More Shopping

Last week, the Fire District reported on more shopping, but this time they were using our federal taxes instead of our property taxes to pay the bill.  They were buying some $43,000 item whose name I didn't catch (Mr. Riffle informs me that it is called a Lifepak 15), designed to be life-saving, and planning to join another of the same items already owned by the Fire District because you can't have too many of a good thing, I expect.  Turns out they wrote a grant to FEMA to get this paid for and FEMA said, sure, we'll pay $40K and you can pay $3K and it will be a good deal.  I wish FEMA were in to funding libraries, but somehow the equipment deficient fire department qualifies as an emergency and the space-deficient library does not.

Also, a Commissioner advised the three of us attending as honored guests that if any one (of us, or of anyone else, I guess) wished to run for Fire Commissioner we should do it, but only if we were "democratically minded."  This is fairly rich coming from a man who runs a Comment Period in which "NO QUESTIONS" may be asked: that, he publicly told me, is why it is called a "Comment Period," and not a "Question Period."  So my questions are always phrased like this: "A lot of people are wondering why X is happening and so I've been thinking about that, and wonder what your comment on that would be."  Just a wondering, not a question.  Although it's a Comment Period, not a Wonder Period.

And, finally, the two Commissioners present for the meeting, one Commissioner's wife, and two attendees contributed $20 each to the new library, after an impassioned plea from me: a different kind of comment but I got it in in well under three minutes which is what the democratically-minded Commissioner has established as the limit for comments.

The Beach Club By Another (Unknown) Name

Last week's P.R. Conservation Society meeting was largely about clarifying information on the status of the County approvals for the Orca Shores sadly named 'Point Roberts Beach Club.'  Principle Wayne Knowles says it's going to have a different name, indeed it may already have a different name, but nobody at the meeting knew what that new name is/will be.

It continues to be sitting in the lap of the County Planning Dept. at the moment, on its way to the Hearing Examiner.  The slow down arose when the State had its say, concluding that the development (with respect to suitability for septic systems, in this case a community septic system) could manage 35 one-bedroom single family houses.  The County, however, does not allow sub-divisions (which is what this would be) with one-bedroom homes.  They must be at least 2-bedroom homes, and the ground is not suitable for 32 2-bedroom houses in a community septic system.  So, the developers suggest as a compromise, 15 2-bedroom houses with a community septic system, and 17 lots which would have to be approved individually for individual septic tanks.

The County had somebody up from the Health Dept. assessing whether that was viable with respect to the 17 lots.  That report will come back to Planning soon.  And then we and the developers will know what plan is theoretically approvable.  The Hearing Examiner will have a hearing.  And APA will not need to be widened east of Paul's Road, although not clear about South Beach to Paul's Road.  At least not clear to me.  Whether 15 houses and 17 dubious lots makes economic sense, is the developers' problem of course.  The end for today.

Good Work, Congresspeople

Border Congresspeople are on it!  (Well, not those in Washington state of the Republican persuasion, but maybe they're just late getting briefed?).  The Seattle Times has the story.

"Unusual to See a Llama on the Beach," Say Visitors

On Saturday, we went out to do our duty to the tourist economy (which many people here are convinced could be improved) by taking a walk on the beach.  Well, we don't really improve the economy, because there's no money involved, but we do improve the entertainment level by taking our friends' llama (Lily) out to walk with us.

First, Ed gets Lily's approval by standing around in the corral with the halter and lead in his hand and when she decides that she wants to go out with him, she comes over and accepts their being put upon her and then it's out we go.  On Saturday, we started near Marine and Freeman Beach, walked up to Lighthouse Park on the road (cars stopping all the way to see what we were doing or just to say "Hi!" to Lily, whom they know from previous acquaintance).  Then we proceeded through Lighthouse Park (still minus its dock..September, they say), and back north on the  beach until we got back to her house.

Because it was such an unusually warm and sunny day for May, there were lots of people out, clearing their eyes from the greyness of spring in the Northwest.  And thus, lots of people to say, "Wow! You don't see a llama on the beach everyday!"  Lily had just been sheared within the past week, so she was unusually striking in her appearance with her hairy boots and head and her sparse other parts.  Kids say, "What is it?"  And are amazed and stunned that they can be so close to such a big animal.  (That's how I feel, too.)  Lily just looks at it all with an interested (moderately) and bemused expression.

And then it's back to her house where she ate pink lawn flowers for about half an hour while WE were entertained by sitting in the sun and looking at the water.  Then, back to the corral and her four pygmy goats who were very happy to see her back. And back home for us, too, where Zoe the cat was happy to see us back.

All Day Arranging the World

Saturday, I went to a morning meeting about getting the Community Market/the Saturday Market organized for this summer.  And then I went to an afternoon meeting to find out what the P.R. Conservation Society is doing with respect to the soon-to-be-named-something-else P.R. Beach Club.  And then I spent the later afternoon at a photo/quilt exhibit reception at the Blue Heron.  Hardly time to be getting the dishes done in such a day.

The Saturday Market is going to begin this summer on June 21 (10-2) in the parking lot between the Community Center and the Julius Firehall and continue every Saturday until and including 31 August.  That is going to be a big challenge.  The problem is not ensuring that there are customers but ensuring that there are enough vendors.  And ideally making sure that some vendors are regularly selling produce.  Whether that can be achieved this year is really a question.  So, if you are a potential vendor, try really hard to think about how to become an actual vendor.

Also, if you have some kind of activity/educational work that you could bring at least some Saturdays, it might be very helpful to your project and to the market.  Maybe you don't want to sell anything.  But maybe you want to talk to people about something.  You want to interview people or to engage them to participate in some project you're doing?  There are lots of people each Saturday who come by the market.  You want to educate people about something.  For example, noxious weeds are all over the place in Point Roberts.  People could use some help in knowing how to identify them and how to get rid of them (and maybe they need to understand why we ought to be getting rid of them).  Maybe the Garden Club or the Conservation Society could take that up.  The Fire Department could doubtless provide us with education about lots of things that they do and we don't know about.  PREP can surely use the opportunity to talk with local full and part-time residents.  I was there every Market Day last year talking to people about fundraising for the new library.  I met a lot of people, had a lot of pleasant conversations, raised some money, and definitely raised awareness of our project.  But you can't achieve that awareness if you're not there regularly.

Flea market tables are okay, as well as local arts and crafts.  Vendors pay a $5 fee, but charitable folks don't have to pay a fee.  Further information about the market will doubtless be forthcoming on Point-Interface, but now is the time to start thinking about participating in it.  Have questions?  Email to saturdaymorningmarket@gmail.com

Subscribing to the Blog

I've put a new blog gadget onto the site so that readers can get the posts automatically sent to them via email whenever I post.  It's located on the upper right hand column at the top of the blog.  You enter your email, and then go through a brief procedure that is designed to verify your email.  Hope this makes it more convenient for some of you to keep track of blog posts.

update: ed was successful in getting through the email verification, but hasn't received this post; barb wayland couldn't get through to the email verification.  so maybe i need to do some further work with this before it works.  sorry.  

further update.  ed did receive the post automatically but it took about a day for it to get set up.  i'll see how to help barb, but i think it might work okay.  judy

More on Charging for Crossing the Border

The Bellingham Herald had a story the other day about Obama's suggestion in his proposed budget that The Ever-Congenial Congress consider whether it might not make sense to charge people crossing the border (Northern? Southern?) for the privilege of entering the U.S.  Which would, of course, require the Northern?Southern? country on the other side of said border to fight back with their own charges for people crossing the border.  Which would mean, for those of us in P.R., two charges for going to Tsawwassen and four charges for going all the way to Blaine.  Time for a boat?

Then yesterday, I was told by a local that a Vancouver paper also had the story but it's take was that the U.S. was going to charge only Canadians for coming into our wonderful country.  Shucks, gosh!  Why not?  And that the charge would be $5.  Which would mean that Canada would counter-charge, that border traffic would slow even more while the border agents collect their $5's, and that we could pay each $10 extra to go to the doctor in Bellingham.

The APB has two pieces about this in the May edition: one, a letter, by Arthur Reber; and the second, an unsigned article.  Their take on details is slightly different, doubtless because it's just a suggestion in the budget for a study of the feasibility of the proposal.

Well, it's only been a suggestion and I doubt that the Ever-Congenial Congress is likely to rise to the idea, although it might get the Republican vote since they could raise taxes for non-Americans.  Though maybe they don't want anybody ever to pay more for the government.  God knows.  It's certainly, as Reber points out, an idea with enormous number of downsides: perhaps Rogoff and Reinhardt might conduct the study.