I mean, they've only been funding the completely useless Port Angeles Downtown Association FOR YEARS. They've only been putting up with Barb Frederick's utter incompetence FOR YEARS. For those Council members who ever bother to go downtown, they might have noticed that it's been drying up and dying FOR YEARS. Downtown business owners have been complaining about the PADA, you guessed it, FOR YEARS.
I remember something like FIVE YEARS ago, when Council members Max Mania and Brooke Nelson - not exactly simpatico in most respects - both were talking openly about defunding the PADA, yet nothing happened. Business as usual, la la la, nothing to see.But now that the patient has died, the City Council seems to have suddenly seen the wisdom in changing doctors. File this one under "Too Little, Too Late." The damage that has been done through incompetence and neglect is huge. The amount of money wasted on the PADA is pretty huge, too, almost as huge as Barb's big...dunce cap. Think about it: In just the last five years, the City has pissed away a quarter of a million dollars in salary for Barb. Imagine what else could have been accomplished with that much money?
Meanwhile, look at what Barb had to say about the PADA's response to the increasingly dire warnings coming out of City Hall about the PADA's failings: "We got a late start this year." "We should have gotten an earlier start." Well, yeah, Barb - like maybe years ago? But Barb's oh-so-slow-to-respond response only mirrors the inaction she's seen from City Hall FOR YEARS. Failure after failure never stopped the funding from coming, so why would she have upped her game? If you ever saw her give one of her infamously vague and confusing "reports" to the City Council, then you already know that her deep, deep incompetence was publically and painfully obvious - except to the City Council. Until now.
Amazing. They say slow and steady wins the race. But just plain slow? You're still in last place.
On a related note...When I went to Google Images, and typed in "Barb Frederick Port Angeles," the image below, printed earlier on this blog, is the FIRST one to come up!
Oh, and I just have to say that $5,000 for Christmas lights for downtown Port Angeles is a LOT of lipstick for that particular pig. I'd love to see Barb tell us how the "investment" of that much money will result in enough of an increase in sales downtown to justify the outlay. But somehow, I don't think Barb will be around to give such an explanation, even if one were possible...
So long Barb, Bob and the small handful of misfits that have run the PADA into the ground. It's about time!
ReplyDeleteLet's hope this serves as a wake up call for the (as yet) silent majority of PA Chamber business members (and Board?).
The Chamber (with their clever yet still deceptive and manipulative Director) should get the same funding axe treatment from the City, particularly after the blatantly arrogant initial Lodging Tax Proposal he and his Board attempted a few weeks ago.
Too bad PA United was such a failure from the start, but now it's time for the local business community to otherwise, intelligently reorganize itself, stand on its own, or fail - the old fashion way - by running out of their OWN money instead of tax payers $.
YES...things are as bad at the Chamber as they are with the PADA, probably worse. The Chamber is the group that the rest of the country recognize, and I've been told more than one "we can't work with them" . We have boobs in key positions because key people are still clinging to that old logger mentality "we don't like them outsiders none". Welcome to logger/hillbilly country.
DeleteThere are two obvious differences that exist now, that haven't existed in the prior YEARS. This blog, and Port O Call.
ReplyDeleteWhen this blog first appeared, and the discussions highlighted the laziness, inaction, cronyism, etc that has been going on for YEARS, a lot of the players in town took notice. We were graced with comments from a number of them, as they tried to sway the negative opinion they were seeing. The days of their control of the messaging with the PDN sweeping things under the rug, didn't exist any more.
Then the Port O Call came to town, just about the same time. Being delivered to every household, it also exposed the lack of accountability, cronyism, waste, etc. And like this blog, the powers-that-be couldn't control what the public was getting delivered to the public. The era of "accountability" has come to town.
No longer can these so-called leaders say they're doing a great job. Everyone is seeing the questions being asked. They HAVE to look like they are doing something, because they know they are being watched, and know they will be asked difficult questions. They know their inaction will be exposed, with their name attached.
So, take a bow, CK. And Dale. You're creating the change that has been needed for so long.
Thanks!
Not to bum your high or anything, but...As someone who got badly burned (financially, socially, etc.) in Port Angeles, I'm not trying to save or change anything, other than to warn people away from that place. The poison there is systemic, in too many of the people, in the air, in the soil, and I don't see any hope for Port Angeles at all. But there is hope, and life, for those who either get out, or stay far away.
DeleteSo, thanks for the kind words, they are appreciated, but...I think I'll pass on the bow for now. But I will keep passing the truth on to anyone who will listen, because I absolutely agree that the truth in any form has been absent from Port Angeles for too long.
Hey, the city shells out $5000 for the lights, then, given what utility rates are in Port Angeles, it'll probably cost more than that just to keep them lit for a month. So it's a money maker for the city!
ReplyDeleteThis is not directly related, but in a way is. I wonder what ever happened to Allied Titanium? The company that was heralded as the savior industry from the east. They were going to re-locate their Chinese manufacturing facilities to Sequim which was to then hire up to 150 people for their plant. There were a couple articles in the PDN, then nothing. They posted a couple help wanted ads (without having a facility yet) also. This plant was to be built across from The Black Bear Diner. So far all that is there is a small house. Another plan gone awry? I guess.
ReplyDeleteThat venture sure fizzled quickly, didn't it? I seem to remember a very brief, very vague article that implied some zoning or permit issue was preventing it all from happening.
DeleteYou make a good point. Other than the occasional appearance at the farmer's market (esp. around election time, don't you know), I never really see any city council members downtown. Of course, the other side of that is that you rarely see anyone at all downtown, so why would the members of the city council be any different?
ReplyDeleteStill, if they are charged with running this town, you'd think they might get out and about a bit more.
She couldn't even keep up the corporate papers, and for several YEARS the corporation that was PADA was inactive, yet the city still collected money, in violation of state law. When this was pointed out to our city shyster, he just coughed and sputtered. OOPS. Barbara was the wrong person for the job. I have no idea how someone with no knowledge, no background in PR, marketing, etc., could have a job that actually NEEDS SOMEONE with some business savvy. No matter how much you push or prod her she just digs in, and ignores you. The board kisses her ample ass. I don't go downtown, because of HER.
ReplyDeleteA quarter of a million dollars, used wisely, could have potentially been transformative for downtown Port Angeles.
ReplyDeleteInstead, it was used to keep Barb Frederick fat, happy and stupid.
That about says it all, I think.
Glad the council finally acted. Confused as to why it took so long to do so, though.
ReplyDeleteLet's not count chickens before they are hatched.
DeleteThe City continues to delay a final decision.
Their history suggests the Council will no doubt crumble when Cheri Kidd gets what she declares as a "more robust report".
As if Cheri Kidd would even know the difference!
Yes, I can hear Cherie saying she's SO happy to see the PADA "turn things around" at some future city council meeting. It'll be "another GREAT day in Port Angeles" to be sure. But I'm not so sure that there are even two people on the council with the brains and/or the guts to actually stand up to the status quo here.
Deletebecause the city is INSOLVENT, and wants to grab the money. They are still in denial about being completely and totally BANKRUPT. The city should just admit it, and have the state step in...and turn things around. The city has made bad decisions, bad contracts, overpaid everyone, and then chased around grants to make ends meet.
ReplyDeleteThe city has NO MONEY, and is spending more than they can suck out of OUR wallets, or sucker the feds out of.
Its insolvent, bankrupt, broke, destitute, failed, impoverished, tapped out.
The ONLY thing keeping it going is a massive shell game, a ponzi scheme to keep money coming in -- grant money, mostly. The grant money goes into the general fund (as does everything) and the costs to do the project are greatly inflated, they use several cronies to inflate the invoices, and the difference between the bogus invoices/estimates and the actual costs are pocketed. Why do you THINK we've had this flurry of projects (Gateway, Bridges, Pooh tank)? Why do you think that the same companies keep getting the sweetheart deals? Old boys have their backroom deals. Meanwhile....our city is keeping fraudulent books, and won't stand any scrutiny. Welcome to Depleted Port Angeles.
When they're looking take the cookies out of Barb's mouth...you know there is a problem.
Speaking of inflated projects, you saw the latest? $1.2 MILLION for a raingarden??
DeleteSo totally Port Angeles.
AMAZING analysis!
DeleteLet's "have the state step in ...and turn things around".
THAT is EXACTLY WHERE PORT ANGELES WENT WRONG, YEARS AGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THINK about it!
Lets LOOK at where PA went wrong: 70's took out railroad tracks connecting to Port Townsend. 80's decided that tourism wasn't what was wanted, and rallied against a "destination resort" just outside the city limits. Let the likes of Floodstrom, in kahoots with Priest, manage projects around this town. 90's let the likes of Duncan be the revolving mayor, who then turned into Rogers and company be in the catbird seat. Add Cutler, and voila...we have the large, fossilized turd that IS Port Angeles.
DeleteGeez CK, who hasn't been burned by this town?
ReplyDeleteIt's a con game.
I hate living here in Port Angeles, Washington, USA.
ReplyDeleteIf the town would finally admit that it is bankrupt we could flush out ALL the bad actors in one felled swoop. Get rid of the City Attorney, and renegotiate all the contracts will all the city workers, and re-negotiate the sweetheart retirements for people (like Cutler, who put us in this mess). We could stop with the nonsense of building a new high school (to further put our town in debt) or Civic Field, or any of the other multi million dollar deals the city keeps dreaming up to get some kind of grant. Grant chasing is really like a drug to our city. FREE MONEY, only it always costs us something. Then we could get our city budget in proper shape, tighten the belt, and start over. Flush the city council and get all new people, and flush the good-ol-cronies who might have lived her a long time, but never had the city's interests at heart. Our streets might not get fixed (like they are now) and we may not get more new bridges, or other things, until we can save up and AFFORD IT. I'm all for bankruptcy...lets start being HONEST in the new year. This town is washed up...time to flush the crap into our expensive poop tank, and start over.
ReplyDelete"Renegotiate the sweetheart retirements" AKA "Get sued by all our retired employees." I see what you're trying to get at, but I don't think you appreciate how much this would cost the city in legal fees, lawsuits, etc. It would also make it even harder to attract good employees to come here at the very moment (in your scenario) that we'd be trying to improve things like...the quality of city staffing.
DeleteYeah yeah - spoken like a true public pensioner.
DeleteBut wouldn't it be poetic justice if more than a few regular pension checks bounced, and the affected retirees had to wait until the inept city attorney or state auditor's office got around to figuring out why?
The State runs the retirement system, not the city.
DeleteWe're already living the " Race to The Bottom" dream. Hasn't worked out so well. We shouldn't be looking to make our town even more depressing than it already is. "Renegotiating" contracts that people worked under in good faith, after the fact, is inhumane.
ReplyDeleteYou will see a flurry of "the economy is getting better in the US" for a short while, but things are far more fragile than you will hear from the financial whiz kids that want your money. The global economy has serious problems, including Japan falling into recession despite having a very pro-business government.
So, move now, while you can.
Move now, while you can.
DeleteA simple sentiment, worth repeating.
All previous deals for retirement packages were off when Stockton, CA, OR in Detroit, MI. Pension funds, retirement deals, were subject to renegotiation, the result more than 1,000 workers and retirees who had $538 million in claims against the city agreed to accept one-time payments worth $5.1 million instead. We could out from under the debt for the "smart meters", renegotiate our idiot deal to let ONE COMPANY have an exclusive right to the fiber optic internet (sold recently, for great profit to CenturyLink, with greatly degraded service to customers), get out of whatever residual debt we're paying for the PoopTank, PenPly, renegotiate the sweetheart deal on the power to Nippon, lower the wages of every single employee for the city (because some of those wages are ridiculous for the jobs they are doing). Attract good employees? HERE? You gotta be shitting me. We have a large pool of unemployed, and in the grand scheme of things, what jobs do we really need highly trained employees for? Clerical work? By the looks of how the city keeps their books a junior high drop out could do better. Quality of city staffing. HA!
ReplyDeleteUh, if you get rid of the city attorney, who is going to renegotiate all those contracts and pensions? Dan McKeen? I'm not so sure the original poster has thought their plan out thoroughly. Seems like it only raises more questions and concerns.
ReplyDeleteIf the city declares bankruptcy the state appoints someone to negotiate the contracts. It's going to happen, just wait and see. The city is insolvent.
ReplyDeleteWhat a dumb thing to declare.....as if the State would take on such a task. WHY?
DeleteSmart you are at least remaining anonymous...... you might want to keep it that way.
Word on the street is that Bob Lumens is ready to step down and that barb Fredericks is going to be cleaning out her desk within a very short time.
ReplyDeleteI have heard rumors to that effect as well. The whole board needs to step down for that matter and allow for an orderly transition of new leadership that would include a rewrite of the Bylaws, Without an orderly transition, our community risks losing the Main Street program which has the potential to keep significant tax dollars here, instead of going to the State. The current leadership of PADA has totally mismanaged this program and now that the City Council is aware of this - PADA, under its current board, will likely never get another dollar from the City. As the mayor said to Barb and the PADA board on Tuesday night. "you choose not to pursue this". At the beginning of this year, PADA made a pledge to the City in exchange for the City giving them 20k through the B&O Tax Credit program, that they would raise 133k through this program in 2014 from 10 businesses. Well guess how much money they have raised so far this year? Barb was asked directly by a Council person. 7k came out of her mouth. 7k YTD. And when asked why such a low number she said, "we got a late start" It went downhill from there . . . .
DeleteI'm always surprised at the people who defend her. I get it, it's like being back in junior high. In the past if you said a discouraging word about Barbie, suddenly you found yourself marginalized at meetings, and even mocked by her circle of jerks. She talks a great game, all happy and upbeat, but it's all words. I'm sure she has a LOT of excuses for why she didn't do what she said she would do. She's the little train that can't, never could, and just is oblivious to why we're all being so mean. Welcome to the culture of PADA. Funny how the board changes, but nonsense never gets any better.
DeleteLet's hope they do ALL step away!
DeleteThe majority PADA Board and especially Barb Fredericks have been an embarrassment for the PA business community for almost a decade! As has the ever arrogant Russ Veenema at the PA Chamber!
Hopefully City Council and staff misfits, will make a note. They are being watched closely in the next few weeks!
Time to raise the bar.
If the city is successful in a Chapter 9 Bankruptcy then all the contracts are null and void, the debt is discharged and we start with a clean slate, financially anyway. The trick is to find a slate of candidates to clean up the mess after the fall out from such a plan. If we go back with the same hucksters then we'll be right back in this shape in 5 years. Problem is, we can only file for Chapter 9 every 7 years.
ReplyDeleteJust because the relative few in the higher-ups have been self serving jerks, doesn't mean all the poor workaday schmucks were bad people that deserve to be screwed over.
ReplyDeleteOh, wait. This is America. That is exactly what happens. The rich get richer, and the poor get to personally pay for all the screw-ups the rich folk make.
don't forget to vote...in FEBRUARY... $98,254,000 for a new high school. Gee that will only raise our inflated property valued taxes. Why do we need these capital projects, now? Hmmm...because we're doing so well, or because there is something to be gained by it. Doesn't 98MILLION sound a little high for an enrollment of 1,000 kids?
ReplyDeleteNow is a good time to speak to your city council and congratulate them for taking control of taxpayer's money and attempting to get some accountability when spending it. They have finally neutered Russ the enema and now the pathetic PADA so let's give them a little recognition--even if it did take a decade to get them out of their slumber. You can write all the council members at one email address which is: council@cityofpa.us
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly that now is an excellent time to send a note of confidence in the Council's action. They need to hear from concerned citizens that they are on the right path, albeit, late in the game. The best way to eliminate or make significant changes to PADA is for the City to continue to withhold $$$$$. Now is the time to write Council members and keep the pressure on Fudge Boy and his little Culture Club. I have heard that his own family is pressuring him to step down.
DeleteFair enough.
DeleteReasonable advice about sending City an attaboy.
Time to be constructive and hopeful instead of just angry and critical.
Assuming there is decisive follow through by Council and those that are paying PBIA dues to rid us of Barb, Candy Man, Smuggler Rick, Bead Broad and the other PADA old guard aside.
Bob Lumen's PDN picture and quote caption were classic Sunday.
ReplyDeleteHe should use it to campaign for re-election as a PADA Board member and President.
Even better, Barb should have it blown up as a poster, and sell the posters to generate money for downtown revitalization!
Hell, who needs the City's funding?
We have Bob and Barb!!!!!!!!!!! The Dynamic Downtown Duo!