As we settle into our house here in Sebastopol, Calif. — a true sister city to Vashon — today I came across a large bundle of cards. It will be two years this April since David passed, his death touching all of us in some way.
I’ve noticed around the Island after the recent snows that the plows scraped many of the new reflectors off our roads. Some of them are still in good shape by the roadsides.
Not only do I not support the movement of the Vashon Library to the Vashon K2 facility, I do not support the agenda of the director, Bill Ptacek, the “vision” he has for the KCLS (and the Vashon branch in particular) or the manner in which he conducts his meetings. I have spoken with Mr. Ptacek on several occasions on the telephone and in these gatherings, and it is clear that he is not interested in the commentary that he invites.
The downtown Vashon Library has been a great joy to so many of our citizens: The parents who bring their children to play at Ober Park; the people who go to the grocery stores, our local pharmacy, other stores and eating establishments and to the senior center; the many apartment dwellers, and others who walk to the library.
In my opinion, above all else a new beginning in America requires relearning respect for public employees. Many of us, including me, lashed out at David Moseley, Washington State Department of Transportation’s assistant secretary, and other ferry representatives for what we saw as the dumb and dumber options presented for our ferry service. But in retrospect, many of us — again, including me — were wrong to do so. Whacking the messenger is equivalent to blaming the troops for the mess in Iraq. It’s the Legislature that’s to blame, darn it — those who cannot collectively muster a grand vision, those who applaud whenever Tim Eyman squeaks, those who can’t distinguish between an investment in our future and a waste of money, often using as a reason that the bureaucrats will simply squander the money — a thinly veiled excuse for being greedy, I think, or inaction by those who mean well but are afraid to believe in the future. But I rant!
In a time of financial crisis, we must re-examine how we spend our money. As a taxpayer, community member and parent of a first-grader and a fifth-grader who attend Chautauqua Elementary School, I want to express my support for the idea of a single start time for the three schools.
Before this Island burdens itself with a $75.5 million school district bond debt, there are several questions we should ask ourselves:
For two and a half years, I had the privilege of living in Sandy Shores, the neighborhood a quarter mile south of the Glacier mine site. Every day there I counted as a gift.
An article about the library in the Jan. 14 issue of The Beachcomber referred to a restriction on development at Ober Park because of surface water requirements that forced the King County Library System to look elsewhere for a new site.
The people of Vashon are known for their caring and generous ways. They pull cars out of snow drifts, assist a nurseryman to restore his storm-damaged greenhouses and look after home-bound neighbors. My neighbor cleaned up a garbage spill on her street, putting it in her garbage can — which leads to this suggestion that we all could carry a clean trash bag and rubber gloves in our car.
The process was a sham. But let us, for the sake of argument, assume that the process was as rigorous and honest as current laws require. Current laws, even if obeyed, are not enough. We need to change our ways.
We’ve only lived on Vashon for three years, but we’re already looking forward to having a new library. The present…
Many Islanders contacted Dow Constantine, our King County Council representative, to express concern that the library was about to be moved out of the town core.
