Eighth Street Bridges — February?

The City of Port Angeles and Exeltech, the project manager, are now estimating February 2nd as the date the two Eighth Street bridges will be open. This estimate is based on not having any weather-related delays.

This project has taken longer than originally expected, but so far it’s still within its $24.6 million budget. $21.6 million is from the State Department of Transportation; $3 million is from city funding.

The construction company, Parsons RCI, has requested additional funding to cover the increased costs of materials. Glen Cutler, Public Works Director, expects the project to stay within budget even after approving the additional money to Parsons.

Part of the delay has been the result of having to redesign the foundation abutment because of poor soil on the west side of the Tumwater Creek Bridge.

Landing’s Restaurant: R.I.P.

After twenty-three years, Landing’s Restaurant has been forced to close. It didn’t close because of a lack of customers. It closed because of a rent dispute with the owner of Landing Mall.

Port Angeles seems to be in the middle of a wacky combination of recession and gentrification. Stores are going out of business, and the owner of the Landing Mall is jacking everybody’s rent waaay up and trying to bring in upscale businesses. Maybe it’s fun to pretend this is Bainbridge Island or Queen Anne Hill instead of the Olympic Peninsula. But will it work?

The owner of Landing’s Restaurant, Sandi Hartman, said she was in the middle of remodeling and moving items from the restaurant’s 2nd floor to the 1st floor. The landlord had the restaurant padlocked last Wednesday, while she was in the midst of making these changes.

The owner of the Landing Mall, Paul Cronauer, is conveniently “out of the country and unavailable for comment.” His wife Sarah claims that when they saw her moving things downstairs from the 2nd floor, they were afraid she was getting ready to run off without paying her rent, and that was why they locked the restaurant.

With the closing of Landing’s Restaurant, Port Angeles is losing a $350,000 annual payroll — 34 employees during the summer; eleven in the off season.

“Twilight” puts Forks and Port Angeles on the Map

This article from MSN isn’t the first national publicity that Twilight has gotten. But you’ve probably never seen Bella Italia, Lincoln Theater or the Port Angeles Downtown Association linked in a nationwide article before.

Twilight opens tomorrow night at the Lincoln. We’ve been discovered.

Stay of Execution for the Pool

The Port Angeles City Council voted unanimously to keep funding William Shore Memorial Pool through the end of March 2009.

After that it’ll be up to the voters. Supporters of the pool are hoping to get an initiative on the ballot in May 2009, which would create a parks taxing district for funding the pool.

The City Council voted on this measure after hearing the plan presented by Krista Winn, chairwoman of Save the Pool PA.

“Border Patrol” or Marijuana Mania?

This post has nothing to do with whether the Border Patrol should or should not be conducting checkpoints away from the border. I already posted on that subject here and got plenty of responses.

This is about a medical marijuana patient (who was totally in compliance with Washington State laws) who got swept up in one of the Border Patrol’s checkpoints last summer. Stephen Dixon was cited for misdemeanor possession of marijuana, which Border Patrol agents found during a checkpoint search. The Border Patrol’s argument was that they were “just doing their jobs” and that federal law — which Stephen Dixon was in violation of — takes precedence over the Washington State law with which he was in compliance. OK.

But now, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has informed the Border Patrol that they will not prosecute this case, or any other misdemeanor drug cases brought to them by the Border Patrol. And they told the Border Patrol not to bother them with any more such cases.

So, the Border Patrol was doing its job, fully complying with the law. And the U.S. Attorney’s Office was doing ITS job — also in full compliance with the law — when they declined to prosecute this case because their limited time, money and manpower are needed for more urgent problems. End of story. Right???

Wrong. A Border Patrol “spokesman” — Jason Carroll — threw a screaming hissyfit over the fact that this medical marijuana patient will not be prosecuted.

Stephen Dixon’s injuries include: a severe leg injury while serving in the military in 1971. Ten years later he lost his other leg in a motorcycle accident. And he’s had several back surgeries since 1985. He said “I'm using medical marijuana to alleviate this pain.”

Again, Stephen Dixon served in the military. Was Jason Carroll ever in the military? I doubt it.

When a law enforcement officer (or “spokesman”) presents a case to a prosecutor, and the prosecutor decides not to prosecute the case — both sides have done their jobs. Jason Carroll: Get over it. Move on.

Port of Port Angeles: “Keep Out. No Trespassing”

A few months ago, that dock along the Port Angeles waterfront — between the estuary and the place where those pilings and cormorant sculptures used to be — was closed off with a cyclone fence. And the nearest parking places were all blocked off. A few weeks later the cyclone fence was gone and the parking spaces were reopened, but the dock had several “Keep Out” and “No Trespassing” signs which hadn’t been there before.

A friend of mine walked out onto the dock the other day and was accosted by some sort of security guard (presumably from the Port of Port Angeles). He was warned that he’d be fined if he was caught “trespassing” on the dock again.

He was told that the Port of Port Angeles has now “taken over” that dock and they don’t want anybody walking around out there. WTF? What’s the purpose of this?

Undoubtedly it’s easier and more convenient to just close off formerly-public property and keep the lowly public out. I hope this approach doesn’t get too common, or the next thing you know they’ll be closing the estuary so that the “riffraff” won’t be hanging out there. And think how much easier it would be to maintain the City Pier if it was closed most of the time, and only opened for specific events. And that public (for now) walkway that goes around the Landing Mall…

Lyres Club Benefit for Port Angeles Pool

On Friday, November 14th at 8 p.m., the Lyres Club will be putting on a benefit concert to help save William Shore Memorial Pool. There’s a suggested $5 donation.

The Lyres Club is at 229 West First Street, Port Angeles.

How Much is a City Manager Worth?

The Port Angeles government and the citizens don’t seem to be on the same page here. The City Council seems to think you just can’t lavish enough wealth and splendor on the Port Angeles City Manager.

But in today’s online Peninsula Daily News poll, most readers have a difference of opinion.

The question was: “How much do you think a North Olympic Peninsula city manager should be paid annually?” The choices were $80,000 to $90,000; $91,000 to $110,000; $111,000 to $125,000; Higher; Lower.

As of this writing:

34.1% said Lower Than $80,000.
31.9% said $80,000 to $90,000.
18.8% said $91,000 to $110,000.
11.4% said $111,000 to $125,000.
3.9% said Higher Than $125,000.

Sounds like some serious negotiating needs to be done. (361 people took part in the survey as of this writing.)

Capital Punishment in Washington?

I had no idea Washington had capital punishment until I saw this story in today’s PDN.

Darold Ray Stenson, formerly of Sequim, was convicted in 1994 of two murders the previous year. He’s scheduled to be executed on December 3rd at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.

I’m liberal on most issues but I’m in favor of capital punishment. I hadn’t heard of this case before; I didn’t move to this area until September of 2004. I just assumed that there wouldn’t be a death penalty in a liberal state like Washington.

Elections Finally Over

Congratulations to the winners in all the local races. I didn’t really have strong opinions in most of the local races, except that I’m against the tech levy. And it’s losing as of this writing.

Most of my political opinions are directed at state and national issues, and I’m very happy about yesterday’s results.

Mostly I’m just glad this election is finally over. It’ll be nice to turn on the TV and see those old fashioned commercials, where somebody’s trying to sell something — instead of the constant bombardment of “Dino Rossi is a %$#^$#%#$” “Christine Gregoire is a #$%^%$%$#!” “Dave Reichert is a %$^$%^&#$%$#” “Darcy Burner is a @$#%#^%”

Normalcy at last.

More Problems with Gateway Center

Will it ever end? Yet another Gateway problem rears its head.

Anh Voang owns the Harbor Towne Mall on Lincoln Street adjacent to the Gateway construction. She will probably need to be paid additional compensation for her property because of her economic losses caused by the construction.

She said: “I still own all property; I pay taxes and mortgage all that time. I've been offered below market price; my mall has diminished in value; I have lost tenants and income.”

Obviously Gateway Center is a done deal and there’s no turning the clock back. But maybe, just maybe, we could learn something for future decisions — No more massive construction projects that nobody wants. The only thing they accomplish is to jeopardize existing businesses, drain the treasury and make funding unavailable for the things people DO want — a swimming pool, art displays, parks…