Do you know who your neighbors are?
How about the neighbors who inhabit Bothell’s bunker, located at 130 228th St. S.W.? That’s right. Bothell has an underground bunker, built in the cold-war era of the 1960s that measures 120 by 140 feet, contains 450 tons of steel reinforcement and the walls and roof range from 12 to 36 inches thick. The bunker now serves as permanent headquarters for Region 10’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a division of the Department of Homeland Security.
Almost 12 months since I began writing for the Reporter, I am sitting in a hotel room in an uncharacteristically rainy Baltimore with more luggage than I will need for college beside me, feeling full of what I can’t wait to nostalgically describe as something like “pre-college naivete” or “oblivious innocence.”
Marine Corps lieutenant Meagan Reed, Bothell High grad of 2002, received the Bothell High Alumni Association scholarship that year with plans to enter Whitman College. What followed makes me dizzy just trying to absorb all of her many accomplishments over such a few years. Meagan “can’t wait until our first reunion,” she wrote to association president Chuck Kaysner, class of 1963.
This morning, I drove to Redmond Town Center to meet a friend for lunch. On my way there, I had listened to musicians like Jason Mraz, Colbie Caillat, Chris Brown and Coldplay on the radio, all the while thinking that I really ought to be listening to NPR and catching up on political news instead. When finally I mustered the willpower to leave Mraz behind, I found that NPR was also playing music; and what’s the point of listening to music on NPR when I can listen to whichever music I want? Goodbye NPR jazz, hello Mraz.
Bothell Way (State Route 522) is a critical transportation corridor for north King County residents. However, it is congested, demand for park-and-ride spaces exceeds capacity and buses are crowded. With the state considering tolling the State Route 520 bridge, the transportation situation along Bothell Way might get worse. If tolled, many commuters will bypass the bridge and use alternate routes, particularly Bothell Way, to avoid paying the toll.
Revisiting Reporter’s accident article
Ah, perfection. We’d all like to achieve it, but — let’s get serious — none of us ever will.
Nancy Christian’s first day driving a Northshore school bus didn’t go as planned.
“I had 60 Kokanee (Elementary) children on board that day,” she recalls.
She turned the corner from 240th Street Southeast onto 35th Avenue Southeast, allowing herself and the big yellow bus ample room to make the corner. However, the car sitting on 35th decided to pull forward a wee bit, thus throwing off Nancy’s calculations. The right rear tire of the bus fell into the ditch, the ditch she so desperately wanted to avoid, throwing the bus into a lean.
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”
Since these truly feel to be the dog days of August, I’ll take another swing at a collection of “Sub Blurbs” by covering several topics.
There’s a peacefulness looking out over the wetlands from the shared campus of Cascadia Community College and the University of Washington, Bothell (see page 9 for photo).
A few years ago, I put my daughter on an airplane to Europe. I didn’t want her to fly, but train travel would have been difficult.
E-mailing is first on the continuum of technological intimacy. Next comes instant messenger, then texting and, finally, the telephone. My generation grew up on communication technology; we develop thumb problems from texting and we feel like we’re missing something as essential as underwear when we go out without our cell phones. Anyone who went to junior high since the advent of the Internet and instant messenger understands the continuum: when you’ve been texting or IM-ing another 13-year-old of the opposite sex and suddenly he or she wants to call you, that’s a big leap.
The July 23 Reporter article “Bothell reels in Kenmore’s city manager” did not give fair representation to my ideas. From my notes, this is what I said at the City Council meeting July 14:
A wide cross-section of Bothell’s citizenry told elected city officials last week just how much they love the Park at Bothell Landing — just as it is. In fact, they declared emphatic support for expanding the urban park as a treasured public, open space not to be frittered away to surface parking lots and huge, out-of-scale public structures.
Dear Friends, Partners and Community Members,
Barbara Donnelly is at it again.
Hard to believe there ever was a time when retail stores didn’t open their doors on Sundays until noon in respect for families whose Sunday mornings were reserved for church.
The cozy house nestled among the trees, azaleas and rhododendrons of Rhododendron Park is home to Kenmore’s Senior Center.
I don’t eat burgers, but this summer I am working at a burger joint. The irony of this is a small price to pay for the sake of earning my own money and having the experience of being a waitress, which thus far has taught me how to deal with frustrated customers, split tips and mop a floor — and, ultimately, how to be an adult.
