Thursday, January 17, 2013

All Things Being Equal

One of the commenters to the last post said that we have organizations in this county that look like separate entities A, B, C, and D; but when you look at them more closely, you realize that A=B=C=D=County.

How true.

Over the last few posts, we've been examining the PSP ECONet, which is the same as the Stewardship Network, which we now know receives its funding via the Madrona Institute as of last April.  According to the website of the Madrona Institute:

Program managers at the Madrona Institute include:
Karrie Cooper, Program Manager & Network Coordinator, Stewardship Network of the San Juans, joined the Madrona Institute April 1, 2012, to coordinate the operations and projects of the Madrona Institute-sponsored Stewardship Network of the San Juans.   The Stewardship Network  is a coalition of public and private conservation organizations in the San Juan Islands whose mission is to promote a stewardship ethic in the San Juan Archipelago from land to sea. [Additional biographical info on Karrie Cooper forthcoming.]

The point of our tale is that we have a Network that consists of the County and its most influential committees, the Friends and Kwiaht, the Tourist Boards, various parks and the Conservation District. The people who comprise the Network turn up time and again in all sorts of places from the Planning Commission to political campaigns. For example, consider just Linda Lyshall -- she is a County employee who serves as the coordinator for the MRC. As an MRC member, she's part of the Stewardship Network. She's listed as being on the Advisory Council of the Madrona Institute. She's the Curriculum Committee Chair of Leadership San Juans. In the past, she's also been an employee of the PSP involved with the AAOG/LIO.

The management arm of the Stewardship Network is the Madrona Institute. Its education arm is Leadership San Juans. Its funding arm (or one of its funding arms) is the PSP's ECONet. Its political arm is our local Democratic Party (more on this in a moment). Its economic development arm consists of the parks and Tourist Boards. Its housing arm consists of the various Housing/Land Trusts. The Networkers give awards to one another through various programs such as the Good Steward Awards. And most of our local news outlets, being deeply superficial, never report on the dizzying inter-connections, and so might as well be the Network's Pravda.

If you let it, the Network will tell you how to think (ECONet), educate you (Leadership San Juans), promote a certain type of economy for you (eco-tourism), house you (land/housing trusts), and tell you how to vote. It's a one-stop shop for everything in life, and if you want a job involving "coordination" and "facilitation," you're probably in luck there too. That's why it's so important for the Network to get the right people in power who will keep the grant-based economy flowing. That's why the Network shows up heavily in the campaigns of Byers, Stephens, and Pratt.

Honestly, in all this, I feel as sorry for Democrats as I do for environmentalists. I feel "environmentalism" has been stolen from real environmentalists, and environmentalist issues are simply used now as bait to get a grant and push a planning-based agenda for every facet of life -- because, as we seem to be often told, we need a vast planning infrastructure to ensure positive outcomes. Ugh!! In the same way, I feel planning and coordination Ubercrats have taken over the local Democratic Party, and the Party label is serving the self-interests of the Network leaders. I know many Democrats who feel alienated from the behavior of their local Party leaders.

_____________________________________________________________


From: Nancy DeVaux [mailto:nancy@hometrust.org]
Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2012 11:46 AM
To: info@stewardshipsjc.org
Subject: membership in the Network

The San Juan Community Home Trust is interested in joining the Stewardship Network. We wondered how we might be able to become a  partner organizations.
We are proud of our efforts to create permanently affordable housing using Low Impact Development and Green Building techniques. One of our major goals is to become the first residential neighborhood in the State of Washington to use reclaimed (treated) wastewater, from our innovative “Living Machine” on-site sewer system,  in toilets and for landscape irrigation.

We’re interested in focusing on this at the County Fair, possibly  in the Stewardship Network area, possibly with the other Community Land Trusts on Orcas and Lopez, that also focus on sustainable development. What would the process for this be?
Thanks for your assistance!
Nancy

Nancy DeVaux
Executive Director
San Juan Community Home Trust
P.O. Box 2603
Friday Harbor, WA 98250
Phone: (360)378-5541
Fax: (360) 378-3742




9 comments:

  1. Wow, this election has nothing to do with the people, just a power grab by the non-profits. Bet the smaller one's will be suprised when the bigger one's swallow them up. "Hey, you misled us !"

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  2. I'm not sure its about nonprofits, most of them are good outfits that deliver needed services. But like everything else, sometimes there are a few rotten apples that spoil the barrel. It's like the current state of the local Democratic Party apparatus. The apparatus has been hijacked, stolen and is being used by "Ubercrats." Love that term, perfect.

    Same thing with some of the nonprofits. Their boards have been systematically hijacked by elements of the same network. Land trusts are a perfect example because dominance of those organizations leads to direct influence and intimidation of residents, who are getting a big dose of targeted awareness and social marketing behavior change before mailing in their ballots.

    Does A=B=C=D=County at the end of it all or does is more like:

    A=B=C=D=County=Network

    ??

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  3. I did'nt mean to indict any group. I'm just following the money, which appears to be going in certain directions

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  4. It is time to follow the money, it truly is. A long time islander, multi-generation I think in a previous posting said something along the lines that this whole situation made him feel both angry and sad at the same time. Yeah, the general flow of the money tends to be going in certain directions.

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  5. Excellent digging by the TH is beginning to show WHY the lust for grant funding has direct and pernicious side effects. I have always wondered and mentioned several months ago I could not understand WHY anyone could not see what grant funding does to you.

    I'm not sure it is all that sinister and corrupt with those who seek the grants, but those machine operators doing the funding and using funding money to direct and influence society...oh boy.

    It's simple. Live on your own economy and build that economy to sustain you. NO staff costs applying for grants. NO admin costs working with them. And, NO regulation. Goodbye "Ubercrats."



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  6. I thought that the money from the Puget Sound Partnership went to the County. How can it be diverted to an international peace/mediation/education organization?

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  7. The PSP can say it went to the county, but it could be it went to some troll group imbeded in the county. Circles and cycles. What?

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  8. Wasn't NancyDeVeau head of the "friends" or some other of the anointed? Did she get shunned?

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  9. I don't know about the shunning, but she was Executive Director of the Friends in the 1997 time range.

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