Being that the last post was all about escaping from Port Angeles, the timing of Kenmore's announcement that they're abandoning Port Angeles is almost eerie. The routes of escape are being whittled down. There are fewer ferry runs to Victoria than there used to be, and now the airport is being shuttered, too. I guess that solves the Lincoln Park problem, huh? How many body blows can a town take before it's over? How many signs do there need to be before everyone admits the obvious, and calls PA in as DOA?
There have been the big blows, like all the local mills closing, like Gottshalk's closing, like the Lincoln Theater closing. All those have been against the backdrop of the not-so-slow but oh-so-steady growth of empty storefronts downtown, all around town. Even businesses that didn't actually close, left Port Angeles, like Maurice's. ACTI is a union-busting, minimum wage black hole of hope. Nippon is going to shed all its jobs when that mill finally closes like all the others. So where will PA's huge cohort of high school dropouts dream of getting work?
On the political scene, Larry Williams, notorious conservative, fled town as soon as his term on the City Council was over. Max Mania, notorious liberal, didn't even wait for his to end before fleeing for greener pastures. No one wants to run for City Council, so all those unopposed bozos slid right into office. Now, that deadhead bureaucrat Dan DiGuilio is mayor - again. Utility rates continue to skyrocket. Karen Rogers is still pulling strings at City Hall, in the business community. Glenn Cutler is gone, but his ridiculously expensive legacy lives on and on. And finally, on the personal or individual level, there are those U.S. Census numbers. Port Angeles is shrinking, and fast. Hundreds of people have left PA in the last few years. Sure, some have doubtlessly only gone as far as, say, Sequim. But I suspect that most of them have gotten as far away from Port Angeles as they could. Of those people remaining in Port Angeles, depression sure seems to run high. That might explain the staggering rates of opiate and alcohol abuse in Clallam County, which are nearly the highest in Washington State.
So, again, doesn't it seem obvious that this is a DOA case? The patient has clearly died. So if you have any life, any hope, left in you, I urge you to save yourself and get out. There is no honor or joy in going down with the ship. There's no reason to live your life in a dead town. Like I said earlier, life is too short - and too precious - to live in Port Angeles.
Yeah, what a Halloween treat, eh? Not that I blame Kenmore. This has been a shrinking market for a long, long time.
ReplyDeleteYou make excellent points, CK, and paint a realistically grim picture of the chances of this place ever thriving. A perfect topic for Dia de los Muertos.
I'm wondering if the poster who was blaming Port Angeles' continuing decline on those wanting to leave, also blames them for Kenmore leaving town? I mean, is Kenmore, in leaving Port Angeles, responsible for the reason it has to leave?
ReplyDeleteIf only they put their "shoulder to the wheel", and had a positive attitude, clients would have "joined the throngs", and patronized Kenmore into economic ecstasy!
Come now, CK. Don't you see how easy it all really is?
Your circular, nonsensical logic may make perfect sense to some of those who run this insane place, but it makes little sense to me. Kenmore leaving, however, makes perfect sense. They're not in business to lose money, or to prop up our local Port commissioner's egos as they publically pretend to know what they're doing, when they clearly are clueless.
DeleteStill, like CK says, it'll be interesting to see what this does to the whole Lincoln Park discussion.
Since there are still people who would like to log Lincoln Park (Hello, Grant!) I trust that this latest development won't really change the dynamic of that conversation.
DeleteNo jobs, no movie theater, no downtown, but by god, we still have a newspaper. Too bad it's such a total piece of crap. Still, it'll probably be gone soon, too. Washed away by the next sewer overflow?
ReplyDeleteSo what will the next shoe to drop be? What form will the next nail in the coffin take? I'd love for it to be the PDN, even though it'd be weird to be a town without a newspaper. Nothingness is better than the slanted garbage they spew out as "news".
ReplyDeleteActually the PDN is in a position to bring about positive change if its publisher wasn't so far up the politicians asshole. Check out how he "covers" the judge's race. He is all about Porter no matter that the tide has turned. I hope everyone will contact the head office in Canada and tell David Black; owner of the PDN and tell them what a piece of shit Brewer is publishing. Contact Black at: 1-604-575-2744. When you want to eliminate noxious weeds you have to pull them out by the roots. Visualize Brewer leaving the PDN offices with all his personal gear and escorted by Security.
DeleteNice image, but it ain't gonna happen. I actually have contacted the Black Press people about a number of issues (legal and factual) with the PDN, and, long story short, nothing happened, and nobody cares.
DeleteThe continuing decline is a clear indictment of the policies and actions of the last 10 or more years of so-called civic leadership here. They have stuck so firmly to their view of how things need to be, and now we have the results.
ReplyDeleteIt would be fair to say Port Angeles' troubles are because of a general economic downturn, as Peter Ripley continues to say. But, the rest of the country is booming right along. Port Angeles isn't. Port Angeles continues to decline, while others prosper.
But, Grant Munro is happy. He has logs piled up at the airport. He has logs piled up downtown. He doesn't care about anything else. Just the money he can make.
It is that attitude that is why Port Angeles is as it is now.
Last week, there was a workshop on starting a small business in Port Angeles. 1 person showed up.
Basically, nobody cares enough to do anything.
Yes, it continues to decline.
One person...I guess there won't be any follow-up stories about that workshop in the PDN then, will there?
DeleteSo, off topic, but I got there by being on topic...
ReplyDeleteIn looking at the online article about the Port's laughable promise to "find another carrier" to service our tiny airport, I was floored to see a big pop up ad for Lee Whetham's campaign to be on the County Charter Review committee. Knowing how the PDN overcharges for their ads, I have to assume this ad cost hundreds of dollars, at least.
This strikes me as bizarre, at best, and suspicious at worst. Whetham has never seemed like anything other than a pawn for the good ol' boy network here, and the fact that people are spending money on ads for the guy to get on the Charter Review committee seems like yet another red flag.
Even in this era of visibly, undeniably diminishing returns, the good ol' boys here just want nothing more than to keep a death grip on the reins of power, even if in the end all they accomplish is to crash the ship of state on the reefs of reality. It's a real death wish mentality, and explains a lot about why things are so depressed here, up to and including Kenmore leaving.
Declared or supposed political orientation or ideology has little to do with politics here. "Republican" or "Democrat," it doesn't matter. It's all about, as another poster said, greedy individuals making or milking as much money as they can out of the rapidly fading corpse of Clallam County.
DeleteSo of course Lee Whetham is a tool of the people who have been running this place (into the ground) for years. He poses as a progressive, yet ran against the only truly progressive member of the City Council, Max Mania. That left all the other fellow travelers and dead wood (Downie, Gase, etc.) to run unopposed. Why? Because they're all either in on it (Gase) or so foolish and blind as to be no trouble at all for the existing corrupt system (Downie).
If you think that payoffs and all sorts of sleazy secret deals aren't going on, then you must be in that group of blind fools. The evidence is all around you, and at this point, the players barely even make any effort to conceal their identities or their self-serving actions. They know that, either locally or at the state level, no one cares what goes on in Port Angeles. So the corruption and decline continues, making a few people wealthy and connected, while leaving everyone else to suffer and struggle.
I saw the same pop up ad, and also thought it was extremely odd to be spending so much money to try and get a "job" that doesn't pay anything. With so many candidates running for that thing, it's clear that something is afoot. Whetham would seem to be a part of whatever scheme is cooking.
DeleteBeware of candidates who spend $$$ to win election to unpaid positions. Nine times out of ten, they're getting paid by someone, somehow. Given that Lee never even went to a City Council meeting before up and running for a seat out of the blue, it's hard to chalk his sudden and widespread civic interest up to just good intentions. Someone is obviously "guiding" his political "career." I for one would like to know who that person is.
DeleteThree air carriers have come and gone now. All these businesses are doing just fine in their other locations. All had to subsidize their operations here in Port Angeles, to stay as long as they did.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to see how many businesses of significance in Port Angeles receive tax money, tax breaks, etc to operate here. The mills that remain sure have. The hospital sure does. Who else?
So, with the clear, ongoing decline of Port Angeles, we see the school board is talking about a $100 million bond for a new school.
Yeah, I can see how that is responsive to the situation! 33% of ratepayers can't pay their monthly utility bills, but the school boards sees a $100 million bond passing.
Did they read that recent article about how hard the hospital is finding it to attract professionals to the area? Hello?
Will these folks EVER look around, and see what is actually going on?
Your comments are right on target. Take away the subsidies and the fanciful denials of reality, and what is Port Angeles? An abandoned parking lot, a graveyard of shattered dreams. Not fertile soil to build on, but poisoned earth that is unlikely to support life again for the foreseeable future.
DeleteI think you mean a graving yard of shattered dreams.
DeleteI asked John Brewer once why the PDN does not have an"open discussion" opinion section in the online edition. He told me to buy the paper version. What a dork. Sure you can post your opinion of one their many fascinating stories, but so what? Unless they control the topic of conversation, forget about it. Who is trying to appease? And at what cost? When Nippon shuts its doors then what? I am glad though that a Florida company bought out Westport...HA.lorida
ReplyDeleteRegardless of the outcome of the election today, the good old boys will continue to run things locally, meaning things will continue to fall apart. We don't really have choices here, or participatory democracy; we just have this ritual we go through every so often.
ReplyDeleteOn the national level, we can blame Big Money for a lot of our election problems. But here, there seems to be a never ending supply of people willing to sign up to screw over their neighbors for pennies on the dollar. Even when it comes to political graft and kickbacks, the economy here is depressed.
The taxpayers of the city of Port Angeles fund most of the goings on around here. If we can get three progressive voices on the council when 3 seats come up for election in November of '15 then we can stop this idiocy and actually offload some of the $150 million debt this city council has strapped on our backs. Please, anyone interested in running for council, start now, get up to speed on the issues, develop an opinion, develop a steering committee, radicalize your friends and let's retake this council for the people, the working people not the greed heads.
ReplyDeleteIf, if, if, if, if...Then, maybe. It's been tried, and nothing changed. No one wants to take the abuse, the slander, the attacks, all to see little if anything change.
DeleteAlso, getting three people on the Council still will leave a majority of four morons who can, and will, do whatever they want.
DeleteOn another note did you read the article in the PDN about the city issuing a new RFP for running the visitors center.
ReplyDeleteWholly crap Veenema's quotes are priceless:
"Chamber Executive Director Russ Veenema, who said the chamber did not know of the $64,000 limit when the proposal was submitted, predicted the chamber will submit a new, lower proposal but defended the original plan for running the facility at 121 E. Railroad Ave"
because............................
"Veenema said last week that the chamber proposal includes tourism marketing, which covers brochures, postage and website costs"
and.............................
“I really feel like we are almost getting fired,” Veenema said.
This is the guy that is supposed to be running an entity fueled by tax dollars. And he can't even read the RFP and make sure who ever fills it out does it properly! Good god will you (the Chamber Board) just fire this guy now and not wait for him to retire at the end of 2015!
I will go one step further and propose the Chamber's membership fires the board that has let this go on too long and then elect a new board as well as getting rid of the dictator Veenema.
Come on, let's admit it, the "membership firing the board" has already been tried and unfortunately it failed for lack of involvement by the membership.
DeleteIf you think about it, that's what was called Port Angeles United. Unfortunately, what's left of the PAU effort is now in the sole control of the Chamber board of directors and the discretion of their bylaw committee! Sad but true.
I don't think that is quite correct. The PAU effort was originally from the Pen College guy, but was quickly taken over by Russ and Timmy. It became all about the Chamber consolidating power and control in the area.
DeleteLike all these things we talk about, it comes back to the "majority" that sit back and allow this stuff to continue.