Comments on The Bainbridge Island Postscript: Hats for Sale

Thunderbird was quoted as saying the fish rots fro...

2008-02-03T07:17:00.000-08:00

Thunderbird was quoted as saying the fish rots from the head down. Good observation and clearly in evidence at COBI.

On Tuesday Feb 5 a town-hall meeting is scheduled to be held at the American Legion Hall. 7:00 p.m. start time. See details in Bainbridge Review (www.bainbridgereview.com).

This open session is a great place for Ms. Gertrude (incongnito of course) to raise some of these issues from her/his excellent expose. While most taxpayers are totally numbed to the Byzantine nature of COBI financial conflict and maneuvering, the bottom lines of cost, conflict of interest and the trend line are clear.

Gertie, man the ramparts. Gird yourself for civic battle on these issues. The event will be filmed (hopefully) by public-access television (BITV-12) so the message you raise will get widespread airing beyond this niche blog.

You can also find discussion of the event on Ms. Paulson's NOTEBOOK blog and some of the pitfalls on how the event is going to be managed as damage control for Mayor K and COBI Council.

Thunderbird says...the fish rots from the head.

2008-02-02T22:49:00.000-08:00

Thunderbird says...the fish rots from the head.

No relationship can survive dishonesty and lack of...

2008-01-31T13:51:00.000-08:00

No relationship can survive dishonesty and lack of commitment to "whole wellbeing" - neither a partnership, project, organization, state or nation. Nor can any individual, family, community or nation expect to "heal" itself short of a commitment to truth and whole wellbeing.

That's why I love BI Postscript, cheer postings like that most recently by Gertrude and the comments that follow. This forum - as with the one birthed by Cathy Nickum and Althea Paulson - dare to go into the "underbelly" of what is going on here.

Winslow Tomorrow has cost us dearly and stands to destroy FOREVER the very heart and soul of this community we cherish.

It is with no exaggeration that I say "destroy forever." Should anyone doubt this, take a look at the results of urbanizing any community. Take a look at the nightly news.

And when I say "cost us dearly", I'm alluded not only to its $4M+ in expenditures with mind-boggling consulting fees devoted to urban planners and landscape architects yet none to the "human and deeper social impact." I'm also speaking to an exhausting use of the time, energy and creativity of city staff expended to support a deliberate growth agenda that has not had the best interest of this community at heart out the gate.

The WT "congress" was never meant to support the deeper values of this community and its citizenry. Were that the case, the "congress" would not have been fired after six months and we would not see such dishonesty, resistance and slick manuevering to avoid a community-wide vote.

No, WT, born from an effort to repair utilities rapidly became subject to avarice. Timely coincided w/the equally dishonest and avarice state initiative - the GMA (read "Growth Mandate Act"), the powers-that-be behind WT saw an opportunity to urbanize this island for the sake of profit.

The WT growth agenda needs to die - and that includes the Streetscape and Ferry Gateway. We need to return to utility repair, conscious resurfacing to protect water run-off into the harbor and living within our means.

Anyone who wants to urbanize BI, including East Coast developers like OPUS responsible for Harbor Square and COBI officials who support such development here, should be given a prompt invitation to go elsewhere.

Thanks for this well-researched, thorough explanat...

2008-01-31T00:33:00.000-08:00

Thanks for this well-researched, thorough explanation. I count on this Blog to fill the gap left when Cathy Nickum hung up her investigative journal. You all are doing an admirable job.

Bravo, Gertrude, good researching! And, thank you ...

2008-01-30T15:49:00.000-08:00

Bravo, Gertrude, good researching! And, thank you McCoy for this
underground Bainbridge blog that gets to the news that our local
newspaper do not cover.

It will be interesting to see if a check and balance process can be
developed for spending on Windlow Tomorrow/Streetscape now that we have
a new city council. So far, Knobloch, Vancil and Kim Brackett seem to be
showing good fiscal sense. The jury is still out on Hillary Franz and
Barry Peters. They sounded good when they ran for office, but they
showed little concern for our money with their votes at the last city
council meeting.

As to Snow and Stoknes, look at how many times they have helped the
mayor push through large contracts that have no oversight, My biggest
hope is that each of the city council members will get a grip - stop
seeing themselves as negotiators, ad hoc staff or advocates for the
garage and Winslow Tomorrow and start acting like representatives of
people who have limited means. People like you and me.

Didn't the Mayor settle the lawsuit with Capstone ...

2008-01-30T15:40:00.000-08:00

Didn't the Mayor settle the lawsuit with Capstone about the time that it's report came out? Was there a quid pro quo there?

Just want to clarify that our new contributor Gert...

2008-01-30T12:50:00.000-08:00

Just want to clarify that our new contributor Gertrude is the author of this post. Hats off to Gertie!

McCoy's expose is timely. Next week there is goin...

2008-01-30T11:58:00.000-08:00

McCoy's expose is timely. Next week there is going to be a "New England town-hall" type meeting at the American Legion Hall. Meeting is Tuesday at 7 p.m. Mayor K and Council members have been invited to attend.

This would be an excellent venue to ask some of the questions raised by McCoy. In addition this would be the forum to raise the broader issues about lack of transparency, conflicts of interest (actual and appearance), and the failure of COBI to honor their Comast legal obligations to give Comcast franchise fees to Bainbridge Island television.

While holding Mayor and Council to any accountability is like grabbing a slippery pig, what other choice do we have?

Call Fred Scheffler or Mayor K's office for details.

If city administration doesn't play by the rules a...

2008-01-30T11:13:00.000-08:00

If city administration doesn't play by the rules and follow a truly ethical course when dealing with projects of this magnitude, the process can only be labeled a sham.

Bainbridge Island has become a mirror image of Bush's Washington - tangled relationships, special interests wearing disguises and issues intentionally made so complicated our representatives have a hard time deciphering the real facts. Let's hope Council Members will call a halt to this and demand transparency, clarity and that paid staff start to inform rather than confuse the issues at hand.

There are some good, bright people on Council who need everyone’s support in just saying ‘no’ to nonsensical proposals.

The goal should be to enable core Winslow to be th...

2008-01-30T10:42:00.000-08:00

The goal should be to enable core Winslow to be the commercial hub of the island, rather than following the historic sprawl pattern that REALLY favors developers' interests. This involves both increased parking, as well as increased public transportation access to the hub from the rest of the island.

This island should not cave in to the delusion of private industry as a religion. Our elected officials should make decisions on our behalf: parking should be provided through the condemnation route, with the city contracting directly with pavers and other contractors to construct parking; and/or the city should float a municipal bond to build lots/garages and pay it off with revenue. Parking should be INEXPENSIVE: not what the market will bear (read: the ability of the elite to pay), but what will enable people to patronize a diversity of downtown Winslow businesses.

Meanwhile, Kitsap Transit is doing a "C-minus" job of public transportation. Busses serve the ferries - that's good enough - but otherwise travelling efficiently on the island is tough at best. Shuttle routes between outlying areas and the downtown core would discourage the use of cars - an increasingly attractive proposition - and also mitigate the need for new parking spaces to make doing business in old Winslow more effective for the business as well as the patron.

Developing the town core and installing parking, even if the City's approach has been polluted by special interests, is a goal I believe the city and the other vested interests are addressing. On the other hand, it's disappointing to see these folks engaging in ethical grey-zoning and backscratching to try to get the job done. What will predictably happen is that the process will become thereby so polluted that it will fail. It's time to put the people back in charge, and push the vested interests back into a secondary role of response to our directions, e.g. competitive bidding, etc.

Looks like it was a good thing the garage project ...

2008-01-30T08:46:00.000-08:00

Looks like it was a good thing the garage project died. Not that there weren't many reasons it needed to go! But we know that that won't be the end of the City trying to grow Winslow. Hopefully enough citizens are getting fed up enough to stop them? Hello new council. Can you hear us????

Thanks for the story.

Brilliant post. Thanks so much for spelling this ...

2008-01-29T23:41:00.000-08:00

Brilliant post. Thanks so much for spelling this out. I'd only add that Winslow Tomorrow's first project coordinator, Sandy Fischer, was/is an urban planner.

In my experience, the entire birth of WT has been an agenda-driven "sham." The WT congress was merely a facade of community involvement. Yes, there were many wonderful, innocent citizen participants. There was also, however, an over-riding abundance of participants who had distinct financial self-interests, if not "stacked" by the Mayor, WT coordinator and other "powers-that-be" in the process.

Not only was the "congress" terminated six months after its agenda-driven beginning (from which a number of members withdrew), Council Member Kjell Stoknes - w/ a 10 year history as an urban planner and 20 year history in commercial appraisal - chaired four of the committees.

How does ANYONE get to chair four committees? And does this not suggest some overbearing control of the process, not to mention winding up as a Council Member and on the Community Relations Committee?

This, btw, is the Council member who had the audacity to false assert in a Council meeting, "WT has a mandate from the WT congress to continue."

In addition to the individuals mentioned in the article, I believe the hats of Kjell Stoknes and Sandy Fischer deserve scrutiny.