Back in Black

After several years absence, I have decided to start up this blog again. There is but a singular reason:

The Central Issaquah Plan.

This plan will obliterate, in a few short years, the Issaquah that we know and replace it with one that we would rather NEVER know. Over the next several weeks, I'll be informing you why. In the meantime, visit this important website:

http://www.eyesonissaquah.org

And get informed....

When Government Tells us to Screw Ourselves

"When fascism comes to America, it will come dressed in the flag and carrying the cross." This prescient quote was incorrectly attributed to Sinclair Lewis, but in the present situation, it should be noted simply for what it pertains to: leaders who appear to be everything that they are not.

Here in Issaquah, we don't have to answer the bigger questions about presidents who may or may not have been elected, and the illegal cabal of associates who have world domination as their goal.

Instead, we are given the question about the adequacy of a document and a process that we all thought would produce a fair estimate about the build-ability of our little piece of heaven - the SE Bypass.

When we put aside the arguments of being for or against the road, the political contributions and pay-offs that many have said exist, or the people and their personalities who have attempted to sway public opinion or elections one way or the other, what we are left with is a process and the assumption that those who run the process are fair minded, untainted by pressure and materially unbiased as to the result.

Now that we have the Final Environmental Impact Study and we read it and we see the comments from the Signatory Agencies, it appears that there are defects, issues, problems, inadequacies and that there is yet another process that is involved to cure those things. Personally, I've had enough and think the whole idea should be scrapped; but in the interest of due process, I will continue.

Should we allow for the process to work these kinks out, or should we end run the process because we're tired of the work, the waste and the effort because we think we know better? Who would know better about the adequacy of the environmental impacts of the SE Bypass than our Mayor and the City Administraiton? Certainly not the signatory agency or the professionals at the National Marine Fisheries Administration? Who would know better about the affects on salmon and endangered species than our Mayor and the City Administration? Certainly not the signatory agency or the professionals at the National Marine Fisheries Administration? And who would know better than our Mayor and city Administration as to what they really want? The SE Bypass over all possible procedural and legal process checks and balances that had all been set up by the City Council and even our state Constitution to prevent such dictatorial caprice?

My friends, Fascism is alive and well in Issaquah and you need look no further than how government wants to get what it wants regardless of the impacts. They're coming through to build this road whether it works or not. Whether it fixes traffic or not. And whether you want to pay for it or not.

Where I come from there is a four letter word that describes people who have that kind of motive and what they say to us. They tell us to go screw ourselves. And that my friends is what our government is doing to you and us today.

They are telling us to go screw ourselves.


What are you going to do about it?

Chamber of Commerce Rolls out More Lame Bypass bla-bla

I recently received some Issaquah Chamber of Commerce "pro Bypass" information. I am unsure if you have seen this information. I present it in bold face type below, with my comments as well:


The Bypass will divert pass-through commuters, allowing shoppers and residents easier access to commercial and municipal districts downtown. Our Mayor has previously stated that this road is a "band-aid" and will not solve the traffic problem in Issaquah. Is our Council ready to tell Issaquah business that the future of our town’s economy is dependent on the strength of a "band-aid"?

The Bypass will provide an alternative for commuters currently driving on roads in the environmentally sensitive May Valley area and onto SR 900 where traffic is already congested during peak hours. I was unaware that the City of Issaquah was responsible for the environmentally sensitive May Valley area. I do know that by allowing the Talus development to be built on SR 900 - we've added our own traffic bottle-neck, so perhaps this is a trade off. Perhaps we could get Bellevue to support our 200 Freebie, in exchange for our many sports fields that some of their citizens use. I guess I finally figured out what "working with the region" really means.


The Bypass will offer environmental benefits of filtered surface/street water and improved air quality via elimination of stalled traffic. Actually, the Bypass puts polluting cars along with their noise by 3 schools, though the issue of filtered street water is interesting - perhaps we could bottle and sell "filtered Issaquah street water" at Salmon Days.


The Bypass will allow commuting and commerce to continue with less interruption in the event of road work, traffic accidents and floods. Are we really building this road because we're worried about a flood? If we're worried about a flood, we don't need a road - we need a dam. What kind of "climate of fear" is being concocted here? I am ill because I recently helped some friends in Centralia who actually are homeless now because of a real flood. I find it offensive that the Chamber would try and capitalize on the misfortune of others and create a climate of fear just to get their little road. Disgusting!


The Bypass will provide better access between the plateau, Issaquah Highlands and south Issaquah neighborhoods - We already have good access to the plateau and the highlands from east lake Sammamish, Front Street and sunset way. The Bypass, excuse me, Park Point Drive, is reachable if you travel south to get out of town. And as to neighborhoods - the Bypass will decimate a neighborhood and dispossess long time residents. How's that for a neighborhood welcome wagon?


The Bypass will preserve the historic character of the downtown area. I was thinking that after all the previous explanations that the bypass would also give us an endless supply of baseball diamonds and ponies. Let’s get real with Front street - old buildings do not a historic town make! We lost a “historic” hardware store and now, all that’s left is a historic butcher shop and a few theaters, some art galleries, restaurants, and an old gas station that pumps only egos. This is all very nice, but hardly historic, hardly full of character and still an impediment to the ultimate, needed revitalization of Old Towne.


I congratulate our council for doing a fiscally responsible thing tonight - taking the Bypass of the A list, for all the correct economic and policy reasons. It's hard for me to understand why our Chamber of Commerce - usually fiscally responsible business people - would be against doing the fiscally responsible thing.

Welcome Back

It's been a long, long time since I blogged. Oh, that politics thing sort of got in the way. But now it's over - right, no need to be concerned with the health of our little town?

We'll see.

I'm warming up the engines for what should be an interesting last piece of the year only for the following reasons:

1. City Budget run amok - spending money on everything including the kitchen sink
2. SE Bypass FEIS is steaming into town - what does it say about how badly we need this road (again?)
3. New council members - are they really the answer to our prayers/hopes/dreams for our town

It will be an interesting new year as well.

Let's be optimistic about it, at least for now.

Bryan

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Island...

I just spent 8 days in Captain Cook (Kailua Kona), Hawaii - the big island.

Not my first trip, but probably one of the best. Good surf, sand, food, people and coffee!! Then it happened - a bad wipe-out. I was stuck in the room watching public access TV. And the words came out of the box like I was back home: concurrency, traffic, housing, environment…. Suddenly, I was back in Issaquah, not the big island. How could this be?

I guess wherever there are people in a paradise, those issues are plentiful.

Nice thing about Kona, the people and government and business recognize that without their pristine environment, they just sit on big lava in the middle of the ocean. What do they have after that except a surplus of really good coffee and geckos?

We are the same. Without this environment we're just a collection of restaurants, thousands of homes, and a chocolate shop.

In Kailua Kona, government and business work to protect the environment - their #1 tourist attraction. What do we do in Issaquah?

In Kailua Kona, signs are everywhere about shoreline access, maps, historical markers. Here in Issaquah, could we do the same with our trails?

In Kailua Kona, they have a 2 lane highway go through their main town - in fact it is their main street. At 4PM the backup is 5 miles long - serious - and lasts 3 hours; the Front Street jog has nothing on the Kailua Kona crawl. I didn't see signs asking for a bypass because everybody agrees there is nowhere to put it and it will ruin the environment.

In Kailua Kona, plenty of houses go up and big box stores make living easy - check out their WalMart, Home Depot and Lowes, but in the evening people hang out by the little stores on Highway 18 - the main street that goes right through town. Sounds like Issaquah a bit, though it would be nicer if we had more places to hang out.

In Kailua Kona, they roll up the street at 9pm, promptly. In Issaquah, same thing, more or less.

In Hilo (other side of the Island) they get 140 inches of rain per year. Hooray for Issaquah!

A big issue there is that depleted uranium weapon testing happens and this puts some radiation in the air. Double Hooray for Issaquah that we just have the little-old gun club.

So, 8 days and thousands of miles later what did I learn.

Yeah, brah - it's d same everywheres.

But better coffee in Kona.

Mahalo.

The New Drug - Available Only in Issaquah

Reading, Watching, Listening
Our City Government in action these past several weeks, I agree - they are on drugs. But it's the same drugs that the rest of us are taking as well. This prescription, available only in Issaquah, is for a drug call "i don't give a hoot"

Our City officials have been taking this for years, following the path set by so many citizens. Is it any wonder that during the same week that the King County Republican party is admonished by the Public Disclosure Commission for their election buying last year, that our very own City Council tries to pass rules and regulations which do nothing but further sell off, wholesale, the very assets of our community?

Perhaps it really takes the rest of us to take this drug - then we won't care at all until there is no more water, no more trees, no more land and nothing left for any of us.

Our City Council, the Mayor and the Administration continue to sell off to the highest bidder everything that belongs to us, the people of Issaquah. I for one, would be glad if they all happened to disappear tomorrow; though, sadly, tomorrow is when my prescription for "i don't give a hoot" arrives in the mail, so I guess it doesn't matter after all.

What We Say and What We Do

The past week has demonstrated again the great divide between what our City (the council, the mayor and the staff) says and what they do. Just like the twilight zone, items for your consideration:

1. Aspen Meadows residents found a glaring, covert effort on the part of the city to change a substandard street in their neighborhood into a very standard street for the sole benefit of a big home developer. The city keeps changing the rules and does not want to admit they are wrong or even working behind the scenes to take away the street that belongs to these residents. At a City Council meeting, adjustments to a "landscape code" have glaring changes to street width qualifications. Without citizens there to protest, the developer would have gotten a big happy gift. Do we give kudos to the city council for listening to the citizens, or do we ask why didn't they catch this, or do we go for ultimate accountability and responsibility and find the person(s) who tried to slip this one by everybody?
2. Talus parks that are supposed to be green spaces and left wild, in perpetuity, instead will be turned into something else with retaining walls and other junk. Same conclusion: do we give kudos to the City Council for fixing the problem, or do we ask instead how it became a problem in the first place and then make sure it never happens again? Responsibility and accountability? Where is it?

Criminals often use deceitful practices, language and vague promises to con most folks out of their hard earned money, retirement plans or social security trust funds. It's encouraging to know that Issaquah government stands shoulder to shoulder to insure that we citizens have our assets liquefied before our very eyes for the benefit of others while those whom we entrust turn a blind eye to the conspiracy that benefits everybody but us.

With elections coming up, what do you think will change?