We've got dozens of house built on the edge of the bluff. We've got our biggest hospital on the edge of the bluff. And of course, we have our old dump, just a couple of feet from beginning an epic dive right into the Strait.
Per the houses, if I owned one, I'd be moving heaven and earth to get out of it, before the latter part of that phrase kicks in.
Waterfront property available - cheap!
As for the hospital, I am amazed that there has been very little discussion of its precarious state. In the fabled major earthquake that so many people here seem to worry about, I'm betting that the hospital will partially or completely slide into the water. Even a partial collapse would make the hospital unusable - only we'd probably really need a hospital in an event like that.
Now, as we know, the City is in its classic boneheaded way trying to "deal with" the problem. But their approach is hampered by several things.
One is, of course, that the bluff in question could literally go any second. As I type this, garbage could finally be spilling into the Strait. So timing is indeed, if not everything, very important.
But time is money, and the City has spread theirs so far and wide already, and the failure of the State to pass a supplemental budget means that $5 million dollars the City was (foolishly) counting on is gone. Tell me honestly: Does that lack of a supplemental budget make my utility bill look fat? I suspect it will.
Another challenge with the City's chosen approach to "dealing with" the old dump could be described as generational. The City is planning to spend huge amounts of money to try and divert some of the tidal energy hitting the base of the bluff. But given the direction of the tides, and the contours of the shoreline, that displaced energy is most likely to head east, which aims it right at the bluff below the cemetery. Which means, if all goes "well" with the City's diversion plan, it's possible that within a generation, past generations will be threatening to go for a swim in the Strait. Surfing dead? We may find out.
Cowabunga! Looking good, grandpa!
How did we get to be in such a...stupid, stupid state? Who puts a dump on a bluff? Per the last post topic, who permits houses to be built on bluffs? And for god's sake, who builds a hospital on a bluff? We know the bluffs can recede at a rate of up to 20 feet a year in the worst case scenario. We know it rains here, and that we thus have landslide "issues" locally. We know so much, and yet seem to do so little.
Are you concerned about any of this? Are you satisfied with City's approach in "dealing with" the old dump? Are you, like me, mystified at the seeming lack of concern about our nearest hospital literally being on the brink? Is Port Angeles going to be the next big national landslide story?
Regarding the hospital, it's typical Port Angeles protocol. Don't take any responsibility yourself; don't be thoughtful or try to plan ahead.
ReplyDeleteNo, in the case of an emergency watch our local leaders, the same ones who have allowed us to run up increased risk in many areas, sit back and cry and wail and wait for help from the hated outside world to pour in and rescue them.
For a supposedly "rough" and tumble, bootstrap kind of frontier town, Port Angeles in remarkably childlike and irresponsible. Never has eyes facing forward, but always has a hand out for a handout.
This is more an issue with the real estate lobby, and their incredible power in getting areas that should be zoned "not for living" rezoned. Our government claims they can't do anything, but this is exactly why we were bitching about the post before this...of the 3-in-1 b*tch. Geez, people....there are places that shouldn't be built upon. The bluffs are sandstone here, yes, they will eventually tumble into the ocean. No you cannot stop it. Within 100 years, most of the elevated parts of Front street will be gone, and the water side of Milwaukee Drive will, as well. Sandstone is affected by: a.) water action; b.) wind action; c.) earthquakes; and e.) leaking sewer lines/water lines, f.) improper diversion of water downspouts; and, g. bad building practices. Welcome to the world of "we can't be logical, we are greedy".
DeleteI could almost - almost - forgive our stalwart local leaders for their inaction on issues like this if they were at least honest. "Gosh, you know, we're already too strapped as is, and we can't afford to pay for ____ right now."
DeleteBut instead, they either embrace half-assed non-solutions that still cost us a ton of money, or just pretend that there's no problem at all. The way they're dealing with the old dump is definitely in the first category, while their not-a-peep-of-a-problem approach is how they are (not) dealing with the reality of our soon to slide hospital.
I get it, I get it: No one wants to say "we can't do anything" because that's bad news, right? But the way they keep spending our money stupidly is also very bad news, and bad policy.
Short-term mentality made manifest - that's Clallam County for you. As you point out, we know that, in the near future, 90% of those houses along the bluff are going to either go over the edge, or be condemned for being too close to the edge.
ReplyDeleteBut so long as there are suckers willing to buy the land and build their "dream house" there, there will be realtors willing to sell the land to them, and the local permitting enablers (you can't use the word "authorities" really) will give them the green light more often than not.
Dollars now trumps problems later.
You said it. The real estate cabal is quite active in this town....
DeleteJust wait until the Cascadia Subduction Zone moves, and we have a mega-quake. It's due to shake. Every 300 to 500 years it decides to move -- big thrust movement. It will be greater than 9.0 and shallow (not like the past quakes in this area). Heck, its estimated that Bainbridge island move upward by more than 10 feet (where it remains today). An upward movement creates a massive Tsunami, which would be here, about the same time as the quake, and magnified by the narrowness of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The sandstone bluffs you see around here, would be pulverized in seconds. Meanwhile, because around here houses are built on old wetlands, on river flood basins, and on other unstable ground, we'd have some real damage.Meanwhile, all the hills would experience liquifaction...where the ground turns to pudding and moves towards the ocean. We have had, traditionally, such lax building codes regarding earthquakes, 9 out of 10 buildings would be flattened. Meanwhile, all the roads out would be washed away by the tsunama, covered by mudslides, unusable. Of course everyone in FEMA knows this. Look at the tsunami escape signs around. We have a tsunami horn that sounds, occasionally, to "test it". But does anyone really realize what would happen? What to expect? There would be AT LEAST 2 minutes of violent shaking. Parts of the Olympic Peninsula would drop, while others would rise. We'd see large gaping quake rifts (openings in the earth). Most likely, the Olympic Peninsula would become an island, in some parts. Within minutes of the shaking, a giant Tsunami would be upon us, washing inland up to a quarter mile, and waves would continue for hours (it isn't "one event"). We'd have to fend for ourselves, for quite a long, long time. No phones, no internet, no power, no drinking water, no food from outside sources. FEMA says, 3-days minimum. But, seriously, access to the area could be significantly longer, as if the Cascadia moves, all of the Pacific Northwest would be damaged, and Portland and Seattle would be sure to get more of the aid, initially. We'd be here. You and me, if we're lucky.
DeleteAnd since we all know the city/county is like a 13 year old with a boner in a room full of super models. The first thing that catches their eye will take their attention. It's not about what really NEEDS TO BE DONE. Of course, they haven't really "planned" anything.
http://www.pnsn.org/outreach/earthquakesources/csz
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/structure/crust/cascadia.php
Wow! Thanks for the info and the links. It's a healthy dose of reality, for sure. Too bad that reality has no value to our local leaders, though. Might kind of, you know, save some lives and stuff like that when something goes wrong.
DeleteAt this point, given all the experience we have had, recently and otherwise, if the city is trying to fix something, the smart money says it will only end up making it WORSE. So yeah, we may all be getting visits from our late grandparents sometime soon.
ReplyDeleteI hope that I live long enough to be at THAT City Council meeting, when they get a report on THAT happening.
DeleteYeah, Nathan should be City Manager by then...
DeleteYes, but...Who will be mayor?
DeleteI'm assuming that none of our fearless leaders actually live in houses on bluffs, near the old dump, etc. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's my guess.
DeleteNeedless to say, Max tried to raise this as an issue long before staff finally decided it was important to address it. One more example of how warnings here are ignored, and the system waits for disaster to loom before beginning to deal with anything.
DeleteRaising the alarm about actual issues here is, as Max demonstrated, the best way to get yourself run out of town. The locals don't want to hear the bad news. It makes Cherie Kidd and Russ Veenema so sad!
DeleteHospital on bluff = Elephant in the living room.
ReplyDeleteHello, City Council???
They'll get a similar report as they did with the Turd Tank. When people questioned investing so many millions only a few feet above the current high tide level, staff got their trusty consultants to say "No problems here"
DeleteNow, if staff wanted the hospital moved, we all know their trusty consultants will come up with their "urgency statement", and they'd be running screaming to Olympia for money.
You can write it any way you want!
Since the cemetery is a City property, doesn't that make the City liable/responsible for anything that happens there? As in, if they have to move the bodies, wouldn't the City have to pay for that? If they didn't move the bodies, and they did start dropping into the strait, could relatives sue the City? Anyone know if any other municipalities have ever faced anything quite like this?
DeleteIs this yet another embarrassing and weird "only in Clallam County"?
If the cemetery suddenly fell....it would be an "act of god" and most of those closest to the edge would be families that have been long, long gone. Other cemeteries have had catastrophic failures (bluffs into the ocean, sink holes, etc.) and, whole cemeteries have been unearthed, and moved (to make way for "progress") it's usually up to the families to retrieve the remains and find suitable reburial plots (at their expense). Why? Because you PURCHASE your plot, so your family owns the DEED to it. It's yours. No one gets cemetery insurance (I doubt if it's available, but a great idea). Heck, Forest Lawn in So, Cal, routinely "relocates" the less than famous on a regular basis. Families cannot sue, because of the fine print on the deed.
DeleteThe city cemetery would not be liable. The plot is private property, the city is the condo-association. They do the upkeep. If bodies started falling the ocean the EPA would go after the families to recover the remains for a proper burial.
DeleteSounds like either the dump or the cemetery is gonna go. Either way, looks like we'll be getting to know some EPA employees in the near future.
DeleteAs you likely know, we've been down this path in the recent past, with the landfill issue.
ReplyDelete10 years ago, staff was telling the city council it needed to increase the solid waste fees to pay for the landfill bluff problems. Garbage was spilling onto the beach, and into the Strait at that point along a 600 foot long stretch of beach.
By fall of 2005, Cutler and crew had their big construction project all written up, with the help of Perimetrics. They proposed building a concrete seawall in front of the collapsing hill of garbage to protect it from further wave action and erosion, much like they are again, now.
Citizens raised to obvious concern that the waves would continue to erode the bluffs on either end of the seawall, and the garbage would be exposed at some point in the near future, given the documented rate of beach erosion in the area. Which, of course, happened.
Also suggested during the public comment period was the removal of the garbage from the waterfront areas. You see, Perimetrics stated in their engineering plans ( and this was not contested by city staff) that in order to build the seawall, they would have to excavate out the garbage along the beach back 30 feet from the high water line. To a 1:1 slope. At a cost of $1 million.
Citizens, using this established on-site excavation figure, suggested spending $3 million, and moving the garbage back 100 feet from the beach. No seawall, no problems, done.
But, this suggestion was ignored, the seawall was built, and now we're back at this, less than 10 years later.
And, now the "remove the garbage" option is REALLY REALLY expensive (if you believe city staff).
This is how business is done, in Port Angeles. Reality is twisted, manipulated or ignored, so that these big projects get supported. And the public pays.
The PDN is now pushing an article headlined "Scientist warned of danger 15 years ago" regarding the Oso mudslide.
DeleteSo many little towns, so many early warnings...But so few people in positions of power or responsibility who are willing to step up and try to address their problems BEFORE disaster strikes.
How many warnings like this has Port Angeles received? How many has it acted on proactively?
Right. Never.
It would be nice, ideal really, if there were a way (other than hoping that they find blogs like this that tell it like it really is) to give people who were considering moving here or buying property in Clallam County a little fact sheet about how things operate here. So many people come here without knowing the depths of desperation and dysfunction that are festering here in Port Angeles, and Clallam County.
DeleteI think if everyone knew all the facts ahead of time, very, very few people would ever move here. It would probably even keep a good chunk of people from even visiting here. I mean, you visit ONP, fall and break your leg, and wind up in OMC, which winds up going over the cliff. All this and Edna, too. Jeezus.
The studies done 30, 20 and 10 years ago for the OSO mudslide area were USGS ones, that you can find online. 20 years ago in a geology class I did a paper on the 30 year old OSO-area slide data. Part of the problem was clear cutting, which removes vegetation that can mitigate the slide danger. 20 years ago clear cutting was a "patchwork" pattern, no adjacent lots, but then, the logging interests had that problem removed -- and we again were clear cutting large swaths, conjoining lots. Meanwhile, at the time the USGS warned that this was not suitable building areas. Instead of the county allowed the unstable hillside to be built upon and now the county is all "oh my goodness, you didn't TELL US THAT". Any idiot can look at a steep hillside, made by a river ravine, over eons of time, and the underlying silt and clay soil, and sandstone, and gravel, and other unstable materials and say "really?'. In California, in earthquake prone areas, we look at the idiots who build in the hillsides (similar geology) and say "must be someone from the east coast". This area has had a HISTORY of sliding. In the last 25 days there has been more than 24 inches (2 feet) of water falling on those hills. Meanwhile, no one will admit to the amount of clear cut that has happened above that area. And, now we're all surprised?
DeleteI think there IS a contingency plan for the hospital....have you seen all the medical buildings grouped together in Sequim? Looks to me like all that would really happen is the hospital would move out of Port Angeles and relocate to flat ground in Sequim. There is enough land to expand in all directions there.
DeleteAnonymous 9:07PM...I totally agree with you about the common sense aspects of hillside development. When I lived in California as a kid I would see these hillside houses propped up in all kinds of crazy ways on hills with steep, steep slopes. Even as a kid I would think, "That looks kinda dangerous."
DeleteBuilding on steep hills anywhere is risky and foolish. Building on hills below where they've clear cut all the trees above is really, really, really foolish - especially in such a rainy place.
And building on a bluff, above a large, flowing body of water like the Strait...You may as well just go throw all your money of the edge of the bluff, then jump yourself. Because in the long run, that's what's going to happen.
Ah, but here we are again, discussing common sense in Clallam County, when we all know that such things, at best, take a back seat to greed.
And to embracing what too many here still see as some sort of noble embrace of anti-education, anti-regulation and anti-everything else ignorance. Go Rough Riders!
Anon 9:09PM: I don't think that it counts as an emergency contingency plan to have a hospital in Sequim. If there is some sort of major disaster affecting Port Angeles (or the whole Peninsula) then people will need to be treated here - not Sequim. It's also possible that a major disaster, such as an earthquake and/or a tsunami, could wipe out 101 between the two cities.
DeleteSo no matter how nice or large the facilities in Sequim, it's still too far away in a real emergency - if you could get there at all. (And assuming that it wasn't already swamped with people from Sequim needing help.)
We've all seen how a simple one or two car accident on 101 can shut it down for hours, and cause all sorts of backups and problems. I suspect that in the event of an emergency of any scale, it would be unwise to count on 101 being operable. Even if it hasn't been damaged, panicky people may well have crashed all over it in an effort to get---somewhere else. And law enforcement is probably going to be busy enough in an emergency without adding traffic control on 101 to their duties.
Delete101 between PA and Sequim is not in the tsunami zone. 101 doesn't get close to the water until Discovery Bay, then, of course that will be long, long gone. Before there was a facility in Sequim, people who had some life threatening condition were trucked to the Olympic Peninsula Hospital. What do people in Forks do? Where do they go? Where do people in Joyce go? If something happened people could be directed to Sequim. I'm not seeing the problem..in an emergency, wide-spread disaster, we wouldn't have enough ambulances, or beds in the ER (ANYWHERE IN THE AREA), nor enough doctors and nurses to actually treat most people injured. I think you are living in a fantasy if you think we'd have much help at all. We'd be the sick, wounded, and suffering until FEMA aid showed up, a week or so after the event. Get real.
DeleteIf there were a widespread disaster, we would, of course, be stuck. If there were a major quake 101 would be gone (so much is on unstable ground, fill, and how many bridges are there?). And, yes, one minor fender-bender and it would be useless. We have no alternative routes out. Would PenCom even work? Would it be so swamped that it couldn't function? And, we rely on a very few cell towers, and our phone lines go along 101. Think we'd be cut off. We'd be stuck. So, what would you do? Do you have Red Cross/First Aid training? Do you have a HAM radio operators license and equipment (do you know who does)? Do you have enough food supplies/water supplies/medical supplies to manage for yourself, your family, and how many other people? Clearly, what we would need to do is keep care of our neighbors, our neighborhoods, and not wait for help to arrive. We'd either come together as a community, or we'd be fighting, robbing each other, and in chaos and panic. The question is: how ready are YOU?
DeletePersonally, I feel like my house is pretty prepared for an emergency. We have water, food, medical supplies, lights, battery and crank operated radios, etc. all ready at all times.
DeleteBut I see how my neighbors live their lives: Totally random actions, no planning, fast food and convenience-based. The type of people who think nothing of getting in their gas-guzzling SUV and driving back to the store for one item. (Kind of helps explain how we've seen entire families really pack on the pounds over the last few years of living where we do.)
Most of our neighbors seem to represent the nothing-bad-ever-happens, everything will always be the way it is today school of thought. Living minute to minute. In an emergency, these people will freak out and go to shit really, really quickly. Extrapolate out to all of Port Angeles or Clallam County, where most people probably live much more like our neighbors than not, and we've got the disaster after a disaster to worry about. Any major disruption of the food or power supply for even a few days and this place is going to be pretty scary. I don't think it'll be a full-on apocalypse, but we're not going to answer our door until order is restored, either.
Yes, we are prepared. We have provisions. We have guns. We're nice, liberal people, yes, but we're not fools. We know where we live, and are prepared for the worst.
When you look around at all the vulnerabilities we have on the peninsula, the prospects of a 9.0 plus event on the Cascadian faultline are truly frightening. How many houses will even remain standing? All of downtown, built on sand, will likely be rubble. Drive ANYWHERE? Dream on.
DeleteEver been in a really big earhquake? Ever see what really happens? Not the few snapshots on the evening news, but the house-by-house effects. The roads with displacement cracks. The downed trees and landslides. No power or water. Fires raging with no ability to fight them.
And, as someone else pointed out, we're not going to be the focal point. When the Cascadian fault slips again, just imagine what Vancouver, Seattle, the Delta, and ALL the highly developed areas in the region will look like. tens of thousands either killed, or injured.
It isn't like you see on KOMO evening news in Oso right now. Sure, good people are converging on the area to help out. Donations are being collected. But remember how small and isolated an event it is, by comparison to the region wide impacts of the Cascadian faultline.
Most have NO idea what's ahead, and despite their good intentions, are not prepared for such a disaster.
Back in 1994-ish when we had that big snowfall, and the Hood Canal bridge was stuck open (or some nonsense..it was closed) and the airport tried to clear the runway, but ended up taking out 3/4 of the runway lights (it was closed) that was my "welcome to Port Angeles moment". None of the roads were plowed for days (seems the snow plows were on one side of town, and the drivers another). I finally dug out, and had an all day adventure getting to the grocery store. To my amazement there was lots of milk, and vegetables, and good food, but what was missing from the shelves: potato chips and beer, soda and candy.
DeleteI've lived through a major earthquake, and a major fire -- both of which are mind numbingly frightening. I have no doubt that this area is terribly unprepared for a major disaster. I doubt that people would "pull together" because of the nature of this beast, which can be summed up as: Anything happens, stay the f**k away from my house, because I'm not sharing.
DeletePer neighborly relations in an emergency (in Clallam County):
DeleteI think I'm more liberal and community-minded than most - at least I was until I moved to Port Angeles. Here, generally speaking, my neighbors put the "Nay!" in neighborhood.
Example: The retired mill guy who lives next door, you know, the one who tore out all living things in his front yard and covered it with red gravel? He bitches because I'm landscaping my front yard. He actually said "Trees and bushes belong in the forest!" He didn't seem to want to hear it when I pointed out to him that this whole area was forest a short time ago.
He also bitches about the English Ivy that's growing right along our property line, and which tries to creep onto his property. I'm trying to get it (and other obnoxious weeds) out entirely, but it's not done yet. But you know who planted the fucking ivy? Apparently he did, before we bought the house. But now it's MY job to get rid of it.
Other neighbors have been just as warm and welcoming since we moved in last year. We walk to the store - which apparently makes us suspicious to them. We had the oil tank in the backyard taken out. Why'd ya wanna do that? If we could ever afford to put solar panels on the roof, they'd probably lynch us.
Even though we've tried to be good neighbors, and done things like invite them to open house parties we've had (none of them have taken us up on it), we still get the cold shoulder and suspicious stares. Why? I guess it's because we didn't go to high school here, don't come from here for generations.
The clannishness and open hostility to newcomers here is pretty amazing. We sure wouldn't have bought in this neighborhood if we knew about that ahead of time, and, knowing what we now know about Port Angeles in general, we probably wouldn't have moved here at all. I sure don't want to raise my (future) kids here. I'd like for them to get a good education, and not be shunned for being from somewhere other than Clallam County.
So to get back to my point - sorry for the digression - no, we won't be helping any of our neighbors if there's a disaster. I suspect they'd either insult us for offering to help, or just bleed us dry. If the earth starts shaking, and they come knocking, we're not home. Sounds lousy, I know, but...When in Port Angeles...
If the way our elected officials behave is any indication, then it'll be everyone for themselves when a disaster strikes. Though, to be fair, Cherie might make some cinnamon rolls for everyone!
DeleteWell....from what I have seen in the last 20 years: outsiders help outsiders, and we do a better job of it.
DeleteYour neighbor sounds like a dweeb. I have one that mows their lawn weekly, and complains that I don't. Whatever. Blah blah blah. Make me.
Here's a little portrait of the neighbors my wife and I get to endure.
DeleteHe works as a janitor. She works as a clerk at Safeway. In the five years we've been living next tot hem, we've seen them both put on a huge amount of weight. Though they're both in their 50s, they both walk like they're in their 90s. He had a hip replacement and was supposed to lose weight after the operation. Instead, he packed on more pounds.
They have a daughter, who, from the first time we saw here set our gaydar off in a big way. She just screams little baby dyke. She's now pushing 30, still lives at home, and has recently squeezed out her first kid with her white trash "boyfriend." She too has just about doubled her weight since we moved in five years ago.
The family is pretty much poor white trash all the way, but they have three matching SUVs, and fill their yard with endless piles of tacky inflatable shit for every holiday.
Soon after we moved in, we learned of a death in their family. We took over a sympathy card and a loaf of homemade bread. In return, they just stared at us like we were aliens. Like others here, they are endlessly complaining about us wanting to have a GREEN front yard, while they pile up horrible inflatable ferris wheels and snowglobes and other bullshit in their front yard 365 days a year.
My wife and I aren't snobs, and we're certainly not rich. But having to live next to these hillbillies - right in the heart of "urban" Port Angeles - has been really eye-opening. This really IS a redneck community. The ignorance and fear of outsiders runs deep, even when those outsiders are trying their best to be friendly.
Short term profit has totally short-circuited any and all other considerations in Clallam County since the white people first came here.
ReplyDeleteDon't like the shoreline? Hose a hillside down and make a new one!
Like the view from the bluff? Build first and ask questions later!
This view has been remarkably steady across the decades, across the people holding elective office, and across the members of the business community. Especially, yes, THE REALTORS.
But maybe, just maybe, a day of reckoning is at hand. It's hard to sell that great bluff view when there are ever-more examples of waterfront properties that just simply end up in the water.
We'll see...
Since Karen Rogers is on the OMC board, is it mean to hope that she's in the building when it goes over the edge? That would seem like a kind of poetic justice to me.
ReplyDelete"Breaking News" on the PDN website:
ReplyDelete"Peninsula adds 160 jobs but unemployment rate still rises"
Even when things go right here, they go wrong. In Clallam County, going up still means you're going down.
Amazing, simply amazing.
Port Angeles: The Little Town That Couldn't.
DeletePA. You're on meth, heroin, pills, or soon will be. :)
ReplyDeleteChrist, this town is a big one for the past coming back to haunt us. From the graving yard to the graveyard, we just keep digging up the past one way or another, and never actually moving forward. The name of this blog is, sadly, very apt, and then some.
ReplyDeleteWhat no one has pointed out here is that this situation is disrespectful and destructive to both our past and our future.
ReplyDeleteSO MANY people in Port Angeles, mostly those born here, seem to be really into local history, take pride in it, etc. But here we have a situation where SO MUCH of our history, including actual people, could get washed away, fall into the strait.
On the other hand, our so-called leaders are always yammering about "building a better future" for Port Angeles. But again, here we are in a situation where the hospital IS going to go over a cliff, and our shiny new waterfront could end up being a wading pool as well.
While I agree with previous posters that there's a LOT of greed manifested here, I don't think you can say that the love of money holds sway here. The truth is, if you look at our actions, we don't care about preserving the past, we don't care about building a future, and we don't care about making money in any sort of sustainable way. We just don't care. End of.
And, the city is doing work on the particulars of it's stormwater system. Wait until you see the project they come up with to "fix" that, and what THAT bill is going to be!
ReplyDeleteAnd did we mention that our power poles need replacing? And that we're way, way behind on that?
DeleteThank God the city of Port Angeles is in charge of ALL of our utilities. They do take such good care of us.
You can't be in bondage without bonds. And the way the city keeps bonding us out, we're all going to be tied up for a long, long, long time.
DeleteSO HERE'S A QUESTION FOR YOU...
ReplyDeleteDo you think any of our illustrious so-called leaders here (be they political, business, whatever) see the connection between the idiotic patterns of development and lax permitting standards here and the staggering 9.8% unemployment rate (which is doubtlessly actually much higher)?
Businesses and smart individuals look at how well a community plans and takes care of itself before investing there. Anyone who looks at Port Angeles or Clallam County can see in about six seconds that we have no standards here, don't do basic maintenance or code enforcement here, and have no problem with letting our community get run down and then some.
Then City Council and Chamber members wring their hands over why, oh, why doesn't anyone want to invest here? Why doesn't anyone want to come create jobs here?
IT'S BECAUSE YOU HAVE CREATED A GARBAGE PIT OF A TOWN. Your lack of rules, your lack of structure, and your graft-ridden good ol' boy "business" network make outsiders very, very nervous about what will happen to their money if they bring it here.
So they generally don't bring it here.
When you have a system of giving the "job" to the LOWEST bidder, what kind of quality of results do you think your going to get??
DeleteIf anyone really looked closely at the work being done on the city projects, what skeletons would be.. unearthed!
The bidding process at the City is rigged, and has been since the Cutler days. Ever wonder how Exceltech and Primo and a few other favorite companies ALWAYS seemed to submit the "lowest responsible bid"? Because they had friends in the City, who gave them information from within the City as the bidding process played out.
DeleteThis allows them to ALWAYS get the nice juicy City contracts. Then, when that low bid gets undone by - GASP! - cost overruns, well, then the City just ponies that up, too.
Nice system - for the crooks. Not so nice for producing quality public works, or for the taxpayers who get stuck paying for all the shoddy shit.
How does one get the state or the feds interested in investigating a municipality and its bidding practices? Anyone have any insights into that?
DeleteI think the problem is...this town is too quick with the shredders when any investigation starts up.....so that there are all smoking guns, no guns.
DeleteNippon has announced the new Harold Norlund.
ReplyDeleteMeet the new boss. Lame as the old boss.
UPDATE: From KONP's website this morning...
ReplyDelete"OMC rated most affordable hopspital in Washington"
I'm glad that I know what OMC is, because I don't know what exactly a "hopspital" is. Anyway, the "articull" goes on to say:
"(PORT ANGELES)-- A recent survey by a web-based data analysis company rated Olympic Medical Center as the most affordable hospital in Washington State.
“Nerd Wallet Health” this month published a report listing ten of the most affordable hospitals in Washington. Nerd Wallet's Napala Pratini says they used Medicare cost data and satisfaction records for the survey.
Administrators at the Olympic Medical Center were not surprised by the data analysis posted on the Nerd Wallet” web site. OMC spokesperson Bobbie Beeman says they've tried to keep costs down and have a higher mix of Medicare/Medicaid patients than most hospitals in the state.
In addition to Washington, Nerd Wallet has analyzed the costs for thirteen other states posted. A more detailed look at the data analysis and ratings for Olympic Medical Center are available on the “Nerd Wallet” web site, at: Nerd Wallet.com."
Yeah, it's cheap. It's on the edge of a cliff, for Christ's sake. As an analogy, a restaurant with awful food in the worst part of town had BETTER have low prices, you know? And the key to this "rating" is all those "Medicare/Medicaid patients," you know, the people getting help from the government that all the people around here who rail against government handouts hate - even when it's themselves, apparently.
In other spelling news...Thanks to the feedback I get from Google, I know that the people searching for this blog most often type in "port angeles unearthed."
DeleteThe second most common search phrase is "port angrles unearthed." Which seems like a typo, but might also represent all the anger and angst people who live here feel. Yes?
I so glad KNOP is hear to report the news to us.
Delete"Cheap" or "affordable" doesn't speak to the quality of the care you will, or will not, receive there.
DeleteI mean, would you want to stay in the most "affordable" motel available? Or would it be worth a lot to pay a little more for one without bedbugs and cigarette butts?
True story: Before a follow up appointment with my medical specialist in Seattle last year, he told me to get a new MRI at OMC and have them send it to his office before my appointment.
DeleteSo, three weeks before my appointment in Seattle, I went to OMC for the MRI. As I checked in, I told the clerk that I would need to have the results sent to my doctor in Seattle. She confirmed that the doctor's name and fax number was on my paperwork, and said it would be no problem.
When I went in to the actual MRI room, I told the person assisting me as I got in that I would need to have the results sent to my doctor in Seattle. He too read the contact info back to me from my paperwork, and said it would be done as soon as the test was finished. A different person came in to assist me after the MRI, and I told him the same thing, and I heard the same thing in reply.
I spoke with three people in the information chain at OMC, and they all had the contact info for my doctor in Seattle, and they all assured me the test results would be sent ASAP.
So, three weeks later...I get in to see my specialist is Seattle. He goes to the computer to examine my test results...And discovers they were never sent. So, on his busiest day of the week, he had to take extra time to hunt down someone on his staff, who then had to call OMC to try and get them to send the MRI results NOW. After about 15 minutes on the phone, OMC finally sent the results - an action which took all of about 30 seconds to complete.
Only it took them over three weeks to get to that 30 seconds.
If this is the kind of service you get just coming in for a test, I shudder to think at what sort of service actual admitted patients get.
Is it any wonder so many people here go outside the area for medical care/treatment if at all possible?
I like how complaints are never answered. Just try writing the CEO or the board, or even any particular department. Might as well write a letter, shove it in a bottle and throw it in the weekly next garbage pickup. Not only do they NEVER ANSWER, I don't think they can read.
DeleteNo reply? Don't like it? Then you can go to the other hospital in town...Oh! I think I get it now.
DeleteLooks like the bickering, backstabbing Clallam County-style action is in Sequim in the Museum.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they could make up the deficit by charging admission to their sure-to-be-contentious upcoming meetings? Kind of like cage fighting for the cultured set.
How much history can Sequim have? Seriously. A museum? For what? The website is really reaching...do we really need a blow-by-blow of nothing happening? http://allaboutsequim.com/sequim-history/ I think the museum can sell of everything on craigslist, and just be done with this nonsense. Why bother?
DeleteMore Sequim history: 1950 In April, it was decided the Town would stay on Standard Time.
DeleteI can't find any other documentation on this, so I must believe it lasted only until Sun, Apr 29, 1951?
wow, what "history". Meanwhile, in the real world the Korean War began, and Senator Joseph McCarthy was busy with is Communist Witch Hunt.
you know, if you read the history of Port Angeles, you can see the roots of lying cheating and stealing go deep, along with grandiose plans. http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=8210
Delete"A handful of additional settlers arrived over the next few years. In 1859 several of the newer arrivals joined with Sampson, Holmes, and Winsor to form the Cherbourg Land Company to plat a town site and sell lots, despite the fact that by law their donation land claims were only for settlement, not re-sale. " " Even before his (Victor Smith) death, when federal townsite lots were offered for sale in 1864 they found few takers. In 1866, Port Townsend interests reclaimed the Port of Entry. As the Custom House departed, so did many of the new settlers. "
Is there a state agency that regulates hospitals that might be "interested" that ours sits on the cusp of a cliff? Couldn't that affect their official standing in some sort of way?
ReplyDeletebest article on it, to date: http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-landslide-state.html
ReplyDelete