Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, USA. The population was 37,259 at the 2000 census. The current population is close to 45,000. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerton Annex of Naval Base Kitsap. Bremerton is connected to downtown Seattle by a 60-minute ferry ride, which carries both vehicles and walk-on passengers.

Based on per capita income, one of the more reliable measures of affluence, Bremerton ranks 341st of 522 areas in the state of Washington to be ranked. Because of the military base Bremerton's demographics are extremely diverse.

Geography

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Bremerton is located at (47.570017, -122.652625). It is located on the Kitsap Peninsula north of Sinclair Inlet and west of the body of water known as Port Orchard. The city is divided by the Port Washington Narrows, a strait spanned by two bridges. The part of the city to the north and east of the narrows is referred to as East Bremerton. The part of the city that is north and slightly west of Downtown Bremerton and south and slightly west of Silverdale is referred to as West Bremerton. Beautiful waterview vistas made Bremerton a wonderful place to live.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 67.5 km² (26.0 mi²). 58.7 km² (22.7 mi²) of it is land and 8.8 km² (3.4 mi²) of it (12.98%) is water.

Politics

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Bremerton is divided among three state legislative districts in Kitsap County. The 23rd legislative district to the north, 35th legislative district in the center and 26th legislative district to the south. Also, the line separating the first and sixth Congressional districts runs through East Bremerton. Elected in 1976, sixth district Rep. Norm Dicks regularly defends the area's significant economic ties to the military, sitting on the House Appropriations Committee and the Select Committee on Homeland Security.

Mayor Cary Bozeman, first elected in 2001, ran unopposed in the 2005 general election. He was previously the three-term mayor of Bellevue, Washington, and is generally credited with spurring economic growth in both cities. Incorporated as a first-class city, Bremerton has been governed by a nonpartisan strong mayor and nine-member city council since 1985. The current form of government was established by a 1983 charter that eliminated a decades-old city commission composed of a mayor, public works commissioner and finance commissioner.

Each member of the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners represents a portion of the city of Bremerton. This arrangement was an attempt to balance Bremerton's commercial influence with the remainder of the county, though most of its sales tax base has since relocated to unincorporated areas.

Bremerton politics can vary in intensity, with some city council positions regularly unopposed and others having as many as four candidates in the 2005 primary election. Redevelopment projects have been a major source of debate, including the planned 2007 construction of a federally funded tunnel that would route ferry traffic under the downtown core. As with most cities in the region,...