releasing the $1 million commissioners set aside for it.

Brown said, according to fellow reporter Christopher Dunagan, that the port's move to annex into Bremerton is the reason he's hedging on whether to release the money. The $1 million was set aside out of the county's Real Estate Excise Tax fund, which is required to be spent on capital projects.

Should the county decide to withhold the money, it does create a problem for the port. The port needs about another $1.1 million to get infrastructure (roads, sewer, etc.) to the incubator complex site. Then there's $7 million for the first incubator building with the first floor ready for occupancy.

Brown's comment also comes at a time when state Sen. Phil Rockefeller, D-Bainbridge Island, is saying that the port has to show some results soon.

"I think for the port to obtain additional funding from a public source . . . they'll probably have to be able to show that they have sufficient resources to complete the project," Rockeller said.

Completing the project means finishing the building. But Rockefeller said the port might also need to generate more enthusiasm in the community and turn the concept into an opportunity for someone.

Port Commissioner Bill Mahan said the port won't get tenant commitments at least until the incubator complex is under construction. The port has applied for a $2.5 million grant from the federal government's Economic Development Administration. The $4.5 million remaining for the building contract could come from general obligation bonds. Mahan said, as has been said before, that the new bonds would replace another bonding issue set to expire. It would take a 2-1 vote of the commissioners to approve the bonding.

We'll have more Sunday.

Posted by Steven Gardner at 7:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Lake Stevens, said today he'll back Barack Obama. Larsen, until today, was undecided. Postman has the story.

Meanwhile state Democrats are planning to greet John McCain's May 13 visit with a plane flying and carrying a message, presumably the one in the graphic (look to your right) that was part of an e-mail sent by Democratic state party chairman Dwight Pelz.

The 100 years in Iraq hit comes because McCain said we could be in Iraq that long. He's not saying we should be there the way we are now, but the way were are in Korea and Europe. No casualties, no conflict, says the presumptive Republican nominee.

Washington Democrats are asking for donations (Don't click where it tells you to on the picture. It won't work. I copied it from the e-mail.) to help fly the plane and to help beat McCain. Pelz writes:

I know that this Democratic nomination process is taking longer than any of us imagined - or would have hoped. Thank you for your continued support. I know that we can all join together in the belief that a Democratic president - whoever he or she may be - is much better than John "100 Years in Iraq" McCain.

Posted by Steven Gardner at 5:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tuesday's events had me at the office until around 11:30 p.m. As I walked to my car I thought I'd get a jump on what could have been the next day's story. So I called the offices of U.S. Reps. Norm Dicks and Jay Inslee to see if there was likely to be any movement from their endorsements of Hillary Clinton. Neither returned calls.

The News Tribune and Olympian teamed up to do a little more on it. No one has budged, which shouldn't be too surprising.

For one, anyone undecided would probably like to give Hillary the chance to make the decision easy by bowing out. She's not doing that.

I also wouldn't expect many superdelegates to switch unless there is a sense that Hillary is hurting the party. You could make that case before Tuesday, when she included criticism of Obama in her appearances. I haven't heard much of that since Tuesday, but I'm open to you pointing out where I might be wrong. She is calling herself the more electable candidate, but that isn't the same as implying Obama is the elitist.

At the party's county convention I had a couple of delegates come up to me and complain that neither Inslee or Dicks were endorsing the candidate favored by an overwhelming number of Democrats in the caucuses. (The primary race was a pretty even split.) Chip Hicks, who appears in the video, also talked about his concern over the same issue. Those comments didn't make the final cut.

What the supers say won't have any real bearing anyway until they vote at the convention in August. I'm sure most of them are hoping that their votes are pro forma at that point, that the question will have already been decided. If things are then as they are now, the vote will be a formality to getting Obama the nomination. If something catastrophic were to happen to the Obama bid before then, though, the delegates could swing the other way, again reflecting a decision made without them.

Posted by Steven Gardner at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Finally, here's the link to today's local story and the video we included with it.

Posted by Steven Gardner at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don't know who created this video. I saw it after watching a movie preview Niki Sullivan posted on the News Tribune poltical blog site.

People are clever. And funny. And so mean.

Posted by Steven Gardner at 1:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton (I'm convinced we're going to go back to referring to Clinton as the New York senator. Soon.) just finished a campaign speech in West Virginia.

It's clear she's still in. I didn't see or hear all of the speech. What I did hear sounds like it fits the profile who's putting on a positive final face before exiting. It also fits the profile of someone who thinks she's still got a shot. So I won't conclude what her strategy is.

As for Obama (from the AP story linked above):

His campaign made broad suggestions that it was time for the 270 remaining unaligned superdelegates -- who will determine the outcome of the race -- to get off the fence, claiming the delegate math leaves little path for a Clinton victory.

George McGovern, a superdelegate, (Thank you Milt for correcting me on that. McGovern is not a superdelegate.) is switching his support from Clinton to Barack Obama and is urging her to quit. I've got calls into the offices of our two congressmen to see if they're considering the same thing.

When it became clear Mitt Romney couldn't win the Republican nomination, I speculated he'd stay in long enough to campaign positively in hopes of removing some of the bad feelings people had for him because of his earlier negative ads. I was wrong. He quit quickly.

Clinton, based on what I saw this morning, is doing what I expected Romney to do.

Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Clinton campaign, just told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell "There is absolutely no reason for her to get out."

Posted by Steven Gardner at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

So earlier today my boss David and I discuss a political story to get some local comment on the national story.

"Let's load up the video camera and bring along a photographer and go to Bainbridge Island, because we're sure to find a boatload of Democrats there, and talk about the campaign that's sure to stretch into June, maybe even August," we said.

Before I went I put up a blog entry suggesting we were in for another month or so of the presidential nomination race.

Then photographer Carolyn Yaschur and I (and Carolyn's dog Kilty) park at Town & Country, walk out onto Winslow Way and accost random passersby. At first we couldn't get anyone to talk. Then I took out the video camera to make sure people knew we were taping. We got more responses. All the folks we talked to, though, were Obama backers. I take that back. One said she was undecided, but had voted for Obama during our primary.

Another woman would not talk on the record, because she was a Republican and was certain that confessing so much on Bainbridge would result in her car getting keyed.

So we gathered some footage. The folks were pretty mixed on whether the extended campaign is a good or bad thing. Three bad, two good.

We get back to the office, I write the story, we post it online and I get working on the video.

Funny thing, though, it becomes clear that the bigger question at the end of the night is how Hillary Clinton can continue. I haven't seen anything to suggest she won't, but many are bothering to ask why again.

The key is Obama finally delivered another positive surprise. This late in the game it might be all he needs to receive enough of a cascade of superdelegates to make it all but impossible for him to not clinch the race in the remaining primaries.

So, following the urging of Kitsap Sun Editor Scott Ware, we decide to recast the story to better reflect what happened Tuesday night, that Obama romped. Yeah, I know Clinton won in Indiana, but not by near enough to consider it a triumph. And Obama blasted the spread in North Carolina.

I made several calls and found someone at home, Kitsap County Clerk and Democrat Dave Peterson. He loves talking this stuff.

He's an Obama supporter, after initially backing Edwards, but he asked the question a lot of the big talkers are asking, namely how can Clinton have any sway with the remaining superdelegates.

So I rewrote the story, still including some of the Bainbridge material.

Does anyone think this thing isn't over now?

Posted by Steven Gardner at 11:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Mark Lowe, a Bremerton Republican, has filed documents with the Public Disclosure Commission indicating he plans to challenge state Rep. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island for her 23rd District seat.

I've left a message at Lowe's residence. I'll post more once I speak with him.

Rolfes was a former Bainbridge city councilwoman elected to the House seat in 2006. She unseated incumbent Bev Woods on the night Democrats rolled Republicans in Washington and took control of both houses in the other Washington.

Posted by Steven Gardner at 1:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

First, the good news for Oregon:

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) _ Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton once again faced off in crucial primaries as voters in Indiana and North Carolina crowded polls Tuesday seeking to settle the largest remaining contests in an epic Democratic presidential nomination struggle.

Obama was looking to shore up his position as the front-runner, while Clinton was seeking another victory to keep her candidacy competitive in a race that is likely to continue into June and perhaps to the Democratic National Convention in August.

Oregon's primary is May 20.

Today I'm headed around the county to talk to some people asking whether they think the extended Democratic campaign is good or bad.

Meanwhile, I won't be live-blogging tonight after the results come in. Not sure the audience here is sizeable enough and, no offense to Nikky, I don't think I want to have a one-on-one. When the conventions are going, let's do some more live-blogging. For tonight I'll defer to David Postman. Chat with him.

In the meantime, you may recall that we have a comment feature on this blog that allows you to post your thoughts and wait hours until I get back to approve it. Couldn't be more convenient, I tell ya. You think the extended Democratic race is a good thing or bad thing?

Posted by Steven Gardner at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In Monday's Los Angeles Times there appeared a story about a more recent trend when it comes to economic relations between China and the U.S.

Chinese investors are finding it economical to invest in U.S. land and labor, offering manufacturing jobs. Liu Keli from the Shanxi province invested $10 million for a printing plate manufacturing company in South Carolina.

Liu is part of a growing wave of Chinese entrepreneurs expanding into the U.S. From Spartanburg to Los Angeles they are building factories, buying companies and investing in business and real estate.

Washington is in on this.

Karen Shen, Washington state's trade development representative in Shanghai since 2000, used to focus on promoting exports of Washington-made goods and produce. Now she's helping the state's companies and officials hook up with Chinese investors. Tech companies in China are keen to buy or launch businesses near Redmond-based Microsoft, she said.

In February a Beijing company, ISoftStone Information Service Corp., went to a Seattle suburb and bought a small technology research and design firm, Akona Consulting. For ISoftStone, a leading outsourcing firm in China, the acquisition was a way to stay ahead of Chinese rivals. For Akona, the tie-up was a way to grow faster.

Property owners in South Kitsap are hoping to annex into Bremerton to speed up permitting time and get outsider investment. No one's mentioned China, but the presence of any investor waiting to plunk down cash on land has so far been little more than a whisper.

The jobs in South Carolina, by the way, paid about $12 an hour. Given the wages at the shipyard here, I don't see how that rate would be all that attractive. It isn't all about jobs, though. Much of it is about the Chinese investing in American businesses.

A couple months back the Bremerton Area Chamber of Commerce led a trip to China for local business owners. I believe the focus was on creating exports, but I've placed a call with the chamber's executive director Silvia Klatman and Port of Bremerton Commissioner Cheryl Kincer (who emphasized that she paid her own way) to ask whether there was any talk of investing in jobs locally.

Is there a chance that Washington, particularly Kitsap County (think SKIA), could be attractive to outside investors for creation of manufacturing jobs? We do provide a pretty good place to launch from when it comes to sending out goods. Or will these kind of jobs go to places like South Carolina and Wyoming because of lower land and labor costs there?

Posted by Steven Gardner at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When crime went down nationally in the 1990s, particularly violent crime, the popular theory was that the good economy had created jobs that were more attractive than crime for many who were sitting on the fence between the two choices.

Then the economists arrived and blew holes in that theory. Some said it was the enforcement on little crimes, or more cops, or fixing broken windows, or more 1970s abortions that were driving down crime in the 1990s.

Now comes data that Kitsap Sun reporter Josh Farley is writing (and blogging) about. Crime was down throughout the county and the state in 2007, except for hate crime.

In Washington the unemployment rate stayed around 4.5 percent during 2007. Yet according to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, overall crime was down 8.4 percent for the year in the state. A more nuanced number is that the number of crimes per 1,000 residents was down about 10.1 percent.

Murders, rapes, robberies, property crimes and car thefts were all down. Aggravated assault was up a bit, 0.2 percent.

Hate crimes went up from 199 throughout the state to 251, a 15.1 percent increase. There is no localized information available on that yet. Nor does WASPC elaborate. As of 6:20 p.m. Monday I haven't seen anything that provides context.

As bizarre as our Code 911 section is, I don't find any reports of hate crimes in Kitsap County during 2007. In February we did see a guy who was charged with one in 2005 get charged with another felony after shooting his friend in the chest with a pellet gun.

WASPC identifies hate crimes thusly:

Hate Crime Like domestic violence offenses, hate crimes are not distinct, separate offenses. They are traditional offenses that are motivated in whole, or in part, by the offender's bias. The motivations are specific and include biases against race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnic or nation origin, and gender. The offenses collected are limited to: murder, forcible rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, arson, intimidation, and vandalism. Data collected in the hate crime program is forwarded to the federal level at the FBI.

George Will called hate crimes legislation "moral exhibitionism."

Are all rapes hate crimes because rapists pick the victims because of their gender? When in 1989, a gang of black and Hispanic youths went "wilding" in Central Park, raping and savagely beating a white jogger, was this considered a hate crime? No, because the youths also assaulted some Hispanics, so their punishment was not enhanced.

Interesting that Will used that case. The five who were convicted all had their sentences vacated after they had all served their time. I suppose it doesn't make his argument invalid, but surely by now there has to be a better example from which to emphasize the point.

Posted by Steven Gardner at 5:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The governor will be in Bremerton May 22 at a small-business roundtable called "Washington is Open for Business."

The location is to be announced.

The invitation, which comes from the governor's capitol office (as opposed to her campaign office) indicates the event is designed to "learn about challenges faced by small businesses and discuss solutions."

The governor will host a similar forum May 20 in Longview, May 28 in Everett and May 29 in Wenatchee.

The roundtables are intended for business owners and managers of companies with fewer than 20 employees, businesses owned by minority groups, and startups and sole proprietorships looking to expand. Feedback and suggestions gathered at the roundtables will be reported to Gov. Gregoire and used to develop recommendations for action.

To register, go here.

Posted by Steven Gardner at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tomorrow, I'll be attending a meeting of the Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council, at which members will outline a process for evaluating Kitsap's membeship in the Puget Sound Regional Council. You can read the most recent story about Kitsap and the PSRC here, but in a nutshell, South Kitsap Commissioner Jan Angel and members of the community, most notably Kitsap Alliance of Property Owners, have questioned the value of Kitsap's membership in the PSRC.

An evaluation by county staff shows Kitsap received roughly $31 million more in funding for regional transportation projects from 1992 through 2007 than it would have if it had operated as its own independent planning organization. But critics and Angel say that PSRC takes away local control. Angel was among a handful of PSRC members who recently voted against that entity's Vision 2040 plan.

Because the question of whether the PSRC is good for Kitsap has been raised, all local entities involved need to be able to weigh in said Mary McClure, KRCC's executive director. McClure and others have suggested that an equally timely discussion would be how Kitsap can increase its effectiveness on the PSRC, which also includes King, Pierce and Snohomish County.

Central Kitsap Commissioner Josh Brown, who serves on the PSRC's executive committee, would like to see more involvement on the part of Kitsap's committee appointees to the PSRC. Just by showing up and taking part, they can exert significant influence despite Kitsap's relatively small size compared to the other counties, Brown said.

Here's a list of Kitsap appointees to the PSRC (below, I'll list Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council's 2008 membership so you'll know who fits where).
KConPRSC.pdf

Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council 2008:
Chair
Council Member Carol Arends
City of Bremerton

Vice-Chair
North Kitsap Commissioner Steve Bauer
Kitsap County

Members:
Kitsap County
South Kitsap Commissioner Jan Angel
Central Kitsap Commissioner Josh Brown

City of Bremerton
Mayor Cary Bozeman
Council Member Will Maupin
Council Member Nick Wofford*

City of Bainbridge Island
Mayor Darlene Kordonowy
Council Member Debbie Vancil
Council Member Kim Brackett*

City of Port Orchard
Mayor Lary Coppola
Council Member Carolyn Powers*

City of Poulsbo
Mayor Kathryn Quade
Council Member Ed Stern

Suquamish Tribe (Membership Memorandum of Understanding in Progress)
Council Chair Leonard Forsman
Rob Purser*

Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe
Council Chair Leonard Forsman
Rob Purser*

Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe (Membership Memorandum of Understanding in Progress)
Council Chair Ron Charles
Doug Quade*

Port of Bremerton
Commissioner Cheryl Kincer
Commissioner Bill Mahan

Naval Base Kitsap (ex officio member)
Captain Reid Tanaka
Tom Danaher, PAO*

Mary McClure
Executive Management
McClure Consulting LLC

Posted by Chris Henry at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Christopher Dunagan attended a conference Wednesday in which those attending contended that the world is set for a green energy revolution and that Kitsap County could lead the way.

There is mention in the story of a company that is interested in the Kitsap SEED site. It looks like Kathryn Simpson has done some Internet searching on the company and it appears she doesn't find what she found to be encouraging.

BlueLight asks about the third-party review of the SEED business plan. Port CEO Ken Attebery brought the review up at the last meeting, saying he was about to get the review started soon. According to an e-mail circulated among SEED supporters, the port has chosen the company that will do the business plan review and the review has begun. (It appears the e-mail is incorrect. See Kathryn's comment after this post.) We're planning to have more on SEED on Mothers' Day weekend.

Posted by Steven Gardner at 12:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

This weekend we're planning to have a story about a consultant whose message largely offered that new growth should occur exactly where old growth has already happened. More homes on less land.

Meanwhile leaders from around the Puget Sound region went to UW to put Lego blocks in places they think people should live and work.

According to the presentation I heard, you could fit a lot of Legos where you find the ones already in place.

Posted by Steven Gardner at 12:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

At 8:30 this morning Phil Mhoon of Bremerton steered his 48-foot Ponderosa boat named Luna III away from the Bremerton Marina breakwater into his new permanent slip.

He was the first tenant at the Port of Bremerton's new docks. Most readers of this blog will recall the marina is being paid for by you residents within the port district through an Industrial Development District tax. The tax is part of the property tax levy. No one, including me, noticed the window within which residents would have a chance to call for an election to overturn the port's decision.

It may take years, decades probably, before the ill feelings subside. I understand if you want nothing to do with the place, but if I was paying several hundred dollars over six years for the facility, I might try to do what I could to enjoy it.

If you can find a place to park in Bremerton, the marina would be a nice place during nice weather to enjoy a lunch outside. The breakwater, which makes the passing ferry wake faint, if at all noticeable, has four picnic tables.

During festivals there will be room for booths to be set up.

Speaking as someone who finds some comfort, or something like it, from water, the marina has made the waterfront something more people can access.

The public portion will be open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. at first. Eventually they'll keep the place open until 10 p.m.

The port's marine facilities director, Steve Slaton, said you really have to see the docks at night.

Slaton said the port's business plan is to have the place filled with permanent tenants within four years. So far 50 slips are pre-leased.

Mhoon has been splitting time between the marina at Port Washington Narrows and Port Orchard. He and his son Jeff plan to make their boat available for time-sharing and cruises, marketing through the Elliott Bay Yacht Club.

About a half hour after the Mhoon's arrived a second boat found it's place.

Marina manager Kathy Garcia said six permanent residents were planning to tie in today, including three liveaboards.

Slaton said the docks will be filled for the May 31 grand opening. Memorial Day weekend the week before might also be a busy spell, as well. At least some of the unsold permanent slips will be available for visitors for the time being, he said.

Posted by Steven Gardner at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)