Letter to the Editor: Response to the Mayor's Monday column
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
To the Editor:
Dear Mayor Winstead,
We live in a participatory democracy. Election to any legislative office is not for life!
If you and your fellow incumbents have some “special access to information and knowledge” that exceeds what the public knows, this is a significant problem!
We do not elect people to hear them claim greater knowledge and wisdom …. that would be called something QUITE different!
I am now purposefully pedantic: The electorate has a mechanism to hold you and others accountable for your actions – We VOTE!
It is remarkable that you are advocating for the retention of your council peer group, as you say, you have no vested interest in the outcome.
I fear Mayor, that is absolutely NOT TRUE!
You DO have a vested interest to have SOME members of your City Council re-elected so that you can continue to plow through your agenda without the disruption of new people, asking insightful questions, advocating for the transparency the current council holds in disdain!
Sorry, you feel “your” city will be littered with signs. In addition, you offer that the signs are superfluous. I question the wisdom of your “advice” as well as its intent.
Politics is dirty, secretive and not pretty. Hence, we need to scrub it with light, sunshine and information!
I am sure having “people you can work with” would make achieving a certain agenda easier ... and would also make it easier to fulfill the backroom agreements already made … well … too bad!
This is a DEMOCRACY, every vote counts! The City Council are not Lords of the Manor … looking out for the poor serfs because they know what is best for us.
It is time for a REBOOT!
Karen Easterly-Behrens
Shoreline
Posts
11 comments:
Yes to a reboot! CTRL-ALT-DELETE!!!
Rather than the mayor requesting a council she can work with, we need a mayor who can work with the residents of Shoreline. We need to respect and trust our mayor. This is what "Unopposed" looks like.
Good Luck with your REBOOT! I'm a Shoreline resident and voter, part of the majority of voters that voted for the Mayor and counsel!
Janet Way said that the City Counsel was ruining the heart and soul of Shoreline. What Janet doesn't realize that the Heart and Soul of Shoreline is the people and the voters! And the majority of the voters elected the counsel member that are in office now. Shoreline has been going through some great changes and the most of them happening within the past 8 years and even now!
So Karen, when you insult the Mayor and Counsel, you're insulting the Majority of the voters! Or should I say " The Heart and Soul of Shoreline!"
Good Day and good luck with your Reboot!
@anon 10:28am... keep on telling yourself that you're "in the majority" and maybe it will come true? This upzoning fiasco woke a lot of up people and made them begin to pay closer attention to our City government. A majority of supporters may have existed before the extent of the City's plans for major densification came to light, but that's not the case now. Where was "your majority" at the City Council meetings for the last several months? A small vocal minority of supporters were in attendance, but a majority? No where to be found! What proof do you have that this "majority" now exists after these obscene upzoning decisions took place? Simply stating that this majority exists, does not make it true. Why didn't "your majority" submit public comments during the last several months? Or.. simply, show up? Check the public records for the meetings... the proof is there. Why hasn't "your majority" formed official and unofficial groups to support the over-zealous upzoning and over-development of Shoreline?
For the record, I sign what I write.
Vote the bums out and you'll just get a new crop of bums. The minority will become the majority and then the whining will begin all over again from the new minority. I can hardly wait for the next contentious issue to divide our community so we can reboot again...That's politics, folks!
I like the election signs. I reuse the stakes for plants. You can just toss the signs and no one will really know. Sometimes the paperboard used can be stapled up to make planters too. Try it and see, it's a great way to use the signs.
The Majority does not show up to the meetings when they're happy with all the cities great improvements. I watch these meetings week after week via internet and its always the same group of people going up to public comment, using the podium to bully and belittle the council. "that will make them listen to you BTW"
As for Light Rail, what did you think would happen? "ok honey, Im just gonna walk to the end of the Cul-de-sac and hop on the train and go to work". Not!
The Cities growing and getting more populated. Whats the point on having the train stop in our city if only small group of people will get use it. Condos and Apartment will eventually pop up in the future.
But hey, you still have the right not to sell. You have to be a willing seller.
@anon 5:48pm - You forgot to mention that of the small minority that spoke or wrote in favor of the rezone only a small minority of them actually lived in Shoreline. Coincidently that is exactly how a certain incumbent's campaign is being financed too.
@anon 10:13AM... you obviously haven't been paying attention to what you claim you've been watching as far as the City Council meetings. The majority of those opposed to the level of zoning changes proposed are actually supportive of moderate density. Most people would be okay with apartments at the station site or adjacent to it. Most people would have been supportive of the 'some growth' alternative. The beast that we ended up with is not supported by the majority of those in the rezone area and in Shoreline. At the current moment, it seems like Shoreline *is not* growing. Drive around and look at all the sidewalk boards around apartments.... there are units available at almost all of them. There have been for sale signs up at homes that aren't selling for several weeks now.
To 10:13am Anonymous: Bullying and belittling? Let's back up, shall we? People in support of moderate density upzoning asked nicely and respectually in the beginning stages to keep zoning moderate. Many, many, many concerns and requests were dismissed. People weren't being listened to. The council, the planning commission, the planning staff, their paid consultants, and a planning dept's dream citizen volunteer began with the belittling, indifference, and unwillingness to listen to public FIRST. They all brought the angry reactions of the public upon themselves. You reap what you sow.
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