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Articles written by Bob Raymond


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  • Two encounters with nature

    Bob Raymond|Jun 8, 2022

    Beauty: The Padilla Bay nature trail located five miles north of La Conner, across Highway 20, on Bay View Edison Road, is one of the best outdoor visits in western Skagit County. The 4-mile out-and-back trail tops District 5’s dike and separates very productive farmland (potato now, grass seed in the prior planting) from two sloughs that pour into Samish Bay. The trail is maintained by the Skagit County parks department. It is a very popular place for walkers, strollers, family outings, birders, painters, joggers, runners, bikers, snoozers. O...

  • Take time to decide on development

    Bob Raymond|May 24, 2022

    The introductory line to the Port’s Tuesday public session on the future of the La Conner Marina was “(we) have property ready for development.” Those words are frightening to many of us in La Conner who have experienced the Town’s eager approval of outsized, inappropriate, unimaginative and even destructive developments. We have enough trouble (and virtually, no success) keeping our own administration from facilitating oversized construction projects. And now here comes the Port – after months of study and conversations with their c...

  • Basing decisions on clear public benefits

    Bob Raymond|Aug 11, 2021

    Last week’s paper closed the chapter and maybe the book on the Maple Avenue ballfield controversy. It is now in the past. Or is it? (“The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.” William Faulkner.) The Town’s decision has permanent effects and it may leave the council and administration open to future dispositions of public property to the benefit of private interests and real estate brokers. In the purchase and disposition of Maple Field – and as was the case with the sale of the Kirsch property – the council, the mayor and his sta...