Saturday, June 4, 2016

The Change Train Has Left the Station - Get Aboard or Tear Up the Tracks?

Thanks to the folks at the Port O Call for sending the following info along:

This just in...

The petition to change the status of city governance in Port Angeles passed two important hurdles in its race to be on the November ballot.

County Auditor, Shoona Riggs' office completed the count of over one thousand names on a petition circulated by Jess Grable and Edna Wiladsen and others including representatives of Our Water Our Choice.

The total number of signatures was more than twice as many as needed to be placed on the ballot in November.

The second hurdle involves the language of the petition. The Clallam County Prosecutor's Office determined the language sufficient to identify the intent of the petition.

Rumors aplenty of secret meetings seeking a way to forestall such a momentous change for the city. According to sources, the sides are "dug in" and the process must run its course. " That train has left the station..."

If the change of governance petition is approved by city voters in November there will be a wholesale change in the city government. All seven seats will be open seats and any registered voter in the city can be a candidate.

47 comments:

  1. Ah, yes, a new broom sweeps clean. However, we should consider keeping the three sane council members, Sissi, Lee and Michael for the sake of continuity.
    The nomination petitions should be pre-printed with the promise to fire City Attorney, Bill Bloor on the first day of the first meeting of the new city council. Then maybe some sanity will settle over the city. Council members in the new government should not be allowed more than two terms without sitting out at least one term. Power corrupts as we have seen countless times with the fluoride four. The salaries of the council members should be doubled and our expectations of their preparation for council meetings should double. Voter approval should be mandatory before multi-million dollar spending decisions are made. The city currently has a debt load that teeters on the brink of bankruptcy. An immediate audit of every department at city hall should occur just to see where is the waste and duplication. Each department should have to begin each year at zero-balance budgets meaning each year they must prepare and defend their department's budget and not just duplicate funding from last year. There should be a bounty placed on consultants from out of the county and local talent should be used for all taxpayer funded projects. This alone will enhance local incomes like nothing else. This is our city people and we have a chance to take it back from the entrenched interests who keep us mired in debt and deception. There should be a city ordinance by which council members can be removed for the type of common idiocy experienced recently such as denying the will of the majority of voters. Start looking for desirable candidates. Overlook anyone not interested in a top to bottom re-examination of the way the city does its business.

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    1. Excellent post there, very good (and very necessary) ideas.

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    2. I agree. Some really good ideas here.

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    3. I respectfully disagree.

      You want a bounty on out of area contractors - and want a zero based budget?

      I would think you would want three bids and to select the lowest cost with highest quality to address your budget concerns.

      Term limits - with a population of less than 25,000 men women and children - reduce for those who can't run, those who don't need the intrusion of public service and you run out of qualified candidate in a very short period. Term limits try to force change that voters are generally too lazy to make happen at the ballot. box.

      Finally, if you really believe in your ideas and feel they are achievable, I encourage that they should be the platform in which you run.

      Kindly

      J. Farmer - Port Angeles

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    4. There already is a state law by which council members can be removed. But four recall elections are a lot more work. Of course they happen almost immediately, instead of late 2017, when it's pointless... I guess Eloise really wanted to economize.

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    5. recall elections don't work. We first must prove that they did something wrong, which works for Kidd, but not for Gase or Collins. Meanwhile, any recall effort can get caught up in yards and yards of red tape.
      We'd have to locate the kiddy porn on Collins and Gase's computers, and get Kidd to murder someone.

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  2. This can be a good thing, as it was brought about by the abuses of power that a simple majority of council can currently foist upon the city. It's one thing to make government deals. But only 4 persons to decide what everyone else in this city can eat and drink, and which special few among us should get some tax rebates, is just wrong and UnAmerican.

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  3. This is a great commentary on what passes for representative democracy in Port Angeles. How did we get here?

    Because our current so-called leadership would rather put efforts into changing policies to silence their constituency's ability to speak to them, than do what their constituency want them to do. As we see with Cherie Kidd, she would rather lie straight faced about her fellow council member, under oath, than do what her constituents want. The "powers that be" would rather support Cherie Kidd in her disgracing the office she holds as a representative of Port Angeles, than hold her responsible for her unsupportable behaviors. The PDN would rather engage in the outright manipulation of what it's readership knows, by withholding stories, by disabling public comment on related stories, than hold Cherie Kidd accountable.

    We'll see how much effort is put into this. All needlessly.
    We will see the battle lines drawn, and much effort put into re-hashing and reliving what the Council Majority did earlier this year, that motivated these 1,000 people to sign the petitions to pursue changing government.

    The real issue is the Council Majority, that so gravely insulted the people of Port Angeles, and the American way.

    All for what?

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  4. Prediction: The City Council will authorize Bill Bloor to hire consultants to help him determine whether there are legal grounds to sue the petitioners and strike the change-in-governance question from the ballot.

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    1. It's one thing to want to make sure the petition is properly processed, but it's another altogether for Bloor to act the politician and take it upon himself to maintain the status quo at any cost by suing to get rid of it.

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    2. We already pay Bloor's "consultants" about half a million dollars a year, on top of Bloor's two hundred thousand a year...

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    3. Prediction: the measure fails and nothing changes.

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    4. We'll have another council election before it ever changes, and then it will all be dropped.
      But that's good too.

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    5. we must think positive...

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    6. Thanks to Bloor and his gaggle of consultants the ballot will look like this:

      ____ Yes, I think Port Angeles is fine just the way it is.
      ____ No, I don't want to make any changes to Port Angeles.

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    7. Of course, we see the PDN dutifully doing what it can to help defeat this effort with it's headline. They probably would have not run the story at all, except they couldn't get away with it.

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    8. 6:31am, exactly!!!

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    9. Prediction: Bloor will ask Superior Court for a declaratory judgment as to whether the change will force elections. Steel will sue him for the delay, and lose two cases for the price of one. OWOC will be unable to revise the petition within its original meaning and intent, and will have to start over from scratch.

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    10. Anon 10:08

      Right. Win the battle, and lose the war.

      This is what the Council majority and their supporters seem too blinded by their own egos, to see or understand.

      As much as they seem to want to think this is all about them, personally, it is not. They forget and are blind to all the damage they are doing to the community they are supposed to be concerned about.

      So, maybe Bloor will blunt the effort. All that shows, to everyone, how much the Council majority and the City of Port Angeles DON'T care about it's residents, their children's futures, or the businesses here.

      Their actions speak way louder than their words. And they are there for all to see.

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  5. So is it time for some type of Direct, Nonviolent, Action on this Poisoning-of-Port Angeles-youth issue? All methods prescribed by the State have been attempted, and the State refuses to uphold what should be a Federal precedent to prevent municipal distribution of fluoride.
    I was in Olympia recently to hear Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) speak, and there where some community activists present in the lobby afterwards. I asked if anyone had heard about Port Angeles' plight with fluoride. No, they hadn't, but they remembered ACCOMPLISHING this task in 1998 or so...
    I strongly believe that fluoridation is part of the school-to-prison pipeline, and that Rural-America is a sacrifice zone. Prison Funds are allocated based on 4th grade test results, so the State know early which communities will "under-perform" and can therefore help structure the local economy to profit from the Prison-Industrial-Complex as Clallam County does so well- from the Federal Prison to the Revenue generated within the Pay-or-Appear/Debt Peonage system.
    I would love to see some figures on the amount of Clallam County's budget that manages to get rustled up from the harasment of the chronically impoverished (therefore criminal, right?).
    If it is substantial, I would propose the Courthouse as a target for an Occupation or Sit-In. Chaining ourselves to the County's largest economic generator might make them more willing to compromise.

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    1. Flouride is part of the school-to-prison pipeline?

      Do you read what you write before you hit publish?

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    2. " In a meta-analysis, researchers from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and China Medical University in Shenyang for the first time combined 27 studies and found strong indications that fluoride may adversely affect cognitive development in children. Based on the findings, the authors say that this risk should not be ignored, and that more research on fluoride’s impact on the developing brain is warranted." (https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/fluoride-childrens-health-grandjean-choi/). I hope this isn't too much for your understanding of science.

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  6. Don't forget the promo clip for Cherie's PAPA show. Leave your comment there now, and help get the word out through another venue...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkKiG99wf8A

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    1. I'm waiting for the show to premiere.....tap tap tap. Where IS IT PAPA?

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    2. I recall the promo saying it would be Monday evenings so try checking this coming Monday around 5 or 6 pm. Or the next Monday - I can't find a schedule on their site.

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    3. PAPA is ready to roll, Wave Cable is holding up the show.

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    4. Maybe Cherie is getting cold feet, to match that cold heart of hers.

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    5. We've had a "technical problem" with our broadcasting equipment interfacing with Wave Cable's. Based upon what we were told we would need for everything to work, we thought we were "good to go". We only found out a couple days ago (from Wave) the signal wasn't getting to their system properly. We identified and ordered (over night delivery) the specialized equipment, and, well, it didn't show up Friday as hoped.

      We're aiming for the 10th now.

      Thanks for your patience and understanding.

      Oh, and while I'm at it, if any of you have a broadcast background, and feel like lending a hand, come on by, and let's talk. PAPA is a volunteer based community effort.

      Tyler

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    6. Who cares about PAPA? I mean, aside from Tyler, Dale Wilson and some of the moldy oldies of Soroptimist, who's going watch this drivel?

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    7. LOL! Pretty funny! And, sad, too. PAPA hasn't even begun broadcasting, and here we see someone condemning what they haven't even seen yet! Think about that for a minute or two. What conclusions can you come to, with a comment like that?





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    8. Cherie's show should be renamed "Gavel Bangin' With Cherie Kidd" - there would be a significant uptick in ratings.

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  7. PA was a RCW35 second-class (which refers only to size of population) city 1951 to 1971. IIRC, no dictatorial councils as a result.

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  8. The current majority on city council, Downie, Kidd, Collins and Gase, all are there to do the bidding of the entrenched interests of the area. Gase to see all the realtor interests are looked after, Collins to be sure all the EDC and other business interests are looked after and to stop any progressive actions from taking place. Kidd is there to keep anything progressive from happening and too be sure the styles, interests, politics, culture and lifestyles never change. Downie is there to finish out his civic duty by doing nothing that will anger anyone with whom he will mingle for the rest of his days. These four have brought the city's business to a halt. They have presided over the biggest spending binge in the city's history and they have done nothing to improve the infrastructure or revenue streams that will pay for their idiotic spending. Therefore you and your children and your grand children will be paying off their debt for at least three generations. These people have to go if Port Angles and the wider community will ever have a chance of climbing out of the backwoods.

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  9. "They have presided over the biggest spending binge in the city's history and they have done nothing to improve the infrastructure or revenue streams that will pay for their idiotic spending. Therefore you and your children and your grandchildren will be paying off their debt for at least three generations."

    Cut and paste to restate the heart of the comments, and the heart of the problem.

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    1. Let's be realistic public debt can't get paid off. It isn't supposed to - that would mean they are collecting too much tax revenue. You aren't going to get your welfare check unless they are collecting taxes from your neighbors.

      D Farmer - Port Angeles

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  10. I've held back on commenting too much, to let the conversation get rolling here without my interference. But here are a few thoughts I have on this issue...

    One: The current members of the City Council are, overall, held in EXTREMELY low esteem. There is no respect or affection for the Fluoride Four, to say the least, and the institution as a whole is, well, in a hole. Correct?

    Two: This would seem to indicate a situation in which incumbents would be very, very vulnerable to challengers in an election. Right?

    Three: And yet...The same dolts keep getting reelected due to being unopposed, or having on again/off again opponents, or having Peter Ripley as an opponent, whatever. They keep getting back into City Hall. Yes?

    Four: So, if given all of the above, it's still incredibly difficult to find credible candidates to run against people who are made to lose elections...Then will you really be able to find seven candidates to fill those seats if Port Angeles is "born again"?

    Five: Or is it even slightly likely that, in the case of new, born again elections, the only candidates who sign up to run will be named Gase, Kidd, Downie, etc.?

    I'm just asking...

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    1. There are no candidates. We are trying to recruit Dale but he doesn't want to be in the cross-hairs. We probably couldn't get the old guard (Jim, Grant, Karen, etc) to run because there is no upside for anyone to serve and take the inevitable beating.

      So what we will have is a city run by the "staff".

      M Smith - PA

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    2. We already have a city run by staff. Do you think any of these council members ever uttered one motion that was not written down for them by staff?

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    3. I'm going to take the liberty to speak for Dale.

      What kind of ridiculous comment is this : "We are trying to recruit Dale but he doesn't want to be in the cross-hairs." ? As if Dale hasn't, and doesn't continue to put himself "in the cross hairs" more than any other person I can think of, on the Olympic Peninsula? Who else openly challenges the establishment here? Who else writes a front page headline "She Lied!" with a picture of Cherie Kidd, and then works to distribute 10,000 copies around the region?

      Here we have the Troll at work, still. Trying to undermine both Dale and Marolee, by pretending to be as Marolee (signing as M Smith Port Angeles). Anyone who reads this blog knows Marolee doesn't use the "Anonymous" moniker.

      Dale accomplishes more for the community than any sitting City Council person ever has. He is not constrained by the issues and policies that Council members are. He doesn't have to wait in two week cycles, hoping 6 other council members might vote along with him on some watered down proposal. He works every day, and helps people cut through the BS, and understand what is going on, and who is behind it.

      I, for one, hopes Dale DOESN'T run for City Council. He is far more valuable doing what he does.

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    4. I would like Dale to run. He is like the Bernie Sanders of the Northwest. He has the support and I am sure would vote his conscious.

      That's what we need are people who will vote their conscious. I mean he could still run his newspaper and write articles. Wasn't Michael Bloomberg the Mayor of New York City and run Bloomberg News?

      I don't understand people with great ideas, organizational skills and passion who don't get involved and make the change happen.

      Becca Martineau - Agnew

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    5. That wasn't me. Thanks, 9:09.
      And, for the record, there are many people who are willing to step up -- good people, younger people, and smart ones.
      Thanks for the laugh, 9:15pm Troll.

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    6. Great points. And once PAPA gets up & running, then they can focus on getting more, shall we say, in-depth shows going.

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    7. Per Anon 12:47 PM...We may as well aim for having council members voting while conscious, since the current ones seem to be unconscious 99% of the time.

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    8. Marilee 1:34 PM you're so vain you thought that post was to spoof you? I am Mary Smith of Port Angeles. I guess you're surprised you're not the only M. Smith that's blowin dale.

      M. Smith - PA

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    9. @ Anon 7:46 "I guess you're surprised you're not the only M. Smith that's blowin dale." Classy!

      And, there is also the "D-Farmer", as well as the Jesse Farmer that is also involved in the anti establishment efforts?

      It is just SO amazing that all these people, with such similar names, all suddenly show up here. After all these years.

      And the format of the messages are all so similar, unlike most others. Hmmm.

      Color me suspicious.

      Troll.

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    10. Well I agree anon8:10 it seems suspicious. I remember when I was instrumental in establishing the Boeing composite project during the Reagan Administration that disinformation was used to confuse the union representatives.

      Stay strong - live by the motto the only easy day is yesterday!

      Fasty Adams - Port Angeles

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  11. Excellent candidates are being vetted as we speak. There will be no more unchallenged races. There will be no more re-treads breezing into office on city council. The city residents are far too smart to turn things over to the likes of these idiots again. Gase, Kidd, Collins and Downie are done along with the corrupt atmosphere that brought them to the fore. In the meantime we should still be picketing Gase's real estate office with a sign: "Broker inside voted to poison our water" At Cherie's U-Haul place a sign saying, "Owner poisoned our water, shop elsewhere." Yeah, Bob will take the hit but hell he should figure a way to keep the gal out of sight to avoid further embarrassment. Bob, think "Thorazine" and Cheerios.

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