City Council Might Take Official Position on Wild Olympics
This coming Tuesday at 6 p.m., the Port Angeles City Council will listen to the public to hear what they think about the Wild Olympics plan. After receiving public input, the City Council might or might not take an official position on the issue.
posted by Tom Harper at 10:41 AM
17 Comments:
I'm against anything that will bring more employment here because that means more people coming here.
Cherie Kidd isn't smart enough to take a position on what she'd like to have for lunch. This is just pure, plain pandering to local right-wingers, nothing more. Give 'em a chance to come fuss and fume and they're happy. Sure, it's counter-productive in the long run, but Mayor McMoonbeam of Nippontown doesn't get that. SHE JUST WANTS TO BE LIKED.
"People should not be allowed to sell their property to whomever they chose."
At the heart of the "Wild Olympics" issue is this very premise. IF a property owner WANTS to, they would be able to WILLINGLY (hear: OF THEIR OWN FREE WILL) sell THEIR property to the government, to become part of the parks system. If they want to sell their property to somebody else, they are free to do so. Or, not sell it at all.
Gee! In this economic climate, the right-wingers should be jumping up and down to have a WILLING BUYER locked in for their property, IF they should SOME DAY decide to sell THEIR property!
But, strangely, the right-wing Republicans in Clallam have found themselves OPPOSING "property rights", and "individual rights" in this issue!
Once again, the local brain trust is going to show anybody bothering to care what happens in Port Angeles, what a bunch of backwards regressives the community is made up of.
And Mayor Cherie Kidd said she was depressed to come back to Port Angeles? Look in the mirror, girlfriend!
I know how we can "tame" the wild Olympics. Send out a questionaire, and ask people to anonomously identify particular houses that have lots of activity late at night. Then set up surveylance, and prosecute whomever has the lease, and is "knowing" of a federal offense, like violating some interstate commerce clause or something. Or plant a minor there. Something like that. Only way. The locals won't do it. Common knowledge who the career criminals are. Why spend a million local dollars just to put an extra little snag in their lives?
Mr. BBC, if you don't have jobs, your town dies out. If you don't have anything like tourism to bring people here, your town dies out. If you don't have any businesses that are supported by the people who have jobs or tourism jobs it effects the overall economy to support our hospitals, fire, and police.
I am against taking people's property to turn it into wilderness. There is a large enough portion of wilderness that very few people see on the peninsula, so why allocate more? You'd be infringing on people's rights and the property they are or did buy. If you don't like all the people Mr. BBC, why don't you move to the center of the peninsula and fend for yourself?
Do you suppose that anybody on the council has read the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act or the Wilderness Act? Have they ever been briefed on what these laws say? Have they ever heard an impartial presentation describing what the proposed Wild Olympics Bill actually says?
If council members are to thoughtfully and intelligently vote on the question of whether to support or oppose the Wild Olympics Bill, they should do some homework on the subject first to make sure they understand what they are voting for or against.
It seems to me that our council members have enough to do just with trying to keep up with local ordinances and policies. It is wasting their time and energy to have this issue on their agenda.
Cherie Kidd needs to get out of bed with Dick Piling, and focus on doing her best to keep up with things that actually concern Port Angeles. This isn't just another photo op, Cherie. You can do real damage by pandering to the Know Nothing crowd.
"I am against taking people's property to turn it into wilderness. There is a large enough portion of wilderness that very few people see on the peninsula, so why allocate more? You'd be infringing on people's rights and the property they are or did buy."
You ever try to build something on your property, that the zoning codes will not allow? Laws in every town already "infringe" on property owners' rights to do what they want with their property.
"I just believe that respect and and respect is the best way to come to a forum to address an issues or to come to a decision. So I'm here tonight to say that we all love our forests and trees and the National Park - Gosh! What a park! - and that we all know that we need clean water and jobs and and lots of growth and roads and and well, and just more chances for jobs and clean air growth and no one could argue with that or disagree with that. And that's why we're here tonight in a spirit of mutual respect and to foresee that we all grow and jobs. Because while we need the and and appreciate the National Park, who does a great job, by the way, we all also need to be aware that things aren't always - they change. And the topic we're here to discuss and hear presentation on is the the Wild Olympics, which would, in some, uh, some measures, would, um, protest - I mean, protect - our valuable natural resources and tourism like the National Park. Okay. But we have to have jobs to protect too, not just just parks and and well, if you ever sold real estate, I'm sure they'd tell you that there's more to this issue. More than the the, um, and so, while I support and love our National Park - it's such a treasure and we're so proud to have it as our our neighbor and to work together with it, with them, whenever we can, and support them. But, in the end I just - Gosh! - I just can't see how we can, I mean, this Wild Olympics. We're not rich. We're not Canada. And I just don't see how we can...Council, does anyone else have anything else to add?"
Cherie Kidd
October 2nd, 2012
Having witnessed last night's meeting, all I can say is that Cherie Kidd is in WAY, WAY, WAY over her head as mayor. She pushed for the city council to hear public testimony on the Wild Olympics, but when the testimony didn't go the right (right-wing) way, she just got testy. Public comment is a dangerous thing, mayor Kidd. Sometimes the public doesn't agree with your puppeteers (Dick Piling, Nipppon, etc.) which then puts you in the position of having to give the finger to a majority of your own citizens.
And her standing and credibility just continue to go down, down down. The question is, how much of Port Angeles will she bring down with her, and her foolish, foolish notions?
Just when we begin to think that the PA City Council couldn't sink any lower in terms of public respect for their actions, the mayor - in intentional or unwitting collusion with key entrenched staff members who REALLY are in charge at city hall - manages to offend a council chamber full of citizens. These silly people had mistakenly believed the public notice that said the council would hear public comments about the Wild Olympics Bill "at 6PM or shortly thereafter". They were made to wait until 8:35 PM before this item came up. Before then, utility staffers were allowed to monopolize the time with tediously boring power point presentations and unmistakenly intentional filibustering designed to offend and insult the gathered crowd. To their credit, at least 25 Wild Olympics supporters managed to wait it out and use their allotted two-minutes each to voice their views. A total of five people - Glenn Wiggins, Harry Bell, Dick Pilling, Karl Spees, and Dick Goodman, spoke in opposition to the bill. Many other people in the audience chose only to listen and not publicly comment. But when one of the later speakers asked for a show of hands of everyone who favored the bill, virtually everyone in the chamber raised their hands.
The council "discussion" afterward was its own fiasco. You'd have to listen to the tape recording of the meeting to understand just how badly the mayor handled things.
Yup - it was obvious who really runs this town. The entrenched special interest and the staff that are beholden to them.
Sounds reminiscent of the planning commission meeting about the farmers market when that controversy first erupted in 2005. 4 or 5 people were against having the farmers market on Laurel Street, and they each got to speak and ramble and dodder for as long as they wanted. At least 30 or 40 people were in favor of letting the market stay on Laurel Street, and they each got 30 seconds to speak.
"Yup - it was obvious who really runs this town. The entrenched special interest and the staff that are beholden to them."
Yet another example.
And some wonder why it is so hard to get concerned people to get involved in local politics?
People give up trying. Democracy at its' best.
Might I suggest we rename Cherie Kidd Mayor You've Got To Be Kidding? I mean, Karen Rogers screwed things up because she was greedy and corrupt. But Cherie You've Got To Be Kidding keeps screwing everything up because she's listening to people who are greedy and corrupt. She's going to destroy everything, including her own reputation and her own town, and she won't even get anything out of it. She's behaving EXACTLY like Karen Rogers would, but seems oblivious to that fact.
Cherie Kidd thought that asking questions was good, and Glenn Cutler was bad. But Mayor You've Got To Be Kidding now clearly sees asking questions as BAD, and Glenn Cutler as GOOD. So, why not invite the public to give testimony then make them wait, then ignore their testimony? Why not? If you think she's smart enough to see that she's being used, and that this was all a bad idea, then You've Got To Be Kidding.
@Anon 10:04
Don't you see? This is the long standing pattern for Port Angeles. The names change, but the situation remains the same.
As someone who once voted for Cherie Kidd (NEVER AGAIN) I say with deep regret that she is, in fact, an idiot. I am sorry for ever having supported her in any way.
I guess their "official" position is that they're too cowardly to take an official position. Ah, yes, our elected "leaders," always ready and willing to bring up the rear...
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