Localities
Mar. 2nd, 2006 11:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trystinnLast night's meeting went very well, with a few alarming problems. Josh and I did a good job of hosting the event at our community's center, which though humble, was quite appropriate for the occasion. For those not in the know, Island County is actually two islands Whidbey and Camano (pronounced Camino, go figure) that are not actually attached in any way, be it road, bridge or ferry. Needless to say, there is a huge gap between the two that has little to do with the San De Fuca Strait that runs between them. Income, land size, business base, its all wildly different. Camano is where the rich folks live, Whidbey is where the farmers live.
Fortunately, our candidate owns a boat and our community has a dock, so we've managed to get him over here for various fund-raising, meet & greets, etc. John is a good man, a Progressive (but he's our man as far as the election goes) and a newspaper editor. He knows quite a lot about Camano Island and its needs, not so much about Whidbey's - and that might be the deal breaker for many Whidbey folks. It was certainly glaringly obvious that the Whidbey group needs to get him educated, and quickly, on the issues here.
"Whidbey is an Island with an identity crisis. Starting out as an agricultural island, we're quickly being zoned out of our farms. Of particular distress is the new 1000 lb per 2.5 acre ruling that seems to bloody arbitrary. What this essentially means is that for every 2.5 acres you have grazing rights to (ownership can be a separate matter here), you can only have say five 200 lb sheep on it. Needless to say, this rule came to us courtesy of the developers who are quickly overpopulating the island with large, bland modern houses on tiny 1/5 acre plots, eating up water resources and over-stressing our already overwhelmed utility resources. Please do not ask me about the sewer and septic issues here, you really don't want to know. Obviously, our local hospital is straining to cover the island. I was absolutely shocked to find out there's no recycling program on the Island, though the Navy has run a very successful one for years.
Whidbey also hosts a moderate-sized Navy complex, NAS Whidbey and Sea Plane Base (attached to NAS Whidbey) among various other Navy installments like the Out Lying Field south of us. Having the Navy here is a mixed blessing for Whidbey. t brings young men who are bored to tears living on an agricultural island, keeps bars open who willfully over serve their patrons and fills our roads with huge pickups, Tuners (small asian cars with huge stereos) and folks with out of state driver's licenses who do not vote on the Island.
Then there's the drugs, for all our small-town charm, our drug problem is decidedly urban. Having spent my teen years in Mesa, AZ, I'm very aware of the dangers regarding a lack of activities for young people, especially on weekends. Ghono-herpes-syphilitis is rampant here. Syphilis remains the #1 STD here, though HPV is gaining. Planned Parenthood does its best, but given that the local drugstores are frequently way behind on STD research, they are still selling Nonoxynol-9 condoms and do not stock non-latex varieties. One pharmacist I spoke to had never heard of non-latex condoms!
We have three full time cops, numerous state highway patrolmen and a sherrif's office that is so understaffed, there's a lawsuit pending. Our crime rate remains under control, yet gunshots at night is not unusual. Frankly, I hear more gunshots here than I ever did living in Brooklyn.
Then there's that bridge. Standing 180 feet over sea level, Deception Pass Bridge is both a modern marvel and a transportation nightmare. While I love Deception Pass and have made arrangements for my ashes to be scattered there by my HPs, I do recognize that the Pass cares little for human concerns. There is something almost sinister about the area. Suicides there are pretty common, and its a rare summer that doesn't claim a few lives. Sacrifices to the local land spirits, the Samish tell us. I believe it. Driver's talk often about the propensity for fog on the bridge, its a fairly daily experience to drive over it not being able to see much beyond the car hood. But other than the two ferries (one South, one West) that bridge is the only way off the island.
Salmon Woman, a Sedna-like deity of the Samish tribe, watches over the Pass. We would be fortunate if we could entreat her to look after the Island, as well.
"
Fortunately, our candidate owns a boat and our community has a dock, so we've managed to get him over here for various fund-raising, meet & greets, etc. John is a good man, a Progressive (but he's our man as far as the election goes) and a newspaper editor. He knows quite a lot about Camano Island and its needs, not so much about Whidbey's - and that might be the deal breaker for many Whidbey folks. It was certainly glaringly obvious that the Whidbey group needs to get him educated, and quickly, on the issues here.
"Whidbey is an Island with an identity crisis. Starting out as an agricultural island, we're quickly being zoned out of our farms. Of particular distress is the new 1000 lb per 2.5 acre ruling that seems to bloody arbitrary. What this essentially means is that for every 2.5 acres you have grazing rights to (ownership can be a separate matter here), you can only have say five 200 lb sheep on it. Needless to say, this rule came to us courtesy of the developers who are quickly overpopulating the island with large, bland modern houses on tiny 1/5 acre plots, eating up water resources and over-stressing our already overwhelmed utility resources. Please do not ask me about the sewer and septic issues here, you really don't want to know. Obviously, our local hospital is straining to cover the island. I was absolutely shocked to find out there's no recycling program on the Island, though the Navy has run a very successful one for years.
Whidbey also hosts a moderate-sized Navy complex, NAS Whidbey and Sea Plane Base (attached to NAS Whidbey) among various other Navy installments like the Out Lying Field south of us. Having the Navy here is a mixed blessing for Whidbey. t brings young men who are bored to tears living on an agricultural island, keeps bars open who willfully over serve their patrons and fills our roads with huge pickups, Tuners (small asian cars with huge stereos) and folks with out of state driver's licenses who do not vote on the Island.
Then there's the drugs, for all our small-town charm, our drug problem is decidedly urban. Having spent my teen years in Mesa, AZ, I'm very aware of the dangers regarding a lack of activities for young people, especially on weekends. Ghono-herpes-syphilitis is rampant here. Syphilis remains the #1 STD here, though HPV is gaining. Planned Parenthood does its best, but given that the local drugstores are frequently way behind on STD research, they are still selling Nonoxynol-9 condoms and do not stock non-latex varieties. One pharmacist I spoke to had never heard of non-latex condoms!
We have three full time cops, numerous state highway patrolmen and a sherrif's office that is so understaffed, there's a lawsuit pending. Our crime rate remains under control, yet gunshots at night is not unusual. Frankly, I hear more gunshots here than I ever did living in Brooklyn.
Then there's that bridge. Standing 180 feet over sea level, Deception Pass Bridge is both a modern marvel and a transportation nightmare. While I love Deception Pass and have made arrangements for my ashes to be scattered there by my HPs, I do recognize that the Pass cares little for human concerns. There is something almost sinister about the area. Suicides there are pretty common, and its a rare summer that doesn't claim a few lives. Sacrifices to the local land spirits, the Samish tell us. I believe it. Driver's talk often about the propensity for fog on the bridge, its a fairly daily experience to drive over it not being able to see much beyond the car hood. But other than the two ferries (one South, one West) that bridge is the only way off the island.
Salmon Woman, a Sedna-like deity of the Samish tribe, watches over the Pass. We would be fortunate if we could entreat her to look after the Island, as well.
"
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Date: 2006-03-02 08:50 pm (UTC)My spouse and I were in Columbia for several years.