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My Edmonds News, our community’s only independent online news site, has a new web address, so please change your bookmarks:

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The enhanced site design allows for a variety of new features, including daily weather reports and other news feeds, and will also accommodate advertising sponsors. If you’d like more information on affordable advertising that links My Edmonds News readers directly to your business or organization, email teresawippel@comcast.net.

City Council set to make fire service decision next Monday

The Edmonds City Council at its meeting last night decided that it will hold one more public hearing next Monday, Nov. 2 on a 20-year contract with Snohomish County Fire District. The council is likely to take a final vote on the preferred option, Option 4, on that date.

Under Option 4, the city would sell the fire engines, aid cars and equipment to Fire District 1, but keep the fire stations, land and emergency medical service transport fees the city now collects. All city fire employees would become Fire District 1 employees and the city would pay the Fire District quarterly to cover the personnel costs.

More information on last night’s meeting will be posted later today.

 

Free travel journaling class in Edmonds Thursday

If you’ve ever tried to keep a travel diary and felt that your writing didn’t fully capture the spirit of your journey, or if you’ve given up on writing because there was just so much else to do during your vacation, award-winning travel humorist Dave Fox offers help in a free class in Edmonds this Thursday, Oct. 29.

Fox will cover the following:

• How to splash lots of detail into your travel journals in a short amount of time.
• How to weave together your “inner journey” with your “outer journey” to capture the emotional part of your travels.
• How to spot the most relevant details to write about.
• Tips on creative journaling techniques that go beyond bland, step-by-step accounts of your days.

A veteran tour guide for PBS travel guru Rick Steves, Fox is the author of “Globejotting: How to Write Extraordinary Travel Journals (and still have time to enjoy your trip!)” and “Getting Lost: Mishaps of an Accidental Nomad.”

The class will run from 6-7 p.m. Thursday at Rick Steves’ Travel Center, 130 Main St.,  Edmonds. The class is free, but advance reservations are recommended online or by calling 425-771-8303.

Fox will also lead a travel journaling safari in Botswana this January, and is planning a journaling tour of Vietnam in the fall of 2010. To learn more about his journaling techniques, books, and tours, please visit his website.

Edmonds Library book sale a great — and ‘green’ — success

Thanks to the generosity of the community and local grocery stores, last weekend’s Friends of the Edmonds Library book sale raised more than $8,000 to fund unmet Edmonds Library needs, and also raised awareness about protecting the environment.

“This year, instead of using plastic bags for our close-out sale, we gave each shopper reusable bags donated by Fred Meyer, Albertsons, TOP, PCC, QFC and Trader Joe’s,” said Judith Works, who coordinated this year’s event “The shopper could fill as many as they wished for $2 and keep the bag.”

Works said the money will be used to fund library programs for children, teens and adults, and also assist with furniture purchases and other library needs.  In addition, Friends of the Library sponsors a scholarship for a graduate student to the University of Washington’s School of Information.

Tim Eyman makes his case for Initiative 1033

Tim Eyman

Tim Eyman offers no apologies for continuing to submit his famous anti-government-spending initiatives to Washington state voters, including Initiative 1033, which appears on the current election ballot.

Eyman spoke last night at a town hall meeting at Edmonds Community College, moderated by Edmonds City Council President D.J. Wilson, which was taped for the local public affairs show “Civic Engagement.” Under questioning by Wilson,  Eyman equated lawmakers to wide-eyed children in a toy store. “Citizens have to take a parenting role and say no, you can’t have it all,” he said.

The official I-1033 ballot title says the measure “would limit growth of certain state, county and city revenue to annual inflation and population growth, not including voter-approved revenue increases. Revenue collected above the limit would reduce property tax levies.”

While Wilson said he was not, in his role as moderator, speaking as an opponent of I-1033, he has expressed grave concerns during recent Edmonds City Council meetings about the negative effect that the initiative could have on the City of Edmonds budget, which is already facing a $7 million shortfall. Citing a large list of organizations, from local governments to labor unions to businesses, that are opposing the initiative, Wilson asked Eyman: “Is it possible that what you are proposing is in fact wrong and is in fact devastating?”

Eyman would have none of that, stating that he is simply trying to give everyday citizens a voice in the process and a way to  offset elected officials’ out-of-control spending habits. “There has to be a balance between what government says they need and what taxpayers can afford,” he said.

The long list of opponents — from Roman Catholic bishops who cite how much I-1033 will hurt the poor to teachers who worry about ever-increasing class sizes — doesn’t bother him, either:  “Groups don’t vote, individuals do,” he said. In fact, Eyman added, members of the very groups that oppose I-1033 will actually vote for it, as they are taxpayers too.

One phrase Eyman repeated several times was that “initiatives are not forever,” because officials continue to find ways to overturn them or go around them. He said that state government was in great shape from 1993-2005, thanks to another spending growth-limit initiative he sponsored, I-601, and blamed the state’s current budget deficit on the decision by legislators to get rid of I-601’s limits.

And because I-1033 allows officials to submit to voters a request for additional increases beyond what the initiative allows, Eyman says that it gives governments the option to raise taxes — as long as voters OK it first.

Many of those attending last night’s presentation appeared to be in Eyman’s camp, cheering and clapping in response to his statements.  Because no one appeared on stage to officially speak against the initiative, it was hard for the anti-1033 folks in the  audience to make much of a dent in the pro-1033 arguments.

However, it appears that the 1033 opponents are gaining ground in influencing public opinion, given the changes in polling numbers — as reported on ballotpedia.org – during the past month:

Date of Poll	Pollster	In favor	Opposed	Undecided
September 2009	Tom Kiley	51%	31%	18%
Sept. 22, 2009	Rasmussen Reports	61%	31%	8%
Oct. 3 – 5	KING5/Survey USA	45%	32%	22%
Oct. 14 – 26	Washington Poll	41%	46%	13%

D.J. Wilson has agreed to submit  — as City Council president — a summary of his thoughts on how I-1033 will affect City of Edmonds government operations, and it will be posted on My Edmonds News once it is received.

Here’s your chance to comment on future of Edmonds fire service

The Edmonds City Council will take public comment tonight on two options for fire service in the City of Edmonds:

1. Enter into a 20-year contract with Snohomish County Fire District 1 under which the city would sell the fire engines, aid cars and equipment to Fire District 1, but keep the fire stations, land and emergency medical service transport fees the city now collects. All city fire employees would become Fire District 1 employees and the city would pay the Fire District quarterly to cover the personnel costs.

2. Do nothing, continuing City of Edmonds fire operations as usual.

Details, including the city’s budget forecast under the Fire District 1 contract, can be found here. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers, Public Safety Complex, 250 5th Ave. N.

Safe, dry trick-or-treating Thursday at EWHS!

Bring your kids to Edmonds-Woodway High School this Thursday, Oct. 29 from 6-8 p.m. for Spooky Street — an annual tradition in Edmonds! High schoolers transform the halls of EWHS into a safe, dry trick-or-treat paradise. Admission is three canned food items, to be donated to the Edmond Food Bank. Enter on the lower level of EWHS near the gym, located at the south end on 76th Avenue West (directly across from Stevens Hospital).

Speakers offer energy-saving tips for homeowners

Even if you haven’t been paying a lot of attention to all the recent talk about sustainability and climate change,  it’s likely – especially as the colder weather sets in – that you’ve been thinking about the benefits of a more energy-efficient home. Lower heating costs and a warmer house, for starters. (Or a cooler home during the summer months!)

Sustainable Edmonds kicked off its 2009 fall series on home and business energy efficiency with a presentation Oct. 22 by two speakers who have substantial experience in analyzing how efficient your home is (or isn’t) and what you can do to reduce energy use.

Fred Mitchell

The first speaker, Fred Mitchell of Energy Ecostrategies Inc.,  said that the main areas homeowners should be concerned about are properly air sealing and insulating the house to reduce drafts and upgrading the home’s heating system if it’s more than 10 years old.

The progress being made in HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) technology is “amazing,”  in terms of increasing energy efficiency, Mitchell said.

When he conducts a home energy audit, Mitchell said he lays out a four-step process for homeowners:

• Understanding your climate and terrain, including factors such as wind and sun, the presence of trees, and high and low temperature swings.
• Conducting a traditional energy audit to determine what types of energy loads the home has and how they can be reduced.
• Examining options for using “free” energy – for example, passive solar for heating and natural ventilation for cooling.
• Using the most efficient technology.

While there are some basic things a homeowner can do on his or her own, “there is a nuance to air sealing,” so it might be worthwhile to hire a professional to do that task, Mitchell said.

Wayne Apostolik (Photos by Cliff Wells/Sustainable Edmonds)

The second speaker, Wayne Apostolik of the home remodeling  firm Northwest Homecrafters, noted that achieving  maximum energy efficiency does require a financial investment by the homeowner. “We can easily achieve a 40-percent energy drop in a home, but it also costs money to do these things,” he said.

He suggested that those interested in reducing their home’s energy use take a closer look at permaculture design options, which Apostolik described as “using nature first to solve your problems.” To illustrate, he cited an approach to cooling a factory in Phoenix, Ariz., that involved growing vegetation on the sides of the building, planting grape vines so workers could pick fruit as they left for the day, and replacing black asphalt with trees. By using nature, the factory owner reduced his heating costs significantly, he said.

Other energy-efficient options involving permaculture include:

• Converting a yard into an edible landscape and planting by zones so that what you eat most often is readily available (for example, planting salad fixings along the driveway so you can pick them on the way in the door from work).
• Using vegetation such as deciduous trees to cool the house in summer and, when leaves fall in the winter, the sun gets through to provide extra warmth.
• Harvesting rainwater for irrigation and to flush toilets.

Additional tips offered during the seminar included:

• Find a way to minimize water use by installing low-flow showers and water-saving toilets.
• Install a heat pump, which can slash your electric bill by two-thirds. These work best with an electric furnace, because they can be incorporated into the furnace’s existing forced-air system.
• Rely on natural air circulation for cooling, such as well-placed windows that can be opened in the summertime.

The second seminar in the Sustainable Edmonds fall series will be Monday, Nov. 5 and will focus on lighting, appliances, electrical load reduction, insulation and air sealing, with speakers from Snohomish County PUD and Puget Sound Energy. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Port of Edmonds conference room, 336 Admiral Way.

Who's your choice for Council Position 3?

Furry Festival at Firdale Village Saturday

Furry friends will gather at Firdale Village from noon-4 p.m. Saturday for the first-ever Firdale Furry Festival.

Dogs and their owners will be treated to a sidewalk sale featuring art, antiques, pet services and supplies, pet treats and jewelry, plus canine water therapy demonstrations. Enjoy a chair massage while your canine companion is treated to a massage of his or her own. In addition, dogs can compete in a costume contest – registration is at 1:30 p.m. and judging begins at 2 p.m.

Firdale Village is located at 9679 Firdale Ave. in Edmonds.