This is just a brief post to update everyone on a promise we made a couple of weeks ago. Back on January 12, we mentioned that the depositions of some members of the CAO Implementation Committee (Lovel Pratt, Richard Fralick, Patty Miller, Shireene Hale) might soon be available.
We have since discovered that the depositions of those participants in alleged secret meetings are technically still open. While they each have been deposed once already, they may be called back. As scheduled, Shireene Hale was deposed last Thursday. Pratt, Fralick, and Miller were deposed previously (in that order). Now, the plan is to depose Deputy Prosecutor Jon Cain next. Yes, that's right ... one of our Deputy Prosecutors allegedly took part in the alleged secret meetings. It's messy.
Cain's deposition will be interesting ... having our own Prosecuting Attorney's Office deposed in a case being defended by our Prosecuting Attorney's Office.
Stay tuned, but there won't be any detailed word on the content of the depositions while they remain open. The press release associated with the lawsuit (and fundraising associated with the lawsuit) can be found in our posting from January 12.
Revolving doors, a hall of mirrors and chuckling clowns. A real carnival fun-house from Hell.
ReplyDeleteSomething wicked this way comes.
So does this mean that the public will not have access to Lovel "I don't recall" Pratt's testimony until AFTER the primary? Her Democratic supporters are gushing all over the local press about her openness and humility and experience and contacts in Olympia. If she remembers nothing, what's the point?
ReplyDeleteYou are correct that the information (whatever it may be) won't be available for the primary. We still hope it will be available for the general election.
ReplyDeleteWe will have to look to other of Pratt's public statements to exemplify her openness, humility, and experience.
Assuming there is a general election, that is. There is a hearing scheduled for early February regarding the Proposition lawsuits. It's amazing that the County is getting sued all over the place at the moment, and there is scarcely a word about it in the normal press.
ReplyDeleteAlso delaying effective date of Cao until after the election maybe.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteIn NYC, thet recently held a contest:
"To create more affordable housing for the city's growing population of 1-2 person households, Mayor Bloomberg plans to waive certain zoning regulations at a city-owned building at 335 East 27th Street in the Kip's Bay neighborhood to test the market for a new housing model. The city's "adAPT NYC" pilot program will create 55 new micro-units "designed to optimize space and maximize the sense of openness," ranging in size between 250 and 370 square feet. (They make this 420-square-feet "transformer" apartment seen downright palatial!)"
This is what FOSJ/ agenda21 zealots dream of. Squueze back all 15,384 residents of the County into three "human habitation zones" living in Gaia-supportive 250 square foot apartments in a car free downtown. The rest of the county being "pass required" National Monument, including glass bottom electric boat tours of the eel grass gardens!
The Land Bank Mandate
ReplyDeleteTo preserve in perpetuity areas in the county that have environmental, agricultural, aesthetic, cultural, scientific, historic, scenic or low-intensity recreational value and to protect existing and future sources of potable water.
If you kind of squint your eyes and look around, if your some kind of slave-of-Gaia, wouldn't you conclude that the mandate could cover 100% of the land area of the County.
And they are tax supported...
Look at Madrona Pt. as a model. Closed to everyone. We did not meet the standard set by the Indians. Then google earth the Res. and see how they live.
ReplyDeleteLet the primary go.
ReplyDeleteBob and Marc will split their vote, one of them will go against Lovel.
Rick and Greg will split their vote, one of them will go against Lisa.
Lopez doesn't matter, we know who is going up against who.
The upcoming court hearing may settle this thing, but if not, the Mean Green Machine only needs to two to win. They are banking on Lisa and Jaime. They'd just as soon throw Lovel under the bus. There's no honor there. Only red eyed party lust.
If they pick up Lovel so much the better, but it does not matter. The real race is for Orcas and Lopez.
Speaking of access to government, has anyone noticed Greg Ayers has some pretty impressive credentials along those lines? He leaves Lead Foot Lovel in the dust.
But of course the papers don't report his White House connections much.
Ayers will do everything he can to blow his own horn regarding his business background. Don't ask him what he knows about San Juan County.... It's not much. Every business he's been involved with was a multi million dollar enterprise with no connection to our area.. His only experience here has been with expanding the sewer district beyond it's boundaries and raising taxes on the people he serves. When he can't do that, he uses the courts to find a way to tax those he doesn't serve!
ReplyDeleteOnly a matter of time before he finds a way to levy an "availability charge" against everyone in the county. You have an empty lot, so you could have a house, so we'll tax you for the possibility of that house- boom - revenue!
@ Anonymous January 23, 2013 at 2:56 PM ... so you are in FAVOR of regulations setting minimum sizes for dwelling units in NY City. Just checking.
ReplyDeleteGood to see you are still with us, Mr. Rawson. It's good to see all sides, so again I plead with someone, anyone, to explain the FOSJ side. You folks are looking pretty grim.
ReplyDeleteThe CRC connection is foggy for Pratt/Byers, the money connection to the same donors is clear.
Are the Tribes in play here too, Mr. Rawson? I doubt we can produce more fish, but by God we're trying.
Did anyone else hear Lovel say that she had spent most of her money on ads for the primary AND THE GENERAL election? She's already paid for ads for the election she's not even in yet. But of course now she has all that cash from the Democrats/grant recipients to spend. Here's hoping that she's as wrong about the primary as she was about the November election in which she was dropped like a hot potato.
ReplyDelete@ Mr. Rawson--I think that what anonymous was trying to convey was the utter futility of the kind of "planning" we've been subjected to for 60 years. Just think--NYC is now pushing what are very like the guesthouses that our planning dictators and their friends outlawed here. And I think Anonymous was making the point that in the view of the "environmentalists" who try so hard to control every aspect of our lives, the bottom line seems to be that humans are a blot on the islands and we should all go away.
ReplyDeleteCue up the Kinks "LOLA" music and sing along.....
ReplyDeleteI met her in a bar down in old Eastsound
Where you drink Kool-aid and pay with your visa
V-I-S-A Visa
She walked up to me and she asked me to vote
I asked her her name and in a dark brown voice she said Lisa
L-I-S-A Lisa lee-lee-lee-lee Lisa
Well I’m not the world’s most liberal guy
But when she pressed me hard, it opened my eye
Oh my Lisa lee-lee-lee-lee Lisa
Well I’m not dumb but I can’t understand
Why cheap houses all over this land
Oh my Lisa lee-lee-lee-lee Lisa lee-lee-lee Lisa
We drank kool-aid and debated all night
Under the compact florescent light
She grabbed my shoulders and said vote for me
Get me elected and then you’ll see
Well I’m not the world’s most civic minded guy
But when I looked in her eyes well I almost fell for my Lisa
Lee-lee-lee-lee Lisa Lee-lee-lee-lee Lisa
Lisa-Lee-lee-lee-lee Lisa lee-lee-lee-lee Lisa
Homes built of hay
Homes for the poor
Do we want some more
I got down on my knees
Then I looked at her and she at me
Well we’re comin up on election day
And I have to say no vote for my Lisa
Lee-lee-lee-lee Lisa
Grants from the broke and broken grants
It’s a mixed up muddled up government except for Lisa
Lee-lee-lee-lee Lisa
Well I got my ballot just a week before
And I’d never voted for a liberal before
But Lisa smiled and took me by the hand
And said dear boy, we’re gonna save this land
Well I’m not the island’s most political man
But I know if she wins, it’s gonna hit the fan
Because of Lisa
Lee-lee-lee-lee Lisa lee-lee-lee-lee Lisa
Lisa – lee-lee-lee-lee Lisa lee-lee-lee-lee Lisa
I would like to say this to the FSOJ
ReplyDelete......................./??/)
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Really.... You posted the Lola song again?
ReplyDeleteIt was funny the first time, but really... Give it a rest!
When do we start taking odds on the outcome of the Feb 4th hearing. There is a fairly compelling arguement that prop #1 violates the single issue statute. The argument for 2 and 3 are a bit shakier, but may have merit.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the TH odds book say?
I think the chances are 50-50. Some good arguments, but a high standard to achieve.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeletethe land bank takes our money to create low- intensity recreational use areas that we can't access, let's call them grant preserves. We are surrounded by water, but can't get to it, Give us a free public boat launch! I don't know about other islands , but Orcas is lacking, big time. Land bank will , maybe buy, with our money, will will maybe allow kayaks, 3-4 parking spaces, we are saving it for your grandchildren. Is there a boat storage area at Opal home sites? The public had better access at the land bank properties when they where in private hands, Turtle Back for sure. Stop saving us from ourselves, please. My Mom told me that when I moved out I could do what ever I wanted. Don't make her a liar.
Kit: I think the government of the Tulalip Nation should sit down and have an open public meeting with our local government.
ReplyDeleteYou are an intermediary. What can you do to make this happen? You are not an authorized go-between for these jurisdictions. This surreptitious back-channel you appear primarily responsible for managing over the years needs some sunshine.
At the very least, the Chair of the Tulalip Nation needs to meet with the San Juan County Council in open public session to discuss the apparent interventions of the Tulalip Nation in local affairs.
This is quite apart from any interpretations of treaty rights.
Thank you for listening. Before you retire, please make this so.
Terry Williams, representing Tulalip, has met several times in public with the County Commissioners and County Council over the years (more than a decade). I have spoken tot he M<RC, with a large number of public present, on the topic of treaty rights and tribal natural resource management. I believe I have offered several times to give this talk to other groups in San Juan County if anyone is interested. Tulalip participated with County Council members to set up the structure of the Local Integrating Organization,which is led by the tribes and San Juan County government. The LIO policy group meets on a regular basis and is one forum for discussion between the tribal and county governments. You have two county council members appointed to this group, so you might ask them about it. I do believe that all the meetings are open to the public as well. I don't know if public comment is normally on the agenda of that group, but, if it is not, as a staffer, i will definitely ask that you be allowed to speak. You can even wear a mask and disguise your voice as far as I'm concerned. You are asking for the tribal chair to come, and I will pass this request (anonymous as it is, are you really that afraid to identify yourself?) on to Terry, my boss. I do find it interesting that you people ask me to "close the door on [my] way out" and seem very happy to have me leaving, and then ask me to do this for you, and by a certain time at that. I am happy to do it though. You can never have too much public dialogue, but you have to participate constructively to make it work.
ReplyDeleteI would also ask people to contact Tulalip or any other tribe directly with questions, comments, or requests for meetings. the MRC staff or LIO staff have the contact information. i am happy to be the person yo contact at Tulalip as long as I am working there.
Anonymous @ January 23, 2013 at 11:32 PM -- Did you really say "Give us a free public boat launch!" ? What other "stuff" do you want for free?
ReplyDeleteHi Kit, I'm glad to see your encouragement in terms of dialogue but I have to say that any discussions or meetings in the past have not been available to me because I never know about them until they're over. Also...as a struggling land owner these meetings are very difficult to get to. And unfortunately I haven't felt represented by our council. I begin to see most of them as very ordinary people who happen to have the resources that allow them to be available to do these jobs.
ReplyDeleteThe comment about "free" things is so entirely unwarranted. Those are the sorts of comments that make people respond to you negatively.
I am a 6th generation islander and have many relatives who have fished w/indian privileges for many years. I think they would all say that access to the shore for boat launching should be a basic islanders' right. Your comments and sense of entitlement are very different than my Uncles' and cousins'.
I wonder if you have any strong sense of the history of the Irish people who are my ancestors? The local indian tribes are hanging onto past grievances w/such a strong hold. I just think it's a lose lose sort of frame of mind.
I hope I don't offend saying these things but time passes and things change. Clinging to old outrage and being rewarded for it is not the path to a good future.
In particular the water bottling on the Skagit strikes me as a naive and destructive use of your rights.
I'd love to hear your response to my thoughts.
I have lived in the islands for well over a decade. Prior to that and during that time, I have worked on various projects in Indian Country around the United States and Canada. I have old friends that worked with and for NCAI. I went to the Four Corners to protest with many others during the Black Mountain affair. I have worked directly with tribal councils. Shall I go on?
ReplyDeleteAnd in all the time I have lived and worked in San Juan County, at times even with the MRC, the BOCC and various agencies both in state and nationally, I was utterly unaware of any organized, publicized effort between the Tulalip Nation and the San Juan County government, certainly to the involvement as Mr. Rawson alludes.
This is basically in the realm of what amounts to foreign policy. If the Canadian government sent emissaries to San Juan County to quietly urge our government to shut down our shorelines, what a kerfuffle that would be.
If there are policy negotiations between the Tulalip Nation and San Juan County, don't you believe the public has a right to fully engage and be informed? Don't you believe the Tulalip Nation has an obligation to be proactive, transparent and forthcoming in their dealings? Especially when it strongly appears to be the case that the Tulalip Nation is an influential player pushing for all of San Juan County shoreline be declared critical areas before we can even contend with our SMP update. As well, based information and believe, the Tulalip National also appears as being a strong if not discrete proponent of Federal National Monument status that promises to reaches far beyond a small area on the south end of Lopez Island and encumber the county completely. What do you know of such things?
I suppose some official from Tulalip may have dropped in from time time. And of course more is being learned every day about the structure of the LIO, who it is and what they apparently are up to. I frankly do not quite understand the role of the Tulalip Nation. San Juan County is tribal designated statistical area
It feels surreptitious. If anonymous postings have no standing with you, don't pay attention. The rationale has been explained to you several times, and the reasoning is solid.
Kit, did'nt mean to offend your grant sucking self, talk about freebies. As you may not be aware, the land banks primary source of funding is a real estate excise tax, which I have paid, so where doe's the free part come in? Is the land bank going to refund my money? Should we just hand over the money and shut up? Is the San Juan County National Grant Preserve the way to go? I know all these questions are irritating, sorry.
ReplyDeleteOoh...good point about the Land Bank's funding. We've paid into it three times now. Ouch. Definitely not free for us. And we're not developers. Just switched houses trying to afford life.
ReplyDeleteThe whole grant game is really scary. Like roulette w/your rights.
Lumbering Lovel Prattfall sure looked at the Land Bank as a bucket of free money for das Brikverks.
ReplyDeleteBut I guess its ok, because it is supposed to haul in desperately needed ecotourist dollars into the back alleys of Friday Harbor.
Nice little project, might get legs someday. Though the vendors and market-goers got a good dose of the cramped quarters back there last summer. Wide reports of dis-satisfaction will never make the papers or the election campaign.
Economic development in our time. If only the Land Bank play had worked out, over 500 new eco-tourism jobs would have been created. In Sunshine Alley alone.
Too bad Lovel didn't get to vote. With any luck she won't get to ever again either.
She sure seems to like the Tulalip Nation though. Almost as much as she likes eco-tourism, sturdy yoeman farmers and merry little shop-keepers. It's that vision of EcoLand the Visitor Bureau is projecting now. Keep 'em inside that transportation corridor.
Oh my God. It is all connected, they were right! Everything is part of everything else. It is all about the bugs. What else have we become?
I don't understand how it is that the tribe has the nerve to tell SJC that they want no development within 60 feet of any shoreline in SJC when the casino on Hwy 20 is built practically IN Padilla Bay....on tidelands/delta...and now they are filling in the land to the south of Hwy 20 for what looks to be a road in the tidelands/wetlands there. Why allow a group with that kind of hypocrisy and who is so so far away from walking their talk to have any voice in this County...and why do they get to have a voice anyway?
ReplyDeleteWould love to hear comments from Kit or anyone....
Who the hell signed us up for all these "Integrating Entities"? Why do they have any authority here? When are we going to rise up against these smug, self-righteous Eco-jihadis and send 'em whimpering back to the Bullitt foundation with eel grass sticking to their sandals?
ReplyDeleteMy, if the FOSJ reads this they might get the impression that they are not universally respected and admire for their fine work!
ReplyDeleteIn other news, Mexifonia's favorite Senator DiFi cut loose with her Gun Confiscation Fantasy Bill today. Loon lady has permanent PTSD from Harvey Milk incident. Read it here now, "Not gonna register any guns which I neither confirm nor deny that I may or may not own". Just in case the new Troika thinks thenCounty needs to be dis-armed in order to enforce wetland buffers!
ReplyDeleteThanks to TH for the CAPR suit update. This suit and the Carlson/Gonce (sorry I lost the name of the fellow from Orcas) are where the rubber meets the road.
ReplyDeleteHow this deposition thing rolls is you gotta keep going until someone gives. Then you take that pearl of info and slam it into a hardball question and watch for an eyeball pop or look down.
"Mr. Mason, are you ready for your cross?" "Your honor, I believe I'll call it a double cross."
The prisoner's dilemma can only come to fruition with a whole bunch of legal work by tough talented attorneys.
Send em some money, will ya.
Even though large tracts of SJC and many old and famous Islands have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Friends and all the odious apparatus of EcoFascist rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in Waldron, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our County beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the Whale Watching Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.
ReplyDeleteMr. Leonard: Excellent! Better than mine, with deference to PM Churchill.
ReplyDeleteWill all of you that own property here but live all across our great Country come to our rescue? Please don't wait.
google Kitsap Alliance of Propert Owners for an interesting article entitled GMA is a Failed Approach to Land Use Planning. The linked discussion paper is a rather good summary of how government, with the aid of some (clueless ?) courts are using environmental regulation (for the public good, of course) to strip away constitutionally protected rights in private property. It aint funny, McGee, and its damn sure happinin right here in our fine county.
ReplyDeletehttp://oysterzone.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/01-23-13-peter-gleick-on-sustainable-agriculture-wilderness-dboc-the-role-of-science-in-policy/
ReplyDeleteHave a gander at this....The Drakes Bay Oyster Co has sued the Feds for the closure of their farm and Peter Gleick has written about it. It could be our CAOs! And if you scroll down read about his book called
Bottled and Sold
THE STORY BEHIND OUR OBSESSION WITH BOTTLED WATER
The Drakes Bay hearing is today. Send prayers.
It's sadly ironic that the "environmentalists" focus all their attention in the wrong places. The grants are spent on salaries for people w/out the expertise or wisdom to do any real good.
ReplyDeleteBear in mind that the extremist behind the push to close down the nearly century old oyster farm at Pt. Reyes is Amy Trainer.
ReplyDeleteAmy Trainer was formally with the Friends of the San Juans.
Make no mistake. We are in the cross hairs. The National Monument push sounds nice on the surface, but remember that it was outgoing Interior Secretary Salazar who closed down the Pt Reyes oyster farm, at assistance of Amy Trainer, even over the objections of Senator Feinstein.
What do you is going to happen here?