Comments on The Bainbridge Island Postscript: Funding to be Determined II

Anonymous 2:Bob, my understand is that CHC was for...

2008-04-28T07:54:00.000-07:00

Anonymous 2:

Bob, my understand is that CHC was formed to write policy/code, not create housing. There is no way to measure the # of units created as a result of the ADU workshop it sponsored along with the city in Nov. '07. It is HRB's charter to preserve and create inclusive housing.

One of CHC's biggest achievements was to bring all of the organizations concerned with inclusive housing to the same table, something that had not been done before. For the first time HHHS, KCCHA, HRB, Helpline House, CHC and the city sat together to work on the same issue. When I came on board early last year, the city only came to the table once represented by Kathy Cooper. When Brent Butler was hired, he came to every meeting.

Brent - now there is a man who knows how to work on a contentious issue without making enemies. I pray he doesn't go the way of Greg Byrne.

"Anonymous 12:28": I've never read anything by McC...

2008-04-25T12:58:00.000-07:00

"Anonymous 12:28": I've never read anything by McCoy like that. McCoy can't control the unpleasant things anonymous commenters sometimes write, other than to refuse to post them. And in that case, your comment would not have been posted either.

As far as your dislike of criticism, show me an example of a community like Bainbridge, dealing with growth pressures, minimal tax base, and inflexible town boundaries, where there isn't controversy and difficulty. If you can find one, I'll be willing to bet it's a town that has no press at all (not even those wild blogs) or has a leadership with an iron grip on the political machinery.

Back in the day, citizens may have been content to let the city fathers (not very many mothers then) sit down with a handful of insiders and decide the town's future. Some of those decisions turned out well. Many were financial and town planning nightmares. I'd rather have an engaged citizenry.

Disagreement is painful whether it's in the community or your own family. We're all human, and sometimes we come across as ruder than we intended to be. The ability to work out differences depends on people trying to express themselves directly and honestly, but without rancor or disrespect. It's a hard balance to find.

Technical difficulties.Apparently, some readers ha...

2008-04-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

Technical difficulties.

Apparently, some readers have attempted to post comments yesterday and today that failed to come through for moderation.

If you are trying to post unsuccessfully, you are welcome to e-mail your comment to us, along with the name you are posting under, and we will put up your comment for you.

bainbridgepostscipt@gmail.com

Gosh, I wasn’t aware that the Island was “wallowin...

2008-04-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

Gosh, I wasn’t aware that the Island was “wallowing in mediocrity”. What exactly is mediocre about our lush natural environment, high ranking schools, lovely downtown, spectacular vistas, proximity to (yet a world away from) downtown Seattle, inspiring and accomplished friends and neighbors… Oh, let me guess, those are what gives the Island “potential”, right? We just need to “clean up” and “build out” right? It must just raise your hackles to have to step over a buckle in the sidewalk or to drive by a modest home in disrepair or god forbid a mobile home. So unseemly!

Mr.(or Ms.)12:28, I think you just verified what many of us have guessed about those pushing the Mayor’s agenda: for people like you, newer is always better, “Green” can be found on pages of a “lifestyle magazine” and place can be designed by Urban Design uber-firms. I’d suggest you pick up and move to Mercer Island, or one of the already ruined northern CA beach towns, but my guess is you have some money on the table and aren’t about to walk away from the investment of a lifetime.

If you don’t have a cut in the deal, and really believe that you are working for the greater good, then I suppose you deserve more pity than loathing.

12:28 Anonymous -- you mommy and daddy gave you a ...

2008-04-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

12:28 Anonymous -- you mommy and daddy gave you a name. Use it and lead by example. Your lecture on anonymous posts is silly. Also, do you pay the property taxes or are they paid for by mommy and daddy?

BI/PS is doing a fine job. You may not like the comments but if you don't like them, go to a different site or read the Review or Sun. The comments raise issues and by and large they are responsive to the PostScript article. McCoy et al owe no one apologies for this labor of love.

So all is fine you say. We should just give our Mayor k and Council the benefit of the doubt and be thankful that they are willing to do this job. First of all, all elected stepped forward voluntarily and sought the position. The fact they were elected does not bestow them immunity from evaluation. In addition, COBI Mayor and Council have no money of their own -- the funny money they spend belongs to the People.

How did we overpay for Meig Farm by 100% and the vote had to be done that night or else? How about the litigation fiasco going on _-- does that please you? How about the $55M --155 person COBI government -- is that to your liking? How about storm-water rate increases of 38 percent? You must be anxious for the new $20 per car per year per forever tax to pay for the road work you already paid for.

McCoy et al are doing a valuable service. The PostScript articles would not appear in the cash-cow local papers -- never. We instead find the Mayor k spin or a fangless version of a meeting.

12:28 -- either get a name or be sure to use your name so we can track your great insights.

Welcome, Anonymous at 12:28, we are so pleased to ...

2008-04-25T01:45:00.000-07:00

Welcome, Anonymous at 12:28, we are so pleased to have finally had the honor of a comment from your group.

Let's drop the stock insults and attacks and get down to brass tacks. How about if you offer us a list of errors, misrepresentations and omissions stated in this or any other posts and we will happily retract, correct or further explain those items.

It has not ceased to amaze me that you folks rant and rave about anonymous bloggers spinning wild tales of intrigue, and yet we have yet to be confronted with a single factual error.

No doubt we have made errors, and correcting those errors is as much part of what we do as the research and writing. You see, this blog has one sole purpose: exposing truth. Each error corrected would only bring us closer to that goal.

We're normal, busy people who are sacrificing our personal time to perform what we believe is a public service. We really have no interest or need to hunch over a keyboard for hours publishing baseless rumor and innuendo.

It's interesting that you chose to post as "anonymous." This belies the self righteousness indignation you express in your words. Apparently you believe that you have something to lose by exposing your identity. Is that because your words are false? If not, then you are certainly no longer in a position to question our anonymity.

So please do challenge the veracity of our facts with substantive comment, but do yourself a favor and lose the tired, same old
same old "uninformed-scared-of-change-
naysaying-whiners" routine that has already been worn out on the pages of the Review and the lips of the supporters and beneficiaries of "Downtown Planning".

How inspiring. We have six or seven of the same t...

2008-04-25T00:28:00.000-07:00

How inspiring. We have six or seven of the same tired old bloggers, spending their time searching for conspiracies. Yes, you are right. City administration, elected officials and staff are all part of carefully orchestrated agenda to make your life on this hellish island even worse. Get a life. Look around at what you've got, the services you are provided, and the relative luxuries you enjoy. OH!! I forgot. The Mayor has a Mafia that she is sending out to persecute you. If you would spend10% of the time you currently spend osting these outlandish paranoid theories, doing something positive, volunteering for a cause that made a difference...but oh no. That would involve taking a positive stand.

Imagine yourself on the City Council. How would you vote? Who would you turn down? You can't make all the people happy all the time. And how would you feel when you were then accosted by angry neighbors and community members?? You would have to suck it up and stand by your convictions. Do you have the guts? Do you have the personal fortitude to withstand cheap shots about how you dress, how you speak, the inflections in your voice? No. So much braver to hurl criticism and cast unsubstantiated aspersions from the safety of your home, glass of wine by your side. AND BEST OF ALL-you can disparage by name City Councillors and staff members and community members you don't agree with, without ever having to put your own name by your convictions!

BLOGS. THE BRAVE NEW WORLD>

Keep it up. You will continue to lose the elected officials, staff members, and community volunteers who want to make this a better place. We recruit talented, creative people...and they quickly leave, knowing that dealing with this inane BS is pointless.

And, we will continue to wallow in mediocrity, just to avoid change. Wake up. Change is happening everyday. You can do something positive to control the change, or you can spend your life whining back and forth to each other, thinking you are profound.

Ambrose -- you have my vote: Peters is totally in...

2008-04-24T20:25:00.000-07:00

Ambrose -- you have my vote: Peters is totally insufferable. He is always kissing up to someone, saying in 100 words what could be a short sentence. He also is forever "leading the witness" and putting words in people's mouth.

Vancil my be repetitious but on many of these issues she has no back-up from the majority. It is as if she is engaged in a stalling tactic.

Snow is ponderous and over-stuffed. He thinks he has been posted to a Third-world banana democrat heaven and everyone is supposed to enjoy his bon mots. Please.

And Ms. Franz -- hold the public tears for the real trajedies in life -- not her talking about being a lawyer.

Brackett is good. She cuts right through the nonesense and for this the Council will try to box her out.

Anonymous has gone after the always stylish Ms. Va...

2008-04-24T19:36:00.000-07:00

Anonymous has gone after the always stylish Ms. Vancil, but at least her comments have substance. If I have to listen to one more of Mr. Peters effusive "I'd just like to thank..." remarks I shall take out my ball point pen and draft a political satire. My first theme: Social challenge of the Loquacious Amoeba. City meetings are great theatre, but I wish the ticket price wasn't so steep.

i just heard the news that our city's planning dir...

2008-04-24T19:07:00.000-07:00

i just heard the news that our city's planning director (who has been working for the city maybe a year) is leaving to take a job in oregon. guess he didn't like what was going on in city hall. guess that leaves it up to us to clean up the mess. think somebody will tell the mayor the buck stops with her?

A neighbor sent me a link to this blog several day...

2008-04-24T17:27:00.000-07:00

A neighbor sent me a link to this blog several days ago. I just spent over an hour reading past stories and am quite taken with the recent series of investigative reports on downtown Winslow.

What a wonderful gift the Postscript is to this island! We're recent transplants and I've been impressed that people here seem to care about what happens to their lovely main street. I'm relatviely new to blog reading and think this is the way to go. (My children are much more accomplished at researching on computers.) I only wish I could sit down and have coffe in the afternoon with some of the contributors. You certainly give me a lot to think about.

Could someone suggest to Vancil that one need only...

2008-04-24T16:00:00.000-07:00

Could someone suggest to Vancil that one need only make a point ONCE, not reiterate (state repeatedly with wearying effect) ad nauseam. That habit begs the listener to dismiss her ideas.

"Funding to be determined..." now there's a phrase...

2008-04-24T15:02:00.000-07:00

"Funding to be determined..." now there's a phrase that bodes badly for taxpayers and ratepayers. You really have to wonder how many gyrations proponents of the Winslow Tomorrow-Streetscape will come up with BEFORE we see a financial capacity analysis or plan to pay. Oh well, it's only money.

Thanks, McCoy for showing the duplicity in this latest scheme. And you're so right - nothing has really changed with the Heery contract, the dots on the board have just been rearranged. Yeow!

I sure hope Mr. Stoknes reads this article. At eve...

2008-04-24T14:15:00.000-07:00

I sure hope Mr. Stoknes reads this article. At every meeting he waffles back and forth enough to make anyone watching dizzy. He seems to almost get it and then back he goes to his original position in the new council majority. Maybe that comment from a citizen about his legal duties will be a wakeup call.

A standing ovation for council persons Debbie Vanc...

2008-04-24T12:16:00.000-07:00

A standing ovation for council persons Debbie Vancil and Kim Bracket. Their statements on how to proceed with Winslow Way were powerful. I do hope that we are seeing a new era dawning at City Hall. In a way, the bad news about city finances may be good news for all of us. It seems to be forcing the city to reevaluate not only how it spends money, but how in conducts business.

"...pull the plug on this sacred cow and send it b...

2008-04-23T20:29:00.000-07:00

"...pull the plug on this sacred cow and send it back into the herd of capital improvement projects waiting for their turn at the empty public trough."

I second the motion.