Petition Against Taxpayer Funding of Rayonier Cleanup
So far more than 400 people have signed a petition against any tax money used for the acquisition and/or cleanup of the former Rayonier mill site.
The petition was circulated by Citizens for Fiscal Restraint & Public Accountability and has been presented to the Port Angeles City Council. The petition was presented to the City Council by Port Angeles resident John Ford, who said:
"The Harbor-Works board does not represent us. We do not want Harbor-Works involved in the future decisions about the Rayonier property or its cleanup." Another Port Angeles resident, Paul Lamoreux, added:
"There must be a solution where we don't get stuck with the cleanup of the property."
The petition was started by local resident Norma Turner, who said:
"We want to let them know that there is a part of the community that they are not representing."
So far Harbor-Works has received $1.5 million in public funding.
The petition was circulated by Citizens for Fiscal Restraint & Public Accountability and has been presented to the Port Angeles City Council. The petition was presented to the City Council by Port Angeles resident John Ford, who said:
"The Harbor-Works board does not represent us. We do not want Harbor-Works involved in the future decisions about the Rayonier property or its cleanup." Another Port Angeles resident, Paul Lamoreux, added:
"There must be a solution where we don't get stuck with the cleanup of the property."
The petition was started by local resident Norma Turner, who said:
"We want to let them know that there is a part of the community that they are not representing."
So far Harbor-Works has received $1.5 million in public funding.
posted by Tom Harper at 12:55 AM
46 Comments:
Here's a significant paragraph in the article that you conveniently for got to include:
"Jim Hallett, Harbor-Works board member, told the council after the speakers finished that the public development authority will not strike a deal with Rayonier that involves putting any public money toward cleanup."
I mean, you're not biased, are you?
Where do I sign?
HarborWorks was rammed down our throats by a number of the same people who brought us the multi-million dollar Gateway transit center. Is it any wonder that people are suspicious???
Tom- I was just cruising your blog, looking for stuff on Steve Tharinger, but I noticed my blog was listed in your Links column. Could you take it off please? It's for family and friends..thanks. Do you have any opinions on Tharinger holding two elected positions respresenting conflicting interests?
Jennifer
If you liked the Gateway Transit fiasco.. then you'll love the $15 million that'll be earmarked for planning ANOTHER parking structure downtown. But this one will have a park and maybe tennis courts on top!
See Project GG06-2009 in the Capital Facilities Plan.
Also take a look at Project TR04-2009 for another laugh.
Only biased against white collar shysters masquerading as "public servants"
Go ahead, piss on my shoes...
Jennifer: OK, the link is removed.
There are a lot of local races and issues that I haven't paid much attention to, including Tharinger's two positions. I should, since like they say, all politics is local.
Um, hello!
What part of "will strike a deal with Rayonier that involves putting any public money towards cleanup" do you Socialists not understand?
To Anonymous 6:21 -
Here is what Jeff Lincoln said recently:
Lincoln responded that the city and port are just two of a variety of agencies, both private and public, which might eventually provide funding."
Jim Hallett is not very informed about the process he is involved in. He does not appear to do his homework based upon some of the things he has said publicly.
Before believing what Hallett said, people should check with the state Dept. of Ecology and get a full understanding of liability if HW is to take ownership.
How smart is it for them to purchase the property before even knowing the cost of the cleanup? Rayonier saw these people coming and have played them very well - only we all pay.
At least this time "Mania" wasn't "vaguely insulted" by Hallett!
Hey, where can I sign it? Need a lot more than 400 signing it. I live in the county but I think we would get stuck with some of the bill also, just who can sign it?
In response, a Harbor-Works Development Authority representative said the public entity will not negotiate a contract that involves public funds being used for cleanup.
Hahahaha..
To date, Harbor-Works has received $1.5 million in PUBLIC funding.
It is insulting the public's intelligence for HarborWorks cheerleaders to continue insisting that if HarborWorks buys the property, Rayonier will pay the total costs of cleanup. That is just using twisted logic and playing word games --- reminiscent of when a former president of ours insisted that he "did not have sex with that woman."
The public understands that cleanup costs include expenses related to the overall regulatory process --- such as conducting studies, meeting with government regulators, paying staff, and - for decades afterward - continuing to pay for complying with government regulations that require follow-up monitoring and reporting.
HarborWorks is already spending public money on these and other cleanup-related costs. A wealthy private corporation wants to shift the risks and burdens of these cleanup-related financial liabilities onto a public entity - HarborWorks - yet the citizens who are footing the bills are supposed to think we're not getting screwed.
Right.
It's past due time to get that property DEVELOPED and get some much-needed tax revenue into our city. Norma Turner, please just GO AWAY.
I'm sick and tired of leftists wanting everything turned into a freaking park!
Way to stir the shitpot Tom.
Thanks a lot.
Sincerely yours,
Harborgrifters.
Somebody get a rope....
Everybody's money is going toward Harbor Works. Petition signers can be from outside PA. You could write to the PO Box to get a copy of the petition; or maybe just send a note saying "Add my name".
Citizens for Fiscal Restraint & Public Accountability
PO Box 2633
Port Angeles, WA 98362
Here's what the petition says:
PETITION OPPOSING PUBLIC FUNDING FOR HARBORWORKS TO BUY OR CLEAN UP THE RAYONIER PROPERTY
The Harbor Works Board does not represent us. The Harbor Works Public Development Authority was created without public input, yet publicly funded with $1.5 Million.
We do not want Harbor Works involved with future decisions about the Rayonier property or its cleanup. We do not want taxpayers made responsible for the cleanup. We do not want any more public funding spent on this cleanup.
RAYONIER INC. has a cleanup agreement in place with the State holding Rayonier fully responsible for paying to clean up the pollution its mill left behind. This agreement should not be interfered with.
Only a fool would sign that petition.
trish, you pay for it then. I'm sick of "rightists" spending PUBLIC money like crazy for every "Bridge to Nowhere" and "Gateway Transportation Center" that comes down the pike. And what revenue do you think is going to be generated with the Rayonier site? Do you really think a "high end car dealership" is going to build there? Who do you think is going to buy those cars? We can't even build up the city we've got! This county is BROKE and taking OUR MONEY is just going to make us poorer.
Get rid of "Mania" and his gang of Socialist tax and spenders! We need a recall petition ... NOW!
The Rayonier property needs to be cleaned up, zoned residential and have a bunch of high rise condo's build on it.
We don't need to clean it up for the capitalists, in 40 years nature will clean it up. If they want it cleaned up now they can frigging well pay for it.
Heres the cold hard truth. SCREW paying taxes to clean up any of that shit. Rayonier shouldnt even bother.
Take the money and start pumping it into small businesess so our economy can go somewhere other than down. Im sick and tired of people begging for tax payers money. For christ sakes, why doesnt rayonier ask Obama for some money, he has taken plenty of ours already.
Quick bitchin about a stupid clean-up. We need to start focusing on the businesses that are already here. Like Westport, the Mill, K-ply, Angeles Composites, Arrow, and all the other businesses before they pack their shit up and leave.
Hey, I hate to bother you, but...Does anyone have any empty boxes I could have? As soon as I get everything packed up, I'M OUTTA HERE.
Don't know if the PDN will report this:
In a letter dated June 22, 2010, HarborWorks, supported by the City
of Port Angeles and Port are urging the Governor meet with them.
They want the Governor to have Ecology commit to HW $4M of public
funds in order to demonstrate to Rayonier that HW is financially
feasible, even though Rayonier has called off their negotiations.
The City and Port say they will commit more funds (although it is not
clear that the Mayor told the rest of the City Council).
We need jobs in this town and not the arty-farty garbage and ecology that Mania and his goon squad want to bring here.
Why do we have an unemployed person on the city council? Is he leading by example ... so we're all on the "guberment" dole forever? Mania wants to impose Euro-peon style socialism here in P.A. and do away with elections. Well that ain't happening!
You libs want us all jobless forever, while you "appoint" your socialist buddies into office and then tax the successful and drive away jobs and wealth overseas to the foreigners.
Regime change in this city starts with getting the liberals out and hard working, employed conservatives in!
Anon 10:24. Source?
To Anon 6:44
The source - letters in the Harbor-Works records.
Local Government, being evil and all (except when it does or pays for something I THINK is valuable), has pretty much reached the end of its ability to continue to perform its basic functions as it always has. The limitation of a 1% / year increase in Property Tax, since 2002, when inflation has been more than 2.5% per year during that same time, has caught up with EVERY Junior Taxing District, and even the cities and counties. Are we willing to accept less service? The City of P.A. already quit fixing our roads, reduced or eliminated funding for social service agencies, cut out the pool, is getting ready to close all of our parks, and transfer the fire department to a new taxing district. But all that is not nearly enough. What else are we willing to do without?
I agree with supporting business already here, recently is came out Angeles Composite was looking to relocate 140 jobs and the potential for another 100 plus to another state.
Are we crazy, get out and fight for them to stay. Build them whatever they want, wave all the fees, hurry. If i know Rauch he'll take his company where ever the best business climate exists, he has no strings in PA.
And what will we be left with? A dying paper and plywood industry and a shipbuilder that can't sell boats worth a shit in this economy.
You know, I'd love it if that area got developed. Have plenty of new business space; a bunch of condos; a traffic pattern that was well thought out and included cars, bikes and pedestrians; maybe a fitness center with a pool that overlooks the water. Ahh, totally obtainable paradise... If this were Seattle.
See, I'm skeptical that the Rayonier site would be developed and tax revenue would start flowing through. There are too many empty lots and dilapidated buildings around town that aren't being fixed or built on. (And I realize that might be partly the landlord's fault.) Downtown's tried to get a convention center for decades and deal after deal falls through. The precedent here isn't very encouraging. Plus, you know, we're kind of in the middle of a really bad economy.
In the meantime, seems like we're throwing away millions and trying to hurry things along. So, I gotta ask, why the rush? Why not set it aside until the economy picks up, fix up the rest of Port Angeles first, get some jobs here and some money flowing, see if there's a need to spend all this money on the site. Otherwise I think the state and feds (and therefore the taxpayers) would just be throwing money away on something that never happens. The property isn't going anywhere, I hope. My 2 ยข.
Regime change in this city starts with getting the liberals out and hard working, employed conservatives in!
Get a brain, 'liberals' and 'conservatives' are just labels in a house of mirrors.
There's plenty of what you call liberals that are very hard working, and there's plenty of conservatives that are lazy shits and on the public take.
Does Rayonier have to be cleaned up? All the toxins are buried. Why not just leave them buried? Why stir them all up?
Add a thick layer of new topsoil over everything, and just plant native plants and make a nature preserve, low maintenance public park?
We need open spaces that are not developed and that foster our natural plants, birds and animals.
Who shall we nominate to be our next Mayor?
October -
One of the main reasons to clean up the site is to stop the pathways of pollution coming from the site. The toxic chemicals are still leaching into the bay and the ground water.
The site at the water's edge is fill that has been brought in over the years. There were marshes they have covered up with dirt as well but the pathways of pollution remain. The marshes need to be restored - but not as reservoirs of pollutants.
It would be lovely as an open space. The beach under the fill is a sandy beach.
Mayor "Mania"?
Oh no! Spare us from that horror!!!! His presence on the Council is a disgrace and we don't need to become the laughingstock of the Peninsula.
Perpetually Unemployed Man Becomes Mayor of P.A.
"Mayor "Mania"?
Oh no! Spare us from that horror!!!! His presence on the Council is a disgrace and we don't need to become the laughingstock of the Peninsula.
Perpetually Unemployed Man Becomes Mayor of P.A."
Give it up, already!
Give some specifc examples of what Mania has actually done, as a city council person, that you find so terribly wrong.
As opposed to the past council members, who could throw millions of taxpayer money at pet projects like The Incubator, HarborWorks, and the Gateway, with nothing of substance to show for it all. That they could spend millions with Exceltek to oversee the construction of the Gateway, and it STILL had cracks in the walls, and had to be repaired before it even opened!
And now, Rayonier tells HarborWorks to get lost. Great leadership by that group of "civic leaders'. And a total waste of the millions of tax payer monies, once again. How will that money get paid back, now?
But you think Manias' employment status is the REAL issue in Port Angeles?
Wow.
Dear Seattle,
We hate you. We hate how you're always telling us what to do. We hate how you keep stealing the elections. We hate that you're a bunch of liberal drug addicts who don't know the meaning of hard work. We hate how you take all our tax dollars and spend it on I-5 projects. We really really hate you. PS: Could we have $4 million (for now) to clean up an old mill site? Please? We'll put a bunch of retail stores and condos on it, promise!
Love,
Port Angeles
From reading the articles in today's on-line PDN, it appears that petition circulators and signers definitely sensed the truth: that the plan all along has been for public funds to help pay to clean up Rayonier's mess.
Back in 2008, under a different City administration, Rayonier saw a chance to benefit from a partial taxpayer bail-out. When it saw that cleanup money wasn't to be swiftly or surely forthcoming, the company opted not to waste any more time "negotiating".
"Give it up, already!"
No, I don't think I will. Your defense of this character who calls himself "Mania" is pathetic. This is the same guy who posted inside gossip and trash talk under the alias of "The Watcher", yet you Mania-Zombies think he's the best thing since sliced bread.
Maybe you should give up trying to defend this unemployed and obviously unemployable nitwit.
If any one of the previous city council people had done anything illegal, don't you think they would have been prosecuted by now?
"Mania" was supposed to be the Messiah who was going to being "change" and "good government" to the town. So far he's been caught out posting trash to this blog under an assumed name, declared his dislike of elections, tried to create an uneforcable "law" and gotten publicly snippy with a department manger. Oh, and he walks on water and restores the sight to the blind in his spare time.
Well, he's going to get awfully lonely on the council after the liberal gang of fools is shown the door in the next elections!
Mayor "Mania"? Thanks, but no thanks!
Council Member Mania needs to get paid a full salary for all the good work he is doing for city residents. He reads his council packets, and asks questions if he needs more information to make a responsible decision. What a novel concept!
He thinks for himself, and is not a rubber stamp for staff or for bullies left over from the last regime.
Is that why you fear him so, Anon 1:03 PM?
"No, I don't think I will. Your defense of this character who calls himself "Mania" is pathetic.
.........
Maybe you should give up trying to defend this unemployed and obviously unemployable nitwit.
.................
Well, he's going to get awfully lonely on the council after the liberal gang of fools is shown the door in the next elections!"
Well, you obviously are ALREADY very lonely, as nobody else in the community seems to share your silly views. You're an illiterate self described conservative who is bitter, and cares little about the well being of the comunity as a whole. You're not offering anything constructive to Port Angeles, just these silly attacks that few pay any attention to.
Enjoy your pathetic life!
"Mania" Zombies! "Mania" Zombies!
"Council Member Mania needs to get paid a full salary for all the good work he is doing for city residents."
All the good work, huh? Like what for example?
Maybe you're thinking about his posts on this blog as "The Watcher". Didn't "Mania" run on honesty and integrity? Does an honest person hide behind an alias and post trash talk and gossip about civic leaders and affairs? Does someone with integrity do that?
I'll wait patiently for your answer.
"Didn't "Mania" run on honesty and integrity?"
Do you have even one shred of actual "evidence" to support your fantasies? You think you do, with your contrived bits and pieces of assumptions and innuendos, but they all amount to nothing but evidence of your own paranoid little world of no importance.
Wake up and get a grip on the real world. Talk about the issues that people really care two cents about. Mania being unemployed, like so many millions of other Americans, is not the dirty slur you are trying to make it be.
Unless you're a "conservative" or "teabagger", and can try to insult people for their misfortunes in this acknowledged global economic crisis.
What a loser!
Hey anonymous 12:44PM...Since you're posting trash talk and gossip behind an alias, I guess you don't have any integrity either. Or intelligence. Or a single clue as to how much of a buffoon you appear to be with your one-note, obsessive rantings. Might I suggest you stand on a street corner with a THE END IS NEAR! sign? Just don't forget your tinfoil hat.
And Tom...Did it ever occur to you that this person could be using their supposed obsession with Mania as a cover? Being that their comments infect every subject like a computer virus, which probably drives people away from this blog, maybe their real target IS this blog. Just a thought.
You "Mania" Zombies are as touchy and thin-skinned as your "Dear Leader"! I'm waiting for someone to say that they're "vaguely insulted"!
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