Dog park made possible through volunteers

Editor, The Beacon:

Saturday, Sept. 15, the LDS church held their annual Day of Service in Japanese Gulch for the second year in a row.

The project for this year’s service day was two-fold: install the fencing for the Tails and Trails Dog Park and spread the left over chip seal rock and mulch on the lower trail. Both of these projects were completed!

We had about 115 volunteers from five local wards, plus representatives from the Dog Park Committee, Japanese Gulch Group, and the Mukilteo Wildlife Habitat Project group.

Installing the fence was a lot of hard work! We had three augers to drill the holes for the fence posts; however we discovered a lot of rock in the fill so people had to pull rocks out of the holes with their hands.

After the post holes were dug, the posts and railings were put in place the holes back filled and compacted. This was hard, back-breaking work!

But as you can see from the pictures [“120 volunteers raise dog park fence,” The Beacon, front page, Sept. 19], the majority of fence was completed by the end of the day.

Those that could not do the heavy work at the dog park picked rocks out of the field area, helped with trail maintenance, installed the car stops, and weeded.

At the lower reach, we had people spreading the left over chip seal rock and mulch with wheel barrels, shovels and rakes. Also, we had people weeding along the trail edges.

It was a great day and I want to send a huge THANK YOU to everyone who participated and helped make this event happen. We are very fortunate to have such a great community!

Next steps for getting the dog park open to the public include: installing the fence gates and finish putting the wire meshing along the fence. The Japanese Gulch Group has order the benches, which should be here in about 3-4 weeks.

Patricia Love,

Assistant Director of Community Development,

City of Mukilteo

Run a business in Mukilteo for free

I woke up this morning with a great idea for the parking situation on Front and Park [“City to charge for parking on waterfront,” front page, Sept. 19].

Since the divers take up most of the parking spots year round for classes, why not run the classes through the Mukilteo recreation department?

These schools are not operating as other businesses in Mukilteo. They are not required to have a city business license or pay a fee for using the community beach, yet at times they take up the whole area with trucks and equipment right next to Silver Cloud.

If they can run a business and take up the community beach, Front and Park streets parking without a parking permit of license, can I as a business owner do the same?

I am really interested in this prospect of offering classes rent-free with out a business license parking pass.

Wow, think of the money I would save in overhead! No rent nor business license and free parking.

So, legally speaking, am I entitled to the same benefits as the divers?

Christine Awad Schmalz,

Mukilteo

Mukilteo chamber opposes commercial air traffic at Paine Field

The Mukilteo Chamber of Commerce believes that for Mukilteo to continue its momentum of progress and sustained economic vitality, it is essential to our business community as well as our entire community that we oppose commercial air traffic at Paine Field [“FAA: Commercial airlines would have little impact,” front page, Sept. 19].

Our position is pro-Boeing and pro-aerospace growth development. FAA laws stipulate that commercial air traffic would take priority rather than having the runway available for flight testing and aerospace productivity.

For this reason, and to protect our aerospace-rich community, we feel that commercial air traffic would divert local growth and economic stability.

The chamber’s mission is to foster aggressive business growth for a healthy and vibrant greater Mukilteo community.

We stand beside the city of Mukilteo in asking local businesses and residents to send your comments in opposition of commercial air traffic at Paine Field to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The public comment period is open until Oct. 14. – we urge you to request an extension of this comment period in your correspondence.

The FAA Environmental Assessment can be viewed at the following locations:

• Paine Field’s website, www.painefield.com/airserviceea.html

• Mukilteo Library, 4675 Harbour Pointe Blvd., Mukilteo

• Snohomish County Planning and Development Services Customer Support Center, 3000 Rockefeller Ave., Everett

• Snohomish County Airport (Paine Field) Administrative Offices, 3220 100th St. S.W., Everett

Send comments to the FAA:

In writing to:

Cayla Morgan

Environmental Protection Specialist

FAA Seattle Airports District Office

1601 Lind Ave SW

Renton, WA 98057-3356

By email to: cayla.morgan@faa.gov

Mukilteo Chamber Board &

Executive Director Shannon McCarty,

Mukilteo

Vote ‘Yes’ for school bus levy

I had the good fortune to serve on the Mukilteo School District board of directors for 12 years. In that time – and even before being elected, I was struck by the district’s excellent fiscal management that supports everything from classroom instruction to bus transportation.

Typically, the district has made a good case to its patrons for needed expenditures while maintaining one of the lowest administrative overhead costs for a school district of its size in the state.

This November, Mukilteo schools are seeking voter approval for a one-year transportation vehicle fund levy to help replace aging school buses over the next several years [“Mukilteo schools seek OK for bus levy,” front page, Aug. 1].

Today more than 25 percent of Mukilteo’s bus fleet is more than 15 years old. In addition to wear and tear and high mileage, many of these aging buses are outmoded because of recent advances in safety features, emissions control and fuel efficiency.

New buses cost anywhere from $60,000 to $125,000 each, depending on the number of seats and additional features, such as wheelchair lifts.

The proposed levy amounts to $3 million and would add about 27 cents per $100,000 of assessed evaluation to 2013 property taxes only.

More importantly to taxpayers, because the district is paying off previous bond obligations, the current local school property tax rate will actually go down in 2013, even with the approval of the bus funds.

I encourage Mukilteo School District voters to give the transportation vehicle levy a “Yes” vote this November. It is the prudent thing to do to keep long-term taxpayer costs down and provide improved safety and related features on the buses that transport thousands of children to and from our schools daily.

Kevin Laverty,

Mukilteo

Vote ‘Yes’ to save the gulch

We are now in a struggle to raise money to purchase 97 acres, so please vote yes in the upcoming election [“City seeks OK for gulch levy,” front page, Aug. 8].

If you are not already familiar with this property, then take a short ½ mile walk starting on the lower road by the old Tank Farm. The first tree on the right as you enter the trail is a Rhamnus purshiana.

It is a species of buckthorn that is native to western and northern America from B.C. and southern to northern California and to western Montana.

The Indians used the bark for medicinal purposes and named it Cascara Sagrada or “sacred bark.” When mature, they resemble an Alder tree but don’t get as big and in the fall they have red berries or seeds.

We could not find any growing in the gulch, so two were purchased at a local nursery. Joe Marine, our very own mayor, planted the first one and yours truly planted the second one a short distance up the trail.

Wouldn’t you know that Joe’s looks better than mine! So being a mayor of Mukilteo really does make a difference.

The rest of the plants and trees further up the trail were planted by Mother Nature. You will find bugs, birds, cedar, hemlock, alder, stinging nettles and even some licorice tasting roots hiding in the moss growing on a maple trunk.

If we wanted to be patriotic we could plant a Franklinia alatamaha was found growing in the wild in Georgia some 200 years ago and named after Founding Father Benjamin Franklin.

It was transplanted to a nursery and now they cannot find any more growing in the wild. Alatamaha is the name of the river in Georgia where the tree was found.

Let’s just be happy with what we have and vote “Yes” to save the gulch.

Anders F. Jacobsen,

Everett

We still love a good hot dog

The Mukilteo Lions Club is thankful that our first hot dog fundraiser and eating contest were very successful at the 2012 Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival.

Yes, most Americans still love a good hot dog in the summer. With help from the Snohomish Lions, their "Weenie Wagon" and our members, we served many meat eaters. These families enjoyed their all beef dogs and vegetable condiments on top.

Two eating contestants tied with four hot dogs in three minutes: One was chosen as the winner because the other could not swallow the last dog. The winner received an Arnie's (donated) dinner certificate and an engraved "First Place" gold medal.

The festival has always been our major fundraiser project. Previously, we served pancakes, but that fundraiser is now given to the Boy Scouts.

The Lions have provided Christmas food baskets to needy families, eyeglasses and hearing aids, free sight and hearing tests in the community and scholarships to ACES High School.

Lions participate in service activities emphasizing diabetes awareness, education and research and work with the physically handicapped and hearing impaired. Lions "Leader Dogs for the Blind" have been providing dogs to the impaired for 70 years.

I want to thank Mukilteo, all the sponsors, and all the work of the festival association volunteers for making this a remarkable event. Looking forward to next year.

Paul Luczyk,

Mukilteo Lions Club,

Serving Our Community Since 1968

Thanks to Beacon for caring

I’d like to send thanks to all of you who helped with our local volunteer’s second annual "Meow in Mukilteo" Lighthouse Festival Parade entry. The parade was held on Sept. 8.

Our parade entry is intended to provide outreach to the community and to recognize local volunteers and co-sponsors for helping and caring. Thanks again to those who have organized, co-sponsored, and/or supported the adoption event this year.

LaVendrick Smith, an intern reporter for the Mukilteo Beacon, was our honored guest this year for his outstanding Beacon articles about the event.

In addition, volunteers also honored the Mukilteo Beacon this year for their support over the last two years.

This support included running editorials, which helped influence the city to allow cat adoption events in Rosehill Community Center, running a large article after last year’s adoption event, which was extremely touching and informative, and by co-sponsoring the event this year which included ads and articles to support the event. This support has been incredible!

I am very happy LaVendrick was able to attend the parade and receive well-deserved recognition by our community this year. I believe we both enjoyed the parade very much.

Thanks again to everyone for caring and helping homeless cats. It’s very important.

Ray Boyer,

Meow in Mukilteo volunteer