Second Opinion
Friday, October 4, 2013 • Bainbridge Island Review
More Letters In response
They don’t make them like Bismarck To the editor: It has been exactly 130 years since the Prime Minister of Prussia, the conservative aristocratic Junker Otto von Bismarck (it does not get any more conservative than that, he was called the “Iron Chancellor”), introduced health insurance for all Germans. He also introduced old age, sickness and accident insurance and other social legislation to stimulate the German economy. He knew that a happy worker was a good worker. He also promoted education, knowing that a healthy and educated worker was even better for the German economy. The last time I read about how the Germans are doing, Bismarck’s policies seem to have been successful. I guess the difference between our neo-conservative Tea Party
representatives in Congress and Bismarck is that Bismarck had brains, was wise, had foresight, and was a true Realpolitiker. They don’t make it like that anymore. JAMES U. BEHREND Bainbridge Island
New development will worsen traffic To the editor: We are surprised to see that the proposed Visconsi shopping mall on the corner of High School Road and Highway 305 seems to have
such a smooth sailing with our Planning Commission. The Ohio-based developer, who has a preferred relationship with KeyBank and Walgreens, seems to move at a fast pace. Do we really need or want a fourth drugstore, another renovated bank and more medical offices on the island? (Remember Harrison’s 25,000-square-foot urgent care facilities will be built in the year to come.) This development does not make sense for a host of reasons. First of all it violates the comprehensive plan for Bainbridge on several critical points.
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Secondly, it would come at the cost of more than 800 trees that will need to be cleared to make room for parking and 62,000 square feet of buildings. Thirdly it would be a very dense shopping mall next to an established neighborhood, with all the traffic, noise and light pollution that will entail. The truck traffic going and coming to ProBuild would also be snaking through the development, with all the makings of safety issues. In the fourth place this development would add about 62,0000 square feet of
commercial and retail buildings on top of the 100,000 square feet of vacant retail space we already have. Our city does not demand an economic feasibility study from developers but we would be stuck with a white elephant. And last but not least, we would be all impacted by extra traffic on an already very busy intersection. We should demand from the Planning Commission that they at least follow the rules and secondly we should invite Visconsi to the table for a discussion on the proj-
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ect with the community. This project needs a lot more visibility with our community. We must find a more creative and constructive way to use this commercially zoned property. We either let our voices be heard or we will have to live with consequences! Please come to the hearing of the Planning Commission on Oct. 10 at city hall. (See the city website for details.)
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