Gone Fishing

It's been a long long time since I was last up in Alaska and I'm pretty excited to take a trip up to Ketchikan tomorrow! I'll be out on the Alaskan waters starting Friday fishing for Halibut and Salmon, and hoping to come home with a freezer full of fish. I'll be back next Wednesday; an no, Lilah is staying home for this trip.

In the mean time, we hope everyone is doing well and is missing us as much as we miss all of you!

Take care,

:j

Higher Heights

Big Big news! After attending a City Council meeting on Wednesday, I am very happy to announce that the measure to retain the 60 feet height for the zoning area that we're going to build in has passed. I would like to think that my letters to the council, my voice heard as I spoke at the meeting (and was on public access tv!), and my recommendations to other investing residents in this and surrounding areas, helped.

The truth is, it was a bit dicey. By the by, you can read more about it over at The Kitsap Sun, but it came down to a 5-4 vote in favor of the heights. This was a bit of a surprise to some of us who were under the impression that Mr. Brockus, the council representative for the Manette district would be in favor of keeping population density in the down town area, especially when the Hospital and other business owners on Manette were so in support of this motion. Still, he voted against it and that brought this to a teeth clenching finish when Cecil McConnell, the council president, voted in favor of the heights. Good job Mr. McConnell!

Ironically, the most noted absence from this meeting was Shane Shrodt, though understandably. He's been at the council's whim for most of a year now and has expressed the feeling of being resented at his voice being spoken at the meetings. I was happy to stand up and let the council know that it wasn't just developers like Shane and those in attendance who were behind this motion: homeowners will greatly benefit from these revitalization efforts, too! And that's the best news so far.

Now I'll have to give David Grellier the Architect from Atelier Northwest, Inc., a call to let him know we're all very excited to see his interpretation of our dreams.

As always, we'll keep you posted.

:j

Photos from the Camping Trip