Passing Lane Update
GARDINER, WA - October 3 - A public meeting to present an
update on the proposed Gardiner truck passing lane will be held at the
Gardiner Community Center, 980 Old Gardiner Road, at 6:30 p.m. on Monday,
October 13.
The meeting, sponsored by the Committee to Oppose the
Gardiner Passing Lane, will give Gardiner residents an opportunity to hear
results of a review of the project that WSDOT Assistant Engineer David
Garlington promised at an earlier public meeting held in September.
Garlington and Kevin Dayton, WSDOT Region Administrator,
will discuss their findings and address specific safety and environmental
concerns raised by the committee and local citizens. State Representative
Kevin Van de Wege and Patsy Feeley, Assistant to Senator Jim Hargrove will
also attend the meeting.
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Gardiner Forums
For those of you who like using web forums to track information I have started a Gardiner forum at http://gardiner.lefora.com. Like all type of communications the more it is used the more useful it is.
This is an un-moderated forum where anyone can join and anyone can post whatever they feel is appropriate to the forum. The nice thing about forums is that they automatically keep a record of topics.
Please give it a try and feel free to send me any comments you have concerning the forum or the Gardiner web site.
I have also added a Forum link to the left side menu.
Thank you - Tom Carey
Ready for another workday to tidy up Gardiner Community Center?
We've got our fingers crossed you'll participate again!
Please circle Thursday, October 16 on your calendars.
We'll plant more bulbs, mulch, and do a general bedding-down (No, NOT us! The plants!) for the winter.
Bring pruners, pokers to dig holes for bulbs, and gloves.
We'll begin at 10:30AM right after yoga and will be finished by noon. More details to follow. Thank you. I
If you have any questions, please call Trish Warner at 797-7415 and/or tjwarner@embarqmail.com.
Beverly Hoffman, Committee member of Gardiner Gardens
Passing Lane Construction
The DOT decided to put a passing lane on 101 that will put it in potential conflict with residential and business areas of Gardiner. There was a meeting at the Gardiner Community Center to discuss the pros and cons of this idea. It was surprising to find out that the decision as to where to place the lane was based on information gathered 15 years ago in 1993.
I have added a menu link on the left for information specific to this project. As new information comes in it will be added to this page as well as archived information at the linked location.
New Information as of 9/12/2008
Below is an email sent to Jane Meyer from David Garlington 9/12/2008
"Jane,
I wanted to give you an update. The project's benefit/cost ratio is being recalculated using the most recent data available. As well, the siting criteria is being looked at again. The Department is also evaluating the priority of this, and all our projects, against each other. Transportation funds have tailed off at both the state and federal levels because of lower gas consumption. DOT is taking a hard look at which jobs deserve a share of the budget, and, undoubtedly, not all of them will make the cut. I hope that I will be able to report to you a final decision in the next two weeks. You know, of course, that with this particular job, being that it was specifically funded by the legislature, the politicians can override DOT's recommendation, though I think this would be unlikely.
On a couple of other points - I haven't heard anything from the fire chief about the helicopter landings. The drainage as we have designed it utilizes infiltration to a greater extent than previous designs and, if built, should improve the treatment of water before. I don't see anything wrong with the current drainage either, however. At the meeting, someone asked about "no left turn" signs. I have not been able to find anyone in DOT that has heard about that. I'm thinking that this might have been proposed by the county. No signs would go up on 101 right of way without permission of DOT following an analysis to see if they were justified. My feeling is that they would not be.
I appreciate it if you are able to disseminate this information to the community and will keep in touch."
New Gardiner Newsletter
Public Power Information
Dr. Elizabeth Van Dyke has submitted this very worthwhile information concerning the new Public Power proposal.
From Dr. Van Dyke
"Here is information from Wayne King, our Jefferson County District #3 Public Utility District Commissioner. Please call Wayne at 360-797-7491 if you have any questions. - Elizabeth"
From Wayne King
Hi, I have been getting a lot of questions regarding Public Power. Citizens
for Local Power is the group proposing the question on the ballot in November.
To clarify, this is NOT authorizing that the Public Utility District
take over Puget Sound Energy. This yes vote would give the PUD the authority to
look at providing power. Here are three web sites for more information:
- Citizens for Local Power www.citizensforlocalpower.org
- Public Utility District #1 of Jefferson County www.jeffpud.org
- Puget Sound Energy www.pse.com
The PUD already has one customer lined up, it is the U.S. Navy on Indian Island. This is in an agreement with the Clallam County PUD signed in 2001. We have been in negotiations with the Navy to take over their water system. Any questions the Community may have I would be happy to answer. My telephone number is 360-797-7491. Wayne King
File Of Life
JCFD 5 has a great program for helping indentify your specific medical needs in case of an emergency. It is called the File Of Life. The fire department supplies the forms. One goes in your wallet while the other is designed to go on the refrigerator door for easy access. The FOL comes in a slick plastic holder so that the information will stand up to a lot of abuse.
The only downside is that there are people like me who are cursive challenged. i.e. My penmanship really sucks! For those of us who would rather fill out a form on the computer I have created a couple of RTF files that hold the same information. RTF, rich text format, are good because they should work with just about any word processor anyone is using.
File Of Life has also been added as a menu option on the left.
Check it out and let me know if you have any problems with it.