CLIMATE COMMITMENT ACT

No on I-2117

Thanks to Representative Joe Fitzgibbon for getting Washington State’s Climate Commitment Act (CCA) passed in 2021.

This act collects billions of dollars from the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the state and provides a path for them to reduce their emissions. The money funds electric school buses, ferries, wildfire risk reduction, salmon recovery, and much more.

This fall, Initiative 2117 will be on the Washington State ballot. It would stop the state from collecting CCA funds, and thus stop or slow these worthwhile projects that help clean our air and improve our health.

Thanks also to Joe for being part of the group discussing the value of the CCA with The Seattle Times Editorial Board when they met to decide what position to take on I-2117. They have recommended a NO vote. I do too.

Please vote NO on I-2117.

Virginia Lohr

BACK TO SCHOOL

We’re here for you

Welcome students, parents and guardians, staff, and the community to the 2024-2025 school year.

The back-to-school photos have been shared with family and friends and the excitement and expectation of a new school year fill the halls and classrooms of our schools with positive energy. As your School Board, we want to share our overarching priorities and goals for the district:

• To achieve fiscal solvency and sustainability.

• To increase student and staff success, satisfaction, confidence, and sense of belonging.

• To create a high functioning School Board team committed to collaborative governance.

We are asking you to help us meet these goals by communicating with us, the administration, and staff at our schools. Everyone is welcome to attend school booard meetings in person or online. Expect to see us out and about, listening to you. Together, we can continue to support a vibrant learning community.

School board members Lucia Armenta, Juniper Rogneby, Kaycie Alanis, River Branch and Martha Woodard

PASSPORT2PAIN

It’s a wrap

The 14th annual Passport2Pain (P2P) bicycle ride is in the books, and the Vashon Island Rowing Club wants to thank the community for its support and patience with the more than three hundred riders out on the roads last Saturday.

Riders reported that they had a great time, and between registrations and sponsorships, the ride once again raised more than $30,000 for local charities Vashon Food Bank, Vashon Youth and Family Services, One Village (Journeymen) and the youth rowing program.

The ride was supported by more than 150 volunteers, several of whom stepped forward from the community at large. This was very much appreciated. The rowing club wants to continue to make this a community event.

We had some rain this year in the afternoon and riders were asked to return directly to Jensen Point and get off the hills. Many did — but they aren’t called “Idiots” for nothing, so some persevered to the soaking end.

This year’s “community ignominy trophy” has to be awarded to the enterprising individual or individuals who took it upon themselves to paint erroneous and misleading directions on the highway. Not only did it throw the early part of the ride into a serious disarray, but since they chose to use oil-based fluorescent spray paint (unlike the dissolvable chalk we use for marking the course) their handiwork will be visible for quite some time. We apologize for all the extra paint used to counteract the sabotage.

C’mon folks, this is a charity event, and this kind of stunt will just serve to lower ridership in the future and reduce the amount that goes to island charities. We are better than this behavior.

P2P Chair Pat Call