Wednesday, July 29, 2009

A fun piece of art



Howard Duell created this piece of art for the Edmonds American Revolution Bicentennial Project in 1976. It looks like a lunar orbiter with a picture of an astronaut and the American flag. It is a nice honor to Niel Armstrong and his fellow astronauts who landed on the moon.

Howard Duell picked this event to honor because it was a moment in our history where we could all come together.

You can find this work on the northwest corner of the public safety building. It's worth a look, especially since this year is the 40th Anniversary of America's journey to the moon.

Monday, July 27, 2009

I have a view too.


I am not among the fortunate in Edmonds who have a view of the waterfront, but nevertheless I am passionate about height limits. Height limits not only protect views of the waterfront, they also protect my view: the view of the sky. My view can be seen in the picture above.

The view of the sky is much like the view of the ocean.

When you look at the ocean, you see vast pure expanses that separate land masses. When you look at the sky, you see vast pure expanses that separate solar systems.

When you look at the ocean, you see pristine mountains over Puget Sound. When you look at the sky, you see powerful stars, so bright you can see them light years away.

When you look at the ocean, you get surprised; you see a ferry, a sailboat, or an occasional orca. When you see the sky you also get surprised; you see a meteor, a satellite, or even the international space station.

I get alarmed when folks want to dump 50 foot buildings next to outer residential areas, because they don't have a view of the waterfront. So what. They have view of the sky. And that's my view you’re talking about.

I have no problem with three story, mixed use buildings in our neighborhood business districts, but 50 foot buildings are not needed to make these areas economically feasible.

We folks in the outer neighborhoods like our sky. We're willing to do our share for economic development, but could you folks who want to dump development out here be reasonable about it?

Monday, July 13, 2009

Priya Cloutier files late reports.


The citizens of Washington voted to create the Public Disclosure Commission to enforce transparent elections.
In my experience, a candidate that does not take campaign disclosure seriously will not be a transparent and open council member if elected. If a candidate will not respect the majority of citizens who created the PDC, then how can we expect them to respect the citizens they represent?

So I am more than concerned (and perturbed) when Ms. Cloutier filed a contribution report late! Very late!

I guess it is not unreasonable for someone who can’t figure out how to cast a ballot for our EMS levy to have problems filing more complicated forms like contribution reports.

By the way, the PDC bends over backwards to make report filing as easy as possible. They provide software to make it simple and they are easily accessible to answer questions for candidates.

Candidates should file contribution reports (called form C3), once a week. (see filing instructions) According to her own report, Priya received contributions as early as June 25th and did not report them until July 9th, over two weeks late.

I can understand why Priya is slow with her contributions reports. Over 90% of her cash contributions come from outside of Edmonds!

P.S. Her expenditure report (form C4) is late too. It was due last Friday and still does not appear on the PDC’s website.