City Contractors Might be Required to Use Apprentices
At tonight's meeting, the Port Angeles City Council will be debating a law that would require city contractors to hire apprentices. For a company whose contract with the City is worth more than $1 million, at least fifteen percent of the labor would have to be performed by workers in a state-approved apprenticeship program.
People in favor of this proposed law say it would provide local jobs and encourage development of a skilled work force. Opponents say it could increase the cost of the contracts and it might be difficult to fill the apprenticeship hours with local people.
People in favor of this proposed law say it would provide local jobs and encourage development of a skilled work force. Opponents say it could increase the cost of the contracts and it might be difficult to fill the apprenticeship hours with local people.
posted by Tom Harper at 4:45 PM
54 Comments:
What a horrible idea!
In concept, it sounds like a good idea.
One way, maybe, to get a few people to look away from their smart phones for more than a minute or two.
Way to go Dan Gase! He's worried it won't actually provide local jobs AND might drive up costs for city contracts (which will, of course, be passed on to residents) - BUT HE VOTED FOR IT ANYWAY.
More half-baked ideas. More unanimous votes. May as well have Karen Rogers back as mayor.
The last line of the KONP article states Several other cities and counties in the state have adopted similar programs.
I've found all kinds of reasoning behind similar initiatives, but little in the way of actual results.
Does anyone have any tangible data or actual evidence regarding efficacy?
Why does anyone stay in Port Angeles?
Really, I mean this as a serious question. It's SO corrupt, SO backwards, and SO expensive to live there, with no real quality of life or culture to balance any of that out. So really, why do you people stay?
I'd love to hear about why stupid, corrupt and expensive Port Angeles is the place you choose to live. Surely you're not all out hiking in the ONP every day...
This is so when minimum wages are raised across the state/region, they dim bulbs here can say they did something. While the cost of housing is low here, the cost of everything else - not so much.
If a young local person really wants to work (for peanuts) in the marijuana industry and learn the ropes (pardon the pun) in an industry with great growth potential, and knows someone with deep pockets who knows what they are doing, and they like it here too, and aren't going to cut out, I'd say stay. Otherwise, especially if you want to learn a trade, leave.
WTF - Most business owners hate the idea. That's all you need to know.
^Maybe Frugals? Who knows.
11:08 - Yes, guilty, I hike in the woods just for fun, inspiration, and exercise more than anyone. It's not for everyone, that is sure. Port Angeles is surrounded by so much "accessible" and relatively untouched beauty. Anyone watch the PBS documentary about the Grand Coulee Dam? Mistakes were made around Port Angeles, but there are attempts to fix them and the TV show made me very proud to be in it for the long haul. If you think about it, the era of all out plundering the landscape around here was relatively short? The real enemy here is climate change/rising temps. messing up our forest ecology and while most here have not woken up to that, in just one generation, perhaps just half a decade, we will find ourselves firmly on the correct path in so many aspects of our lives on the peninsula. Port Angeles is also surrounded by extremely interesting places to go that aren't too far and traffic is not really an issue over here and will not be in my lifetime. The cost of living is average, when you factor in the low cost of housing. And good, cheap weed!!! Whooo hoooo!!!!
"May as well have Karen Rogers back as mayor."
It's headed that way. That is to say, backwards. Diguilio is back as mayor now. Betsy Wharthog is back on the Utility Advisory Committee. So sure, it probably won't be long before Karen Rogers is back in office.
I stay to bike the Olympic Discovery trail, continue learning among the Retired Scientists, eat fresh food from my garden year-round, kayak at Freshwater or Crescent Bays on the spur of the moment, learn about wondrous trips to take when I attend benefit slide shows presented by the trails coalition, hear Person of the Year per Time magazine Brian Atwater's presentation on recent Cascadia fault research, swim at the city pool, dine or go wine tasting with happy/educated friends who have chosen PA when they could live wherever they choose, etc. All this when I am not working at my half time job that I love which pays $34 per hour. Whine on.
It's easier to like living in the area if you live outside of PA city limits and don't have to pay utility bills, fees, taxes and surcharges to support city government. It's also easier to like living in the area if you don't live directly downwind from the Nippon Mill.
Opponents say it could increase the cost of the contracts and it might be difficult to fill the apprenticeship hours with local people.
All trades need new people learning them, it's how I worked my way up in life, and it does not increase the cost of contracts, if anything it helps keep them lower.
And there they go again...Spending YOUR money to pay off the crooked contractor (Primo, as always) for the crumbling "new" waterfront, and giving away almost $200,000 to the totally inept Chamber of Commerce.
Here's a suggestion: Let's save time and be more honest. Just sign the public works department - and budget - over to Primo and then let the Chamber handle everything else, and do away with the charade that the city council actually governs anything.
Port Angeles is a joke. An ever more expensive joke.
Miss me much?
Port Angeles, with it's great and dominant views of smokestacks and oil tankers, isn't for everybody.
Obviously.
Port Angeles: Enjoy Third-World living conditions without leaving the U.S.!
Port Angeles: Now with 50% MORE particulate matter!
Port Angeles: We grow our crabs in crap!
Port Angeles: Please, no questions!
Like many I have a love/hate relationship with Port Angeles. One thing it has against it is that it seems to be the national headquarters for THE INSANE CHICKS SOCIETY (TICS).
I've never lived anywhere else where the available women were so hard to get along and have decent relationships with.
The local publisher/teabagger indicated in the PDN comment section that he thought the NEW LAW THAT WAS PASSED was an entitlement program/government program. Ha ha. Yes, dumbass, the law has to do with workers that work on PUBLIC PROJECTS!!! (PUBLIC=GOVERNMENT!!!!)
Good job Lee!!!
This area is amazing. I don't mind paying a little extra for utilities if we address the fuck ups here. It will become more amazing as teabaggers die off/attrition, and we will finally get some meaningful and durable infrastructure. Or, we'll just tear out the old shit.
@Anon 10:50
Very funny! Right on target!
Thanks for the laughs.
Gee, I just checked the real time particulate matter monitoring data for PA and it's a whopping 2.5 micrograms per cubic meter and visibility is 145 miles. How many cities on earth can boast that at any given time? 50% more PM than where?
I don't need a visibility of 145 miles to see the smokestacks and oil tankers while in downtown Port Angeles. Coming into Port Angeles, those are pretty much the viewshed.
The TSP (Total Suspended Particulate) for Washington State and Port Angeles is way up.
http://www.usa.com/port-angeles-wa-air-quality.htm
That's not a graph of TSP, its a graph of the AQI (an index). If you put a trend line on that, it's steady, not climbing for PA. It's a fraction of the state average and a pittance of the national average. As earlier observed, it would be hard to find a city with air quality that is as good as ours elsewhere. Only Cheyenne, Wyoming may match it.
At last! Someone speaks the truth about Port Angeles! And in the PDN (today) no less!
From Russ Veenema:
For purposes of economic development, Veenema said, the community needs “to be honest about our product.”
He recalled a potential investor in the area believing the workforce he needed was available.
It wasn't, and the entrepreneur abandoned his plans.
“It's very important that we be honest about our workforce and what we can offer as a community,” Veenema said.
In other words: If you aren't looking to hire a bunch of meth-head Rough Rider dropouts, keep looking elsewhere...
My lungs are pure and healthy. Can't touch this, Port Angeles!
What do you expect from a city that wants both heavy industry, and tourism?
"Forget Hawaii or Bali. Cancun? No way. Come to Port Angeles to see forests stripped, stacks of logs on their way to China, and massive oil tankers lined up to be repaired.
Wildlife on the Serengeti? Sunsets on a Polynesian Island? No, nothing beats the plumes rising from the stacks at the Nippon Paper factory. The sights and smells of log loaders waft enticingly through downtown. Your conversations while enjoying your prime dinner drowned out by the rumble of heavy trucks driving by, causing the walls to shake. Imagine the excitement as your family fears for its' life, thinking it is an earthquake.
Port Angeles, where tourism and Industry meet the sea."
@Anon 7:39 Exactly.
Here is a PRIME example of one of the biggest problems facing Port Angeles. Russ spells it out, but not all the way.
Sure, a " .. potential investor.." came to ".. the area believing the workforce he needed was available."
"It wasn't, and the entrepreneur abandoned his plans."
Why does this have SUCH a familiar ring to it?
WHO lured this guy in, saying exactly what?
"Graving Dock"?
In their desires to get somebody, anybody, some business, any business, some industry, any industry to move here, our fearless "leadership" seem to be mis-representing the realities of what actually exists here.
Who's fault is this? The "used car salesmen" we have for "leadership, who seemingly will say anything to get somebody to move here? Or the poor shmucks that get suckered into investing in the area because they believed our community representatives, and didn't do adequate research, first?
Is this really the way to build a community? To lure in anybody you can with false representations, and then end up with a bunch of pissed off people?
How many times have people booked reservations, come to Port Angeles based upon the glowing blah-blah put out by the Chamber, and then left early because in reality, Port Angeles wasn't as wonderful as they were told it would be. You think they go home with good impressions of PA?
I talked to one business owner in the area recently who told me they specifically DON'T tell clients where they're located, because PA has such a negative reputation.
But, we see the City Council gave the Chamber the Big Money again, to continue doing more of the same.
6:24 - Yes, Air Quality Index is the first graph. However, if you scroll down a bit...the second graph shows TSP. There are other graphs below that as well, lead in the air, etc.
http://www.usa.com/port-angeles-wa-air-quality.htm
One of the things I find fascinating about articles like this one, where Russ Veenema (AMAZINGLY) drops in some cold, hard truth about Port Angeles: The PDN's website has NO comments on it. None.
When they print some pie-in-the-sky BS about something that's supposedly going to happen in PA, well then, the comments will light up with clueless statements that don't actually represent how hopeless this place is.
But print a little truth - just a LITTLE - and no one wants to say anything. It's TOO true, too painful. Everyone KNOWS Port Angeles is a hopelessly fucked up wreck of a town, but they don't like being reminded of it.
Except on this blog, of course.
Still no comments on the PDN site. Way to go, Russ! Way to run down the town!
Hey! Is that a potential new slogan for Port Angeles?
Breaking News! A Girl Scout(tm) in Colorado is selling a BOX a MINUTE in front of a marijuana shop! HQ isn't thrilled, but thanks little girl for pointing out the obvious!
Cookies! That will be a HUGE growth industry in Port Angeles! Regular ol' relatively inexpensive cookies! What, are they going to pass an ordinance that you can't open a cookie store next to a pot store here? No.
A commenter here mentioned Frugals the other day. Ha ha ha, they will need their own lane on 101 before long. OH WAIT, they already have one. Decent burgers. Good value.
The PDN, yes, what a depressing rag that brings this town down. Funny how they do an article a week on heroin, and have for decades...and everyone chimes in now, bla bla bla that's what's wrong with PA, all the heroin. No, you fuckturds, 99% of the commenters at the PDN website, and the frame of mind that you have that is so prolific here, you are what's wrong. Except for Tom's blog and the commenters here. Especially you, BBC. Still leaving? Hope not.
So, in summary, most people who live in PA do not do heroin, the heroin users are just the "relatives" of the PDN commenters, and the people who don't do heroin want more cookie options.
The footnote of the air quality graphs states "each location or city may not have their own monitoring site. Therefore, to calculate air quality we average in the data from the closest monitoring sites with distance considered to each location." The graphs, with one exception, are based on estimates rather than actual measurements. Only PM2.5 data is collected in Port Angeles, all other pollutants graphed are a guess. TSP data was discontinued decades ago and is an outdated standard.
STEVE CAME BACK...
For what that worth to any of you.
Good luck, Sherie Maddox!
Get that bullying, lying nutjob, and get your money back. If Markwell doesn't have it, go for his mommy. If his mommy doesn't have it, go for Randazzo and the board.
In any case, good luck, Sherie!
Yeah, I love how the PDN's picture of Markwell was cropped to prominently display a PDN box.
Yeah, I love how the PDN's picture of Markwell was cropped to prominently display a PDN box.
Dat's just cuz Cherie wazzint there.
har har har....
6:45 - Thanks for the info. about the air quality graphs in the links I posted.
WEATHER ADVISORY: Cold today, with snow continuing.
CITY ATTORNEY ADVISORY: All employees are advised to wear layers and to not stand too close to each other.
So now we know why Brad Collins isn't mayor: Because Teresa Pierce has been peddling lies about him.
Collins is indeed a bonehead in many ways, but I have trouble believing that he was SO stupid as to have said what Pierce is saying he did.
Pure and simple, she's lying. She timed her initial "time out" request for when everyone was distracted by Max Mania leaving. Now, with her money running out, and Yvonne Z's soon-to-be-successful complaint against the city moving forward, the reptilian Teresa Pierce is crying "me too!" It's transparent, obvious bullshit.
But bullshit is what Port Angeles traffics in, isn't it?
Like, as if Teresa didn't like the attention and comments "back in the day". Will be interesting to see if any of the old staff members will remind Teresa of the good ole days.
The article makes no mention of Teresa Pierce having retained an attorney.
Sounds like she is trying to make a stink and then offering to make it go away - for $100,000.
What Teresa, no slimy local attorney would take your fake case? Surely your close personal friend Karen Rogers must know a shyster somewhere that would help you.
It worked for Dale Holiday (PhD), so it will probably work for Teresa, too!
We DO remember Brad Collins worked as City Staff during the Rogers/Cutler days, and his job was eliminated BY Cutler and crew.
What, Brad didn't think she was a cutie-pie, back then? He only got the hots for her, once the people voted him BACK to the same City Hall with her?
Yeah, I've been disappointed Brad hasn't stood up against the staff proposed stupid projects. Is that because he is stooopid, or that he has been trying to build "consensus", which obviously was too much to expect from Port Angeles.
Of ALL the council members, who do ya figure has the MOST training, concerning human "sensitivities"? Brad has been working for Serenity House, and other charitable efforts.
On the other hand, look at what Teresa has signed her name to over the last?? years, and has been paid to do it?
Do I need to connect THOSE dots?
How pathetic is it that Paul Gottlieb got scooped by Peter Ripley? And in comments on the PDN website no less! Ha ha ha!
Hey, Paul! Might wanna check the Port's website next time for some more information.
Teresa, call me if you need some rubbing, I have toys that will make you all gooey. :-)
Teresa Pierce is claiming sexual harassment took place over a number of years and that she is just now going public with it. She doesn't appear to have an attorney, and seems to be trying to extort money from the city.
Dale Holiday claimed racist harassment, and filed a complaint with a Federal agency, which brings lots of outside oversight, and hired an attorney immediately.
There is no similarity between these two cases, really, other than that they both occurred in Port Angeles. One seems credible, the other doesn't.
But at the end of the day, it really is what Port Angeles is all about, isn't it? Bigotry and dysfunction, behind the scenes bullying and bullshit. Nice try, troll.
Time for a new thread, Tom!
Toxic Teresa, the POPA mystery ED candidate revealed --- just a few of the new fascinating new topics!
Buy my property, please! Somebody. Release me from this hell.
Anyone who ever had to deal with a public records request via Teresa Pierce knows what a cold, righteous right-winger she is. She made trying to access your own local government very, very difficult. She's right-wing, and right in the pocket of Karen Rogers. 'Nuff said.
Anonymous 10:35 PM, February 23, 2014...It's not worth staying because of a house. Sell it cheap, or rent it out, then run. Life outside of Clallam County is SO nice!
Women of Port Angeles. Kristy McNichol called. She wants her hairstyle back.
Seriously. What is it with this haircut? It's easy to picture. Mom stops wearing a bra, just as her future teabagger daughter "blossoms". Daughter starts to get in touch with her "feelings", then BOOM, Young Life comes to town.
And only the haircut remains.
I forgot to mention the last time I posted that the lecture at the university I was going to listen to was given by a professor who works for NOAA. You remember NOAA. They're the organization that rejected building their new big base in Port Angeles because it lacks "quality of life." Now they're in Newport, Oregon, which isn't the greatest coastal community in the world, but it is head and shoulders above PA. They have a nice downtown, some good restaurants, and a great,big performing arts center right downtown.
What does Port Angeles have downtown? The Lincoln Theater? Ouch. Barb Frederick? Double ouch.
Anyway,the lecture was really interesting and informative. It covered 30 years of undersea geothermal science. Free talks like that are one of the perks of living in a prosperous, educated community.
I also just talked with a friend who still lives in Port Angeles, and who used to work for the City, so I got the latest insanity from Clallam County. Seems like Amber (Mozinga?) who used to work for the city, until she got fired for stealing forty thousand dollars, is off the hook. Apparently the city isn't pursuing charges against her, because she's in some way related to the late Jack Pittis, and in Port Angeles such things matter more than the law. So no problem, Amber!
And more than the citizens, who will thus have to eat that forty grand via higher utility rates and costs for services. Nice, really nice.
But you know what's even nicer? Living outside of Clallam County. I don't say any of this to boast, but rather to prod some of you to really THINK about why you'd stay in Port Angeles. I know there are good people there. I know there are smart people there. BUT THOSE AREN'T THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE OF THINGS. And they never will be.
That's why the economy in Port Angeles will ALWAYS struggle. That's why the political systems there will ALWAYS be crooked. That's why the schools there will ALWAYS be, at best, third-rate. That's why the previously mentioned quality of life will ALWAYS be low there.
And on top of all that, it's so remote,so expensive...So why stay? Think of the corruption at the Port, at the City, at the County. Think about how that retards everything. Think about how that costs you, financially and otherwise. Again, if the City is stupid enough to give Teresa Pierce even a dime, YOU will be the ones paying for that.
So come on, good people, intelligent people, and all you just plain fed up people. Get out, and get on with the good life. You'll be SO glad you did. Really.
Now, I have to go again. I'm off to a public hearing with some of our local officials - who ACTUALLY LISTEN TO PUBLIC COMMENT, and act on it. You know, responsive, truly representative government. The kind you could have, too, if you just got out of that horrible place.
1:13 - Thanks. You really nailed it. In most communities, when shocking things happen, good can come of it. Here, it's like oh shit this is really going to cost us. If one lives in a bubble, they might like it here.
Hmmmm, no, I'm seeing Tonya Harding.
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