Thursday, May 5, 2016

It Has Come to This

Unopposed elections. Wasted tax dollars. Meaningless surveys. Mealy-mouthed City Council members. Threats. Delays. Official complaint after complaint. The ability of the public to speak out (in various forums) curtailed. Too many insults and improprieties to list.

And so it has come to this:

We, the undersigned registered voters residing within the City of Port Angeles, by signing this petition express our support for the holding of an election so the voters of the City of Port Angeles can decide whether to change from the current council-manager form of government under RCW 35A to the council-manager form of government under RCW 35 in a second-class city in order to elect a full new city council."

This was filed yesterday. The backers needed 467 signatures; they got over 1,000.

There is an article about this in today's PDN, but, of course, as mentioned above, they have disabled the ability to comment. (No signs, no comments!) Feel free to do so here. This is a drastic step to take. Is it warranted? Will it make a difference? Will it open any eyes or minds on the current City Council?

20 comments:

  1. Wholly support the efforts to change the form of city governance in order to elect a city council that is responsive the wants, needs and wishes of the taxpayers and the residents. This city council, actually Gase, Downie, Kidd and Collins have brought the situation to this state of affairs. These four are solely responsible for this and it is not all about fluoride although fluoride it the touchstone that made it apparent that we have no representation on the present city council as long as these four prefer to flaunt their tenuous grip on the city government. In fairness I hope the new city council will include Bruch, Meridith and Whetham. They deserve the position as they have represented the majority in the face of the tyranny of the four who monopolize city government for the good of the greedy.
    We must put pressure on Mark Nichols as he is the lynchpin now. Let him know his time in office depends on his fairness in the handling of this petition. Really, write to Mark Nichols and express to him your support for this petition and in no uncertain terms let him know you will be watching his handling of this matter. Finally, those seeking to run for the NEW city council should run on the premise that City Attorney Bill Bloor will be out the door on day one of the newly organized city council.

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  2. Again,CK, you hit the nail on the head square on. It has come to this.

    Look at all the upset, turmoil this community has been deliberately put under by Cherie Kidd and her cronies. For many months now, this community has been in a form of civil war, ALL because the four city council members refuse to do what the people said they wanted.

    The most dramatic and visible proof of the intentional turmoil is the now infamous meeting and video of Cherie Kidd baiting citizens to do something, so she could shut down the city council meeting. Clearly the powers-that-be have drawn a line in the sand with this issue, as they seemingly endorse and support what Cherie Kidd and the other three did.

    Of course, none of this needed to happen. The council could have simply said "We did a survey, we got the results, we acted upon the results of the survey. Thank you for your participation in this important topic." And we all would be talking about other things now.

    But in the Old Guard's dinosaur brains, that would have been less than manly. They are so out of touch with the community they live in, they can't see any problems, at all. Anyone who attended City Council last Tuesday saw Cherie Kidd excitedly prattling on about how she wanted to be at the ribbon cutting ceremonies this summer for the toxic waste processing facilities.

    They live in some other fantasy world, where *they* are the wise benefactors for the great unwashed masses. They, like parents, know what the public wants and needs, despite whatever the citizens might say. They get to lie under oath, because they are doing what is best for all.

    As this civil war escalates through the coming summer months, the local business community can look to itself as being a primary creator of the situation. As placards greet tourists, and fliers advise visitors to sleep, shop and dine elsewhere, the local business community can only look to themselves as they ask why this is happening.

    The business community in this town has supported the on going insults to this town's citizens. They were asked to stand up for democracy, but didn't want to "get involved".

    It is said "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." This means we have to constantly be on the look out for ways in which our freedoms, such as freedom of expression, might be under attack, curtailed, or taken away. This has happened overtly, here in Port Angeles. Specifically to silence Americans, in their own home town. Where are the patriots?

    This is all because of The Four.

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    1. Cherie should have just apologized, shut up and not said a word about Lee at the ethics meeting.

      If she had an ounce of common sense she would have asked for forgiveness, and fallen on the sword. Contrite would have redeemed her.

      Instead she became a shrill harpy, and blamed, blamed, blamed. She was arrogant, and her ego was big and bloated.

      The battle cry of Kidd: Better to blame others than to admit culpability.

      So, NOW, the Jefferson Sheriffs office is investigating.

      PDN even wrote this as a story -- about as clear, and chagrined as I have ever seen printed by them for Friday's newspaper.

      Maybe the public outcry IS having an affect?

      If someone actually speaks to Cherie or her husband, please encourage passing along this article in Psychology Today (The Blame Game) to them: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/what-would-aristotle-do/201207/stop-playing-the-blame-game

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  3. As the PDN article points out (though not in that language) a majority of the Fluoride Four and the blocks to progress will be up and out at the next election. So the question becomes how much damage do they do before leaving.

    It's mind-boggling (like Dan Gase says) that this is what they would want as their legacy: A shattered economy, obliterated public trust, and any vestige of civic engagement or respect destroyed. But that's the road they're heading down, at full speed.

    Can a city commit suicide? This one seems to be trying.

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  4. No. It is NOT going to make any difference. The council will discount it (except the three smart ones). The city will fight it. Bloor will rack up some HUGE legal bills and blame the people for causing budget cuts, and then, they will add some emergency fees on our "utility" bills.
    The powers that be will find a way to punish US. They always do.

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    1. Good point there at the end. Tragic, but well worth remembering.

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  5. The Peninsula Daily News sucks. Their senior reporter is nothing more then glorified copy writer. The city, the county and the port issues unofficial press releases and they are fleshed out with enough words to fill a story section with any added past unofficial press releases and commonts by city officials that support said release trotted out and published again as a statement of fact. It is unfortunate that many city residents count on this News paper for information that is factual. No attempt is ever made to verify whatever crap they are publihing as news.
    A perfect example was when the Port had decided to cut down all the trees in Lincoln Park and take over the ball fields as part of their Master plan.(still not removed from their back burner) The entire plan involve a bunch of Grant money. Big Suprise there! They can't pass up that grant money no matter what the requirements or long term effects are. it involved building a new expensive un needed road, New hangers and updating the terminal. Now those of us who tried to book airline tickets were aware that Kenmore air had cut their flights down to almost nothing and clearly the hand writing was on the wall that soon they would pull out of our airport. We knew that we would end up with a newly lengthened runway , buildings and roads out at a empty airport. The Port tried to pull all of this off by insisting that this master plan was all about a safety issue. They and their supporters for this idiocy made it sound like if something was not done soon the airport and park would be littered with bodies of the poor souls who attempted to take off and land on the one shortened runway.Nobody at the Newspaper bothered to check that even shortened by the tree clearance the runway was long enough to land a 737. The Daily News ran with this and proceed to Print story after story about the safety issues at the airport and made everyone who was protesting this ridiculous project and waste of money sound like some kind of tree hugging lunatic willing to sacrifice people's lives for a few trees . The fact there had never been any accidents out at the airport or safety complaints or concerns EVER filed with the FAA was never checked by The Peninsula Daily News.This is just one glaring example of tHe Daily newspapers willingness to Print anything local government asks them to and never bothering to ask any questions or check any facts. They are completely worthless as a source of any information about important city ,county and port issues.

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  6. If as PDN says, the councilor election cannot take place until 2017 when at least three of the four are gone any-f'n-way ... what's the point?

    And a lawyer from Seattle and a nutjob from Sequim presume to show us how to govern ourselves? Well, isn't that just dandy.

    And mind you, it permanently gives up the right of local referendum and initiative. You really think that risk is worth it?

    It can only tie the hands of the councilors who are staying -- IF ANY, cause apparently they'll ALL be up for election -- and IF AT ALL, because there are a lot of intelligent people in this town, and their vote counts too ... and it's not resolved that the change will force an election ANYWAY.

    Stupid ... not like there ain't plenty of that these days. Mr Steele seems to think removing the powers of council will somehow give those powers to the people. Uh, no, dummy. They revert to the state of WA, and the town pretty much follows a script written by the state.

    Scorched earth is not the way to do this. It's extortion pure and simple; an abuse of democracy, not an exercise of it ... to please a minority of the town. Never have more than a quarter of water users spoken out against fluoridation. It's time you all acquiesced to the rest.

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    1. @10:23, PA was a second-class city from 1951 to 1971.
      In terms of citizen input, does anyone actually think that era of governance was worse than what we have now?

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    2. Your words: "Scorched earth is not the way to do this. It's extortion pure and simple; an abuse of democracy, not an exercise of it ... to please a minority of the town. Never have more than a quarter of water users spoken out against fluoridation. It's time you all acquiesced to the rest." Describes the FF to a "t". You just cannot see it. They act to please their own little pinheaded cronies, nothing more. The petitioners know this isn't a perfect answer, but they're doing all they can to exercise the will of the people. Nice try troll, but sorely lacking.

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    3. " Never have more than a quarter of water users spoken out against fluoridation."

      Last year's poll was the FOURTH vote in this town over the years, and ALL FOUR polls had a very clear majority against toxic waste into our water.

      10:23, as a big LIAR, you must be a Friend of Kidd (a real FOKer).

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    4. 9,762 surveys. 2,381 opposed. 24.39%. Math. I don't think the minority should be making decisions for the rest.

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    5. If the others were too arrogant and LAZY to fill out and shove a survey in the mail, tell them to go f-k themselves.
      They don't get a "say" if they don't vote.
      That isn't how our system of government works. If it did, then Dewey would have been President.
      7:24am, you are a moron, plain and simple.

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    6. @Anon 7:24 Do you work for the PDN? You KNOW you are intentionally skewing the numbers and misrepresenting the whole picture.

      This is like saying there are 11,388 eligible voters in Port Angeles. Last Nov, Cherie Kidd was elected to office with 2326 votes. That is around 20% of ballots sent out.

      Funny you should question the validity of the numbers. You know those are almost exactly the percentages Cherie Kidd was elected by? That means "I don't think the minority should be making decisions for the rest."? So, do you apply this concern about "minority" say in votes across the board? Or just when it suits you? Or just when you, like the PDN, try to twist things around?

      That people choose not to vote means they choose not to participate. You can draw any assumptions you like as to why people choose not to participate in things.

      Here in Port Angeles it is because assholes like you intentionally lie, cheat and twist things around to deceive the public, to suit themselves, so why bother participating. At least, that's my assumption.

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  7. Good job to everyone out there busting their butts to collect this signatures.

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  8. Giving the one-finger salute to a polled 58% majority, the Flouride 4 voted on December 15 to poison our water, refusing to acknowledge that the acid product is actually an industrial toxic waste material.
    Then they voted again on February 19 to not reconsider that decision.

    Now the entire city will get to vote in a new council, and chances are that some of the 4 will still be there when that happens. How politically stupid can they be?

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  9. I'll bet the ranch none of the fluoride four will ever be elected to anything in this town ever again.
    Book it Dano

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  10. With the new form of government we wont have a $300 million debt placed on the 8500 workers in the city.

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