Comings & Goings

If you’re not convinced that Hampden can sustain another coffee shop, don’t mention your concern to Susan Weis-Bohlen, owner of breathe books. She’s been energetically raising funds to launch a cafe in the bookstore’s converted house, on the Avenue, that will spill out onto the wraparound porch when the weather is warm. “Book sales are down,” Weis-Bohlen says. “We have to adapt to the new reality,” which includes expanding into new areas of business.

The place aims to fill a niche, eschewing white flour and white sugar in its menu of vegan, gluten-free, and Ayurvedic-influenced treats prepared by Renee and Don Gorman, once of the health-foody Puffins in Pikesville and, more recently, fixtures at the Waverly farmers market. Weis-Bohlen also hired Joanne Goshen, of the defunct Louie’s Bookstore Cafe, as cafe manager. “Louie’s has been in my head the whole time,” Weis-Bohlen says. “When Joanne sent her resume, I thought, This is unreal.”

When the Volstead Act was set down in 1919, the Martick family began selling moonshine from its tiny grocery store on West Mulberry Street. At one point, Harry Martick was sent to a Pennsylvania prison for selling liquor to a federal agent. The legendary Martick’s operated post-prohibition as a legitimate bar, frequented by artists and writers, and, beginning in the 1970s, as a fine dining institution helmed by Harry’s son Morris. Sometime soon, the spot will reopen, taking on a new persona while remaining saturated in its storied past. The newest incarnation will be a speakeasy, with small tables, sofas, and classic cocktails inside, a discreet entrance with no signage and a bell for entry―designed to encourage an aura of exclusivity―on the outside.The partners are Morris’ octogenarian brother Alex and nephew Steve Shockett, both attorneys who share office space, along with Brooks Bennett, who has been involved in restaurant projects in Harford County, Towson, and Baltimore City. “This is not a reproduction,” says Shockett. “We’ve got the original tile floors and tin ceiling. It’ll be the real deal.”

But all the rest is there - same suspension system, same 17-inch alloys, same auto with its very good gear Logic Control and hill-start assist, same audio with its controls and Bluetooth integrated into the steering wheel, same climate-control air conditioning, and the same level of safety specification which has given it a five-star crash rating.

It drives well, too. Naturally, power is down when compared to the AWD CRV, because the engine is smaller in capacity. But performance is still sound thanks to the capability of Honda's 2.0-litre i-VTEC engine, which offers 114 kW of power and 190 Nm of torque.

Body size and interior dimensions are identical to the AWD Sport model. That means this SUV is smaller in size, but bigger on the inside. The vehicle's length is 30mm shorter and height is 30mm lower when compared to the previous- generation model, but thanks to advances in materials and good design, the interior headroom remains the same and shoulder width has gone up by 75mm.

The only real change is that the rear seats are now 40mm lower than before. But the hip points of those seats remain higher than those at the front, which means rear seat visibility is still good.

Honda tells us the 2012 CRV's body and glass have been completely redesigned in the interests of improved visibility - and it is good - and what I like are the location and feel of the steering wheel plus the highish positioning of the transmission.

New in this model is a central LED screen that displays information ranging from average speed, to kilometres to empty. It also displays audio and Bluetooth hands-free information, the controls for which are mounted on the steering wheel.

One reason people buy SUV-style vehicles is to enjoy more rear load space, and this new CRV has had this area increased from 524 litres to a very good 589 litres. And, thanks to Honda's Magic Seat system, the rear seats now have the ability to lay completely flat, which can increase maximum cargo space to 1669 litres. That's a massive amount of space.

The S also has Honda's Econ operating mode which, at the push of a button, alters the CRV's electronic throttle so it doesn't respond as much to accelerator pedal input. It also has the Eco Assist feature which changes the colour of panels either side of the rev counter to encourage efficient driving - white for inefficient, green for efficient.

All this allowed me to achieve an average fuel consumption better than the stated 7.7 L/100 km, which is very good for any SUV-shaped petrol vehicle, even if it is front-driven.

Having already spent quite an amount of time behind the wheel of the new CRV Sport, I did find that at times the smaller- engined S version was slightly lacking in grunt. But I also found it to be quieter and with a better ride. So overall that's a nice balance of what you get, and what you don't, when compared to its CRV sibling that retails for $9000 more.

Even if that means inviting controversy. In GTA III, the player could make use of the services of a prostitute to bolster his health - and then kill her afterwards to get his money back. There was an immediate chorus of disapproval from concerned groups, but Rockstar refused to engage them after pointing out that its games are for adults, not children. The company had a point - last year, a report from Bond University in Queensland found that the average age of gamers in Australia is 32.

"We were always an easy target," says Houser. "Even when our most violent and antisocial game, Manhunt [where the player has to commit a series of increasingly gruesome murders], came out in 2003, the film Saw 3, which is far more violent, was being lauded as a slasher classic.

"Interacting with a system, as one does in a game, is no better or worse than looking at pictures or reading words in a book. I don't think society is in great shape, but I don't think video games have caused the problems."

In Australia, GTA III was refused an MA15+ classification due to its "sexualised violence"; with no R18+ rating for video games available here, copies were pulled from shelves.

Rockstar also became the specific target of proposed US legislation to limit the actions of video-game characters, with Hillary Clinton calling for a probe on video-game violence. "[Children are] playing a game that encourages them to have sex with prostitutes and then murder them. That's kind of hard to digest," she said in a 2005 speech.

Lawsuits followed, many brought before the courts by Florida attorney and religious crusader Jack Thompson, who claimed he wouldn't be happy until Rockstar was out of business. When GTA: Vice City was released, it immediately became obvious that Rockstar had no intention of tempering the brashness of the series. But it was with the release of GTA: San Andreas two years later that the company would face its most famous - and most expensive - controversy.

Although GTA: San Andreas was awash with gang violence, the game was eventually banned in a number of countries, including Australia, because of a hidden piece of code, accessible to just a handful of particularly technologically adept gamers. Almost a year after its release, a Dutch hacker

released a patch for the PC version of the game which unlocked a piece of code that allowed the player to have sex, albeit dressed, with his in-game girlfriend - and thus gain health - by pressing a series of buttons.
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The lawsuits kept coming, this time with claimants accusing Rockstar of having misrepresented the game's content. The presence of sexualised content on the disc meant the game would need reclassifying. The cost of amending and rebranding GTA: San Andreas, and settling class-action suits, ended up in the tens of millions of dollars.

The new sequel is due out early next year and Houser calls its central protagonist, Trevor, "the most psychopathic in GTA history". He adds: "If people don't like it they are always free to not play it."

Parking As Residential Incentive: Where?

Most recently, at the Dec. 19 meeting of the DDA’s operations committee, the discussion focused on location: For which of the six public parking structures would monthly permits be sold? The developer of the 624 Church St. project would prefer that the project be allowed to buy permits in the Forest parking structure.

The Forest facility, a joint venture of the DDA and the University of Michigan, is the structure closest to the proposed residential development. According to the developer’s Nov. 28 submittal to the city, the 13-story project would include more than 80,000 square feet of new floor area with the following configuration of apartments: 11 one-bedroom; 21 two-bedroom; 33 three-bedroom; and 11 four-bedroom units. That’s a total of 76 apartments, with 196 bedrooms.

The developer, Opus Development Corp., has already won approval from the DDA’s board to satisfy the project’s parking requirement without providing onsite spaces – by instead using the contribution in lieu (CIL) program. The CIL provides an option to purchase monthly permits, but the cost is at a rate 20% higher than standard pricing.

Discussion by the DDA operations committee on Dec. 19 centered around the issue of fairness: Would allowing the purchase of permits in the Forest structure give the developer of the 624 Church St. project an unfair competitive advantage in the South University area rental market? Raising the fairness issue was DDA board member Roger Hewitt, who owns Revive + Replenish, which is a tenant in the ground floor of the Zaragon Place on East University. Zaragon is a nine-story apartment building with almost 250 bedrooms, catering to the student rental market.

Other board members did not perceive the issue to be problematic, from the perspective of fairness to already-existing projects. And Susan Pollay, executive director of the DDA, pointed out that the decision to allow a project to purchase monthly parking permits is a tool that’s available to the DDA to help make a private development possible that otherwise would not be. In the case of 624 Church St., building parking spaces on that site isn’t feasible. Hewitt was concerned that the strategy – if the DDA allowed permits to be purchased at a structure very near to projects – might result in an incentive for developers in the future not to build any onsite parking.

The committee’s discussion was inconclusive, but committee members indicated they wanted to develop a formal policy on which parking structures would be chosen for monthly permits sold under the CIL program. The 624 Church St. project is due to come before the city planning commission on Jan. 15, so the developer would prefer to have the issue settled by then. But given the DDA’s desire first to establish a policy that would guide this and future decisions, it’s unlikely it will be finalized as early as mid-January.

Based on the committee’s discussion, capacity in the parking system does not appear currently to be a limiting factor on selling CIL permits. The committee also reviewed the latest monthly parking data, which shows continued increased usage of the new underground garage, Library Lane.

Revenues per space in the Library Lane structure are now beginning to approach those of on-street parking spaces, but are still the lowest of any facility in the system. That’s due in part to a discounted rate offered to induce holders of permits in other structures to move to Library Lane.

Also of interest at the operations committee meeting was a draft policy for holding events on top of the Library Lane structure, including the closure of the mid-block cut-through, Library Lane itself.

Roger Hewitt raised two issues of concern to him – fairness and the unintended consequence of giving an incentive to developers not to provide onsite parking spaces. He also felt there could potentially be a legal liability for the DDA.

On the fairness question, Susan Pollay – executive director of the DDA – indicated that the kind of judgments involved were already being made in the context of the DDA’s regular monthly parking permits program. She wondered what the legal liability could be. Hewitt responded by saying that if a developer spends millions of extra dollars to add parking spaces to a project, and a different developer in the future simply asks the DDA to purchase monthly permits, the project that’s been granted the right to satisfy parking requirements by purchasing permits could become a more profitable project.

Hewitt feared the DDA would be incentivizing developers not to build onsite parking spaces. So he floated the idea that if N spaces were required, then only some percentage of N would be provided in a structure located close to the project. For example, he said, if the project needs 40 spaces, then perhaps 10% – or four spaces – would be provided in a location close to the project, with the rest provided elsewhere in the system.

Pollay again questioned whether there was any actual legal liability. DDA board member Joan Lowenstein, an attorney, indicated she didn’t think there was a legal problem – and the matter of fairness was one that’s to be addressed through an administrative process.

Hewitt reiterated his position – he was worried that in the future, because of the availability of the monthly permit options, “nobody builds parking.” DDA board member John Splitt ventured that it’s not completely clear whether a project that satisfies its parking requirement through the purchase of monthly permits would be more profitable than one that builds onsite spaces. He said the DDA doesn’t know what the return on the investment for a private developer is – one who charges residents for the use of an onsite parking space – to build those spaces. Hewitt ventured that the return is less than building “student dorm space.”

Pollay noted that the DDA was established to encourage new development, to increase TIF (tax increment financing), and that the contribution in lieu (CIL) of parking is specifically designed to encourage residential development. She stated that the only way the 624 Church St. project could be built – due to constraints of the site configuration – is if the CIL program were available.

DDA board member Leah Gunn noted that the only open question is the location of the monthly permits – because the board had already voted to allow 624 Church St. to purchase monthly permits somewhere in the system. She wondered if it were possible to sell some of the permits in the Forest structure and some elsewhere.

The conversation circled back to the question of fairness. Pollay asked if Hewitt was worried about fairness with respect to future projects or current projects? Hewitt seemed to indicate that fairness would dictate that existing projects should also have the option to obtain permits under the CIL program. Pollay stated that projects like Landmark and Zaragon Place are already built – so she didn’t see it as a fairness problem.

Landmark and Zaragon have onsite parking spaces, and those developments are renting the spaces to their tenants, Pollay noted. So Pollay said it seemed to her like those projects built parking spaces onsite because they chose to. Lowenstein ventured that it’s a competitive market, so the availability of onsite parking could be an advantage.

On the issue of fairness, Gunn asked if it was fair for Google’s parking permits to be subsidized initially, but not the parking spaces for Barracuda Networks. She allowed that employees of Barracuda are still getting a deal, because of the discount that the DDA has applied (for anyone, not just for Barracuda) to the cost of permits in the new underground Library Lane structure.

Gunn came back to her point that the DDA had already determined that the public parking system had adequate capacity to sell 40 permits to the 624 Church St. project. The only question is where, she said. Responding to concerns voiced again by Hewitt, Splitt suggested that the question of location could require “a bit more of a deeper dive.” Splitt didn’t want the choice of location for the permits to translate into a disincentive to construct onsite parking spaces.

Pollay suggested putting off a decision and asking city planning staff for their input. She suggested forming a subcommittee. Gunn wanted clarification: Would the subcommittee focus just on the 40 permits for 624 Church St.? Hewitt stated that the subcommittee should work on a general policy on location, saying, “We need a policy to defend in public.” Splitt wondered if it might not be possible to approve the 40 spaces for 624 Church St. in a particular location without the general policy. Pollay suggested that it might be worth hearing from the DDA’s legal counsel.

Northwest Travel: Nehalem Bay

One of the simple pleasures of being a writer is that I am sometimes able to join two names of decidedly different eras in a single stream of consciousness ― such as those of Fig Walnut and Sir Francis Drake.

Although Drake’s lifetime and that of Ms. Walnut missed overlapping by nearly four centuries, both individuals have ties to the estuary of the Nehalem River, at the northern edge of Tillamook County on the Oregon Coast.

Recent historical research suggests that Drake spent five weeks within the Nehalem River mouth in the summer of 1579, during which time he made extensive repairs on his ship, the Golden Hind.

For centuries he was believed to have harbored on the Northern California coast, claiming “Nova Albion" (New Britain) for Queen Elizabeth I. But historians have discovered that Drake falsified many of his maps and journal entries to hide his actual location from the Spanish. Plentiful new evidence suggests that it was here, at the foot of a mountain the Tillamook Indians called “Neah-kah-nie," that the British privateer found a quiet haven.

The very fact that Drake slept here gives credence to a longtime local legend ― that a chest of pirate treasure is buried on the slopes of Neahkahnie Mountain, which rises 1,795 feet above the Pacific Ocean near the resort village of Manzanita.

This story is not unknown to Fig Walnut. She adopted the stage name some years ago to accent her work as a jazz singer (she has several recordings) and a textile artist. She is also the bartender at Dixie Lee’s Vino Manzanita wine bar, and it was in this capacity that she advised me to climb the mountain.

The 1?-mile hike to the summit actually took me closer to an hour, even though I took off from the higher of the two trailheads. (The north trailhead, beginning on U.S. Highway 101 in Oswald West State Park, is an extension of the Oregon Coastal Trail; I started a mile nearer to Manzanita, off a short gravel road that wound up the hillside.)

The walk was steeper than I had anticipated, like Pilot Butte times three. I counted 14 switchbacks on the lower slopes alone. Cut through sword ferns and the thorny stalks of salmonberries bereft of summer fruit, the trail was well maintained, but it was muddy in patches from a rainstorm that had passed through the night before.

I often found myself scrambling over Sitka spruce roots so thick they formed gnarled staircases in the mountainside. More than once I stumbled.

The switchbacks ceased where the trail crossed a primitive road. It then wound around Neahkahnie’s northeastern flank. Far below me, I could see and hear loggers at work. But the trail’s ascent was gentle from here until the very end, where it zigzagged twice more over a ridge to the mountain’s seaward side, just beneath a final rocky pinnacle.

Fig was right: The view was stunning, despite a light haze blowing in from the Pacific that kept it from being absolutely crystal clear. This was a treasure worth holding in memory. Row after row of ocean surf washed a perfect, crescent-shaped beach that stretched for miles to the south. Behind the golden sand in the near distance, the homes of Manzanita protruded through a forest of shore pine.

Beyond the beach, the Nehalem River jetty marked the point where Drake must have entered the harbor. It broadened into a shallow but placid anchorage where one might easily have imagined a medieval galleon finding moorage.

At the Nehalem Valley Historical Society, volunteer Lila Hendrickson told me that Indian lore first enticed early settlers to look for Neahkahnie’s pirate treasure in the 19th century. Since 1890, when the first of several carved rocks were discovered at various places around the mountain, small fortunes have been invested ― and a few lives lost ― trying to decipher the glyphs to find the treasure. Yet it remains a mystery.

In the sands of Manzanita Beach, at the foot of Neahkahnie Mountain, a different sort of treasure has been found: Beeswax. Once prized in candle-making before man learned to harness electricity, beeswax washed ashore from a shipwreck here between 1694 and 1705. Historical records confirm that a Spanish galleon was blown off course while en route from Manila to the missions of Mexico and California.

“They’ve even found Philippine bees in the wax," Hendrickson assured me. She showed me several pieces of beeswax kept behind the counter of the historical museum. “People are still finding it on the beach, all the time," she said.

“We use a process called ‘scavo,’ which is Italian for unearthed," Roger Crosta explained to me. “It’s an obscure Venetian technique that requires sifting a mix of organic compounds on an unformed glass piece, then blowing and shaping it without tools. It’s all hand-blown, but it’s rough in texture and looks like it’s been dug up after hundreds of years."

Laneda Avenue, Manzanita’s main street, is about eight blocks long from Highway 101 to the Pacific Ocean. En route, it passes two banks, the town library, city hall and a slew of small shops that include a couple of galleries, two bookstores, two grocery stores, several beachwear stores and a pet boutique.

There are even two spas serving the community. And recreational purveyors offer bicycles, surfboards and stand-up paddleboard rentals and lessons.

Though small, Manzanita has a variety of lodging options: motels, vacation rentals and bed-and-breakfast inns. At the top end is the luxurious, beachside Inn at Manzanita. I saved money by spending two nights off the beach at the pet-friendly San Dune Inn; unpretentious and comfortable, it is operated by a jolly Englishman named Brian Hines.

There is a surprising variety of dining options, a dozen in all. I ended my visit convinced that the Terra Cotta Cafe serves the best food between Cannon Beach and Lincoln City. My paper-wrapped halibut was perfectly poached, and the selection of wines was outstanding.

But for pure quirkiness, nowhere beats Wanda’s Cafe, just down the road from Manzanita in tiny Nehalem. No sooner had I walked in the door than a waiter asked if I was meeting someone named Joseph for lunch. “He’s been waiting there for quite a while," he said. I assured him I was not ― then laid my eyes upon an illuminated plastic mold of St. Joseph, sitting piously at his own table.

Once a bustling logging community, Nehalem today is down to a couple hundred residents. In decades now long past, the town was partially built upon the river itself, with log planks supporting structures beside a lumber mill that cut logs carried by rail from further inland. The logs were then shipped out through the river mouth.

Today, a single row of two-story buildings on either side of Highway 101, where it makes a 90-degree turn through the village from the north, is the only real clue to its former prosperity. Cross streets end abruptly at municipal piers that are all but submerged twice daily by estuarine tides; when they meet heavy rains flowing downstream, the overflow sometimes floods the highway itself. A regal high school that once served the entire valley stands two blocks away, its purpose having been diminished to that of an elementary school.

“They say you’re losing your mind. They say you’re leaving Nehalem," wrote Art Alexakis of the Portland band Everclear in 1995. In fact, a lot of citizens have departed over the years. But it remains a picturesque community, especially as viewed from the southbound highway bridge over the river.

Just across the bridge, state Highway 53 branches east to the hamlet of Mohler, home to the Nehalem Bay Winery. A part of the community since 1974, when Oregon’s fermented grape business was just getting off the ground, this winery is at home in a historic creamery. Although it’s best known for its berry and fruit wines, it also offers some reputable chardonnays and pinot noirs from Salem-area vineyards.

Wheeler is built on the lower slope of steep Onion Mountain overlooking Nehalem Bay. A small riverfront marina provides inspiration for some visitors to get out on the water. Highway 101 cruises through the town of 350 people, past the Old Wheeler Hotel ― whose eight historic rooms (dating from 1920) now offer an elegant bed-and-breakfast experience ― and a row of antique stores.

Greg Nichols and his wife, Katie Brown, own both the hotel and Old Wheeler Antiques and Collectibles. They moved to town in 2008 and began buying art deco-era fixtures for the refurbishment. And Nichols had an “Aha!" moment, one as simple as turning on a light bulb. Or a whole lot of light bulbs.

The first thing a visitor now sees upon entering Old Wheeler Antiques is a display room showcasing a couple hundred lamps from the 1920s and ’30s. There’s a lot more in the expansive store, to be sure, but these are Nichols’ calling card. Just this year, in fact, he struck a deal to provide a West Hollywood restaurateur with 100 period pieces to decorate a new Southern California business.

Show homes coming soon to Blackpool

The long wait is nearly over for eager buyers keen to see inside new homes at Whitehill Meadows in Blackpool.

Up until now purchasers have had to rely on floor plans or visit other Redrow developments in the region, but from January 12 they will be able to view three properties.

Claire Jarvis, sales director for Redrow Homes (Lancashire), commented: “Buyers have shown a keen interest in the homes at Whitehill Meadows and while a number of people have had the confidence to reserve ‘off plan’, many more are eagerly awaiting the opening of the show homes before making a commitment. We recognise that being able to view a property is an important part of the home buying process and while it would be impractical to have a show home of every style, we’re helping customers make an informed decision about which home best suits their lifestyle by opening the doors to three properties – a fully furnished Canterbury plus examples of the Stratford and Salisbury house types.”

The Canterbury is a substantial family home that enjoys a sense of flow with double doors leading from the lounge to the combined kitchen and dining room. There’s also a study, utility and cloakroom to the ground floor; while upstairs there are four bedrooms including en-suite to master bedroom, plus the family bathroom.

Four-bedroom homes in a choice of styles are currently available from ￡237,995, with a Canterbury, similar to the show home, on the market from ￡295,995.

“We’re confident that those who view the show homes at Whitehill Meadows will be pleasantly surprised at the high specification, which includes integrated kitchen appliances such as oven and fridge freezer as standard,” Claire added.

“Customers will be delighted to know that if they act now, in the development’s early stages they will have more properties to choose from and a greater chance of securing a home in their preferred position. Plus, if you buy early in the build process you have more likelihood of being able to personalise the interior by selecting the finish of things like the kitchen cabinets and the bathroom tiles.”

Located between Lytham and Blackpool in Lytham St Annes Way, Whitehill Meadows offers residents the chance to choose their pace in life – the excitement and entertainment of Blackpool, the thriving city of Preston or the quiet, more relaxed Lytham.

Just minutes from the M55, the development’s well connected for commuting; while with a number of schools nearby, it’s also well suited to those with families.

What has never been publicly disclosed is that in 2005 the RGS leaders removed the official portrait of the organization’s current royal patron, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, without either the agreement or knowledge of the Fellows worldwide.

The missing portrait was replaced in 2010 after Members of the Long Riders’ Guild, more than a hundred of whom are also Fellows of the RGS, sent an ultimatum to RGS President Michael Palin.

Previous attempts to have the portrait restored having been ignored, the Guild wrote to President Palin to say that plans were under way to organize a mounted protest in London. Long Rider Fellows from around the world were preparing to ride their horses from the London RGS headquarters to Buckingham Palace to deliver an apology to the Queen on behalf of the Fellows.

When representatives of the Guild arrived in London in the summer of 2010 to discuss the matter with Dr. Gardner, it was revealed that the missing portrait had been replaced in the Council Chambers.

Yet what is under discussion is not if Her Majesty is being treated with respect by the organization that continues to use her name to enforce its policies. The very nature of all the 19th century style exploration organizations is increasingly revealed to be misleading and irrelevant.

Across the Atlantic, the Explorers’ Club is also appealing to a sense of nostalgia to rake in the big bucks.

“Join the “Explorers Immortals” and engrave your name or dedication in stone on new floor tiles for the terrace at The Explorers Club Headquarters. Adorn our landmark outdoor space and help pay for urgent work for Phase II renovations by making a tax deductible donation of $1,000 per dedicated tile to our Lowell Thomas Building Fund.”

With “nineteen active chapters in the United States and nine international chapters” the Explorers’ Club is like the Royal Geographical Society. They are businesses involved in making a profit derived from glorious trophies of the past.

This is not to imply that this is unethical. It’s a matter of recognizing the brutal mercenary nature of the businesses which dwell within the halls of what were once the high temples of exploration.

It is also about the public’s need to acknowledge the lack of shame involved in these institutions. Instead of enriching their corporate headquarters, the high priests and priestesses of these organizations could be sharing funds with genuine explorers and fielding important expeditions.

This attitude of using the past to make money in the present can be seen in the current leadership’s decision to rent out RGS headquarters for “special events and themed weddings.” The organization hasn’t hosted a Shackleton-themed Bar Mitzvah but it seems that such a possiblity exists.

Ironically, the growing sense of frustration at this lack of international leadership is well-documented. In 2004 film director and underwater explorer James Cameron urged the public to recognize the vital need to encourage more, not less, exploration.

He warned, “Exploration is not a luxury. It defines us as a civilization. It directly or indirectly benefits every member of society. It yields an inspirational dividend whose impact on our self-image, confidence, and economic and geopolitical stature is immeasurable.”

What You Get for $2.4 Million

Key Biscayne is an islet off the coast of Miami, surrounded by Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. This house is one of many built in the 1950s by the Mackle brothers, early developers in the community. It sits on a corner lot behind towering ferns, and is a 10-minute walk from a state park that covers a third of the island, ending at a beach.

The Rickenbacker Trail, a hiking, biking and walking path, runs through the park to the other end of the island, where there is another beach, a golf course and a marina. Miami is a 10-minute drive, over a causeway that also has a bike lane.

The house was updated with polished concrete floors, picture windows and sliding glass doors to brighten the space. Newer details were designed to complement original ones. A porthole window near the entryway, for example, was replicated in the kitchen and the master bedroom. The living room has picture windows and a set of sliding-glass doors that opens to the deck, lawn and pool. Upgraded kitchen fixtures include a Gaggenau oven and a Gutmann hood.

Storage space was expanded. Bookcases were built into the living room walls, and the bedrooms now have cubbies next to the beds. The first floor has two bedrooms with a shared bathroom; one opens to the deck. Upstairs is a master suite with an attached dressing room and bathroom. Off the bedroom is a terrace with a spiral staircase descending to the deck and pool.

This house is in the northern section of Capitol Hill, a large neighborhood next to downtown Seattle. Several nearby mansions were built in the early 1900s for logging barons who wanted views of Lake Washington and the Cascade Range. (This house was built for the secretary-treasurer of a ferry company.) Washington Park, including a 200-acre swath belonging to the city’s arboretum, is a half-mile away. Volunteer Park, the site of the city’s botanical gardens and the Seattle Asian Art Museum, is also within a half-mile. Restaurants, shops, movie theaters and nightlife are farther into Capitol Hill, toward downtown.

This three-story 1909 house has many original features. Interior details include oak floors, fluted columns, pilasters and stained glass. Front steps lead to a deep veranda with a roof supported by ionic columns. Through French doors on one side of a central hall is a parlor with built-in bookcases; through another set of French doors on the other side is the formal living room. The living room’s fireplace is framed by Batchelder tiles, popular during the Arts and Crafts era. The dining room has original stained-glass windows and built-in cupboards; the sconces and chandelier were gifts from the king of Norway during a 1939 visit.

In the kitchen, the McCray icebox, also original, was converted to a refrigerator by the owners. The appliances have been updated.The leaded-glass windows are topped by stained-glass transoms. The bedrooms are on the second and third floors. The second-floor landing has a built-in bench and sitting area. There are two bedroom suites; one is used as a design studio. The second-floor bedrooms have views of Lake Washington and the Cascades. The basement, built into a slope to take in natural light, has a media room and a wine cellar.

This three-story 1909 house has many original features. Interior details include oak floors, fluted columns, pilasters and stained glass. Front steps lead to a deep veranda with a roof supported by ionic columns. Through French doors on one side of a central hall is a parlor with built-in bookcases; through another set of French doors on the other side is the formal living room. The living room’s fireplace is framed by Batchelder tiles, popular during the Arts and Crafts era. The dining room has original stained-glass windows and built-in cupboards; the sconces and chandelier were gifts from the king of Norway during a 1939 visit.

In the kitchen, the McCray icebox, also original, was converted to a refrigerator by the owners. The appliances have been updated.The leaded-glass windows are topped by stained-glass transoms. The bedrooms are on the second and third floors. The second-floor landing has a built-in bench and sitting area. There are two bedroom suites; one is used as a design studio. The second-floor bedrooms have views of Lake Washington and the Cascades. The basement, built into a slope to take in natural light, has a media room and a wine cellar.

The Glasgow School Board voted last Wednesday to accept the recommendation of its Building Committee and put grades K through 5 in a new Irle School building. East Side School will be for grades 6 through 8 and the high school will be 9 through 12.

The vote was 4-1, with Trustee David Irving dissenting, saying he wanted more time before casting his vote. He asked if the committee had considered a configuration of K-3, 4-6 and a 7-8 wing at the high school. Superintendent Bob Connors said the district can’t do that much building within their bonding capacity.

Connors said the national trend is to go K-5. It fits with common core curriculums, he said, and research suggests this is best for the educational process. Trustee Nick Dirkes said parents have told the committee that they want to hold down the number of student drop-off sites, so they only have to drive to Irle and East Side. He said most high school freshmen drive. Parents also want the junior high taken out of the high school building.

The meeting was held at Irle School, with a tour of the building held beforehand. Principal Rachel Erickson pointed out some of the reasons why Irle, a 54-year-old building, has reached the end of its useful life. The electrical circuits are too overloaded to support modern technology and can’t be expanded through the concrete block walls. Bathrooms and ramps are not ADA-compliant. The building is failing fire code because of wood paneling and the fire doors in one hallway. There is asbestos in floor tiles and pipe insulation.

Once the boilers are turned on, the heat is on all the time with no way to regulate it in individual rooms. There is no air exchange in the building, which creates poor air quality. The plumbing is embedded in the slab foundation, making repairs to the corroded pipes difficult or impossible. A sewer gas smell comes up through drainpipes of the classroom sinks.

On the outside, the siding is rotting, the sidewalks are drifting from the building and the back wall of the gym is falling away.

The staff is making do with the limitations, but at the roundtable discussion before the board meeting started, they sounded eager to get on with designing the new building. They want to make sure the public in the Glasgow School District is aware of the need for the new building when the vote on the school bond comes up in March.

The district will ask voters to approve two bonds totaling $18.5 million. Dirkes said the cost for the owner of a $100,000 house would be $152 a year. If the Keystone XL pipeline comes through Valley County, the company’s contribution in taxes would lower the citizens' tax bill for the school bond by half, and perhaps a good deal more, according to Connors.

In connection with the building project, the board decided to hire an owner’s representative to look out for the school district’s interest during the process. They also hired Dorsey and Whitney and their bond counsel, to make sure the bond issue is done correctly.