Edmonds From the Air

For my 40th birthday, my wife bought me an introductory flying lesson from Glavin Flying based at Boeing Field. Today, I got to spend an hour in a DA-40, a very nice single engine plane. The instructor asked me where I wanted to go, and I said Edmonds! I snapped this picture today.

It was a very fun flight.

The Art Hunt

I wanted to do something with my son, but it was too late to go on a hike. So I grabbed the digital camera, and told my son we were going on an art hunt. I explained we were going to go around town, hunt down art, and take our pictures next to it.

He wasn’t amused.

After a few grumbles, he followed me out the door. After the first piece, he soon realized that this was fun. And then he really got into it. We took a whole bunch of crazy photos with us next to art.

You should try it with your kids.

Public Health Report

Today I attended this month’s public health board meeting. Here are some points that stood out to me:

You’re nuts if you’re fat.

Dr. Gary Goldbaum, our public health officer, spoke about a study published in Neurology that links “excessive abdominal fat in midlife” to “an increased risk of dementia in later life”. I better loose my “excessive abdominal fat” as quickly as I can. However, based on my last election results, some folks clearly think it’s too late for that.

Access to Health Care

Dr. Goldbaum also presented the findings of a new report that studies folks' access to health care. Nearly 15% of non-elderly adults have difficulty accessing health care. Click here for the full report.

Cuts to Public Health?

The budget outlook for the public health district is pretty bleak. The district will spend down its ending cash balance this year, and may have to consider cuts for next year. Sigh.

Hidden Septic Tanks

When I bought my house, I should have done a better job inspecting it. After the purchase, I soon noticed a green patch in my back yard. It turns out that my house was hooked up to both the sanitary sewer and an old septic tank. Yuk!

I had to redo my sewer plumbing, decommission the septic tank, and get all the permits and inspections done. However, I am glad I caught problem. My family is much better off with it gone.

The SHD, who is charged with inspecting active septic tanks, has a new website where you can check and see if there was ever a septic tank on a given property (click here)

Before ever buying property, I would recommend you go to this site. Look up the property and make darn sure that any septic tank is properly decommissioned before signing off on the purchase.

You should also check your own property to make sure any septic tank on it has been properly decommissioned. Your health depends on it.

Update on the Intersection of 196th and 188th

Today, Peggy Olson and I met with members of the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to discuss the intersection of 188th and 196th.

You can learn more by going to my previous blog entries (click here).

The meeting had good points and disappointing points.

The good points:

WSDOT will help the city acquire more data using a special camera.

WSDOT offered assistance in helping staff plan a crosswalk near 186th where the site distances are better.

The disappointing points:

WSDOT will not acknowledge that the intersection meets the traffics warrants for a stop light. The meeting was essentially a rehash of the issues that we discussed at the public hearing.

I asked them, “What do we need to do to show you that we meet the Systems warrant?” I wasn’t very satisfied with their answer and I still don’t completely understand there lack of willingness to help us on that warrant. I got the impression that they just didn’t like that warrant, and it leaves me believing that they would rather not have the signal at all, warrants met or not.

My last point:

To be fair, the WSDOT folks were very nice, and the meeting was very cordial, and I appreciate their efforts to help us with the crosswalk. We will bring our report to council and see what happens there.

I assume someone up in Washington D.C thinks that traffic warrants are helping communities deal with safety, but I gotta tell you, from my perspective, I think they do more to hinder our efforts to improve safety than help them.

The Tuberculosis Control Program

I wrote an Op-Ed piece on the Snohomish County Health District's Tuberculosis control program, which appeared in this week's addition of the Edmonds Beacon (click here).

In short, the SHD does an excellent job at both controlling the disease, and caring for patients with the disease. TB is very treatable, but also very serious. It's good to have a health district that works so hard for us.