This, That

Last week the Fire District Commissioners met with their newly purchased video camera in use.  The camera was purchased so that the public can watch all their meetings without the inconvenience of actually going to the meetings.  It remains to be seen how this will work out because the acoustics in the room are not good and there did not appear to any special microphones other than the built in one, so whether this is going to be an audio and a video experience is not yet clear.

The Chief said the video would be posted within a couple of days from the meeting on the District's website, but we are about a week on and it isn't yet posted nor are the minutes from the meeting  [update: minutes now posted here: ].  The plan was also to have a copy of the tape in the library for folks to watch.  I'm not sure there's a burning need (no pun intended) among the public to watch all this, but Chairman Meursing believes that it will add to transparency.  However, those who are concerned about transparency mostly are of the view that the problem is what happens between the meetings and not at the meetings.

Also dropped in Park and Recreation last night to see what they were up to with their new job of getting the Community Center up to speed.  Apparently, there is soon to be the beginning of assessing what would need to be done to bring the building up to seismic safety levels, assuming there are some official ones.  I take it that there aren't, but i'll check it out this week.  My sense that there isn't much of a safety requirement for old buildings is that the Chairman suggested that if what would be needed cost too much the Commissioners wouldn't be planning to do it.  A seismic assessment, I am told, will involve seeing what's inside the walls.  Given that there's water under the building and water coming through the roof, it seems likely that there's some water in the middle, too.

Otherwise, we are pretty quiet here in Point Roberts.  The International Marketplace is continuing it's "Roundup" campaign to raise money for the new library, but I'm unofficially told it will come to an end soon.  And when it ends, we'll have the final number for 2013 fundraising.  And we'll know how much more we need to raise in order to get the new library actually built.

Today, I planted (surely the last possible moment) a dozen tulip bulbs that I bought last fall.  They've been sitting outside on the porch and had barely started to put up any growth, so I'm hoping they'll make it when we get to April.  But I never got around to planting my garlic (usually in November), and I doubt if spring is good enough for that.  Well, onward we go anyway.