Patriot Bremerton
FRIDAY, march 29, 2013 | Vol. 16, No. 8 www.bremertonpatriot.com | 50¢
shipyard solidarity
What’s cookin’? Monica’s Bakery & Cafe in Old Town Silverdale is full of goodies Page 9
Inspector doesn’t go for raw oysters, bar nuts or sushi
He just makes sure that you can safely if that’s more your thing
Kevan Moore/staff photo
About ten people, including Belfair resident Denny Hamilton, gathered in front of the Pacific Avenue gate of the shipyard on Tuesday afternoon to offer support to workers facing furloughs due to sequestration.
Low income housing getting harder and harder to find By Leslie Kelly lkelly@soundpublishing.com
When Pami Terry discovered that she would soon need to find a place to live, she had quite a shock. “There’s just nothing out there for someone like me,” Terry said. “I have called and called and I can’t find anything. I’m afraid that I’ll soon be living on the street.” Terry, 43, of Bremerton, is a disabled woman with a service dog who lives on $680 a month in social security disability income. Because she is prone to seizures and has other health problems, she cannot work. She is currently living with her father who is under hospice care and isn’t expected to live long. When he’s gone, she’ll be out of a place to live. Like many low income people in Kitsap County, Terry called the Kitsap Housing Authority and the Bremerton Housing Authority hoping to get some federally sponsored
Section 8 housing. But she found more bad news. The waiting lists are closed. “The housing we are able to make available depends on federal appropriations,” said Kurt Wiest, executive director of the Bremerton Housing Authority. “It’s very frustrating not only to those needing housing, but to us because we want to help. And now, with sequestration, what was a bad situation is becoming even worse situation.” Wiest referred to the action by Congress to cut many federal programs until it can approve a balanced budget. He said his agency and other housing authorities across the country have seen automatic 5 percent cuts, meaning no more housing vouchers can be distributed, and those that are turned back in cannot be re-issued. Under Section 8 housing, people who meet income guidelines are offered a voucher that they use to
find housing on the public market. With the voucher, the individual or family pays 30 percent of their household income toward rent and utilities and the remainder is paid by the housing authority through the federal dollars it receives. An example of the income guideline is a single person with an income of less than $15,400, or a family of four with an income of less than $21,950 can be considered for Section 8 housing. Section 8 vouchers that are issued by the Kitsap Housing Authority operate the same way and are administered by the Bremerton Housing Authority, Wiest said. Tony Caldwell, executive director of Housing Kitsap said they have 350 people with Section 8 vouchers, and another 136 residents in public housing. Weist said there are currently 305 people on Bremerton Housing See HOUSING, A13
Kevan Moore/Staff Photo
Kitsap Public Health District’s Jim Zimney checks out a serving station at the Bremerton Bar and Grill. By KEVAN MOORE kmoore@soundpublishing.com
Jim Zimny doesn’t have a taste for raw oysters or sushi. He wouldn’t be caught dead eating bar nuts, either. And he’s not shy about getting up and leaving a restaurant if he sees something amiss. The Kitsap Public Health District food inspector says he’s more of a meat and potatoes kind of guy. Meat and potatoes that are properly handled and cooked, that is. About one million people get sick from food borne illnesses in Washington state every year. Of those, about five or six will die. “Most of those come out of people’s kitchens,” Zimny said. “They come out of your kitchen or my kitchen.” While Zimny can’t make sure that folks don’t get sick while eating at home, it’s his job to do everything he can to make sure they don’t get sick when choosing to dine out. “Our job, to me, it’s 95 percent education,” Zimny
said of random restaurant inspections. “We come in to help these guys with things they may not see or may not know. It’s not our job to come in and shut down restaurants. It’s our job to come in and educate the guys who have skin in the game when it comes to making sure this restaurant is successful.” Late last week, Zimny headed for the Bremerton Bar and Grill to perform an inspection. Typically, his visits are unannounced but last week’s inspection was set up in advance in order for a reporter to tag along. Apart from that wrinkle, everything about the inspection was routine. Zimny announced himself at the server stand and restaurant manager Jessica Knutelsky was summoned. From there, Zimny hooked up with head chef and kitchen manager Nate Tabtab who would tag along and answer questions for the rest of the visit. In the end, the restaurant got a perfect score of 100. See INSPECTOR, A13