The Critical Areas Ordinances (CAOs) were not the final act of this Council. They also passed the budget for 2013. We've heard a lot of whining about how poor our County is, but the fact is that the last two budgets passed by this Council have been the largest in history. No County budget has ever been fatter than the 2013 budget. Not by any measure.
The equity of the citizens of the county has just taken a $1.6 billion hit. The Council just passed the most restrictive land use laws ever, with untold consequences on property values and our local economy. We are tee'd up for a Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) update that will make the CAOs look benevolent. Now, we find out that NOAA is resurrecting a plan for "no go" zones on the West Side again.
Creep, creep, creep ... push, push, push ... nibble, nibble, nibble. What is theirs is theirs, and what is ours is for the taking. Government bullies (and their eco-Friends) have completely overrun this place, using bad science as their weapon and "Save the Planet" as their clarion call and their disguise.
Who speaks for the salmon or the sand lances?!? I want to know if anyone will ever listen to The People?
It's more like ... chomp, chomp, chomp ... gallop, gallop, gallop. This place is being ruined by the Friends and by state/federal control over our County. Now, throw the National Monument into the mix, and it really does seem like it's all over. We are encircled by malevolent non-profits and agencies at every government level who have it in for us. It is all so unnecessary.
ReplyDeleteBut the sound-wave rolled on toward them - the crunching, smacking, eating sound of the langoliers. (Four Past Midnight, p. 233
ReplyDelete(From the Urban Dictionary)
Langoliers - Spherical creatures with bottomless throats and a voracious appetite, the eponymous entities of the first novella in the Stephen King quartet Four Past Midnight.
The world of life and consciousness is forever passing down the stream of time, and the uninhabited, chemically inert world left behind - inadvertently visited by sleeping passengers on a plane that flies through a time rift - awaits being carved up by the jaws of what one character refers to as the timekeepers of eternity, but which might more accurately be described as the blow-fly larvae of the space-time continuum.
From a distance, the sound of their munching is somewhat like the sound of radio static ... and that is as close as you want to get.
As another character, Craig Toomey, envisions them, these creatures are purpose personified; in the horror stories he heard as a child from his insanely pushy father he was told how their sole purpose is to chase down all the lazy people who are not working frantically enough and eat them alive.
Smokes, if I could write like that maybe my I'd get published. So we all got a wake up call (assessors statement) with the long term damage an outfit like FOSJ can do. Here's what I hope and expect to happen:
ReplyDelete1. We will continue with a six member council for many months as the court works through the Mike Carlson suit. (Gerry Gonce, I know this guy, ain't no lightweight.) During this time good things could and likely will happen. Peterson will be chair and with a four vote majority he can march.
2. Yes, a "back room" deal is made with CAPRA to settle that suit. In settlement the new Council agrees the CAO's recently approved are thrown out. The Fines against Pratt, Miller, Fralick are upheld.
3. The reorganization starts. Peterson, with his long time knowledge of who gets it done and who does not, gets his saber out and puts forth a total change, and with the new guys input this could be quite remarkable.
4. The Land Trust is completely rebuilt. It maintains and "protects" the land it has while not adding to that acreage. No new lands are bought. Funds left available are used for environmental remediation like helping Eastsound and FH deal with their street runoff sewage etc. The only known impacts SJC has on the moving sea we live in.
4. The County moves forward and in ten years we get our 1.5 billion back! Ok, we may have to get a new assessor to do that.
Smile, while you grind your teeth, there might be an upside.
Shoot: It's a problem, I guess, with getting old. Jerry Gonce! (Confused; you and Lovel Pratt, I typed the man's name wrong, Lovel has a larger problem than spelling or typing.)
ReplyDeleteWho speaks for the fish, you ask? Why, our Official Fish Lady, Ms. Rosenkotter, of course. She said so at a recent Council meeting. What qualifies her to speak for the fish? Good question. The job has good salary and excellent benefits but as far as qualifications, it's not clear. Selling software?
ReplyDeleteA "back room" deal with Council? Shocking! Like the one the Friends made to get rid of our pesky guesthouses?
ReplyDeleteBackroom deals are, like love and war, all's fair in the art of politics. But like love and war, have a care. You're on your own and can get your ears singed, your heart broken, or get whacked upside the head.
ReplyDeleteBackroom deals are just a tool, part of the game, and as such, have rules.
Play by the rules and handle with care, it can work. Don't be stupid, because you will be found out if your are and the penalty harsh and remorseless.
Il Fornaio was an excellent and very successful Restaurant; Fresh Choice a salad bar non competitor wanted to open up next door; the issue? Parking, what else!
ReplyDeleteDown to the basement we went, we really did go down to the basement, and then happened a back room deal. No large envelopes crossed the table, but egos got bruised, people pounded the table, it was nasty, but it got done.
I know the public got served well in both venues.
Now look at what we has suffered through. Lovel Pratt has absolutely no concept of what is a conflict of interest. And despite repeated warnings, red flags from both the Island Guardian AND the San Juan Islander, she proceeded with a back room deal.
Did it serve the public? Hell no.
Did Lovel get cash or sex or something. Hell no. She just destroyed the vitality of these islands.
So there are a couple of "back room" deals by way of example. None of this stuff is OK, but some stuff is more OK than other stuff.
Legal matters have always been exempt from public hearing and I think we all know in such "back room" meetings things often stray to side topics.
I agree with the comment that this shit happens and will not go out of style no matter who we elect. However, there are those who make "back room deals" to help the public process, and then there are those who cheat and steal, and then there are those like Lovel Pratt.
Lovel Pratt is basically a Langolier. Munching our vitality, sapping civic energy, consuming public trust. A political energy vampire. A blow-fly larvae of the space time continuum. A rural small town Steven King kind of character.
ReplyDeleteCrunching, bottomless appetite. For her, conflict of interest was in the job description.
The local Democratic Party endorses pathetic shadow puppets like this?
Purge the contagion or you will lose the real Democrats here, who will begin to call themselves Libertarians out of embarrassment and quietly work to throw you fools out of our Party.
Go on now. Git.
In my opinion...
ReplyDeleteThere are a number of people who will vote for a Democrat, any Democrat, all of the time, based on a vague concept called "Social Justice". If you are FOR "SJ", then you get the vote no matter how incompetent, no matter what you say, and if elected, no matter what you do. The perception that you "care" covers up any failure of action, error, or immoral act that you might commit. SJ'ers intentions are all that matters. It lets you feel good about abject failure. If you could package this as a drug you'd make Billions and Billions!