REVIEW BAINBRIDGE ISLAND
GREAT DECISIONS:
This week’s presentation moves to IslandWood to include film screening.
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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2012 | Vol. 112, No. 5 | WWW.BAINBRIDGEREVIEW.COM | 75¢
Gazzam close to funding target
Council will begin its search for City Manager Bauer’s replacement
By DENNIS ANSTINE Staff Writer
Islanders have about eight weeks to donate some $70,000 to secure the future of perhaps the largest lowerelevation closed-canopy forest in the Seattle area. Gazzam Lake Preserve is considered a rare gem by naturalists because of its size (444 acres), 18-acre wetland/ lake and a contiguous interior forest habitat that is particularly inviting to the large number of neotropical birds that migrate here from forests half a world away. About 75 species of birds have been documented in the reserve. This large forest of older second-growth Douglas firs, cedars and huge maples on the southwest end of Bainbridge Island is also unique because of its low altitude and size despite being in close vicinity to millions of people. That’s rare because of the interminable need for the metropolis to spread its tentacles where housing development is most SEE GAZZAM, A12
City seeks manager By RICHARD D. OXLEY Staff Writer
Willie Wenzlau/For the Review
During one of the many walks they take weekly on the Gazzam Lake trail, Walt McGraw and his 3-year-old son Wiley stop so his favorite gloves can be slipped over his cold hands.
After an 18-month commitment, the Bainbridge Island City Council has decided to search for a new city manager. The break caused tension at the council’s weekly meeting on Wednesday and resulted in veteran Council Member Bob Scales’ objection and premature exit from the meeting. The council unanimously voted Wednesday to approve an amendment to City Manager Brenda Bauer’s contract that offers more pay to her severance package and allows the city to begin searching for her replacement, effectively beginning her termination from the position. “Regardless of the different positions up here and what different perspectives we came from, this council worked very well in (executive session),” said
Council Member Kirsten Hytopoulos said. “Right now I am very impressed by how these seven people have worked.” The council presented a unified front since the amendment was publicly announced Monday, with members refraining from making any comment on the matter. No comment was given by anyone on council or by city staff until a press release was published Thursday morning. “While we acknowledge and appreciate City Manager Bauer’s accomplishments leading the city through daunting financial and pressing infrastructure problems, the 2012 Council is committed to working with the community to develop a post-crisis vision for the city,” Council Member Debbi Lester said in a press release from the city. “We would like to SEE CITY MANAGER, A5
Occupy movement finds local expression Bainbridge events reflect island’s sensibilities, demographic. By CONNIE MEARS Staff Writer
Organizing an Occupy event wasn’t the kind of thing Bainbridge Island resident Heather Schaefer Scott ever thought she would do. “We have kids, we still have
a house. I can’t get arrested. I’m not going to sleep on the street,” she said Wednesday on the phone from the home she shares with Joe Preston and their four kids. But her experience at an Occupy Seattle demonstration in October changed all that. “It was so rewarding,” she said. “I felt inspired.” She put up an open invitation on Facebook for a salonstyle gathering in her home. About 15 people showed up – “truly all ages, all politi-
cal views” – and talked about the issues, clarifying for themselves how they could or wanted to become more involved. “You don’t have to do the hardcore thing,” she said. “There are so many bright minds on Bainbridge. Just do what you can do.” Bright-minded Norm Keegel was lying on his back at the Bainbridge Island Senior Center, where he participates in an exercise class, when the idea for an informational
forum came to mind. He took the idea to Agate Pass Friends, the SeaboldHall-based Quaker group he attends, which took it to the Kitsap Interfaith Council. Many communities have assembled similar meetings, inviting local people with first-hand experience in an Occupy action to share what they know, which is exactly what Keegel did. What makes this forum unique is that some local participants also happen to be at the forefront
of the national (and international) conversation about the Occupy movement. In his book “The Great Turning,” David Korten, Ph.D., wrote: “If you feel out of step with the way things are going in your community, nation, and the world, take heart. Your distress indicates that you are among the sane in an insane world and in very good company.” Korten is author of the SEE OCCUPY, A9
Mic check... The “Occupy” Movement: What Can it Mean to You?” is a community conversation from 6-9 p.m. Feb. 4 at Eagle Harbor Congregational Church. Potluck dinner will be followed by a panel discussion. To learn more, search “Occupy Movement Forum” on Facebook.