Disqus - Latest Comments for teg24601

Re: Pool boosters wade into septic analysis

Thomas Gill — Sun, 01 Mar 2020 11:14:14 -0000

Why not save that money, and build in Langley, where the water and sewer system could easily accommodate a pool? Would seem like a logical thing to do.

Re: Letter: Langley shouldn’t subsidize merchants’ employees

Thomas Gill — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 13:09:55 -0000

2nd Street did not drain resources. The city saved money to replace the water lines, improve storm drainage, and took a loan out to rebuild the road way, as it was substandard.

There are only two logical places on Whidbey to allow growth, Oak Harbor and Langley. Langley needs growth to reduce the tax burden on its residents, as well as reducing the future costs for water and sewer.

The Langley infrastructure bond came about because while the city could save up money to do these major repairs and replacements, it couldn't do it in a timely fashion, before there was catastrophic failures to the system, which would drain funds further, and kick more critical projects down the road.

The city is serious about affordable housing, as our service industry jobs, which is what backs the tourism portion of our economy, is unlikely to have high paying jobs. Between Fred and Tim, along with investments in our local utilities, we have been able to attract knowledge workers, but those jobs are typically individual (with a few exceptions) and don't support multiple people with a living wage. As a result, the city introduced and enhanced rules for ADUs, as well as Tiny Houses. The city has also worked to reduce hookup fees for ADUs and Tiny Homes, to reduce the burdens to adding these options to the community. The city is currently working to reduce barriers for new construction, and the barriers to hopefully make construction cheaper, and consequently the homes themselves can be more affordable. On top of that, expansion of the multi-family use is another project underway to allow 3+ units in a single property in various places in the city.

Additionally, more connections will reduce the overall cost to residents of utilities.

Re: Letter: Water infrastructure bond is not well thought out

Thomas Gill — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 14:13:51 -0000

Most of East Langley is in favor of Sewer, Stormwater, and upgraded freshwater systems. If they weren't, the neighborhood would not be overflowing with "Yes" signs. Many of the long-term residents are still upset that they were not provided sewer services when the system was expanded in 1990-1992, yet they had to pay for the treatment plant. It is unconscionable for any city, let alone a city with a "sensitive" bluff to not have sewer services available to all of its residents. On top of that, the amount of water that currently infiltrates from the surface into the shallow topsoil layer, and the amount of water in the lower soil layers from septic systems needs to be diverted elsewhere, lest the very people opposed to plan, have their properties undermined, more than they already are or have been.

Re: Letter: Reject the water system bond, focus on repairs

Thomas Gill — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 17:18:18 -0000

There is no automatic up zoning upon sewers being completed. That was removed from the zoning code about 8 years ago. The costs to hookup are not immediate, but only when you reach one of the triggers (massive remodel/expansion, septic failure, or home sale). Right now, the massive amounts of water going into the land, especially from the bluff side residents, is a major contributing factor. As is the upland residences, storm water, wetlands, and other water activities. If trees are a major factor in reducing runoff, why are there not more trees being planted by the residents of Edgecliff?

We have to do something to start getting the water out of the ground in East Langley, and sewer and stormwater are the only tools we have to do that.

We also need more affordable housing. The best tool for that is ADUs, and ADUs may only be constructed where there is sewer. Many of the lots in Langley are at their maximum coverage, but East Langley, with it 15000 and 7200 square foot lots, are perfect for an ADU or two, and actually help with housing in our community.

Additionally, without the levy measure passing, the work will still need to be done and paid for. The current estimate for water rate increases, city wide is $20 per month if the levy fails. And there will be similar rate hikes for sewer and stormwater. However, this modest increase to property taxes being proposed, would allow the water rate increase to be about $5, similar for sewer and storm water. Regardless of the bump, they will still have grow by the inflation rate each year thereafter, but this measure is the cheapest alternative to repair the existing infrastructure in Langley, and to provide services to the city, that as a city, it is unconscionable were not included in the last system expansion in 1990.

Re: County planners want residents talking trash

Thomas Gill — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 12:37:13 -0000

It would be helpful if the County could work with the various communities to have drop boxes for cardboard, paperboard, plastics, and glass... like we used to have, it would make it much easier for people to recycle. Having to store these items, especially in a small space is burdensome on residents, and requiring weekly garbage pickup is overkill. My parents fill two trash cans in 6 weeks, so it is much cheaper for them to take their garbage and recycling when needed and spend $11 every six week, than the exorbitant charges for curbside pickup that we charge in this county.

Re: Housing shortage may be impacting enrollment

Thomas Gill — Mon, 04 Feb 2019 11:58:28 -0000

Take "maybe" off the table, it IS impacting enrollment. We lost a lot of people to jobs and cheaper rent when we had the recession. Now thanks to NIMBY residents and high costs to build, we have very few places where families can afford to live in this county, South Whidbey, especially, that that, in turn DOES impact enrollment.

Re: Drawing to a close

Thomas Gill — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 16:33:57 -0000

Wonderful article... missing one important detail... How much is she looking to sell the store for?

Re: Public hearing set on climate change measure

Thomas Gill — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 16:29:39 -0000

The original fee program that was presented to the city in the past, assessed the fee, then paid the fees to the residents of the state quarterly as a stipend, for them to invest in green energy or other purposes as they saw fit (increasing home heating/cooling efficiencies, insulation, more efficient vehicles, green energy from PSE, etc). However, between that point and when the initiative was written, this was morphed into the government investing in green technologies, which sounds good in theory, but rarely makes a big impact in the time suggested.

Re: Short-term rentals, long-term controversy

Thomas Gill — Sun, 26 Aug 2018 15:37:10 -0000

That is what the moratorium is intended to do. The problem is the only framework the city has for these uses is B&B, which requires an onsite manager. The PAB is already hard at work getting a new code developed that allows the moratorium to be limited, and this use of ones property to be allowed. The biggest question is where to allow it outright, where to make it a conditional use, and were to restrict it (if anywhere); along with if there should be different rules for those who rent full-time, part-time (i.e. winter), or just a few weekends a year. PAB meets the first Wednesday of each month at 3pm at City Hall, and we are always interested in what the public has to say.

Re: New fireworks rules in effect

Thomas Gill — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 17:18:50 -0000

9.05.060 Sale – Hours of sale and discharge.

B. Hours of Discharge. The city of Langley restricts the discharge of common fireworks to July 4th only of each year. The times of discharge shall be from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (Midnight)

Re: There’s a simple alternative to roundabouts

Thomas Gill — Sat, 03 Feb 2018 12:26:03 -0000

They already studied the overpass idea, and it would reach maximum capacity much faster than a roundabout, and cost a lot more to build. Roundabout are great, work all over the world, and due to their size, will not impact trucks. They were added to the Guide Meridian in the last 10 years (Bellingham to Lynden) and there have been fewer accidents (as people are usually more attentive), and zero issues with trucks.

Re: Shoudy chosen as mayor pro tem

Thomas Gill — Thu, 11 Jan 2018 12:26:49 -0000

For at least 4 years, Rene Neff was Mayor Pro-Tem in Langley (I think it might have actually be closer to 6 or 8 years), at the very least the 4 years prior to my appointment at Mayor Pro-Tem.

Re: Portland’s on the Verge of Fending Off Two Highway Widening Projects

Thomas Gill — Thu, 29 Jun 2017 19:19:33 -0000

Of course adding lanes increases traffic, it encourages people to get off the surface streets and makes them safer for bikes, and allows transit to function more consistently.

Re: Today in Apple history: Macintosh LC 580 is ready for school

Thomas Gill — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 12:25:11 -0000

They were great to work on, with the removable logic board, and they had the PPC upgrade socket. My High School even had one without a CD drive.

Re: Simon Pegg Explains Where Carol Marcus Was During ‘Star Trek Beyond’

Thomas Gill — Thu, 04 Aug 2016 19:00:23 -0000

Glad there wasn't a mention about Genesis. It is about 10-15 years early for that in Universe.

Re: Japan Will Make Its Last Ever VCR This Month

Thomas Gill — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 14:23:09 -0000

I can see BetaMax being the Vinyl of video, but not VHS. In fact, VHSD might even be a better candidate, or LaserDisk.

Re: STAR TREK 2017 to Film at Pinewood Toronto Studios

Thomas Gill — Sun, 01 May 2016 10:19:34 -0000

Toronto is at about the same Latitude as Northern California, and within a short distance, you not only have tons of wilderness in Ontario, but it is a short trip to Quebec, Labrador, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, each with their own geography, and geographic features that could really revitalize the alien-ness of worlds, instead of shooting on the Universal backlot, and whatever desert like location they can find in and near LA.

Re: Oregon Local News - State agrees: Portland traffic stalls economy

Thomas Gill — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 14:17:37 -0000

More transit isn't a bad idea, but at-grade transit will get stuck in traffic, and it won't solve the problem. Subway, Elevate Rail, or Monorail may be a good solution, especially if they are used, with few stops, to move people to designated hubs/transit centers, and they can transfer to local lines. The system where every line is a local line, doesn't solve congestion, just spend a little time in any city simulator, and you will see that.

Re: Oregon Local News - State agrees: Portland traffic stalls economy

Thomas Gill — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 14:09:26 -0000

Changing at least one of those ramps to two lanes would help, or move 26E to the Ross Island Bridge traffic back downtown.

Re: Oregon Local News - State agrees: Portland traffic stalls economy

Thomas Gill — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 14:08:34 -0000

I was actually thinking of an expressway or boulevard (hell a one-way couplet would help) along the Prescott corridor, it could connect to 84 on one end, and 405 on the other.

Re: Oregon Local News - State agrees: Portland traffic stalls economy

Thomas Gill — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 15:15:24 -0000

At least a monorail won't get stuck in traffic like the Portland Streetcar does on Grand and MLK.

Re: Oregon Local News - State agrees: Portland traffic stalls economy

Thomas Gill — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 15:14:46 -0000

Sounds like more reason for another cross-city freeway/expressway/boulevard, as I-84 is far beyond capacity.

Re: Nicholas Meyer Confirms 4K Plans for STAR TREK II

Thomas Gill — Sun, 13 Mar 2016 14:24:13 -0000

Given all the work done for the TWOK BluRay release, is was disappointing that it wasn't the Director's Cut, and was instead the original theatrical cut.

Re: How to get iOS 9’s “picture in picture” video mode on your Mac

Thomas Gill — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 16:37:12 -0000

You could just use VLC or iTunes and keep the Window on Top.

Re: ‘El Crapitan:’ The biggest problems plaguing early upgraders

Thomas Gill — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 13:53:28 -0000

I am having none of these issues. The only issue I had was with gaming, but with a video driver directly from NVIDIA the problem went away.

Of course, I did a Restore of Yosemite in June, which might help. I'll bet 90% of the people with these issues have never wiped and reinstalled their systems... with is something I do ever 18 to 24 months.