Sunday, April 2, 2017

Screw You, Sue You...And Then Bill YOU

Another day, another way the Port Angeles City Council finds to try to go to war against their own citizens. Yep, they're gearing up to go to court to try and stop the "change of life" that will go on the ballot soon for Port Angeles. It's amazing how hard this fourth-rate City Council will fight to keep Port Angeles from changing (per the will of the voters) to a second-class city.

But make no mistake about it: The will of the people means less than nothing to this crew, and they will spend thousands upon thousands of YOUR tax dollars to fight an initiative that YOU put forward. It's awful, wasteful, and so transparent. It's like the worst student in class suing to prevent the teacher from issuing report cards, because they know (but won't admit) they're failing.

It's cliché, but so true in the case of the Port Angeles City Council: Struggling will only make it worse.

Jim Moran: The friendly, youthful face of
your future, Port Angeles!

Meanwhile, it sure looks like someone has been out beating the bushes, because there's already an announced candidate for the next City Council election. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Jim Moran, who is "absolutely opposed" to the change in status for the City, and describes himself as a fluoride "agnostic" - which means he'll support continuing to fluoridate the water. He's a status quo blockhead (and roadblock) in a time (and place) that demands major changes just to survive.

Fasten your seatbelts, everybody. It's going to continue to be a bumpy ride.

31 comments:

  1. And, why not? Would we expect anything else from this city/council? Given everything that happened last year, why would we expect this crew to do anything that respects the residents, respects those that care enough about an issue to get off their asses and go down to city hall, or that moves the community forward?

    Didn't the city spasm enough, last year? As we go into our "tourism" time of year, is this what the leadership of this town wants to rekindle? Who thinks that the city leadership, in voting to sue it's own residents, after all the work they put into walking the streets collecting those thousands of signatures, is not going to piss them off even more than they were before?

    Is this SO difficult to figure out?

    And Jim Moran? Who could be more entrenched in the existing way of doing things, than he? Former president of the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce during what period of Port Angeles' success story?

    Yes, it looks like the powers-that-be are lining up their successors.

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  2. Let that be a lesson, the good ole boys are already lining up their "heir apparent" while Norma Turner and other corporate democrats harass the progressives who are the only hope for real, lasting, positive change.

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  3. I remember last year when people were talking about placards mounted in the beds of pick up trucks parked around the ferry terminal to tell arriving visitors what bullshit is going on in Port Angeles. Really big, attention getting placards.

    "This city sues its' citizens to stop democracy".

    Yeah. That is good for starters. A couple 8x4 sheets of OSB are cheap enough. Back to that unavoidable, attention getting yellow and black paint. Also real cheap.

    Parked downtown. And right in front of where the cars drive off the ferry? Easy.

    If the city council votes to sue the citizens of Port Angeles, I'm more than willing to get friends to park around town with signs.

    Who the HELL do they think they are????

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    1. Wanna know why they sue?
      Wanna know why they grant-whore?
      Wanna know why they don't want sunshine?

      Because PA is desperate to NOT change.
      And stagnation is a racket.
      For the handful of old men who think they're special and entitled simply because they've swum in backwater all their lives.

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    2. Yup. Old timers can't die off fast enough to save the town.
      boomers suck

      Delete
  4. Per all the comments...Because business as usual has really made Port Angeles the thriving success that it is, right? Because there is no way, just NO WAY, that you could improve Port Angeles, right?

    It's laughable.

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    1. No, CK, it's criminal.

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    2. What is infuriating about this, no, just one of many things that what this city is contemplating doing that is so infuriating, is that they use own own tax money to unilaterally stop us from doing things "we the people" want to do.

      The referendum and initiative process exists so that citizens can do things they think are important enough to bring forward for a city wide vote. After so much debate and upset, no one in the city can say the issues are frivolous or only the concern of the vocal few. Thousands signed the petitions. Thousands voted to end fluoridation.

      By voting to take these issues to court, the members of the city council that do so should be seen for what they are. They are making an intentional choice. They are acting to take away and prevent what so many residents of Port Angeles told the city council they wanted to vote on.

      This is not supporting America, and the democracy it says it stands for.

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  5. "..Jim Moran, who is "absolutely opposed" to the change in status for the City, and describes himself as a fluoride "agnostic".."

    So, Jim thinks it is smart to try to dodge the fluoride issues? This alone should be seen as reason enough to see he is not qualified to move the city forward. If he can't see how divisive and important the issues have been over the last year or two, OR he sees trying to dodge the issues that have been created by it (the City Council silencing its' own citizens, for example) by saying he is a "fluoride agnostic" clearly shows he is just more of the same.

    Can't we do better than this?

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    Replies
    1. to quote the esteemed Buggs Bunny "what a moran..."

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  6. City workers must be really AFRAID that we'll chose that option. The joke is, I couldn't see how this would actually fly. Too complicated for the average voting Joe to want to go for it (and when something is complicated, or people are confused, the most rational thing is to vote NO).
    This bonehead move (Are you reading City Manager) is going to fly people right into a yes vote, or enrage the people so much that they do something irrational. The nation is already on edge. The residents of Port Angeles already squeezed for every last dime (through endless rate hikes and new taxes).
    What are you thinking, city hall? Are you really that afraid?
    (Must be guilt over those high wages, and expensive pensions you're looking forward to.)

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  7. Washington State, unlike many states, has a wonderful vehicle for the citizen’s voices to be heard. It’s the initiative and referendum process. We sign petitions, with wording we want on a ballot, the ballot goes to the people. It’s voted either Yay or Nay.


    Now, some laws that get voted in aren’t really good laws, or they don’t fit into the framework of the State Constitution, so they are decided on in the courts as to their validity. Some are upheld, some are struck down, nullified, or altered.

    This is how the system is supposed to work.


    What happens is that the people (even when a law fails to gain the majority vote, or are, subsequently, struck down by the courts) have sent a clear, loud, and unmistakable message to the elected.


    That is the point. That is the way the game was set up.


    NOW, for the City of Port Angeles to keep fiddling to game the outcome, is bad. To try and pre-emptively game the system (as you did with the fluoride initiative and referendum more than a decade ago) is a silly exercise that will inflame the public. It is not honoring, or trusting the system.


    No one likes a cheater. The city is trying to cheat.


    Let this go to a vote. Let’s see what happens.


    Personally, I believe this is entirely too complicated, and the petitions were signed in the heat of the moment. They were a cry for the city to stop, and listen.


    It’s not up to the city to condescendingly say “oh, but you don’t really mean that”. That isn’t your job. It’s micromanaging. Stop meddling. Stop hand wringing. Stop trying to influence the outcome. Put it on the ballot as it was presented to the people on the petition that they signed. Let the people vote.


    (History has shown, repeatedly, that if a ballot issue is too murky, too unclear, too confusing the voters simply vote NO.)


    DO NOT follow the City Manager's recommendations. Do not listen to the city Attorney. They are not voices of the people. The petition was. Listen to your constituents.

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    1. Marolee, I know you mean well, and are trying to be reasonable and rational. But nothing about how and what the City Council and the city staff has done has been either for the last year. The ONLY reason the City didn't continue down the path of self destruction is because the City stopped putting fluoride in the water. Not because they said the right thing, or did ANYTHING else, right.

      Let us clearly remember this.

      The City, a year ago, was boiling to a very destructive place. None of the insults created by Cherie Kidd and her supporters have been apologized for, or have been forgotten. Everything just got put on hold until this next election, and here we are. Now.

      As we remember, it was not just about the city deciding to use the public water system to medicate people against their will. It was how Cherie Kidd and her cronies shut down democracy in Port Angeles in order to do this. That despite so much outcry, they went ahead and ignored the citizens. And when the citizens protested their actions, the City Council did everything they could to silence the citizens protest.

      Now, in very much the same way, the City contemplates court action to silence the petition, and the vote.

      If anyone thought all was well and good in Port Angeles, WAKE UP!

      Time to take back our city from these idiots.

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    2. Let us remember the part played by the PDN. If you will remember after Crazy Cherie went batshit and closed a meeting, Paul Goatlip wrote it up as if hooligans had taken over the town and it was unsafe to go downtown. No, really, go back and re read some of the shit being reported at the time. Ass kissing Paul was actually making shit up about actions taken in the council chamber. Then he would go to batshit crazy Cherie for a quote. Yeah, the crowds need to start gathering at the city council meeting NOW and tell McKeen and his minions to hell with outside lawyers, put the petition on the ballot and deal with the fallout--as the people demanded. It is not too early to get in their faces to remind them this shit is over and done with. We are taking our town back from these grant whores and pay to play pimps.

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    3. Yep, wistful dreaming on my part. I wrote that to the city council. Hoping it would not fall on deaf ears.

      But, you are correct, it's time for a change.

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    4. Reverting to a 2nd-class city (that PA was before BTW) simply means that the council can no longer be a rubber stamp for the city staff's behind-the-scenes dealmaking. It means having an elected mayor with the ability to correct the council. More pressure than just the voice of the peons.

      Why doesn't the petition sponsor put out a simple press release in plain English so folks can understand?

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    5. Geeezz. If we can just get a slate of JUST 4 people who will promise to listen to the people, we will be fine. Just default to what the people want. Representative democracy, for better or worse. Let us learn. Don't pretend to be our parents, and think you're protecting us from ourselves. Let us make mistakes, and learn from them.

      Oh. It is Tuesday night. How did the council vote?

      Delete
  8. Yeah, that's funny. The city says the reason not to go to a second city is because you will lose the opportunity for referendum and initiative. At the same time they are denying us referendum and initiative. Who says you cant have it both ways.

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    1. You'd THINK, since they are also trying to shove a new pavement repair taxing district down our already full throats, that the city would be smart about this.

      What they SHOULD DO, is put the ballot/initiative on the August Primary (which would then clear the ballot in November, and way less people vote in the primary, as it's in the middle of the summer travel season). Then tie it up in court (if it had the majority vote). The 4 newly elected could be assured of not going through another election, and if tied up long enough, the other three positions could stay until the next scheduled election (because, easily, court proceedings would take that long).

      Guess no one at the city can be accused of thinking clearly, can they?

      The other advantage is that it would give a few months for the people of PA to forget about the hubbub. THEN, the city could shove on the taxing district for a vote in November, or better, February, 2018.

      That would make so much more sense, politically.

      Oh damn. I forgot. This city does everything back-ass-wards, and upside down. Self destructive, and dumb, to boot.

      Gotcha.

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  9. Boy howdy...Bodies in the bay, bodies in burned out cars, people washed away by waves, giant drug and weapons busts, car crashes, plane crashes...Just another happy news cycle on the Olympic Peninsula.

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    1. ....yeah, and more opportunity for our Clallam County Prosecutor to decline to prosecute.

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    2. It's the place to be! You know, that just oh-so wonderful and amazing place that everyone should know about and flock to for it's "beauty"?

      Ever see the crowds of tourists.. umm.. pretty much anywhere BUT here?

      Of course they don't know what they're doing. Why enjoy the beaches of French Polynesia, when you can come to Clallam County and enjoy the hillbillies?

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    3. And, the heroin/suspicious vehicle guy had a thousand keys ... so the police want people to identify the keys?
      What is that about? Key fetish?

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    4. The criminals are too backwater dumb to pick locks. So they steal keys and hope to get in before the locks are changed.

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    5. Or, stand at the door with the hundreds of keys, trying each one. " Nope, not this one.. Nope, not this one..."

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  10. Now Read This...
    http://portocallpublishing.com/2017/04/continuing-chicanery-at-county-commission/

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    1. Keep at it, Mr. Wilson. They are creating their own legacy. They are creating the history by which they will be known by. You are documenting it.

      Imagine 5 or 10 years from now, and some person googles Cherie Kidds' name. What will come up?

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  11. Adam Chamberlin found guilty by Clallam County jury, felony possession of a sawed off shotgun. No news on sentencing. Question is--will the judge be allowed to consider his previous 2 felonies convictions in sentencing decisions? Does Washington have a "3 Strikes" law?

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    1. It won't be 3 Strikes ("persistent offender") -- I don't think they can count crimes older than 10 years, and only violent crimes count. In light of his P.I. license (which ought to be toast now) he might be held to a higher standard. I think a felony conviction means he has to give up those 16 precious guns he was keeping in his bedroom. Can't have guns again after that without the court's permission. But it's OK, maybe he'll learn some empathy with helpless unarmed people.

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  12. Port O Call and the Progressives are sponsoring an “All Call” for candidates and their supporters.

    Join us Friday, April 14th, 5:00 pm at the Sons of Norway Lodge 131 W. 5th Street in Port Angeles.

    We hope to entertain a crowd of candidates for any and all elections coming up.

    Come by and meet some like minded people and try out your stump-speech before a friendly crowd.

    Anyone even thinking about running for city council, Port of Port Angeles Commissioner, Hospital Commissioner, School Board, any of them, come on out and shake some hands and pass out your cards.

    You may even recruit some campaign workers. We all need to get involved in this most pivotal election.

    This will be videotaped for broadcast on PAPA-TV, Channel 21 on Wave Cable, reaching 22,000 homes in Clallam County.

    For more information call: 360-477-2484

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