Alright then...The results are in! And so, we now know that 56% of the 43% of people who bothered to reply do NOT wan t the City to continuing fluoridating their water - also known as forcibly medicating the populace.
It all seems pretty clear. As the saying goes, THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN.
Now it's the City Council's turn, as well as City staff. I can't wait to see what they will do.
(And as we, once again, debate this issue of importance, let's all take a moment to remember the key role that Karen Rogers played in making this all happen. Karen and the Worst Council Ever should be, need to be, remembered, if only as a cautionary tale.)
Now, City Council...Let's see what you've got.
This one should be a total no-brainer.
ReplyDeleteBut, given that we have so many people (Cherie Kidd, Pat Downie, Dan Gase) on the city council who literally have no brains, I think we still have room to worry about this.
Please note the city's constant use of words like "advisory" and "non-binding" when presenting this to the public. They have built in the mechanism by which they can completely ignore the expressed desires of their citizens.
ReplyDeleteThere is room to worry that the City Council will continue to add fluoride to the water for years to come.
ReplyDeleteThe city's press release announcing the survey results took pains to explain how the city made it for people to express their preferences on this issue. Postage-paid response envelopes, drop boxes for people who preferred not to respond by mail, etc. Here's an excerpt from the press release:
"9,762 polls were mailed out on Friday, November 6. The City arranged for the postage to be paid through a postage paid account in hopes that it would encourage those eligible to participate. Both the PUD and the City made boxes available for those who preferred to drop off their polls. The advisory polls were collected until November 27."
The press release goes on to say:
"Results are as follows:
Total polls returned: 4,204
Votes in favor of fluoridation: 1,735
Votes opposed to fluoridation: 2,381
Votes of no opinion: 74
Invalid polls: 14
The City of Port Angeles is contractually obligated to continue fluoridation of the municipal water supply until May 18, 2016. After that date, fluoridation will continue unless the City Council takes action to discontinue the practice."
So - be prepared for fluoride proponents to argue that the overwhelming majority of customers either want fluoride in their water, or feel comfortable having elected officials make the decision for them. Fewer than half of the customers bothered to vote, thus these non-voters must be endorsers of the status quo, yes?!? Fewer than 25% of the customer base (2381) voted in opposition. So - to continue the fluoridation will simply be acceding to the will of the majority, proponents will say.
Combine this argument with the fact that somebody in the city's legal department (or a hired legal consultant, given the competence level of that department) must draft a resolution and contract-termination notice, and then the city council must affirmatively vote on it.
The odds seem pretty high that decade-old deal with the dental association will automatically renew and continue in effect.
You bet. And I can imagine Cherie Kidd, to pick one cowardly, staff-led numbskull at random, doing something like ignoring the City's own survey (undesirable results) while pointing to today's online poll in the PDN that shows respondents evenly split between yes and no (mixed-but-workable results). Getting a majority of the City Council to break from the status quo is going to be harder than it might seem.
DeleteIm confused as to how that comes across as evenly split 56 percent is staggering compared to 41 percent. the PDN published "Of the poll responses, 2,381, or 56.64 percent, were opposed and 1,735, or 41.27 percent, were in favor of continuing to fluoridate the city's water, according to the county Tuesday."
Deletehttp://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20151209/NEWS/312099980/0/SEARCH
If you read what CK wrote, you will see they are referencing the PDN poll, not the City's poll.
DeleteGee, why do you think the PDN ran the poll?
I can just hear Cherie Kidd, in that screechy, sing-song voice of hers saying something like, "While I appreciate that our citizens took the time to respond, what concerns me is that our community's children didn't have a voice in this, and they are the ones most affected by our decision and that's why I support continuing with the fluoridation of our city's water blah blah blah."
ReplyDeleteIn other words, if they want to find a reason to ignore the results, they will. Or, staff can present it as a choice between the status quo and (scary!) change. Council is always afraid of change.
WE have a LOT of room to worry about this. It's why the city said that fluoridation would continue until May 18, 2016 AND they have to pass a motion to end the contract.
ReplyDeleteLeatherback Turtle-head Bloor is still the city attorney. He's the bad actor who stood by while the worst council ever passed all kinds of egregious things. He's still there. I'll bet he's the one who said "oh no, we can't let it go to a ballot vote...." (because of the fight he put up to disallow the petitions signatures gathered to allow it to go to a vote in the first place a decade ago).
This man is the last standing member of the old guard, and he's got his slippery little worm-like fingers into everything. I think he's probably afraid of what will happen when he steps down.
Boot Bloor!!! That should be the battle cry.
First of all Brad Collins who is the daddy of forced fluoridation will never vote to clean up his mess. Pat Downey cannot think long and hard enough to come to a clear path forward. Dan Gase is not running for re-election and he knows he will sell more houses to dentist and doctors than to the scruffy blue collar types who pay the bills. Cherie Kidd fancies herself ready to run for county commission so she will keep on the good side of the moneyed set. That leaves Lee Whetham, Sissi Bruch and the new elected council member. That's 4-3 for continued forced fluoridation. Here's the kicker, unless the council passes a resolution to end fluoridation it will continue in perpetuity. This whole "advisory ballot" was just to keep this off the ballot so that Kidd could get past this last election without fluoride being a ballot item. The city spent ten thousand dollars on a goofy advisory ballot just to save Kidd's seat. That alone should be enough to kick her off. These four council members have no spine and they will continue in that fashion until we get a wholesale replacement. If you run into one of the 4 slugs over the holidays share with them the contempt you feel after this ghastly charade. Then sprinkle a pinch of salt on them and see if they melt.
ReplyDeleteAnd who can say whether Sissi will grow a spine and vote against the prevailing will of the Council - er, Staff.
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