Rift In Port Angeles City Council
Apparently things aren’t going too smoothly at the Port Angeles City Council. City Manager Mark Madsen has described an “increasingly open and destructive display of disrespect for fellow council members…Certain council members are using their council voice to undermine the legitimate issues and programs supported by other council members, whom they don't like.”
Madsen is considering resigning his position as City Manager if these feuds aren’t resolved. My brief impressions of Mark Madsen — based only on a few PADA Morning Mingles — was that he’s a straightforward what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of guy. Unlike so many Port Angeles “players,” he doesn’t seem to have ulterior motives or an agenda.
Without knowing any details of these rifts — who’s doing what to whom — it might be a sign that the local Good Old Boy network is losing its grip. If that’s the case, it’s probably a good thing for Port Angeles in the long run, even if it means a lot of strife and anxiety in the short term.
Madsen is considering resigning his position as City Manager if these feuds aren’t resolved. My brief impressions of Mark Madsen — based only on a few PADA Morning Mingles — was that he’s a straightforward what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of guy. Unlike so many Port Angeles “players,” he doesn’t seem to have ulterior motives or an agenda.
Without knowing any details of these rifts — who’s doing what to whom — it might be a sign that the local Good Old Boy network is losing its grip. If that’s the case, it’s probably a good thing for Port Angeles in the long run, even if it means a lot of strife and anxiety in the short term.
Labels: City Manager Mark Madsen, PADA Morning Mingle, Port Angeles City Council rifts
posted by Tom Harper at 7:40 PM
39 Comments:
Initials: CK and DP. 'Nuff said!
you mean KR and LW, don't you?
Maybe they could have a duel...automatic weapons at 100 meters...hand grenades at 50...machettes at cq (my favorite)...lot of opportunites for selling tshirts and what nots too.
What we need is more Conservatives on the City Council. We need to get rid of these radical Socialists who have no respect for the traditions of the town and want to impose their radical agenda on us.
radical socialists?
Wow...good drugs, eh?
Put me down for a couple of those t-shirts.
Read the paper this morning.... I think it's a shame, Mark was a good city manager. I don't know if we the citizens will ever get the real skinny, but this is my guess. The newbies have been throwing their weight around like most polititions do-the good ol boys just don't care for that, gotta pay yer dues first, see? The G-o boys are very interested in self preservation even if it means exposing the favors and the pay backs, they will do anything even if it means a law suit. I am so disappointed, because we will now be wasting money time and resources on internal power struggles instead of moving forward with a plan and vision of our what our city has the potential of becoming.
I'm not sure that Madsen was having trouble with the old council members. He seems supportive of KR, LW and GB.
If anything he seems to side with them against the new members.
I'm really sad about this. Madsen was a good City Manager, seemed to care more about Port Angeles than about the Old Boy Network, and I don't know who they'll get to take his place. This shouldn't have happened.
Edna for City Manager!
I thought some of the readers at your blog might be interested in filling out the PDN reader survey.
http://www.pulseresearch.com/pdn/
Couldn't hurt to tell them what you think and there is a prize after all.
I really want him to name names!
But considering how much the PDN is covering this "rift", I'm guessing his statement was against the newbies and not the old guard. As biased as that paper is, I'd expect any attack on the old guard to be buried in the public notice section.
Interesting PDN article about the committee of three council members to look for a new city manager.
"The three members do not create a quorum of the seven-member council, so the meetings do not have to be public." Pretty slick, huh? Nobody ever accused the Port Angeles city council of not knowing every sleazy maneuver in the book. Our tax dollars at work.
Terry Roth for City Manager!!!
SEMPER FI!!!!
Between those two, I'd rather have Edna. (No, I'm not kidding). Thank GOD these two aren't the choices!
I, for one, was heartened to see Edna Petersen's name amongst those other luminaries of our town in the full page advertisement in today's Peninsula Daily News decrying the actions of this uproarious gang of infantile revolutionaries that call themselves the "City Council". God bless Edna, I say!
It was a dark day indeed when the citizens of Port Angeles were lead astray by the malicious words of certain individuals and turned out Edna Petersen from the City Council. We are now seeing the fruits of that action!
Citizens, arise! Take back your city from this upstart gang of hooligans!
oh brother.
The city should win the award for "head most firmly up it's collective ass".
Our soon to be ex city manager wasn't a gem. He was a whining, sweaty man, who managed problems based on who cried loudest. He wasn't a "leader" but a spinner.
He's been in a long line of questionable city managers (weak mayor government has these problems) chosen by how spineless they can be, and how inept they are at upsetting the balance of power.
With the three chosen to chose a new city manager (under the guidance of certain city powers) we'll, no doubt, get another spineless city manager, and business will proceed as usual.
This town has been mismanaged for years....why stop now?
Interesting events.
It all seem to have come about when Sherri Kidd started asking questions about the EDC funding.
Who might have been benifiting from that? Mark & Karen?
If someone on the council is sticking their nose into police matters, wouldn't that be against the Frick'n law?
Why are we not getting answers from the PDN?
Edna Petersen, Your kidding right?
Count me among the sensible Pro-Edna Petersen group. She has been the victim of sly inuendo and the butt of vicious jokes simply because she stood up for what was right!
Edna made a fine City Council member and it's a crying shame that she was unceremoniously forced out after all the good she did for the city.
Please, Edna, Port Angeles needs you. Consider running for City Council again!
When was the last time you saw any investigative reporting from the PDN. Talk about spineless.
Why should anybody approve of a program for 4 years without knowing what it will cost? Why not keep it at the level of review it had been on?
As far as the interfering in police matters, seems it was OK for Folks to keep the Grant Monroe wife beating incident out of the public discourse as much as possible, just to name one such example.
Oh boy, Edna, when you post, try to not sound so much like yourself....
Forget running...your nasty catty ways are not fit for city council!! And, thanks, again, for all your "work" booting the farmers market off Laurel Street....
In the words of our leader, "Good job Brownie"
So many little people are jealous of Edna because of her many good works and her successful business. It's really a shame.
As for Edna getting rid of the farmers market, the record should be set straight once and for all. Edna stood up for what was right! Closing a main artery between Front and First Streets twice a week so that a motley gang of vegetable peddlers could have a free for all was ridiculous. Many, many dowtown merchants agreed and willing signed her petition.
Secondly, as Craig Miller, pointed out, if the so-called "management" of the farmers market had bothered to get the form filled out in the proper order, they wouldn't have lost their place on Laurel Street. Please don't try to cover up for the inept vegetable mongers and their vocal leftist friends by blaming Edna! They have no one else but themselves to blame!
every "smart" town in America welcomes the weekly, or biweekly farmers markets. They KNOW it brings a community together. The PT market is thriving and interesting. The Sequim market has a large following, the Olympia Farmers market is amazing, the various farmers markets in Seattle are a boon to local business.
Only stupid, old-fashioned, out-of-step-with-the-times Port Angeles would reject such a notion, and in such ignorant and illogical terms as the last poster. (Must be Edna, again!)
And, for the record, only ONE other downtown merchant was with the "big E", and that was Rick's Place. It's open records, and you can search them online, dude.
We're not stupid, and you can't rewrite history to make your illogical stupidity look rational.
No wonder the town is D-Y-I-N-G.
Please! The cover up doesn't work. Virtually every business downtown signed Edna's petition, including city councilman Don Perry. The whining leftists need to check their facts before posting.
Little people? Motley bunch? inept vegetable mongers?
I didnt know there was blue blood royalty in Port Angeles but appearantly there is. How inconveinient for them. Taking up the parking spaces, going into stores buying things, breathing the air. My word! They should establish a cerfew to limit these little motley veggie peddlers to midnight to 6AM as to not scare off the tourists.
who are you calling "leftist"?
Another stupid small town moron who thinks EVERYONE who doesn't agree with them is a LEFTY.
Idiot.
so, point me to this "petition". It's not online in the city documents from the council meetings...not even mentioned. In fact, from many conversations, I can't find any downtown merchants who will admit to being against the farmers market.
So who is lying? You or the merchants?
I think you lie.
"conservatives".
We're NOT talking fiscally conservative, are we?
Because that is what the current newby members have been asking for...some accountability on these money-trains that the good ol'greedy boys have set up for themselves.
The INCUBATOR@ is a waste of money. The new foundation set up for some fat cat to get $150,000 for nuthin' (who wants to wager that our past city manager will snag that job)? The Gateway..another money pit. This town is spending money like they are MINTING IT.
So, by conservative, you mean...greedy, old and corrupt?
Let's set the record straight, the majority of the downtown businesses supported the Farmer's Market on Laurel St. It was the minority with their lawyer that won out. As to Edna's petition, that is as bogus as you can get. Lots of folks were strong armed into signing it and some folks weren't downtown businesses.
Oh, Speaking of Edna, Yes she is a somewhat good business person and she does support this community. However, the talk on the street and her reputation doesn't speak highly of her. Peroid! As far as I'm concern she did try and buy her seat back on the council with all that she spend on her campaign. Thank goodness the voters spoke up. And then they listen to whom should be Mayor.
I would guess that motley crew of vegetable peddlers just can't afford the $100 shirts that are selling in your store. How disrepectfull can you be?
Man there were some choice comments at yesterday's city council meeting.
"You have failed the citizens of Port Angeles . . . and put our city at legal and financial risk. Each of you responsible should be ashamed of yourselves."
"You've failed the city, you've failed your employees and you've failed your neighbors. . . . If you can't put your egos and personal agendas aside, you're not capable of serving on this council."
Yesss! You go guys. Give 'em hell.
Another 15 or so posts and this thread will exceed the posts of the "Bob Stokes Is a Goober" thread from a few months ago.
Wow, throw a few more superlatives towards Edna, why don't we?
Okay, look, I understand her point. The farmer's market did block off a main side-street, and it did wipe out several valuable parking spaces.
But I very strenuously disagree that that was all for nothing. That “motley gang of vegetable peddlers” brought people downtown. There was music, there were shopping. It made people happy. Happy people make good shoppers.
I used to joke that the only time downtown seemed alive was during Halloween when people brought their kids downtown for candy. It’s usually dead when I’m downtown. I can walk down First St and pass maybe 10, 15 people, a third of which have nowhere else to go. It’s sterile and makes me want to leave quickly.
P.A. is getting a little better, bit by bit, with Arts in Action and TGIF (God knows what Edna’s retinue thought about Budget CDs hauling out sofa and having a mini-concert) and Girls Night Out. These things are few and far between, but they make for a vibrant community. A vibrant community is a good thing. It makes people want to go and mingle and have fun and spend money. People don’t feel the need so much to hightail out of there for Silverdale or Seattle or somewhere else less depressing.
The farmer’s market and the live band was a guaranteed weekly activity. It was fun, and I think it was worth blocking a side-street off for a few hours each week. We can permanently change Cherry St, why not temporarily change Laurel?
But it doesn’t matter anymore. That bridge is burned. They’ll be going after the antique shops next, filling them with little boutique shops that sell clever little trinkets to women and tourists. The only music will be from car stereos as the drivers pass through downtown as quickly as possibly. The only excitement will be from arrests at the bus stop. And the officer will have free reign to drive his Segway over empty sidewalks.
Wait, what is this post about again?
"The only music will be from car stereos as the drivers pass through downtown as quickly as possibly."
Not in this county, partner. There is going to be a sign over by Gardiner at the county line informing you of the noise ordinance. Violaters will be tazed. Queitly. (They got to play with their toys you know)
Well, well, well! It certainly didn't take long for the sharp little tongues of the Anti-Edna Brigade to get a-wagging, did it?
No doubt they quickly sent out emails and rousted out their "comrades" and "fellow travelers" from various bars, rehab clinics and failing businesses downtown so that they could make a show of "solidarity". It's very interesting to note that three postings came in within ten minutes of each other!
Please, if you can not argue to the issue, take your ridiculous Anti-Edna venom elsewhere. Once again: many downtown merchants signed Edna's petition willingly. The idea of her "strongarming" anyone is laughable. The issue was whether or not Laurel Street should be blocked off twice a week or not. The court's judgment was correct, especially when it was revealed that the so-called management of the farmers market hadn't filled out the forms correctly. Yes, that's inept management.
Please, cease this belittling of one of the pillars of Port Angeles and downtown simply to assuage your bruised leftist egos! Your arguments are hollow and false in the cold clarity of fact and your jealousy is truly pathetic.
Be strong, Edna! Most of us in Port Angeles support you and your beautiful store. Your return to the City Council would be a welcome relief!
Wow that's funny, I remember quite clearly when that petition came around and was told right up front:
Sign this and don't ask any questions!!!!
Edna is certainly not the Godfather. No one was told that either their signature or their brains would be on the petition.
So why did so many (most, if not all of the business owners in down town)people sign her petition?
That sorry situation could have been avoided if people had developed a back bone and said "No!" instead of cravenly signing the petition and then sheepishly disavowing the deed later.
"Sign this and don't ask questions" is a really lame excuse!
Well! No one in this town has ever been accused of having a backbone before. I highly doubt they'll get around to growing one when it comes to a petition presented under their noses by a woman who's know for being a tongue-wager and gossip monger.
Business owners in this town are AFRAID of the old boys network, because to violate it, or go against it means to have the city come down hard on them for an assortment of "violations".
Edna, at the time, was seen, rightly or wrongly, as the loudest of the conduit to the old boys network.
You know the old saying...telephone, telegraph, or tell Edna
"Not in this county, partner. There is going to be a sign over by Gardiner at the county line informing you of the noise ordinance. Violaters will be tazed. Queitly. (They got to play with their toys you know)"
Ah, but I'm talking about in downtown where there's no one to enforce anything but keeping bikes off the sidewalk. And... well, I've never tried this so I could be wrong... but seems like operating a tazer and a Segway at the same time would be pretty tough to do!
Give Edna the tazer and the Segway and she'll clean up downtown!
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