It was an eventful year in Edmonds, from politics — at the senior center, and in presidential caucuses — to regular life. Here’s a look aback at the past 12 months as we get ready to launch into 2009.
JANUARY
Ex-director snapped up for new job
Farrell Fleming, whose abrupt and unexplained dismissal from the South County Senior Center in October has sparked months of discord there, has been hired as the new executive director for Seniors Services of Island County. He began work Jan. 1.
New City Council members, president
Edmonds’ City Council welcomes two new members Jan. 8 as it opens 2008.
Together, small business owner DJ Wilson and attorney Steve Bernheim say they are looking forward to their first-ever elected offices.
Wilson is replacing Mauri Moore, who gave up her seat to make a run for mayor. Bernheim beat incumbent Richard Marin in November.
Michael Plunkett, a real estate agent and 11-year council veteran, was unanimously elected council president. It will be his second stint as the council’s leader, his last being in 2004.
Arts center making strides at age 1
Inside the Edmonds Center for the Arts, overlooking the richly colored seats of the now year-old, 700-seat theater, center executive director Joe McIalwain looked a little relieved to have the first 12 months in the rear-view mirror.
“Year one is bound to be a roller coaster. And it was,” he said, shaking his head. “There is nothing you can really do to change that.”
Although the stage hosted one sell-out and a series of other strong performances, it also had events that weren’t nearly as well-attended.
Officials still need to figure out what acts will draw niche audiences, McIalwain said. The center is hoping to grow audiences and financial stability in 2008, he said.
Graffiti war wages on with law, paint
January was a busy time in the ongoing fight between those who make graffiti in Edmonds and those who hate it.
The City Council unanimously approved tougher anti-graffiti laws Jan. 15.
Days before the council vote, however, taggers hammered home a message of their own: At least four cars, and well over a dozen buildings and street signs were hit in Edmonds Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 12 and 13.
FEBRUARY
City may douse its fire department
It certainly will be a sea change if Edmonds jettisons the fire department that it has managed since 1904.
“This is a very real possibility,” Mayor Gary Haakenson said during a city retreat Feb. 1. “It would be a huge, huge step, but it could solve a lot of problems.”
Seniors wrest vote pledge from center
After a number of hiccups and a series of canceled meetings, agreement — if not harmony — seems now to loom on the horizon for seniors at the South County Senior Center.
A membership vote has tentatively been scheduled for 1-4 p.m., Wednesday, March 12, officials said.
Thousands flock for Obama, Clinton
Feb. 9 was an absolute zoo, as thousands and thousands of locals turned out to caucus for presidential candidates.
In full, roughly 4,000 people crammed into Kamiak High School’s main gym, its auxiliary gym, its hallways and its classrooms, Democratic party organizers said. With the entire 21st district meeting at the same place, it became one of the largest caucus sites in the Puget Sound. Gov. Christine Gregoire made an appearance.
At the Republican caucus at Lynnwood’s Silver Creek Community Church, where the entire 21st district Republican party caucused, things were quieter. Between 200 and 300 people attended.
In the end, Barack Obama won the Democratic caucus — by a 2:1 margin both statewide and in the 21st — and while legal wrangling was holding up final results at press time, John McCain was edging Mike Huckabee in the Republican caucus.
MARCH
Kiwanis picks Citizen of the Year
Dale Terwedo was named Edmonds’ Citizen of the Year for 2008 by the Kiwanis Club.
He was named in part because of his work with Angel Flights West, a group of small-plane pilots who shuttle needy patients to hospitals along the West Coast.
Polluted lake attracts new attention
If the lesson of Lake Ballinger could be boiled down to a single sentence, it might read like this: Cleaning even small things can be a big chore.
Named 36 years ago as the dirtiest lake in the Puget Sound region, residents and policy makers have grappled since with a messy problem suspended between jurisdictions.
Now, concerns about poor water quality and rampant flooding are driving conversations in the Lake Ballinger watershed.
Seniors sweep new members to board
At times during the South County Senior Center’s months-long tumult, board president John Wagner questioned publicly how deep the unrest went.
Quite deep, it turns out.
More than 45 percent of the center’s members voted March 12 in an election of board officers. The four board critics running for positions were all overwhelmingly elected.
Rose Cantwell is the new board president, Bob Brown is the new vice president, Gwen Saucedo is the new secretary and Madelon Hughes is the new treasurer.
Eggs found, but answers for city parks prove elusive
Eggs were everywhere Saturday, March 22, roughly 15,000 of them, making it a hectic and thrilling scene at Edmonds’ City Park for the 1,500 kids who showed up to hunt for Easter candies and toys.
But a recent city “hunt” for young people with opinions about city parks was unsuccessful.
Only 2 percent of people surveyed in the city’s official telephone survey were under 34 years of age. The survey was a significant part of the overall $50,000 study. Nobody under the age of 24 was surveyed.
“Obviously, there are plenty of people under 24 living here in Edmonds,” Mayor Gary Haakenson said. “How we couldn’t get one of them for a telephone survey surprises me.”
Man in alleged ‘drug ring’ arrested
An Edmonds man arrested for his allegedly central role with a violent drug trafficking operation pleaded not guilty, but will still have to wait for his trial in prison, a federal judge ruled March 25.
Gary Kilcup, 39, was arrested March 20 as part of a yearlong investigation into a family-based group allegedly dealing large amounts of crack and powder cocaine.
Kilcup sold between 1 and 3 kilograms of cocaine a week, assistant U.S. attorney Todd Greenberg alleged in court.
During the investigation, federal agents also intercepted a phone call where Kilcup threatened to kill someone, according to documents.
APRIL
Even hugs hurt for young MS mother
Only 29, and already with three boys between the ages of 11 and 12, Edmonds’ Michelle Evans is a young mother fighting a difficult fight against multiple sclerosis.
On April 13, Evans will help put a face to MS, a chronic, unpredictable and often disabling disease without a known cure. The Pacific Northwest has a higher incidence of the disease than almost anywhere else in the world.
Evans will be the honoree for Seattle’s Lifelines Walk MS. The National MS Society’s Greater Washington Chapter is hoping to raise $2.4 million at the walk, and seven others around Western and Central Washington.
Bank robbery suspects caught
Two suspects accused of robbing an Edmonds branch of Bank of America Thursday, April 3 have been arrested.
The primary suspect, a 24-year-old Mountlake Terrace man, is also suspected in eight other robberies in March throughout the Puget Sound area, said Robbie Burroughs, spokesperson for the FBI’s Seattle office.
Edmonds police arrested the suspects Friday, April 2 and turned them over to the FBI.
Turmoil claims board member
South County Senior Center board member Earl Schuster announced his resignation from the board April 28 in a letter that denounced the membership’s bumptious, months-long push for control.
“The people involved in this movement have done a terrible disservice to (the senior center),” he wrote. “We have lost our focus, our reason for being.”
MAY
Frances Anderson facelift almost done
For six years, Edmonds’ 80-year-old Frances Anderson Center has undergone a slow, on-again, off-again remodel.
The beloved community center has gotten a new electrical system, new water pipes, new windows, new carpets and new paint.
Now, with a final and expensive flourish — a $2 million seismic retrofit — the building’s near-total facelift is almost complete.
Politican has Lou Gehrig’s Disease
One of Edmonds’ most prominent politicians announced May 9 that she has Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
Peggy Pritchard Olson, 58, the daughter of former U.S. Congressman and Washington Lt. Gov. Joel Pritchard, served as Edmonds’ City Council president in 2007. She was elected to her second four-year council term in November 2007.
She was diagnosed April 24, her birthday.
“This makes you look at things differently,” Olson said from a meeting room in City Hall. “Now it is all about family and friends.”
She plans to continue serving in Edmonds — and on her other boards and committees — as long as she is able, she said.
“As long as I can limp in, I’m going to stay,” Olson said. “My doctor said to keep doing everything I am doing as long as I can.”
Edmonds easily passes EMS levy
A lack of organized opposition meant the passage of Edmonds’ $1.5 million Emergency Management Services levy wasn’t difficult to predict.
Still, early election results offered confirmation May 20.
Nearly 75 percent of voters approved the EMS levy.
Mayor gets $24k annual raise
Edmonds mayor Gary Haakenson got an unexpected surprise Tuesday, May 20 — a raise of nearly $24,000 a year.
Starting July 1, 2009, when the second of two now planned raises kicks in, Haakenson’s salary will be $125,004. He currently earns $101,412.
Haakenson’s raise was approved by a vote of 5-2, with Councilmembers Steve Bernheim and Deanna Dawson dissenting.
The council took steps to off-set the mayor’s raise, reducing their future councilmember benefit packages by an estimated $31,000 a year.
JUNE
$2,000 raised for student architects
More than 25 citizens have donated nearly $2,000 to the Alliance of Citizens for Edmonds (ACE), as the group tries to raise prize money for student architects who won nothing from Edmonds2030.com.
The Web site had promised up to $15,000 in prizes for redevelopment designs, and collected three entries, but announced after the contest was closed that no monies would be given.
“I think people realize that what the people who offered the award did is the wrong thing to do,” said John Reed, president of ACE. “People are donating to recognize that, and hopefully to help right the wrong.”
Edmonds2030.com was sponsored by Al Dykes and the Edmonds Shopping Center Associates, which owns the 4.3-acre Antique Mall property on Edmonds’ waterfront.
‘Crime wave’ hits east Edmonds
After his jewelry store in east Edmonds near Highway 99 was robbed June 5, Andy Cline, 31, his father Jerry Cline, 59, and two other people chased down the 24-year-old robber, cornered him, tackled him and then waited for police to arrive.
The jewelry store robbery was the third robbery in the shopping center in less than three weeks, and the second one where employees chased robbers into the parking lot and helped detain them.
“It has been really bad,” said John Strazzara, who had $16,000 in merchandise stolen from his A World of Collections cards and collectibles shop in May. “The beautiful veneer of Edmonds is long gone now. We are being affected just like any other community.
JULY
Lou Gehrig’s has opponent in Team
Edmonds Councilmember Peggy Pritchard Olson announced in May that she had Lou Gehrig’s Disease, or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Now, as her friends rally around her, they have decided to spread ALS’s story.
A group of 22 women calling itself Team Peggy has formed with the goal of raising awareness of ALS and supporting Olson.
Hopes fade for endangered home
Plans to save Edmonds’ Pink House as a public building are on life support.
Without much political will to move one of Main Street’s last grand, old homes to Civic Field from Main Street, it looks like saving “it is not going to happen,” said Fred Bell, president of the Edmonds-South Snohomish County Historical Society.
Three fires blamed on weed torches
Sometimes, weeding with a pitchfork just isn’t fast enough. Edmonds’ fire department understands that.
Still, according to fire officials, burning away weeds with propane-fueled torches isn’t a great summer idea, either.
Three different fires have been started in the city in the last week by people trying to burn away their pesky weed problems.
The department is urging homeowners and landscape firms to discontinue the use of torches during the current hot, dry weather.
AUGUST
Boy Scouts help nab burglars at event
A group of nine teenage Boy Scouts helped nab two suspected burglars in Edmonds last weekend.
The Boy Scouts, members of the Edmonds Police Explorers, were providing overnight security for the popular Taste of Edmonds festival, according to police spokesman Sgt. Don Anderson.
The suspects, a 26-year-old man from Seattle and a 22-year-old man from Mill Creek, were arrested by the Edmonds police department.
Six ‘old guarders’ resign en masse
In a series of six e-mails Wednesday morning and afternoon, six members of Edmonds’ South County Senior Center’s “old guard” majority submitted their resignations, effectively halting board operations for at least a week.
The full 15-member board was scheduled on Wednesday night to vote on a controversial provision which would have allowed the senior center’s membership to vote for board members.
Politicians threaten senior center board
Despite many months of turmoil and protests, the members of the South County Senior Center still do not have the right to vote for their board members, a fact which has drawn criticism from Edmonds politicians.
Two days before a scheduled vote which could grant the vote, on Aug. 18, Edmonds’ City Council pressured the board majority by threatening to modify, or revoke, the center’s expiring lease.
Officials want to keep a senior center on Edmonds’ waterfront, they said, but are not sure the current leadership should run it.
“Either this non-profit gets its house in order, or somebody else is going to be operating this senior center in Edmonds,” said Councilmember Deanna Dawson, an executive director for Snohomish County who oversees the center as the director of county human services.
SEPTEMBER
Council drops its ‘waterfront’ vision
Edmonds’ long flirtation with public ownership of the city’s privately-owned “waterfront” properties appears to be over.
“The ball was moving forward,” said council president Michael Plunkett, who has advocated a ballot measure to purchase the properties. “At the moment, the ball has stopped rolling.”
After Mayor Gary Haakenson, “speaking for myself and my staff,” urged the council Sept. 2 to drop the idea of public ownership, the council obliged, voting 4-3 to not spend $20,000 appraising and assessing the properties.
Edmonds Library rebuilt for reading
After a $130,000 facelift and an 18-day closure, the Edmonds Library reopened Sept. 8 re-carpeted and reorganized.
There is a new lounge with views of the Olympic Mountains, a newly defined teen space and a new, permanent place for the ongoing Friends of the Edmonds Library book sale.
Also, the children’s story pit was filled in for safety reasons, library offices were updated, and new carpet was installed throughout the building.
Puget Sound Bird Fest taking flight
When Lauri Hewie left her office job in New York City Friday, Sept. 12, she grabbed her bird book, her binoculars and her camera, and she headed for Edmonds.
Only a few days earlier, Jim Mateski, of Layton, Utah, had done the same thing.
By Saturday morning, they had both landed. They were both here. They were ready for the fourth-annual Puget Sound Bird Fest from Sept. 12-14, a growing event that this year attracted an estimated 500 birders to scan Edmonds’ skies, trees, marshes and waves.
OCTOBER
Forgotten time capsule discovered
A time capsule buried in 1963 at the former Woodway Elementary School, and then forgotten about, has been discovered.
The capsule contains only a simple note — the names of 18 students — but it is fascinating, said one student, who was contacted by the city.
“It was a shocker,” said Don Krebs, 56, who was a fifth-grader in 1963. “It was a total shocker.”
Work crews turning the former school into a future park pulled the note from a one-gallon glass jug in September. They discovered the time capsule accidentally, under dirt that will become a basketball court.
Sisters, Hekinan and Edmonds, celebrate
Three times every year, people in Edmonds or in Hekinan, Japan, pack up a delegation in one city and fly it across the Pacific Ocean to the other. Over 1,000 people have made the trek in the 20 years since Edmonds and Hekinan became Sister Cities, officials said.
Now, after 20 years of cultural exchanges, officials from both cities are preparing to celebrate.
Hekinan’s mayor, its City Council chairman, and many of its citizens will arrive in Edmonds Oct. 27 as part of a week-long visit commemorating the long relationship.
Loud parties could force rental changes
Rental laws in Edmonds could change soon, after a series of loud, drunken parties at a 10-bedroom mansion off Talbot Road drew police attention and citizen complaints.
A proposal before the City Council on Nov. 3 would make it illegal for landlords to rent out homes in single-family neighborhoods for less than 30 days at a time, officials said.
This summer, the Greek-columned mansion in the 8000 block of Cyrus Place regularly hosted large parties. Unruly guests sometimes kept neighbors awake until 5 a.m., and police were called to the house seven times from June through August.
Earlier this year, the homeowner, John Ryan of Lynnwood, started advertising the mansion as a rental on Web sites like Craigslist for prices as low as $695 a night in a “desperate” attempt to pay the house’s $18,000 a month mortgage, Ryan said.
NOVEMBER
Liias, Roberts sent back to Olympia
Rep. Marko Liias, D-Mukilteo, and Rep. Mary Helen Roberts, D-Lynnwood, are headed back to Olympia.
Liias edged Republican challenger Andrew Funk in a race that pitted Washington’s two youngest legislative candidates against each other. Roberts beat Republican challenger Brian Travis.
Crews to remove former Unocal pier
Removal of the former Unocal Pier near Marina Beach Park will begin Nov. 24, restricting some access to the park — and its popular off-leash dog area — until May 2009.
The former fueling pier was abandoned in 1991. It is now rotting and in disrepair.
Officials worry the pier’s creosote-treated timber could leach contaminants, said Joy Goldenberg, a spokesperson with Washington State Ferries.
Edmonds’ Pink House staying put
For months, conservationists tried unsuccessfully to save Edmonds’ Pink House, but where they failed, a slow city government and a devastating global meltdown have succeeded: the landmark Victorian mansion is staying put.
For now.
Instead of the site of a new corporate headquarters, the home at 555 Main St. will be rented for the next 12 months as a residence, said officials with MaverickLabel.com, the Edmonds-based sticker and label distributor that purchased the house for $1.1 million in January.
City taxes, fees to jump by $4.5 million
A combination of raised taxes and new fees will cost Edmonds residents — and their insurance companies — $4.5 million in 2009 and 2010.
The increases were approved Nov. 18 by the city council.
For months, city officials have warned increases were coming, as officials confronted a $5.4 million shortfall during the 2009-2010 budget.
Bumps in utility and cable TV taxes will cost the average Edmonds household about $86 a year, netting the city about $860,000 a year, and increased business license and development services fees will net the city about $150,000 a year.
Also, for the first time, the city’s fire department will charge transport fees in 2009, a move that should raise $700,000 to pay for ambulance services. Most insurance plans will cover those transport fees for insured residents, officials said.
Also, in 2009 the city will start charging all Edmonds drivers a new $20 car tab fee to pay for street maintenance.
Council member resigns for D.C. job
Edmonds Councilmember Deanna Dawson is leaving office, and Edmonds, for a new job in Washington, D.C.
Dawson has served as a councilmember for seven years, winning her first election in 2001. She was the council’s president in 2006.
She said her new job will be as director of the federal courts program for Justice at Stake, a non-profit organization working to keep American courts fair, impartial and independent.
DECEMBER
Edmonds to delay most drastic cuts
Yost Pool is off the chopping block — for now.
Two weeks after raising taxes and fees by $4.5 million by 2010, Edmonds’ City Council signaled its intent to delay millions of dollars of “draconian” program cuts for as long as possible, which might only be until 2011.
That’s two years later than earlier proposals, which would have seen the closure of the city’s only public pool, the elimination of DARE, and all city crime prevention and economic development, as soon as Jan. 1, 2009.
The council unanimously approved the budget Dec. 2.
Salary hikes could cost $1 million
Pay raises for Edmonds’ roughly 230 union employees are set at between 5.5 and 6.2 percent for 2009, and raises for the city’s other 43 non-union employees will be 5.8 percent.
The cost of the non-union raises would be about $205,000, and would go into effect Jan. 1, 2009, said Debi Humann, the city’s human resources director.
The cost of the union pay increases is about $800,000, she said.
Rising prices are forcing the city’s hand, Mayor Gary Haakenson said.
City’s stimulus wish list $9.2 million long
From Washington, D.C., and from Olympia, the refrain is the increasingly same: This recession demands a job-creating stimulus package.
From Edmonds, the response has been quick: If you have money, we have ways to spend it.
Sidewalks, walking trails, lighting improvements on downtown Edmonds’ Main Street and more mundane projects are all included in the city’s 11 project, $9.2 million “stimulus package” wish list.
Popular car show canned by Chamber
Hot Autumn Nites, Edmonds’ largest car show, might have revved its final engine.
For years, the popular car show has drawn hundreds of cars and thousands of tourists to downtown on the first Saturday in September, but it has been cancelled for next year, officials with the Greater Edmonds Chamber of Commerce have confirmed.
The cancellation of Hot Autumn Nites will save time for a taxed Chamber staff, said chamber president Jim Hills.
But killing a popular event that brings people to town is the wrong move for the chamber to take in a tight economy, some critics said.
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