Thursday, January 15, 2015

A Boiler Named Sue

Nippon's being sued! Nippon's suing back! The Port of Port Angeles is suing 22 of their own insurance carriers!
 
I have questions!
 

One: Did Nippon really try to stiff their contractors? It's not difficult to believe they'd be that bold. After all, they started work on this whole mess without having their permits. Nippon's used to throwing their weight around - AND they're clearly getting ready to pull up stakes in Port Angeles. So why pay their bills? That's wasted money, folks!
 
Two: Are Nippon's workers really so unskilled and untutored so as to have damaged their own equipment using too-cold water and unapproved boiler fuel? But you know, training costs money, and see comment above about wasted money.
 
Three: Did you have any idea that the Port had so many insurance carriers to sue? Hey, maybe some of them will sue the Port right back.
 
Forget being "The Center Of It All," or "The Authentic Northwest," or even "Sawblade Central." No, it turns out Port Angeles is actually the capitol of "The Litigation Nation."
 

It's just too bad that NONE of these lawsuits is about actually improving the quality of life in Clallam County. In other words, where are the good, righteous and productive lawsuits?

27 comments:

  1. Dale Wilson filed one against the city for giving the marketing contract and the visitor center contracts to the enema who was the highest bidder by far.
    Soroptimist Club bid $65,000
    Wilson bid $120,000
    Chamber bid was $1700 higher than his so they were the third best bidder and got the contract thanks to Scott Nagel and four of the silly council

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    1. The numbers presented here are confusing...Looks like the Soroptimist bid is lower than Dale's...Please clarify...

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    2. Since it was a contract for professional services, the "lowest" bid is not required by state law, the legislative body is allowed to take the "best proposal", in whatever way they define "best".

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    3. wasn't one bid for "part time" and the other for "same hours as"?

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    4. That is correct. Soroptimist did not choose to protest, he did. They could certainly get in line and maybe get the contract.

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  2. Can we sue the city for having such an incompetent city attorney? And force him to defend himself in court?

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    1. I think that would be a wonderful thing to do. The man couldn't find his way out of a paper sack, with one end open.

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    2. When you look up the phrase, "looking like a deer in the headlights," there's a picture of Bill Bloor, just after someone asked him for some legal advice. I swear!

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    3. I heard he got his law diploma out of a cracker jack box. Is that true? I was thinking more "screaming yellow zonkers" because he's an old dude.

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  3. Where lawyers prosper, others suffer. Too bad we don't have any adult port commissioners, and are stuck with these posturing children. They play expensive, silly games.

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  4. I ( and a couple of compadres) tried to sue the city over a "righteous" issue that was all about the good of the public, and no personal gain for myself or the others I was working with. Do you know how expensive they make it? It quickly got into the tens of thousands just for the "official record". We bailed out.

    Lawsuits are just a game that the rich folk use to pass more money around. It's all about "liability" these days. Or, a cost of doing business, depending on your business model. Some corporations expect to get sued, have "in-house" legal teams, and work at their litigation 24/7. Many years ago, I worked for a subcontractor who had contracts with IBM, which had 2 entire floors of a prominent downtown high rise in a very expensive world class city filled entirely with lawyers solely dedicated to one legal case. Went on for years.

    We hear of, and there do exist lawsuits that help the average Joe in their daily lives. But mostly, it is just part of the game the Big Boys play.

    Nippon suing, and getting sued? The Port suing? Let's check back in a year or two and see what the outcome is. And, how much it cost.

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    1. Good for you for at least trying. It's more than most do. I can't speak to the Port and its relations to the world, but as someone who used to work in City Hall, I can tell you that the City is a pretty easy mark to scare. At the slightest hint of trouble, Bill Bloor will be clamoring to use their on-call law firm. I trust that speaks to both the many dirty deals that the City is involved with, and, more to the point, to Bloor's utter incompetence as an attorney. They should shove him back into the cereal box they got him out of and tape it shut. I would LOVE to have all the money that the City has paid out over the last decade due to his bad legal advice.

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  5. Notice that Nippon removed their name from the side of that big building at the mill? You can still see the shadow in the paint where the big letters used to be. What's up with that?

    Notice they're being sued for using incorrect fuel, which the installers say wrecked the machinery? So surprised.

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    1. Could they make it any more clear that they're leaving? Port Angeles would do well to plan and budget for the time there are no mills here, no Nippon, since that time is coming fast. But no, they'll cling to the mill town fantasy until we're past the point of no return, and beyond. It's not the mills leaving that hurts; it's the lack of foresight and planning that will prove fatal.

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    2. Not ready for prime time without proper training...

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    3. There are little letters up in the upper left corner of the building, but you need binoculars to be able to read what they say. Why the change?

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    4. did they also take the address off the building so the fire department has a much more difficult time locating the address?

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  6. It might not technically be on topic but...love the Johnny Cash pun in the title.

    Now if we could just get the city manager to enable the ring of fire...

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  7. Off topic.

    Sat in for a presentation by the school district folks pushing the levy the other day. Here are a couple interesting things I hadn't heard before.

    The school district has a long list of all the problems they've identified with all the different schools. They had to "prioritize" from all the things that they say need to be done, and settled on the high school. So, expect more levies to come. For a grand total of how much? Not stated.

    They said that the actual cost of building the high school as envisioned would be 60% of the $98 million tax. The other $40 million is for, you guessed it: consultants, studies, etc. This according to the school district representatives.

    The way things are done.

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    1. So who do you suggest do the engineering for the new high school? The high school drafting class? I guess you want them to design the building too instead of hiring architects. Cause these guys are consultants. FFS.

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    2. I suggest that we don't engineer a new high school. Lets just leave it. It's not like a new high school will lower the high school pregnancy rate, or increase the number of students currently attending, nor will it help the piss-poor work ethic of the graduates it produces. Save the money, put it into drug treatment programs, and women's shelters.

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    3. Right! Even though we see that this town THRIVES on coming up with tax paid projects that fund special peoples' salaries, we won't question $40 million being spent to design a high school for a town of 18,000 and declining.

      Sigh.

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  8. Don't you love how Scott Nagel is trying to raise money to fix up an old building for public use, while the school district says fixing up younger buildings isn't cost effective?!

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  9. Scott Nagel is out for Scott Nagel. We had an opportunity to have a real marketing company do the marketing for Port Angeles as a tourist destination and Scott Nagel as a member of the Lodging Tax committee bad mouthed everyone who was not russ and the chamber. the chamber has had this contract for over a decade and we are still thought of as an out-back hick town. Russ and the chamber have spent more money than Allstate spends on that net that goes up in the end zone when kicking a field goal. think anyone in the world does not know who allstate is? does anyone outside the peninsula even know port angeles exists? The National Park yes, port angeles, not so much. They have spent over $3.5 million dollars and we are still in the pits.
    Well, actually they received $3.5 million but they get a rake off the top of 40%. So, for ten years they have taken their rake to spread among their buddies and the rest is stuck up a hogs ass while in unison they all holler "Soueeeeeee." This is not a professional approach to marketing a tourist destination. Scott Nagel is the one to thank for four members of the council voting once again to chuck all our dreams of a real economy under the bus. Will someone please run against Danny Boy, Cheerleader Cherie and Sissy if she don't distinguish herself from the rest of the clowns in the car.

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  10. Correction, Anony 5:15, it isn't "we are thought of as an out-back hick town", we ARE an "out-back hick town". Please, don't have any illusions about that.
    We have no vision. No leaders. Just money grubbing, small minded, little dicked losers and boob infatuated nincompoops in every key position.
    Our slickest operator, to date (supposedly) was Karen Rogers, who is about as far down the food chain as one can get as far as "masterminds". Really? How much could she have made swindling this town? She's still living here, isn't she?
    Scott Nagel is a bloated oaf who's whore out his own mother if there were a bidder.
    Russ is a boom real estate, time-share wizard from Utah, who's more likely to be oogling ladie's racks than in doing his job, even poorly. He probably stopped caring about actually doing any job about a week into it. He has the attention span of a stillborn cocker spaniel puppy.
    Meanwhile, our city council has gone from dismal to wretched, to pathetic in the last decade. The "mayor" has never been more than a joke. We've had city managers who have come and gone -- each more crooked than the previous. I have no idea why an ex-Navy man is even in this position right now (except that Cutler was also an ex-Navy lifer). I'm sure he regrets his decision. The fire department was so much more clear-cut, and honest.
    If you've ever looked at this town, clearly, you understand, that there is no tourist destination here. The hotels don't exit, the MOTELS are all fleabags (Red Lion is not "upscale" it's barely an upscale Motel 6.) The Olympic Lodge isn't even a nice Best Western. There is no DRAW here, except the park, and even that isn't marketed at all.
    We have a couple of "events" that supposedly draw people out from Seattle. But, who do we draw? Older folk, the ones who will be kicking the bucket in a couple of years, or get too old to drive out.
    This town rejects anything trendy. There has been no investment in any infrastructure to create a tourist town. There are few commercial rentals (and the ones that exist are greatly over-valued), and none for entry-level "shoestring" shops to move in. There are no incentives (because the city is broke). And, we can't even come up with a town marketing motto.
    Authentic Northwest is about as interesting as "old stupid cow", and less descriptive. Where the mountains meet the sea (much discussed by the facebook idiots, revitalize) is "big whoop", and? Great. Might as well have "where moss grows well". "Great Heroin, and Meth".
    If you can't come up with a direction to go, all this other window dressing is just bullshit. But, oh wait, this isn't happy talk, so I should either shut up, or go away.
    All the consultants in the world can't market a place that doesn't have any vision of itself. No plan. No vision. No direction.
    This town chases it's own tail, and that's all it will ever do unless we humiliate, and run out of town, all the current "leadership" and let a vacuum develop, and get some new blood, new faces, and new ideas in place.
    But that can't happen because the town is too afraid of outsiders.

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    1. Thanks for the comments, and for your wonderful description of Russ Veenema: "He has the attention span of a stillborn cocker spaniel puppy."

      Your observations make me think of that Oscar Wilde quote that goes something like: "I don't know why people are so afraid of new ideas; I'm afraid of the old ones."

      Yes, yes, I know...Oscar Wilde and Port Angeles...GAY SEX PORT ANGELES...Sigh...

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  11. Anyone who thinks Port Angeles ISN'T a tourist town needs to look downtown today and then compare it in July. With the ferry out of service, downtown is a ghost town. In July, it's actually pretty lively. Just ask any merchant if their business is seasonal... PA is a tourist town. Now we just need to figure out how to develop and market it properly. Any other place would kill to have the ONP traffic PA gets. Time to capture that money better.

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