Community Cafe Bainbridge

Wrapping up BCB’s Election 2015 podcast series, we have a lively and enlightening conversation with unopposed Fire Department commissioner candidates, Scott Isenman and Tim Carey. Scott is running for re-election to Position 1 and Tim for his first elected 6-year term for Position 5 on the 5-member board.

Commissioner Isenman has been on the commission for eight years. He is a healthcare project manager for hospital systems, and lives on a boat in our harbor with his wife, 17-year old son, and 10-year old cocker spaniel. He has been an EMT with Bainbridge Ambulance for many years.

Candidate Tim Carey has been involved with the Fire District (Dept.) for six years, including as a volunteer responder and an interim Fire Commissioner for six months in 2013. He lives on BI with his wife and two children, and is a soccer coach.

In this 30-minute podcast, each candidate was given two minutes to answer each of the following six questions that they had been given in advance.

On Bainbridge Island, we have separate governmental units for the City, the Park & Recreation District, the Kitsap Regional Library, the School District, and the Fire Department, each of which elects representatives for 4 or 6 year terms (6 years in the case of the Fire Department). On BI, while our Police Department works for the City, our fire fighters & EMTs work for the Fire Department; and the Fire Chief reports to the Board of Fire Commissioners much as a CEO reports to a board of directors.

Credits: BCB host: Channie Peters; BCB editor and social media publisher: Barry Peters.

In this episode of this Fall's "Election 2015" series on BCB we interview unopposed and opposed candidates for our local School Board.

Meet Lynn Smith and Duncan Macfarlane, who are competing for the District 1 seat, and incumbent School Board president Mev Hoberg, who is unopposed for the District 3 seat.

Duncan Macfarlane is a lawyer and community volunteer, with 4 years as an elected council member for the Topanga Elementary School in Los Angeles, and whose volunteer service includes serving as a Boy Scout cubmaster.

Lynn Smith is a graphic designer on Bainbridge Island and a longtime community and education volunteer, including with the parent-teacher organizations of the Odyssey program and the Bainbridge Island PTO coordinating committee.

Mev Hoberg faces no opponent in her bid for another term; she was appointed to a vacant post on the board in 2012 and is currently serving as School Board president.

In this podcast, BCB asked each candidate the following six questions, which had been provided to the candidates in advance:

- Why did you decide to run for School Board?
- What relevant experience and skills do you bring to the position?
- How is our School District doing? What is it doing well for the community? What are its unsolved problems?
- What are the key challenges or opportunities that you believe will face the School Board in the next four years? (A School Board position has a 4-year term.)
- What are the most important outcomes you'd like to accomplish during your 2016-19 term?
- What style of interaction do you plan to bring to the School Board in 2016-19 - that is, with other School Board members, school staff, and community members?

Credits: BCB host and audio editor: Reed Price; BCB social media publisher: Barry Peters.

BCB's "Election 2015" podcast series continues with an interview of two of the 3 unopposed candidates for City Council.

Kol Medina is set to fill the North Ward seat currently occupied by retiring Anne Blair. He describes himself as a public servant, a dad of a 4-year-old boy and an enthusiastic mountain bike rider. He is an attorney by profession, and is currently employed as Executive Director of Kitsap Community Foundation, which makes grants to local nonprofits.

Michael Scott was selected by the Council in January 2015 to fill the unexpired term of departing Central Ward candidate David Ward. Mike is a self-described community volunteer, a runner, an avid hiker and bicyclist. He previously served a term on the Bainbridge Island School Board. By profession, he is an attorney.

Sarah Blossom, unopposed for a second 4-year Council term from the South Ward, did not reply to email invitations to participate in the interview.

In this 30-minute podcast, each was offered up to 2 minutes to answer each of the following six questions:

At the end, each asked a question of the other: (1) how to meet the parking needs in Winslow, and (2) what to do about the congested Route 305 corridor.

Credits: BCB host, editor and publisher: Barry Peters.

In this podcast, we get first-hand information for voters from City Mayor Anne Blair, Police Chief Matt Hamner, and the Treasurer of Islanders for a Secure Bainbridge, Tom McCloskey.

Their podcast explains this Fall's Proposition 1 ballot measure which would fund the consolidation of our Bainbridge Island police department, local court, and emergency operations center, in a central location adjacent to City Hall.

They explain that the Police Department is currently housed in a converted 1945 fire station that is structurally unsafe and deficient in many areas that would prevent our the Department from becoming accredited under State law. They also point out that the property at Route 305 and Winslow Way is in a commercially desirable location that - if sold - could raise a substantial amount of money toward the construction of a combined facility for police, courts and emergency operations.

The information provided in the podcast is also available on the website of Islanders for a Secure Bainbridge.

Credits: BCB host, audio editor and publisher: Barry Peters.

This is the second episode in this Fall’s "Election 2015" series on BCB.

It's an interview with the two local candidates for a position with a 6-year term on the 5-member board of the Bainbridge Island Metropolitan Parks and Recreation District -- incumbent Ken DeWitt and challenger John Grinter.

John Grinter describes himself as a stay-at-home dad of school-aged kids and a long-time proponent of non-motorized transportation.

Ken, who has served on the Parks Board since 2000, describes himself as a dad and grandfather, a long-time community volunteer and a financial professional.

In this podcast, BCB asked each candidate the following six questions, which had been provided to the candidates in advance:

After BCB’s questions, each candidate was offered a chance to ask the other one spontaneous question.

Ken asked John: If you had the power to change just one thing about how the Park District manages its delivery of services and programs, what would it be and why?

John then asked Ken about a proposal that John and other some other citizen volunteers have sought for several years -- a pathway behind the Sakai and Woodward schools to link Winslow to the Hilltop and Grand Forest properties -- and asked why the Parks Board hasn't taken up that proposal.

Credits: BCB host, audio editor and publisher: Barry Peters.

In this podcast, BCB offers two City Council candidates a set of neutral impartial questions for each of them to answer.  Responding to the questions are our two competing candidates for a 4-year term in the At-Large position on the 7-member Bainbridge Island City Council.

Pegeen Mulhern describes herself as a mom, community volunteer, business owner and attorney.

Ron Peltier is a self-described carpenter, long-time islander and environmentalist.

In this 28-minute podcast, each was offered up to 2 minutes to answer each of the following six questions:

At the end, each asked a spontaneous question of the other.  Pegeen asked Ron about his position on the Shoreline Management Program. Ron asked Pegeen about a plan for the island's limited groundwater.

City Council elections are non-partisan races. Nevertheless, both Pegeen and Ron requested and won an approval from the 23rd Legislative District Democrats.

Credits: For BCB: Barry Peters

The Oatmeal Club meets for breakfast and camaraderie every Thursday morning at 7am sharp and ends precisely at 8:20 - typically after a guest's topical presentation and a lively Q&A session. It's been meeting and growing for 26 years, and there is now a long waiting list to join. This podcast interview with three of its long-time members examines the remarkable phenomenon of this long-lived informal group.

The men's Oatmeal Club has grown to become a legendary institution on Bainbridge Island since its founding by eight men at Eagle Harbor Congregational Church in 1989. And, after all those years, it now has a long waiting list of men -- mostly retirees -- wanting to become members. Yet it has no operating rules and no governing body. What's the secret for such lengthy success?

In this podcast, three long-time members of the Club -- Reid Hansen, Jim Kadlec and Don Marsh -- gather with BCB host Jack Armstrong to talk about the club's history, the benefits members experience by being part of it, and the amazingly diverse topics covered by its weekly speakers.

Recent presentations to the Club from outside invited guests have included discussions of climate science, the extinction of Aboriginals in Tasmania, bitcoins, the geology of Bainbridge Island, Supreme Court decisions, and the story of Ometepe (Bainbridge Island’s sister island in Nicaragua).

Listen to Reid, Jim and Don explore with Jack why the Oatmeal Club keeps going and growing after all these years.

Credits: BCB host: Jack Armstrong; BCB audio editor and social media publisher: Barry Peters.

From BCB... http://bestofbcb.org/cafe-017-compassion-tour/

David H. Breaux has been on a yearlong tour of the U.S. asking people he's met from Montreal to Manhattan and from Tampa to San Antonio a single question: What is your conception of compassion? 

While David has been spending about a month in each of the cities he’s visited, his stay on Bainbridge Island was just a few days this August. Still, he spent several hours on a bench along Winslow Way in the island’s primary commercial district, talking with people as well as collecting people’s written descriptions of the meaning of compassion in a notebook.

David began the 12-month tour in September of 2014 after a five-year stint on a street corner in Davis, Calif. His goal in encouraging people to discuss compassion is to strengthen our understanding of interconnection and inspire us to act toward the alleviation of suffering in the world.

David shares how he came to make the decision to launch the tour in this video: https://youtu.be/_bvF1dkZM0A

To learn more about the tour and to keep track of David, join this Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thecompassiontour/

Credits: BCB host, audio tech and audio editor: Reed Price; BCB Publisher Diane Walker.

In this podcast, we meet organizers and participants in the ambitious Bainbridge Island arts community project called "Earth Art Bainbridge."

They talk with BCB host Reed Price about their goals and plans and the many opportunities for community members to join in.

Earth Art Bainbridge is the brainchild of local activist, computer scientist, and author Beth Robson. She hopes that people will start thinking now about how to explore their response to our changing climate using art – whether the medium is music, theater, poetry, photography, painting or performance.

Barbara Sacerdote, the Executive Director of Arts & Humanities Bainbridge says her organization is fully supportive, saying “if any community can do this, Bainbridge Island can.”

Also part of this discussion are:

For more information and to indicate your possible interest in participating, visit the Earth Art Bainbridge website.

Or, contact the organizers through their website.

This project is sponsored and supported by: Sustainable Bainbridge, Arts & Humanities Bainbridge, Artopia Creative, OfficeXpats, Island Theater, Bainbridge Performing Arts, Ignite Bainbridge, Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District, Bainbridge Public Library, the Bloedel Reserve, and the Bainbridge Community Foundation.

Credits: BCB host and audio editor: Reed Price; BCB social media publisher: Barry Peters.

In a podcast interview recorded on Earth Day (April 22, 2015), experts on financing and installing solar panels explain why there has never been a better time for homeowners or business owners to install solar panels on their rooftop.

Our guests explain that you can both counteract climate change AND save money with a relatively quick payback period.

In this interview, we meet Anders Hellum-Alexander, a representative from solar panel installation company A&R Solar (a-rsolar.com), and Shannon Ellis-Brock, chief operating officer from Puget Sound Cooperative Credit Union (psccu.org).  Our third guest is Kellie Stickney, the community engagement specialist from the City of Bainbridge Island.

Our guests were on their way to the dedication of an array of newly installed rooftop solar panels at the City’s Waterfront Community Center, where Puget Sound Energy funded the project as an award for the Bainbridge community’s high rates of adoption of PSE’s "Green Power" Program.

A&R Solar installed panels at Waterfront Community Center, and also at the Grow Community, which has solar on 100% of the neighborhood roofs and has won several awards for its green buildings.

This 25-minute podcast provides details of the many financial and technical advantages that are now available for owners considering solar installations:

Credits:  BCB host, editor and social media publisher: Barry Peters.