PRESERVING CULTURE CD launch party comes to Vashon this week. Page 10
NEWS | Jury rules cause of 2010 house fire was arson. [3] COMMENTARY | All should have access to fresh produce. [6] ARTS | Local author, humorist [10] to read from book.
TOUGH REMATCH VHS football falls in second Charles Wright game. Page 14
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2015
Granny’s grants go to five nonprofits By SUSAN RIEMER
Vol. 60, No. 41
SEE GRANNY’S, 19
75¢
Initiative could help local children’s programs Best Starts for Kids initiative up for consideration in fall election By ANNELI FOGT Editor
Staff Writer
Granny’s Attic recently awarded $130,000 to local nonprofits for health care needs and programs on the island, including one of the largest grants it has ever provided: $90,000 for Vashon Community Care (VCC). From its thrift store proceeds, Granny’s Attic disperses its grants twice a year and made its most recent grant decisions last week after 52 of the shop’s volunteers voted on funding eight of the 11 grants submitted. Of those, five nonprofits received awards, ranging from those that address the needs of island seniors and teens to those that work to improve public safety. At VCC, news of the $90,000 gift was extremely welcome, according to Verna Everitt, the executive director of the Vashon Community Care Foundation, which is in the midst of its campaign to raise $500,000 this year. The center looks to the community and beyond each year to supplement its budget in part because Medicaid does not provide for the full cost of care for residents in the center’s skilled nursing unit and assisted living apartments. Everitt had requested $100,000 from Granny’s, she said, but is very pleased to receive $90,000, which will be designated for the center’s operating budget. As she shared the news of the sizeable grant with the residents, she said many of them were visibly moved
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As his 3-year-old son climbed, swung, jumped and ran throughout the Vashon Youth & Family Services’ PlaySpace playroom Friday afternoon, Dominic Jovanovich talked about the importance of the PlaySpace, VYFS and the programs offered by the organization. “What they do is so important, and it’s so needed in this community,” Jovanovich said. “(More funding) would be great for them, especially because there’s so much income inequality here, and these programs should be available to everyone.” That funding may come to VYFS if a November
ballot initiative called Best Starts for Kids passes. Multiple local organizations that work with children, teens and young adults could receive funding for everything from prenatal support programs to mental health screenings and life skills training for school-age children. The initiative, proposed by King County Executive Dow Constantine, will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot in the form of a six-year levy that would fund the proposed programs. The levy rate would increase property taxes by 14 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. If passed, the levy is expected to raise about $65 million per year and cost the average King County property owner an estimated $56 per year, according to King County officials. Constantine came to Vashon in January following the opening of Mi
Escuelita preschool and introduced the initiative to local school district officials and the community. A January Vashon Island School District newsletter reported that Constantine talked about the importance of investing in early childhood support and education as a “measure of prevention.” “Best Starts for Kids is how we will transform the way we invest in our next generation, to finally provide the upstream solutions that prevent negative outcomes such as mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, homelessness, and incarceration,” Constantine said in a statement. “By making the latest research and tools available to every parent and caregiver in our community, we will be able to produce the talented, creative and motivated workforce we need to remain a prosperous region.” SEE KIDS’ INITIATIVE, 18
Anneli Fogt / Staff Photo
Jack Jovanovich, 3, plays at the VYFS Playspace on Friday. A new initiative proposed by King County officials could bring funding to programs such as the ones offered at the space.
Park board candidates speak to future and past at forum By SUSAN RIEMER Staff Writer
Susan Riemer / Staff Photo
Bill Ameling addresses the audience at the recent candidate forum. Peter Ray, right, and Scott Harvey, CC Stone — in for Joshua Weil — and Bob McMahon listen.
Seven islanders vying for three seats on the park district board discussed the VES Fields, improving the Vashon Pool, the possible return of programs to the park district and other topics at a candidate forum last week. About 60 islanders attended the Tuesday, Oct. 6 event, the second of the candidate forums in this election season. Susan McCabe moderated both events, sponsored by The Beachcomber and the Voice of Vashon, which recorded the forums and has made them available online. While the seven seats at the candidates’ table were filled, one was by proxy. Joshua Weil, running opposite Bob McMahon for position 3, was in Africa, and CC Stone filled in for him. Although some of the issues the park district has faced in recent years have caused passions to run high and tensions to sur-
face, the evening drew no fireworks, and most questions and answers were forwardlooking, though lessons from the past were mentioned frequently. Early in the forum, islander Joe Wubbold, who worked on a financial plan the district submitted to the state auditor as followup to the most recent audit, asked the candidates their feelings about relying on borrowed money and non-voter approved bonds. In recent years, the park district has taken on debt to build the VES Fields and has relied on borrowed money through TANs, or tax anticipation notes, to meet its operating expenses while waiting for the dispersal of levy funds twice a year. In 2012, the King County treasurer expressed concern about the district’s reliance on TANs, and the state auditor took issue with the district’s debt load in the most recent audit, conducted last year. SEE PARK BOARD, 17