||| FROM LEITH TEMPLIN |||
Thank you , William Wright, for your comments. There were hundreds of hours put into informing and consulting the public, property owners and anybody that was interested in this project that has been being planned for years. I will try to answer John’s question.
The plan last year in the Spring the project manager and public works was working hard to get ready to bid this project. With Covid and a lot of other extenuating circumstances the process kept getting delayed. Originally the project was to be in three stages and take three years. This would enable no road work during the summer season. As the process continued to be delayed changes were made. The property owners and the business owners came to the decision that everybody wanted to bite the Bullet and just have one crazy summer instead of three.
Having a public meeting the business owners, property owners, chamber of commerce, Cindy Wolf, EPRC members, public works and others brainstormed about signage, needing additional parking elsewhere and that the construction company would work a four-day work week so the road could be open for people to walk to the shops and restaurants on the weekend.
I am no engineer or construction worker but I would bet that for the people saying how can they leave the road in this condition (at this time) don’t understand all that is involved. First if this extensive work was done on the mainland I am sure they would close the road completely until it was usable. There are so many subcontractors on this project trying to work together. OPALCO, Rock Island , ESWUA, Eastsound Sewer, Centurylink and the construction company. Also everyday they all find something that they had no idea was underground. They continuously have to deal with unexpected situations.
I believe they are trying their best to do their work and by Thursday afternoon open the road so the businesses can operate. For the life of me I don’t understand why anyone would try to drive on Prune Alley when North Beach and Madrona are so close. I am sure when the sewer line and a few other underground things get done the road itself will not be so bumpy.
It’s going to be a long summer and into the fall, guys, but it’s just one not three so please be kind. FYI there are a couple of grates that will go around a couple trees so they can be saved. Some of the others were planted on top of telephone and other wires and pipes so they will be replaced. If you have any questions please get ahold of me and I will try to get some answers for you.
Thank you, Leith!
Well said , Leith.
Thank you Leith! As you say, it is easy to avoid driving on Prune Alley and still get to all the businesses and services. A little pain now will give us a beautiful project that will serve the community for decades.
Thanks for the your input.
I love,”Be kind.” Words to live by.
Thanks, Leith!
I’m confused by this letter and by all the people who seem annoyed and angry with people who have legitimate environmental concerns in a town where habitat is being quickly wiped out. I seem to be swimming upstream here; so be it. I (politely) disagree with your letter and its didactic tone, and with some of the sarcastic and not so kind comments here that blame people for asking questions or sharing their concerns or distress over how this project is going down. It’s not like we haven’t been here before. The Road Work crew directors are always so nice to us and willing to listen and answer questions; the Engineer directors; not so much.
People will be broadsided by this once all the trees come down- then blamed for not knowing or being involved. “Where were you the last two years?”. How is that kind? I tried to go to some of those open houses and meetings, early on. We were dismissed and basically told THEN that it’s a done deal. Most people back down, don’t question it. Because they know once the grants are paid, that is likely true. They get discouraged, feel unheard, their voices un-valued. The grants were given and the engineers were bent on doing this. It’s not the first time we tried to go and effect simpler ways to do things – not what people who want to spend a lot of grant monies to support high salaries for making up Plans, want to hear. Sorry if that inconvenient truth seems unkind.
Concerning doing ANY tree cutting before fall: It is migratory bird nesting season; therefore illegal under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The trees need to stay until Fall. When you are talking removal of this scope, that has a huge negative impact on bird populations and on other creatures who live in those trees and shrubs. Is it unkind to cite a law protecting migratory birds? Is it unkind to point out that we are also dealing with an outbreak of Avian Flu in Western Washington and that our county probably won’t be spared the devastation of that to our wild and domestic bird population, including raptors? Or that by taking all this habitat away and leaving no green or wildlife corridors, we humans contribute to plagues and pandemics by removing their habitat and living closer than Nature means us to by doing this – then blaming the animal carriers?
Is it unkind to say that some people still want representation and voice because they never got it? Since when is sharing our concerns unkind? This is why some of us continue to go to bat for Eastsound and other UGAs – because we see the whole big picture of how everything interrelates and is contiguous; one affects the other – and we have tried to help them see it for years and decades, and get them to work with us but it’s like the elephant – no one sees the whole of it anymore, everyone is an expert in a limited field that doesn’t even see the whole.
Property owners were consulted; true. There were no Plans in the library – something that needs to be a matter of course in the Discussion Phase of any project. if property owners didn’t represent their renters, as in the case of the Longhouse, those people had no real representation or voice.
The other thing that baffles me about this project is the ‘wires’ issue – this is being dug up primarily to install Fiber. Wires can be moved easier than trees can. The wires are still going to go under all of this concrete and the new plantings after fiber is put in, atop all of this. Fiiber is notoriously vulnerable and will likely be a short lived trend as new technologies are developed all the time. So… What happens when those wires need to be dug up or repaired for the ‘new’ technologies or if something goes wrong? Has anyone asked these Very Important Questions and been given satisfactory answers? Shouldn’t those have been asked before any demolition or construction even started?
We understand that hundreds of hours of work went into the project – paid work, covered by grant monies. No one denies it or that they worked very hard on the project. I’m not sure what your point is, Leith.
It’s not unkind to have concerns and ideas, state them, and hope the Public Works engineers and OPALCO will listen to us – and not tell us it’s a “done deal” or that we need to go onto the county website and look at 502 pages and try to figure out engineer plans that no one can read but them.
I also think the intersections at both ends of the project are crucial to keep maintained throughout this project – especially school road and north beach road intersection. I realize that a lot of this is bad drivers spinning out gravel due to speeding – but I wonder what their plan is to keep the dust down for those of us without the luxury of car air conditioning or a way to keep the dust out of our lungs and off our bodies, once we head into full summer drought season. I would love answers.
So many people view this as complaining. It’s not the inconvenience we mind, as much as the lack of respect for our voices and refusal to even communicate with us.- then blame us – after over two years of covid lockdowns – for daring to question things and being accused of not being involved, when we try to be and just want answers that might reassure us.
There are unkindnesses by words, and also by actions – including ignoring or ridiculing people. What makes those any less than unkind?
All excellent points.
All excellent points, Sadie.
Are businesses like the liquor store and the Skillet going to be paid by the county for all the money they lost this year by this absurdity?
Much earlier I voiced my concern, along with that of Fred Klein, that existing trees on Prune Alley be preserved as much as possible — especially given its name. And from what (little) I can tell so far, that seems to be happening.