Valley Record SNOQUALMIE
Wednesday, july 3, 2013 n Daily updates at www.valleyrecord.com n 75 cents
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Citizens give input on future face of city hall, downtown, in first focus group Staff Reporter
Arts Walk: What does creativity bring to downtown Snoqualmie? Page 8
LIFESTYLE
Seth Truscott/Staff Photo
Fishy business means lessons for Valley youngsters Page 9
Index Opinion 4 5 Puzzles 7 Calendar 10 Movie Times On The Scanner 11 Classifieds 11-14
Vol. 100, No. 6
The 100-year-old Hjertoos barn overlooks the community garden that owner Roger Thorson created seven years ago. Thorson, who assumed ownership of his family’s former dairy farm to create Carnation Tree Farm, today is restoring the vast barn, pictured below, as a gathering point for all. Thorson is the 2013 Carnation Fourth grand marshal.
New model farmer Juy 4 Grand Marshal Roger Thorson’s vision changes the game at century-old farm By Seth Truscott Editor
Roger Thorson’s doing things on his 24-acre farm that his dairy-farming ancestors never dreamed of. There’s the 18 solar panels on top of his 103-year-old barn’s gift shop. And the greenhouse and community garden that raises food for local families. Or the hay loft that Thorson turned into a guesthouse-slash-workshop space. Thorson, who has gone beyond restoration at Carnation Tree Farm to stewardship for future generations, is the
grand marshal of the 2013 Carnation Fourth of July Parade. When a thirty-something Thorson came here 36 years ago, it was to answer the call of duty to his family. Today, his role here is as a connector and a communicator of people-conscious values.
A lot of people were asking a lot of questions at the June 24 workstudy session of the North Bend City Council: Why not use the space on the roof? Have you thought about Si View? Where else could the police go? Would the historic district be preserved? How are we supposed to pay for this? They all boiled down to the question that brought the 70-some citizens to the meeting in the first place, which is, what should North Bend do next? Specifically, city staff and “Do we keep officials were it basic, or asking citizens to think about should we whether or not consider to replace the aging City Hall a civic building, and center?” with what. “We’ve heard Londi Lindell, from people City Administrator who would like to see a real sense of place in the downtown,” said City Administrator Londi Lindell at the start of the meeting. “They’d like to see some public plazas, a downtown park or old-fashioned town square. So the first question we’re going to ask you is do we just keep it basic, city hall, or should we consider a civic center?” The assembled audience, broken into groups of about 10 at different tables, was asked to discuss the city hall replacement as a separate question from the follow-up question of where a new city hall should go, if called for.
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