This just in, from the Friends of the Roundabout:

We resent the constant bashing of the Roundabout, the best thing to hit Ocean Shores since Pat Boone left town! If you can’t figure out how to use this thing, you’re a total . . .  (Ed. note: String of derogatory terms deleted). Some of our members had a tough time of it, at first, but one of them gets dizzy spells anyway. As for the new “touch,” who cares if it’s a sidewalk or a truck apron or a ring-around-the-rosey or an alien crop circle, for Pete’s sake! The whole thing is great, nobody walks anyway, and all you Negative Nancy’s can just (Ed. note: Rest of statement deleted, due to FCC regulations.) !!!

a) (smiley face)

b) (frowny face)

b) heart (old school)

d) !@%& (really old school)

rounda arrow web

(Sorry, I wasn’t able to get this and the “No left turn” sign in the same shot.)

First Prize: Ocean Shores Roundabout naming rights (unofficial).

For decades, four Stop signs bravely stood guard, silent sentries at the corner of Chance a la Mer and Pt. Brown avenues. They withstood 100 mph winds, speeding tourists, lumbering big rigs and howling city managers, all determined, but unable, to undermine their authority and bring them down.

Now, they are gone. These signs of our past have Yielded to the future.

Long live the Roundabout!

The Friends of the Library will be selling “I Survived the Roundabout” t-shirts (officially endorsed by the Friends of the Roundabout).
Tots $6; Kids & Youth $8; Adult $10; Plus sizes $12.

They will be introduced “at our Giant Half-Yearly Sale at our storage, on Saturday, 14 Nov. from 9 am to 3 pm at 764 Sea Horse Ave NE (N of Alec’s Restaurant).” Click below to see one of the designs:

i survived roundabout

Dates/times to be announced, tentatively scheduled for early December: “The Convention Center driver training instructors have a 15 minute tape on how to drive in a round about. The Lacey police and the Dept. of Trans. recently used this in Olympia to help citizens learn about how to safely negotiate this new road system. Joe Reasons and Mike Mc Camish have offered to show this to our drivers at no cost . . . “

Well, it’s “round,” and it’s “about” (amateur guess-timate) 33% on the way . . .

rounda nov 11 web

. . . to looking like this:

roundabout modelNEW web

Watch this site for a Friends of the Roundabout contest, coming soon!

Daily World’s Jilian Beaudry writes up last night’s meeting:

OCEAN SHORES — Driving through Ocean Shores is like driving on Mars.

The terrain is uneven, bumping drivers and passengers along at 15 mph while trying to avoid running into large orange traffic cones and yellow tape.

“It looks horrendous,” one angry homeowner shouted at a town hall meeting with the city at the Convention Center Wednesday night.

Last night, a “Town Hall” meeting on the Roundabout and Street LID construction projects was held at the Convention Center (NBCTV was there taping, so look for it on Channel 68). Mayor Dean Bunkers and Ken Lanfear, director of Public Works, sat at the front of the room and fielded questions from the 40 representatives of businesses and citizens in attendance. Leslie Reedy, director of the local Chamber of Commerce, began the Town Hall by saying “I called this because I was bombarded with calls.” She cited some of the biggest frustrations she is hearing:  “a lack of communication, and that the average that everyone is down (in sales) is 30 percent. And a lack of real visible signage that directs people.”

“I understand some of the frustrations and aggravations,” Mayor Bunkers responded. “But if we didn’t get this done this year and had to drag into next year the pain would be much worse.”

After what appeared to be initial reluctance, business people eventually shared their issues. Representatives alike from big businesses like the IGA and McDonald’s and small shops such as First Cabin and Sand Castle Drive In (owner Dave Creighton, who as a city councilman you might think would be informed), made similar complaints about a lack of coordination, communication of water outages and advance notice of paving that blocks business access.

Regarding communications: “I’m the guy who needs to take a hit,” said Lanfear. “I have to apologize if there’s been coordination problems out there, they have to fall back on me.”

He said the Street LID could be done by Oct. 23. “The Roundabout completion was (originally) mid November. We’re still tracking pretty well.”

More in next week’s North Coast News.