Blog:
7/24/10 - Open response to Mr. Denton from the Letter to the Editor in the Beacon: Dear Mr. Denton,
I am very sorry if the use of the word “dictator” caused you offense and it was not my intention to imply anything disrespectful at a local level. It is unfortunate that this word was a distraction as the information provided from Mr. Brecht on the City Manager form of government was very helpful to me as I continue my research.
We are all products of our experiences and I lived and worked in Lithuania after the break-up of the Soviet Union as part of an American and European consortium charged with helping to rebuild its regulatory and banking systems. Living overseas through some of the most troubling and exciting times allowed me to gain personal and valuable insights regarding the criticality for timely and complete flow of information amongst governmental entities and the public. As you might imagine, these concepts were new to both governmental officials and the citizens of Lithuania.
As a citizen of Edmonds, I had concerns about the efficiency and clarity with which information was being shared and communicated and this issue was one key component of my platform. I hope to utilize my past experiences as an auditor, regulator and regulatory consultant while working with Mayor Cooper, the staff and levy committee members so that we can provide a comprehensive financial picture to our citizens.
Again, I apologize if my words were misunderstood or misinterpreted. To me, what is most important NOW is that we work together as a team and rally the citizens to support a common cause: Economic Development and understanding the financial condition of our City so that we can move forward in terms of capital planning and/or levy.
7/23/10 - Why I voted for an additional yearly fee of $40 for vehicle registration to be put on the November Ballot by TBD Commissioner Buckshnis.
No one likes to see an increase in taxes. At my home, forty dollars is one half of my month’s groceries. While many pundits of this increased fee indicate it is too aggressive, I disagree. I am willing to put this option to the voters as I would be willing to pay the additional dollars as I am thinking of our future. The list of projects we will send to the voters will show a priority list that includes sidewalks, a long-awaited round-about and bicycle street signage.
In the Bernheim proposal, eight projects are for citizen safety. The remaining three 2009 concurrency projects have been changed to a less costly work-around. So, in my eyes, kudos for our staff for their thoughtful thinking and to the TBD Commissioners that voted in favor of putting this yearly increase (AFM, SB, DB, SP) to the voters. We actually saved the city over $2.5 million in developing the work-around.
So, please, research this funding package: we need to start identifying our safety wants and needs and providing specific funding mechanisms that is outside of the General Fund and allow voters the choice. Yes, forty dollars is a lot for a yearly fee and I hate increased taxes too; but break it down monthly and it is only 3.33 (and I like that number). I think that is one less cup of coffee a month for me and I can say I am helping pay for our safety. p.s. Happy Birthday to the Queen!
7/19/10 - Travelled through six states in four days! Whew! I love the Queen's City aka The Hornet's Nest. What a lovely city and I am really glad the human calulator is moving there. While I loved NY and his cute place in NJ, the costs were so exhorbitant, but what a fabulous town to see creative energy. Nathan Lane is a dream come true on Broadway as Gomez Addams and Bebe Neuwirth was fabulous as Morticia. The trip south was fabulous from a weather standoint and reminded me of the days when I worked for Coastal Environmental Systems and was their tech writer/program manager. Finally, we get to Charlotte and what a artistic town that features so much recycled water, that it is fascinating and soothing. So many waterfall scenes and foutains bring good luck so I loved walking in this quaint but large City. We need to start realizing how valuable our natural resources are to this City.
7/7/10 - The Value of our Natural Resources cannot be bought:
Picture yourself as a young child living in a fantasy world of colorful flowers, little houses and slides, pathways through the forest. You are like a small youth being in the land of Narnia but in a floral coastal Northwest standpoint.
Now picture the harsh reality of this picture-perfect magic kingdom now having a huge hole in the wall of trees that exposes a busy street with the sun blaring down and ugly fence allowing everyone to stay away but allows them to peer in at you and the 30 other little feet and bodies that run about in what once was a lovely enchanted kingdom.
The sad part to this horrid fairy tale is tat it is real and a tall, scented and majestic 50+ old tree with birds nesting and singing about got killed without the King's approval. The lovely fir tree, once planted and cared for by the owner’s grandparents had protected this little kingdom and now it was gone.
Now, standing in that luscious magical world garden staring at the stark reality of an uneven old fence showing streams of sun through its slates wakes up anyone to the reality of the true value of a tree…especially to our youth. We have but one planet, so let’s rejoice in its natural beauty and save the trees and plant more.
6/29/10 - About ready to go to Kalaloch and the Hoh Rain Forest, one of my favorite spots. However, I was asked to write why I love Edmonds and here is what I stated for KOMO news. What I love about Edmonds from a non-analytical standpoint: by Diane Buckshnis:
The Quiet: On sunny and clear days, the Olympic Peninsula in it majestic glory displaying varying patterns of specking white contours depending upon the season. The vivid outline of the Olympic Peninsula against the endless blue sky on a sunny day is breathtaking. One is lucky to see the evening patterns of weather and sun setting against the mountains: in December, the sky is fiery red and is a stark contrast to the dark mountainous outline with some nights looking as if the ferry is silently cruising on a red Sound. Being able to sit behind my window and watch the angry clouds cause turmoil as they approach from the south: rain is on its way and you can see the pencil-like patterns filing downward. Sitting at my computer on an overcast day and watching the lovely patterns of grays, blues and greens and on windy days watching the trees and the wave caps dance before my eyes.
The Softness: Coastal air filled full of moisture softly kissing my skin. As I walk my dogs along Sunset: the ferry silently peeking through the fog when it sits on the Sound; the orca foraging for food; the stately eagle sitting on a treetop watching after his mate feed his young; or the delicate wing span of the brown herons as it loops its way above our beautiful Marsh. I love to dine on the sidewalk and gaze at the lovely and bright mixture of color patterns from our hanging flower baskets or watch the lovely billowing clouds bounce around the sky like cotton balls creating patterns of distinction.
The Sound: Birds chirping outside my quiet bedroom window awaken me to their sweet songs. As I walk through Hutt Park, being able to hear the tussling leaves and creaking of trees: the calm of the morning - silence. The waves crashing upon the beach creating a methodically drumming pattern or the lovely sound of the train tooting and passing us by indicating precious cargo is aboard.
The Analytical Summary: How can one not love Edmonds? This City is unique and we need to start thinking in terms of our sensory perceptions to really understand why Edmonds is a great coastal town: full of festivals, street fairs, arts and artists, music and musicians, great restaurants and stores and happy people. We need to be a community that believes in belief. WE can create an environment that everyone is happy about: we just all need to pitch in. Let’s stop and smell the roses! Enjoy the Coastal air! Let’s be positive and move forward in a direction that is eco-friendly for all of us. As we can create our future for generations to come and we all know a clean environment is a healthy environment…so let’s all start working together.
6/16/10 - Happy Birthday to the Human Calculator. TFIG Forums on June 25th will be a special event. Both Adrienne and I will be at the Senior Center for their Young at Hearts Dinner and Auction. Please join us and you can bend either of our ears. The cost is only $25 or $12.50 since we are both there and the proceeds are for a good cause. The Auction items are awesome like a seven day trip on a Holland America cruise, a night at Tulalip Resort, Golfing packages as Nile Gof Course, gift certificates at 25 local restuarants, and baskets galore.
6/11/10 - I am sadden by the events in the Gulf. I spent at least a year down in the area while working on the Southwest Plan as a regulator and had some of the best seafood (shrimp) imaginable. However, even if I do eat fish, it hurts my heart as I see all these innocent creatures being affected by inadquate planning and research and not have a disaster recovery plan for big oil companies. How many fires on platforms do we have to have before we develop safeguards that big oil needs to abide by....more importantly let's start thinking clean and moving away from oil. I know, I drive my old dog mobile all around Edmonds, but I do because I cart my dogs around and I do get really good mileage out of that car.
6/3/10 - Like our Mayor said “when a door opens like that….you have got to walk through”. Gary is a very astute and brilliant individual and Mr. Reardon will be lucky to have him on his team. I wish him and his family the best! The timing of his move will cause a bit of commotions, but all we can do is pull together and move forward in the direction we have been planning with the selection of a new City Council person, the creation of a small citizen based levy committee and now the appointment of an interim Mayor. While Gary’s shoes will be difficult to fill, I am sure many qualified applicants will apply and hopefully the person selected will receive the full support from staff, the City Council, and the wonderful citizens of this City. A discussion of a City Manager position might be something we will now consider in 2011. From my perspective, I will continue to move forward positively holding town hall meetings, listening to citizens and ensuring we attempt to make our financials as transparent as possible so that everyone understands the issues of our municipality. Every door that came my way, I walked through and it has made me a more insightful and kind individual.
5/26/10 - TGIF FORUMS - FRIDAY MAY 28TH AT FIVE CORNERS OR CAFFE LADRO 8403 MAIN STREET FROM 6:00 TO 8:00 OR THIS FRIDAY!!!!
2010 Levy Group will concentrate on the STRUCTURE and composition. An easy analogy since I have just returned from vacation would be: 2009 Levy was a group with excellent tour guides who spent many hours on planning the trip. These three tour busses (citizens, CC members, participants, staff, etc) were on an informative tour and were asked if they liked it or not or yes or no. 2010 Levy Group will be a mini-van with two guides and/or map readers with the destinations and time spent at each sites will be driven by the members of the group. At the conclusion of the tour, this small group will craft a couple of scenarios for consideration of the tour guide council. Two different ways to get the same end path.
5/21/10 - Fabulous trip full of life and pilgrimages. We "said goodbye to two of my dear friends at the hill of crosses" and followed a pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II took in 1993 and it was so moving driving through the lovely country sides with small villages of people that live a good life. Hard workers seen throughout and most monuments, parks, churches now have English versions of their history. Lithuania has a female President and Finance Minister and I can sum up the President in three words: Visionary, Educator, Ethical and I can sum the FM in three words: Ethical, Educator, Focused.
My fellow colleagues and friends at the Central Bank were just as full of life and as knowledge as ever. It was fun to talk old stories and compare to new (as the last time the Director and my old interpreter were in Seattle to study our regulatory system (CAMEL) was when Bill Clinton had all that negative media regarding ML). The Director with his dry sense of humor and wit had me in stitches talking about global politics) and how regulatory started getting political. I was proud to find out that there were only four countries in Europe that did not engage in the dervative products scandal (whether buying or bundling). He told me I had trained them wisely and that he and the Central Bank Head were the only regulators left in their positions since the global financial meltdown. Lithuania did not have to close any banks for "pump any money" into any of them and they were very proud of that fact. Finally, those that know "Fil", (Deputy Director of Policy) she asked me to come back as all the EU stuff is in English and her English is just a bad 15 years later.
I received a number of emails and tried to answers those I could: My comments to the staff at TBD is that I will refuse to spend approximately $2.5 million improving stop signs on 9th and that money needs to be used for sidewalks....every where there is a school, a park and places where a lot of children and people will be present. Also, tax revenue funds are split between two (125 and 126) gl accounts at equal amounts and 125 deals with issues such as street improvements, etc. so that would be the account you would want to ask for tax records on to see that type of activity. Lastly, thank your VO and JN for the lovely email exchange and DMT for the great shot of the eagles outside of the Senior Center. More to come later...just tons to do.
4/30/10 - The Bank of Cascade's trustee sale went through this morning and received the property as no one paid the $2.5 million price tag. We are moving into our next phase of investigatve work. Interesting story this property..totally fascinating. I have investigated the LEOFF contract, talked to the Mayor and Debi Hummann and two actuary consultants. I concur that the City is fully funded for 2010 for the remaining 35 retired fire heros. So the $8.8 million underfunded sound bite that is being spread around is inaccurate from my standpoint.
TGIF Forums will be at Colonial Pantry Family Restuarant in Firdale from 6:00 to 8:00 please come tell us your vision and negative people need not attend; it has to date been a totally positive experience and we learn so much. So come chat a bit.
4/17/10 - I encountered one of the greatest political experience yet...talking to Mayor Sam Adams and his Budget Finance Guru Andrew Scott. Wow! I love people who are positive and visionary and leave the politics to the two "press agents" at the door. We have a lovey town and we need to start taking care of it and fostering eco-tourism.
4/12/10 - I am being overwhelmed with the emails regarding Mr. Wilson's presentation and Beacon Article. Please keep in mind, I saw that presentation for the first time and it is a THOUGHT EXERCISE and HIS ideas. It was not reflective of my vision and I have provided you my vision in my 3/14/10 blog and that vision will also appear in the Beacon soon.
4/7/10 - My first Ordinance (3789) and Resolution (1266) were passed last night and the attorney coined them "citizen friendly".
4/6/10 - Dave Orvis just notified me he was found "not guilty" regarding the charges brought up agains him last May. Isn't it wonderful that we have certain citizens, like me, that stood behind him knowing the entire story would bring to light that he was innocent!
3/18/10 - Town Hall Meeting number 2 will be held on March 26th (TGIF) from 6 - 8 at Corner Coffe Bar and Cafe which is in Perrinville located in the Lund Building. The Address is 18401 76th Ave. West Suite 103 and the topic will be HOW DO YOU ENVISION EDMONDS.
3/14/10 - As I met with some members of the new group “Imagine Edmonds”, I shared with them some my visions for Edmonds as I believe the timing is perfect to set “our visions” forward and work towards attracting the businesses and communities that share in our ideas. We can all be innovative thinkers, naturalists, and citizens looking towards longevity for the environment not only for ourselves but our children and the generations to come. If you think about it, Edmonds sits right smack center between Portland and Vancouver BC and to me rail will be utilized more in the future and we must capitalize on tourism. Here are some of my ideas for My Edmonds:
The marsh will be clean and Edmonds will be known for our bird-watching sites with a series of elevated observation decks and walkways that extend from as far as the Unocal Site and Marina Beach to the surrounding areas of Harbor Square and the Ferry Dock.
The Port/City will have negotiated to buy that old Unocal Site and will have swapped those five acres at the Safeway site to allow the development of twin condo towers at the bottom of Point Edwards. The remaining acreage of that site will be walkways, flower and hot dog stands and restaurants with some affordable housing or apartments. This area will be the lower Marina Beach hang-out and there will be a central Edmonds transportation bus known as the “Jiving Jitney.” Restaurants will on top of the buildings with commanding views of the Marsh, Marina, Puget Sound and the Mountains. There will be a tram that moves people from Point Edwards down to the Marina Beach area. There will be a Ferry that will transport people to Seattle and back right next to the current ferry dock.
Harbor Square will be a series of building that fits the type of business we want to attract with affordable condos using step-backs so that the Marsh remains pristine and the buildings won’t be prominent. The Health Center and Hotel will be known as a fabulous spa with a state of the art senior center also part of this hub. It will be a colony of healthy happy and resourcefulness people.
The entire central waterfront will be a central park hub with buildings matching the motif of both historic and seaport types of style. This place will for people to walk as long as they want (even with dogs), run, bicycle and will connect the downtown to the waterfront. There will be overpasses to help move pedestrians above the rail. The Rose House will be in one corner of the property as either a bed and breakfast or welcome center. There will be local indoor and outdoor farmers markets and many family friendly events will be encouraged to set a warming theme as a gateway to our city.
Our downtown square will be car free with a wonderful historical town square found in most European Cities. Not only will the 4th Avenue Corridor be “artistic” but every street in that little square by the fountain. The square would only be serviced by the Jiving Jitney. Street fares would happen almost weekly. There will be outdoor dining and seating.
Hwy 99 will be our iconic International district with a large dragon gate celebrating and highlighting our communities, our diversities and similarities. Stevens/Swedish Hospital will be renowned for its doctors and specialists. A skyscraper with stepbacks will house a small hotel, condominiums, offices and an observations deck.
Firdale will be a modern version of itself with affordable residential and senior housing. It will be a pet person’s haven as the City will have purchased that excess property by Hickman Park and turn it into a world-class dog park. Five Corners will be a hub of good coffee, health oriented people that love good food and enjoy the round-about as they bicycle through town as bicycle routes will be prominent throughout the City. Westgate will be known for the number of good groceries, health stores, spas, and stores specializing in all aspects of selling good food, being healthy, and innovative thinking. Lake Ballinger will be clean and numerous canoes and kayaks will be prominent as beginners learn on that Lake. A nice park will allow people to sit and enjoy that serene setting. Sidewalks will be on at least one side of the street in all neighborhoods and the Jiving Jitney will be moving people around town.
I see Edmonds as a real cool place to live where people do care and they care about ALL areas of this City. Edmonds will be a great place to live and play and this is my vision: so let me hear your and come give us your views at our Town Hall meetings so we can plan together.
2/26/10 - It was a good start to a Town Hall Meeting. AFM and I have to re-think the Friday night hall as since the two of us are retired, we still forget that on Friday, not many people want to "talk shop". We want to thank Bill and Michelle of Prestigae Care for letting us you the facilities and providing coffee and cookies. Jack Bevan either suggested we hold it at a bar so citizens can relax at the end of the week or move it. When I returned home, I received three phone messages saying we need to change the night. So, stay tuned. We had a very good meeting and discussed things like economic development, visions, tourism, why some citizens have stayed in Edmonds for 30+ years, zoning, and fiscal responsibility. I can hardly wait til next month!
2/24/10 - Town Hall Meetings on the last Friday of every month from 6 - 8! ALWAYS!
This Friday - town hall at Prestige Care and Rehabilitation of Edmonds and the address is 21008 76th Ave West or as one is going South on 76th - it is on the right a couple blocks before the Edmonds-Woodway High School. We will meet in the Therapy Gym! Hope to see you there!
2/16/10- Per Sandra Bullock - the thing about a well built shoe is the balance. AFM asked me about the website issue tonight and my response was that hot topics would let CC members do exactly what they have done before and so that is why I support sticking to the original rules. Any hot topic will bring on whatever I was trying to avoid with the external links. So, I am hoping all CC members remember what SB stated that it is all about balance.
2/8/10 - I am ready to move from listening to acting and here are my three goals for 2010: 1) Community - engage in monthly meetings to listen to the citizen's of Edmonds (AFM too); 2) Work with MP in the Finance Committee to develop a fiscal policy and work on getting our financials accessible through the electronic media like other Cities; 3) EDC - Work with DO to move from listening to acting.
2/5/10 - The City Council Retreat was very informative and a wonderful experience. We have a lot of very good ideas on the horizon and I will continue to work hard to represent the views of the community. Adrienne and I will begin doing monthly town hall meeting the last Friday in each month from six to eight. Our first town hall will be near the high school on 76th.
1/20/10 - Yes I was appointed to City Council Position #4. It happend on the first ballot! I was excited and nervous and want to thank all the people who have called, emailed, facebooked, and stopped me on the street. Thank you kindly all of you for your support, letters, calls, emails and just being kind and helpful to me during this learning process.
1/12/10 - Tonight we had the appointment interviews and they can be found on Channel 21. I want to thank all of you that emailed the City Council on my behalf. I also want to express my kudos to Council President Bernheim to having channel 21 broadcast the wonderful documentary about Martin Luther King that will begin on Friday and run through Monday. I did well on my interview and Mr. Plunkett called me tonight and said he will support me and I can make that public knowledge. Thank Michael.
1/01/10 - Happy New Year! Yes, I did submit my application for the Position #4 appointment and if you want to write a letter to the City Council Members on my behalf - thank-you as you know I will not let you down. I have been quiet during the holidays to decompress from the campaign but also the budget has been on the agenda and if you catch the last meeting, it looks like many City Council members are now understanding what I mean by transparency and clarity. Reports need to clearly identify what is being viewed and the date. Dates should be consistent and not random numbers from the calendar quarter. Fund balances should be identified so the public and City Council members can see if it is one REET fund or two. So, as I sit here and watch the wind whip through the trees, I feel lucky that this year will be the year of the Citizen's voice. Out with the old ways and in with the new. We deserve it!
Let's all pray and wish for the best year ever for everyone and remember a smile or kind word goes a long way. I spoke to a woman who was 93 yesterday as I was walking my dogs. We passed each other twice as we were on the same loop and on the second encounter, I commented on how nice her scarf set was and so she stopped and asked about my dogs. We then chatted a bit and she told me her age and how she was feeling down as most of her friends and husband had passed. We talked about her kids and then laughed a bit about my dogs and afterwards she thanked me for taking the time to talk to her. She said I had made her day! Little did she know, she had made my day too!
2/12/09 - I just saw the most amazing transformation of a tired and aging "SE" sector be revitalized. Trully amazing to see store front after store front up and down Hawthorne, Belmont, and Division and all the building are low so one can see the markquee of like the Bagdad or Aladdin. I am really happy to have lived in such a progressive minded town. Bike racks everywhere and bicycle traffic is getting like that in Copenhagen with well marked paths. My little subdivision of Ladd's Addition must carry 1,000 maybe even 2,000 bikers a day. I have a vision for Edmonds that will be user friendly like any of those pockets in the S.E. corridor. That is one of the Cities I think we should look at as it also sits on the water (Columbia River). Happy Holidays and yes, Scott and Mike, I am on my way to 5th Annual Holiday Chez Peke.
11/27/09 - Dearest Sweet Ale, may you rest in peace. I learned so much from you even though we could not speak the same language when I first met you fifteen years ago. While I taught you financial and examining skills (and a bit of English), you gave me so much more in learning to understand and appreciate life through the eyes of someone who had lived through communism. Clearly, bullying style of tactics does not work well for me any longer. I will miss you dearly and you will always be in my thoughts and prayers as a woman with exceptional strength, fortitude, and grace. You were far too young to be taken away from us. Godspeed.
11/24/09 - Yes, I will be applying for the appointment to Peggy's position. I am still respecting the fact that she was such a wonderful person and a fighter till the end. My cousin just told me her husband has been afflicted with ALS so I am a stronger person now having witnessed Peggy's personal journey. Happy Thanksgiving!
11/20/09 - It was a very quite City Council meeting on Tuesday even though we had a number of environmental consciencious people that are highly interested in the Comprehensive Plan. A lot had to do with an incident in which blatant disrespect was shown to Joan Bloom. Here is her response to the Mayor about the lack of civility that exists many times in many of our meetings. Granted some individuals provoke confrontation, but citizens should be able to ask questions and provide comment without concern about ridicule.
"Mayor Haakenson,
I attended the public meeting at the Port last night, in which Mark Hinshaw and two other consultants outlined a framework for a plan for development of the Port properties. In this email I will address the
process, not the content, of the meeting last night.
Edmonds citizens have very strong feelings about development on the Waterfront properties and, as you know, I am one of those citizens. Our elected representatives, as public servants, are charged with providing venues to allow all citizens to express their opinions. At the Port meeting last night, my comments were interrupted by an angry tirade from a member of the Planning Board. The moderator of the meeting, Bruce Faires, did nothing to stop the tirade and allow me to continue my comments. Instead, he joined with the other man in criticizing my input.
I have seen a similar process in City Council meetings. As Mayor, you set the tone for Council meetings, and the tone you set is adversarial. You regularly challenge citizen input at the meetings. It
is my understanding that the three-minute comment period is for citizens to express their opinions on any issue “regarding matters not listed on the Agenda as Closed Record Review,” however, you use your position of power to berate and belittle citizens and to support your own political agenda.
An example of this is when you asked Diane Buckshnis, following her input to council, if she was a CPA. This was clearly an attempt to discredit Diane’s input and a thinly veiled way for you to demonstrate your support for Strom Peterson. This abuse of your power as an elected official is especially hypocritical as you meticulously stop citizens who are commenting at Council from referencing, or even wearing labels, supporting candidates for office.
I have copied four citizens who were present at the meeting last night on this email. I’m certain that everyone who has been present at recent Council meetings can think of examples of your modeling of uncivil behavior that they have observed or been the target of. The result of the adversarial tone is that it is very difficult to muster the courage to get up in front of council and speak, even for someone
as outspoken as I am. I find that I have to be emotionally and physically prepared to handle any abuse that might be forthcoming.
I am disheartened that this pattern of incivility has spread to the Planning Board and to the Port public meetings. I request that you and each Council Member do everything in your power to reverse this trend. I had every intention of participating in the public hearing on the Sustainability Element of the comprehensive plan at Council tonight, however, after what happened last night, I choose not to subject myself to that level of stress on consecutive nights. I will send my comments on the plan in a separate email to Mayor and Council."
Regards,
Joan Bloom
11/09/09 - God Bless You Peggy Pritchard Olson...may your soul run free and enjoy the wonders of heaven.
11/6/09: I am OVERWHELMED at the number of phone calls, emails, horn honks, gifts, hugs and kind gestures. I am very calm and optimistic as I have had greater losses in my life (i.e. helping my father die at home with dignity or helping my hard-working husband as he internalizes losing his job of 15 years at WAMU with all his stock options, pension, and sweat). Without this experience, I would never had met so many wonderful people whom truly were beautiful, caring, and generous with their time, their spirit and their support. I am the true winner here as my "community" expanded so much that I am only sorry I have caused folks disappointment and some even anger. I truly believe things happen for a purpose and I accept that gift I am given. So..have a great day, smile to people, sing a song, I have no regrets. Regrets move us backwards...faith moves us forward. We ran a very clean campaign and yes, many were stunned, but there is still about 5,000 votes to count and I still want to see the final count :) so I still have faith.
10/31/09 Please remember to VOTE and remember NO on 1033. Thank you everyone for all your help on this grass-roots campaign. Just a few more days. Keep the Faith. Faith moves us forward.
10/22/09 - Regarding Mr. Young's comment in the Enterprise: I wish to thank Mr. Young, who has known my opponent since grade school, for allowing me to clarify my positions. I have met with Doug Dahl and Tim Hoover to discuss FD1 and here is what they said about the financial: As for the financial's (purchase prices for stations, equipments, contract price, etc.) we have been in on the meetings, but haven't been providing any input or comment. We have left the financial's up to Kathleen Junglov, Stephen Clifton, Mayor and Chief (and ultimately will be left up to the council and SCFD #1 Commissioners), as obviously this is not our area of expertise. We are sticking to the fire service and employee related issues.
The question I raised regarding the reconciliation of the 2008 ending and 2009 beginning general fund balances was a simple one. For comparison (apples to apples), I was able to reconcile the 2008 general fund ending balance with the 2009 general fund beginning balance of five surrounding municipalities simply from information provided on their web sites. Why isn’t financial information made available to the public with such clarity in Edmonds as it is in other municipalities? The lack of clarity and transparency speaks volumes about our City government's financial accounting. No wonder citizens are confused.
Parking meters will NEVER be put in Edmonds’ downtown and retail areas under my watch. My opponent misrepresented my position by taking one sentence out of context from a paragraph regarding downtown parking issues in my application for the appointment to City Council Position 2. Some local businesses owners who support my opponent have been perpetuating this myth. I suggested considering satellite parking areas and gave examples of towns that utilize them. In this regard, I discounted the use of parking meters as it would upset merchants. Please visit my entry for October 7, 2009 to view the entire paragraph.
While I would only encourage large stores with a history of good employee relations, there are areas of our city, like Highway 99, where I would welcome larger retail establishments that can generate meaningful sales tax revenue. I suppose from Mr. Young’s perspective, we should close TJ Maxx, Burlington Coat Factory, etc. - would he prefer if even more businesses open in Lynnwood and Shoreline, instead of Edmonds?
10/13/09 Irresponsible journalism should not be tolerated in local town papers. I have received an overwhelming number of phone calls and here are just a few of the comments I have received regarding the recent Mina William's fact-challenged article in which the only questioned she asked of me was "are you satisfied with their answer." She was giddy when I called and stated that she would print a reply if "I moved the debate along". That was her tip!
Dear Ms. Williams,
Upon reading and considering your front page article, Edmonds Finances Under Fire By Two Residents, I felt a response was necessary. This biased, fact-challenged article is inappropriate at this particular time, with the Edmonds City Council election voting cycle beginning as early as Friday, October 16th.
Did you know that Mayor Haakensen, Council President Wilson, and Councilmember Wambolt had previously publicly endorsed Strom Peterson with public statements and/or financial support, Diane Buckshnis’s opponent for Edmonds city council? As such, they have an interest in trying to demean Ms. Buckshnis’s financial auditing credentials which are extensive. You would have been made aware of this had you adequately investigated this issue by discussing it directly with Ms. Bucksnis and allowing her to sufficiently respond to the opposing perspectives within the published article space. Did you even review her financial auditing credentials posted on her web site?
Surely, you must be aware that the interim Finance Director, Lorenzo Hines Jr., directly reports to Mayor Haakenson. Would you expect him to publicly offer an opinion conflicting with the Mayor’s vested position? Did you solicit opinions from financial experts unrelated to the City of Edmonds or the city council election campaigns? I didn’t notice such in the article.
Residents of municipalities, such as the City of Edmonds, rely on local papers to provide information pertinent to their communities. Sometimes controversial, even provocative issues, present themselves. Citizens rely on unbiased reporting regarding these issues that will not be adequately covered by regional and national press. In this instance, in my opinion, you have failed our community. The timing and content of this article not only raises questions about your reporting/Editor skills, but it reflects poorly on the Edmonds Enterprise paper.
A front page response from Diane Buckshnis (and Lora Petso) should be allowed ASAP, despite the fact that this cannot correct the timing of this article with respect to the election. Ms. Buckshnis and Ms. Petso should be allowed to correct their positions and the basis for their concerns regarding the issues discussed. A public apology is also in order.
I’m looking forward to more balanced investigative reporting from you in the future. ---------------------------
Dear Mr. Funk:
Today’s Enterprise article by Ms. Mina Williams is a prime example of bad journalism. It is a back door endorsement of Strom Peterson. And it was earlier stated that the Enterprise would not be endorsing candidates, so what is with Ms. Williams? She exaggerates and misleads throughout with half truths of which many were elicited from the Mayor and members of his clique and published The “bad” person is Diane Buckshnis throughout this very one sided article. There is no doubt, the Mayor and his cronies fear Diane Buckshnis, who won the Primary, and have encouraged Ms. Williams’ dirty trick. It is certainly not news, but only a slanted false opinion. It is simply disgraceful.
By my count, there are 65 fairly neutral words describing the controversy in the first three paragraphs. This is followed by 1036 words attacking Ms Buckshnis, with only 54 devoted to her side of the story. Quite a lop sided count I would say, and by a newspaper that has generally been fair and balanced in the past.
Ms Williams timing was perfect for Mr. Peterson as ballots will be in the mail Friday. It looks like a well orchestrated and timed dirty trick, something that your papers have normally prevented.
It also may be noted that: Ron Wambolt, incumbent who lost to Lora Petso and Adrienne in the Primary was given 92 words to rip Diane, even though he will be gone Dec 31, and hopefully along with the protégé appointee Peterson. DJ Wilson, reported at the Council meeting Tuesday night that the city had “found” five funds that were not in the budget including an animal benefit fund. And he contributed 77 words to tear down Diane. Could these funds be part of the missing money?
The Mayor and others falsely claim that since the state auditor passed Edmonds in their recent audit that means that everything is just wonderful with the city’s finances That is false, patently false. The auditor looks for criminal infractions primarily. Diane has made no such “charges” as stated by Ms. Williams. The auditor is not concerned with how you move money around or waste it. Taxpayers of Edmonds are increasingly concerned with fund manipulation, especially so since the Mayor tried to close the city swimming pool and reduce funding for the Senior Center. They are aroused, and I believe Ms Buckshnis will give Strom Peterson another defeat to add to his previous three electoral failures.
In conclusion I know Diane to be highly intelligent, and probing. She is extremely well trained and experienced in finances. She should be treated fairly and with respect, certainly not with the contemptible non-transparent evasiveness she has experienced from the Mayor and the temporary finance director. Incidentally there has been a continual turnover in this position since Mr. Haakenson has been Mayor. That in itself is not indicative of a smooth operation.
Since I know you have been fair in the past, would it be possible for you to right the gross unfairness of Ms. Williams by giving Ms Diane Buckshnis 982 balancing words? Though it still will be lop sided because half the voters will have voted by the next edition, that is, unless you could run it in the Herald for one day, say Saturday or Sunday. Or at least her Letter to the Editor below in the Herald? That would help offset the unfair damage.
Any consideration by yourself will be appreciated and most probably by the majority of citizens voting in Edmonds this week.
-------------------------------
"The article is clearly a political hatchet job. I will write a letter to the Enterprise but I will probably not have time this week.
Lorenzo is either incompetent or looking to get the full-time job. A budget variance of 8% may be fine for an annual budget but most companies run an annual budget as well as monthly (or more often) rolling forward budgets especially if economic events are changing rapidly. You always want to know where you are. A variance of even 1% on a rolling budget will get you fired. If you don't know where you are how can you know where you are going? Overall the City's budget process is very weak.
I also don't understand where he defines working capital. The City's use of it is not a standard definition at least not in the corporate sector. The original 978k was the fund balance based on a projection that was off by a mile. It was presented on the income statement in the budget but then he talks about it being a balance sheet item. More importantly why is it still being used when he knows it is wrong. To say it is conservative is misleading since a miss is a miss. His summation of this issue does not make any sense."
-----------------------
Sounds like a fact-challenged mess, Diane. If it's any consolation, this sort of treatment in the Brand X newspaper has little if any bearing on how people vote. Stay focused!
10/10/09 - Numbers are a lovely thing to reconcile and follow and they can't lie. When there are number issues that can't be explained some numbers folks like to try and use big words or the smoke and mirrors tactic to try and make the numbers look like they make sense: but it always boils down to the bottom line and if one can reconcile. While I am not a CPA, I know a lot about cashflows and when I was a regulator in the mid-80's to early 90's, we actually sued CPAs for inproper and inaccurate opinions. So, stay tuned to my quests of trying to make the numbers make sense.
We haven't heard a peep from the City about the asset valuation of the Fire Houses or its contents? A CPA friend of mine tried to get the financial from Fire District 1 to see if they actually have the financial strength to purchase our assets for 9+ million and that information was not made readily available to him. He has to fill out a forms request and pay money for the documents. I wonder if the City of Edmonds had to pay money or if they even have verified if FD1 has the financial strength for this sale. Again, I am opposed to this part of the contract until we see numbers that utilize a discounted cash flow approach AND we have attractive asset evaluation of all the assets in the fire house. I still am of the opinion, only foolish people would sell in this down market, especially when IT IS NOT NECESSARY.
10/7/09 - Let’s put the parking meter thing to rest as my opponent brought it up in the Chamber Forum and some folks did not get a chance to see the forum or read my response in the Beacon. My opponent referred to my application and honestly I did not recall what I had written in my application for the appointment to Deanna Dawson’s position. The question was as follows: What, if any, do you see the City’s prominent problem areas and what are your recommended solutions?
My first issue addressed was of course the budget and fiscal policy: the second was the debilitating senior center.
My third issue was parking and here is how I responded: Parking has always been an issue for me. I don’t know how the Council can resolve this issue unless the City wants to develop a parking structure nearby. Another idea would be to consider installing parking meters, which would really upset local businesses, but could provide revenue to the City. Many cities like LaConner, Leavenworth, and Port Townsend have made parking lots available close to the core city which allows for those towns to become “destination cities.” Parking (or lack thereof) has been an issue we have with the Edmonds Art Festival for a number of years. Last year only 2,000 folks used the shuttle located at the old Edmonds-Woodway High School because it was too far to drive to that southern parking lot.
How I interpret this paragraph is the City should look into a satellite parking lot similar to other cities that rely partially on tourism as a means of revenue. It appears my opponent was trying to exploit that one sentence in this paragraph even though I discount this idea by saying the merchants will not like it.
Also, regarding the pilot project using parking kiosk as Marina Beach and Bracketts Landing...again, in the Citizen's Levy committee, we were told that the PARKS WOULD BE CLOSED and we had to find alternative revenue sources. So, I would gladly pay $1 to keep my parks opened if that was my choice.
10/2/09 - Let's talk about numbers and Fire District 1. While my opponent stated he has already made up his opinion last night and he has FD1 employees door-belling for him, I am still doing my fact-finding. However, I cannot support the sale of the assets at the current price and here is the email exchange Lora Petso and I had with the Interim Finance Director when we voiced concerns at the 9/22/09 meeting. The next day, I provided a discounted cash flow analysis to Mr. Hines and definitions and reasoning as to why this is the proper approach to use.
At the September 22, 2009 Council meeting you both expressed concerns regarding the lack of a discounted cash flow analysis on the cash flows from the Fire District 1 contract. There were also statements that your analyses concluded that the city will lose "millions" as a result of discounting. Ms. Petso indicated that numbers were available and Ms. Buckshnis sent a NPV spreadsheet on 9/23/09. Does the NPV spreadsheet sent by Ms. Buckshnis represent the analysis referred to in your statements before Council on the 22nd? If so, can you tell me where you got the discount factors and why you picked those factors. I would appreciate it if you can tell me the banks (name and location) and instruments that supports your range of rates. Secondly, Ms. Petso expressed concern that the Fire Overhead costs should not be part of the cost savings. Can you please send me the analysis that supports your statements.
Thank you,
Lorenzo Hines Jr.
Interim Finance Director
--------------------------------
From Lora Petso: Thanks for your e-mail.
1) Regarding present values, I was relying on numbers from Ms. Buckshnis, of which the smallest I saw was around $1,000,000. I did not double check her calculations or assumptions.
2) Regarding fire overhead, it was obvious to me that Council would still expect to be paid, whether they sold the fire department or not. So would the Mayor, City Clerk, etc. It is clear, on a common sense level, that to claim "allocated general overhead" as a savings in selling the fire department is error.
Yesterday, I had a closer look at the numbers provided by your predecessor. They show a 2010 savings of less than $83,000 from the contract, not $800,000. I delivered the analysis to the front desk today for inclusion in council packets. I have also attached it to this e-mail (as a powerpoint).
Please, read that again, the spreadsheet shows a 2010 savings of just $82,000, not 800,000.
According to your predecessor's spreadsheet, if we do nothing we have revenue of $34,388,972, less expenses of $34,784,282, for a 2010 deficit of 455,310. If we do the contract, but do not toss the 3 million received for 2010 into the "miscellaneous revenue" line, we have revenue of only $32,515,221 (Remember, we are giving away the EMS fees, so the line item for Goods and Services drops $700,000 in revenue; and we cannot collect from Woodway or Esperance under the contract, so the line item for Intergovernmental Service Charges falls over $1,000,000). I don't suppose it matters here whether we have a dedicated account for the 3 million, or we simply don't sell the fire stations and equipment. Either way, the 2010 revenue should not include the 3 million, or the EMS fees, or the Woodway or Esperance fees. Anyway, without the 3 million from the sale of capital assets added to the "miscellaneous revenue" line, we have 2010 revenue of $32,515,221 less expenses of $32,877,899, for a 2010 deficit of $362,678.
The difference between a deficit of $455,310, and a deficit of $362,678, is not $800,000. It is $82,632. The contract most certainly does not save $800,000 per year! It saves just $82,632 for 2010.
Lora
-------------------------------------
From Diane Buckshnis:
Hi Lorenzo,
As described in my first email, the concept about Discounted Cash Flows was not even considered by the City and I did not use a specific bank to determine those ranges as it is considered a "risk premium". I utilized my husband who I met when we were both Certified Financial Regulators and working on Lincoln Savings and Loan (Charles Keating). Steve has over 30+ years of financial and capital markets experiences and has his MBA from University of Wisconsin and is a CFA. He was working at WAMU running their quantum risk management area and now works for a different bank (not Chase) in NY. By the way, in this world of unemployed, he was unemployed for about three months as his expertise in fiscal and risk management, computer modeling, and interest rate risk strategies are a unique skill set in the financial markets world. Since I have been away from the capital markets area since I retired in 2005, he developed the spreadsheet for me which can easily be manipulated to the exact numbers you think are reasonable. The 5-10 percent range was utilized as one could question if that type of money is available and since we did not have Fire District One's Financials we decided to be conservative. For each 1 percent change, there is about a $200K drop, so you can do the math.
In viewing the Fire District One sale of the Assets we considered a number of facts such as:
1) Why did the City NOT EVEN CONSIDER present valuing this "interest free" financing.
2) Can Fire District One afford this purchase and if they have to issue bonds, what rating would they have based on their financial capabilities.
3) The Feds have been keeping rates low to stimulate the money flow, will this continue for four years.
4) Is this type of money available even to issue bonds.
5) Even if they could issue bonds and exclude the underwriter and legal fees FD1 would have to determine a yield a highly taxed investor would pay.
He provided a number of website that you can go to if you want to look at bond rates and financing, but for this questions, I decided not to include it all.
If you have any more questions, I will be glad to answer them. I also included the definition again to remind you that this valuation is not tied to any type of loan but is a risk premium coupled with the time value of money.
Cheers,
Diane
Definitions:
In finance, the discounted cash flow (or DCF) approach describes a method of valuing a project, company, or asset using the concepts of the time value of money. All future cash flows are estimated and discounted to give their present values. The discount rate used is generally the appropriate WACC, that reflects the risk of the cashflows. The discount rate reflects two things:
1. the time value of money (risk rate) - investors would rather have cash immediately than having to wait and must therefore be compensated by paying for the delay.
2. a risk premium (risk premium rate) - reflects the extra return investors demand because they want to be compensated for the risk that the cash flow might not materialize after all.
Discounted cash flow analysis is widely used in investment finance, real estate development, and corporate financial management.
Very similar is the net present value.
Net present value (NPV) or net present worth (NPW) is defined as the total present value (PV) of a time series of cash flows. It is a standard method for using the time value of money to appraise long-term projects. Used for capital budgeting, and widely throughout economics, it measures the excess or shortfall of cash flows, in present value terms, once financing charges are met.
9/25/09 - Once again caught up in some speculative hearsay letters to the editor that attack my character, misrepresent my position on issues, my dedication to the community and my professional accomplishments. As stated in last weeks response, the Citizen's Levy Committee was asked to provide "brainstorming ideas" to find additional revenue sources. Dr. Rich Senderoff was the one inquiring about the tax increase during one of these sessions and it was merely a fact-finding discussion as what would be to the extent necessary for public works to be financially self-sufficient. It turns out the yellow team did not recommend this idea and if you look at my 6/1/09 and 7/16/09 blog entries I had issues that the City staff did not providing us with sufficient information to the public for an adequate public hearing.
As for our fabulous firefighters, I have done a lot of my homework and am still looking at the numbers as they don't make sense. I did provide a discounted cash flow analysis to our City Officials that incorporates the time value of money and risk premiums for the major assets. I also want to share an email that I received from one of my favorite firefighters when I was helping him back in July ask some questions and here is what he stated regarding the finance issues: As for the financial's (purchase prices for stations, equipments, contract price, etc.) we have been in on the meetings, but haven't been providing any input or comment. We have left the financial's up to Kathleen Junglov, Stephen Clifton, Mayor and Chief (and ultimately will be left up to the council and SCFD #1 Commissioners), as obviously this is not our area of expertise. We are sticking to the fire service and employee related issues. It is unfortunate that I have to spend my time on these issues when we all need to be thinking positive thoughts and focusing on a vision for Edmonds that makes this a better place for the community.
9/16/09 - In case you haven't caught the negative press, here is a recent Letter to the Editor that was sent my Chris Fleck and my response.
Mr. Fleck misstated my position regarding sustainable economic growth that respects Edmonds’ traditions and heritage. As a participant of the Levy Review Committee (in which Mr. Fleck did not participate), we were charged with finding additional revenue sources for the City. At NO TIME DID I EVER SUPPORT PARKING METERS IN OUR RETAIL AREAS. However, I did discuss the idea of additional user fees that reduce the extent of general tax increases, by installing parking kiosks in site specific areas such as Marina Beach Park and/or Brackett’s Landing that work similarly to those at Marymoor Park. King County expects to raise $100,000 this year from Marymoor’s $1 parking fee (http://www.komonews.com/news/local/50906072.html). The parking kiosks concept specifically targets monies to the Parks & Recreation Department to help offset funding from the City's general fund. The success of raising Yost Pool fees this summer was a similar approach (that some were skeptical of) and as of June 30, 2009, revenue was $117,400 which was over 50% of forecast.
Of course, pundits think this idea is a waste of time as it represents merely “pennies” considering the millions of our apparent revenue shortfall. But doesn't it make sense to explore whether additional user fees targeted to support specific programs have merit, especially, when those programs are a big part of creating an "Edmonds kind of day".
Thank you, Chris Fleck, for the time to allow me to correct the record.
From Chris Fleck to the Beacon, Seattle Times and Enterprise:
Editor:
I am amazed at what I am hearing from Diane Buckshnis (a candidate for Position 2 on Edmonds City Council) and her ideas about parking in Edmonds. This candidate who professes to be pro business is proposing something that will do nothing but drive customers to Lynnwood and Shoreline. Her idea? Install parking meters and kiosks in downtown Edmonds and our waterfront parks. She has defined "downtown" at candidate forums as from the waterfront to 9th Avenue that means anyone living in the Edmonds Bowl will be subject to parking fees in front of their own houses/condos! I have yet to talk to one merchant or homeowner who likes this idea. All this will do is annoy and anger customers and residents. They will eventually go elsewhere to shop, like Alderwood Mall, thereby drying up the oh-so-precious sales-tax dollars that are becoming even scarcer every month. When we are fighting tooth and nail to keep sustainable businesses in town, attract tourists, and keep our downtown charm (our greatest asset), why would anyone want to put in parking meters? It doesn't seem very Edmonds-kind-of-friendly to me!
--------------------------------------
p.s. To Chris Fleck, since I sit on the Board of the non-profit Group O.L.A.E. (Off-Leash Area - Edmonds) that cleaned-up and steward that dog beach, we have polled our 250 members about a dollar fee for using the Marina Beach area. We received tremendous support since many "kids" use the dog park without dogs and have private parties on the other side of the rocks. Also on any good weekend, the park will see about 1,000 users.
9/9/09 - While part of me is still wondering why I jumped into this political arena as I receive yet another email stating that one of my yard signs has be stolen from a supporter's yard or I receive childish or petty comments from individuals who clearly have their own agendas, it is the small notes or calls that I get that invigorates me spirit. Trudie, who is 93 years old, sent me a check for $15 and stated that this was the first time she has ever contributed to a campaign and ask me to "Go the Distance". Diane Talmadge, a highly intelligent female who understands Wall Street like I do sent me this note: "To earn my vote isn't easy....to get me to contribute money is almost impossible. You have earned both and my "old school" respect. "Sticking to the high road" in politics makes it a difficult climb, and I am only too happy to support you." One man who asked to remain nameless told me he prayed for me everyday. Another gentleman called and said he was sending me countless energy. Ron, a man with a wealth of history has been sending me article after article on issues that he feels my regulatory skills can be utilized to implement change. My close circle of friends also are providing me with insight and support as we forge ahead. So, while a part of me is still wondering why I jumped into this political arena, the other part of me feels confident as these small random acts of kindness are helping me "Go the Distance" and this grass-roots effort will continue to gather steam.
9/5/09 - The efforts of individuals and non-profit organizations to promote understanding the impacts of global warming and moving towards creating a sustainable Edmonds is moving to the forefront. I am so proud to know this think-tank of individuals who are devoted to these causes. At one of first Sustainable Edmonds climate change forums, I met Dr. Rich Senderoff when he brought up the idea of some sort of incentive based program similar to Edmonds Backyard Wildlife Habitat Project. The concept was intriguing since I had seen first hand the affects of global warming (now called climate change) on areas such as the South Pole. I know that Dr. Senderoff has teamed with Dr. Rebecca Wolfe, and Jeanne Blair to further refined those incentive based programs and ideas. They have come up with a Green Partners Program which they have presented to City's Climate Change Sub-Committee and Jan Vance, (Executive Director of the Edmonds' Chamber of Commerce). I have seen the draft checklist which includes incentives for Grocers, Bars, and Restuarants. It is my understanding that they will be teaming with Sustainable Edmonds and helping us move to becomming a truly educated and innovative Green city.
8/27/09 - A fellow citizen and I had an argument the other day over the term "open government" whereas he said that whenever he asked for anything from City Hall he gets it. I agreed with him on that as I have found Ms. Chase, Mrs. Junglov (who now works for Fire District 1), and the Mayor to be very helpful in providing me documents or in the Mayor's case, his opinion on matters.
My issue regarding government "transparency" is ALL ABOUT providing the necessary and complete information to the public and City Council in advance so that informed decisions can be made. The water tax increase is a perfect example and you can read about in my June 1 blog or the Chapter 20 dialogs that are peppered throughout June and July.
Another example was this Tuesday, the Council was presented with a 150+ word ordinance that would have put an instant suspension on the application of Chapter 23.90.040(c), Retention of Vegetation no Subdividable, Undeveloped Parcels. It further described that staff felt it was necessary for this moritorium as a recent King County case (over a year ago) invalidated its set-asides in RURAL areas - and there were some similarities to this City's provisions - indicating some doubt as to the enforceability of the City's regulation. The staff then recommended that after the instant moritorium that this ordinance be sent to planning board and then to the public for a hearing. Huh! Doesn't this seem a bit backwards?
Furthermore, the ordinance's link was not included or the King County (rural set-aside of 50% on undeveloped land) ordinance. After some searching, I found the King County court case and the Edmonds ordinance. The similarities to me were undeveloped land and protecting our critical areas. Ordinance 23.040 is the Critical Areas Ordinance and it is a lengthy and complex code that defines, rates and lists Critical Areas for Fish and Wildlife Conservation and Compliance Requirements.
So, not to get into specifics, but simply put: if the City Council would have approved this new 150+ word Ordinance it would put an instant suspension on retaining a minimum of 30 percent native vegetation on sub-dividable and undeveloped parcels zones RS 12 and RS 20 and it would eliminate any vegetation management plan which is part of the undeveloped land permitting process. With the instant suspension, any builder could go ahead and submit plans and permits and build in critical areas without complying to the code as it was then to be sent to the planning board and on to public hearings.
I would think with the significance of this type of ruling, "open government" means providing City Council Members and the public with sufficient information to make an informed decision. The City Attorney didn't even have a written summation or this issue, it was all verbal. Is Edmonds really a RURAL city and does our laws require 50% set-asides.
8/19/09 - THANK YOU FOR VOTING FOR ME AND SPREADING THE WORD. STEP ONE IS COMPLETE...BUT WE HAVE A LONG ROAD AHEAD. BE PART OF MY GRASS ROOTS EFFORT...GET INVOLVED! HELP ME SHAPE THE FUTURE OF EDMONDS BASED ON YOUR VIEWS.
8/16/09 - Thank-you to all the individuals who has taken the time to email me and/or ask me questions. Please fill out your ballot and mail it by Tuesday. Here is an example of a lovely email I have received from a couple as to why they have voted for me.
"My wife and I are twenty year residents of Washington and are newly arrived in Edmonds after nine and half years in Kirkland. I wanted to inform you that based on your platform both my wife and I have voted for you. Here's why: as residents of Kirkland we saw our city council sell-out to developers which meant “McMansions” in our neighborhood, higher taxes, more traffic congestion (yes, they brought more condo housing in--but there was no subsequent planning for the impact on local transportation). In addition, there was no way, given the geography of the main arterial road, that any meaningful adjustments could have been made (i.e. same concept here, as "the bowl" and waterfront encircle the city center proper).
The end results I've partially stated above with this observation. The development turned Kirkland into no more than a smaller version of Bellevue, leaving it without a character of its own. The developers and a few businesses made money, but many small businesses were driven out. We don't want to see the very same things happen to Edmonds, which we find to be vibrant, charming, beautiful and unique.
I believe we need representatives who will fight to maintain height limits, support public input on land use, (because closed door sessions smack of backroom deals). In addition, we need responsible stewardship both of our lovely waterfront and parks. Failure to maintain height restrictions would again allow developers to make money, but destroy the town's character. Furthermore, consider the impact on the majority of the people who live here. Residents would not only lose their sublime views but see their own property values diminish, what about their rights?
Finally, I am not anti-business, I believe that wise use of our land, seashore and arts community is healthy for our businesses. Many of our friends, local residents, tourists (both in-state and international) come here because Edmonds is unique. Further, our town will be even more prized for having maintained itself in the face of Washington's growing population and we will reap the benefits. People will come to visit, for the same reasons people choose to live here, what's required is a long term view. If we lose what is unique about Edmonds, we lose not only business but indeed the soul of our community. We must preserve our quality of life and that requires both vision and leadership."
Thank-you Scott and Vicki for voting for me.
8/11/09 - Let's talk about Auditor and scopes. I was a BANK AUDITOR in the 70's which travelled around Oregon checking the books and ensuring the debits and credits, assets and liabilities accounts, cash, and safety deposit boxes were all in check. We DID NOT provide an opinion as to how managment was managing other than if we found large amounts of cash missing. When I was as CREDIT EXAMINER, we examined the safety and soundness of the loans and lines of credits as well as the overdrafts. We were allowed to provide an opinion as to how effective the policy and procedures of the bank was being followed. We were ABLE TO RECOMMEND REMOVAL OF STAFF if we found unsafe and unsound practices. When I was a FEDERAL REGULATOR we were able to look at HOW MANAGEMENT MANAGES and if they were spending the institution's money wisely. We could recommend remove of staff, set sanctions or even close the bank. When I left the Treasury in the 80's the regulations covering savings and loans (i.e. WAMU) were strong and complete to include safety and soundness and placing sanctions to prevent an institution from continuing along the path of poor lending and operating practices. Something happened five or so years ago to change those tight regulations as we now know what happened to WAMU.
In summary, AUDITOR'S SCOPES are strictly limited to checking the books and cash and yes, I do have the City of Edmonds' latest audit report. These reports DO NOT include providing opinions on how the money is being spent (i.e. is $1.8 million set aside for consultants) or how wisely the money is being spent. Stick by me and we will start a movement of change that this City has needed for years.
8/1/09 - PLEASE VOTE AFTER YOU HEAR ALL THE DEBATES (see my upcoming events schedule). This picture is my mom and me at our Family Reunion and you will soon find that I am all about family, community and service. A vote for me is a vote for the community.
Snohomish County support for a Human Rights Ordinance (which Edmonds has already passed) can be directed to Kathryn Bratcher at Kathrynbratcher@co.snohomish.wa.us and here is an example of what you can say:
"My name is Diane Buckshnis and I have seen many levels of discrimination throughout my professional career and personal encounters, both in the U.S. and Eastern European Countires. What I found as I dealt with many of these issues and circumstanceswas that education and compassion help bridge the barriers of pre-conceived prejudices. This Ordinance would provide the tools to bring people together and educate. More importantly, it would bring the issues to the limelight and cause people to take notice. Once highlighted, the educational processes can begin. So, please pass the Ordinance and let's move forward and create a world where people can look at each other with positive enlightment rather than fear and negativity."
Happy 90th Birthday Aunt Rose Marie and Doris Stirm! My seven year old short-haired collie Buster, learned to swim in the Kalama River today. Calm waters, hot day, lovely settings for our family reunion. Buster has been afraid of water all his life and we have had to carry him over streams before....so this feat...well, it was amazing. We spent about an hour getting him acclimated while he watched our ten-year old lab Buddy, swim around. I finally gave Buster a shove towards the ball and he started swimming towards it and my husband. When he turned around his eyes were buldging in fear, but he made it to me and my sister-in-law. We all clapped and gave him hugs as he whinned like a baby. However, by the tenth toss, he was swimming. It reminds me of my political career. He conquered his fear and became a champion and so will I.
7/31/09 - Sorry to those who were anxious to see the debates on ECC channel last night, as the City of Edmonds has now stepped in and wants the City Council to view and then vote on if the televised forum should be released. If approved it will be on Channel 21 playing at the City's discretion. I feel like I am back in Lithuania in 1996 with first the newspapers spinning their distractions and now censorship. I understand they MAY be on the ECC channel starting on Monday.
7/30/09 - For the Beacon's Candidate speak their piece today: disreguard the first four paragraphs of introductory as it appears to be something another opponent said; so just start where it says Buckshnis' bio. Also, you should be able to start seeing the Edmonds City Council debates for position no. 2 and position no. 3 on the Edmonds Community College channel (Comcast #26).
7/20/09 - By now most of you may have read about the waterfront "heights" issue in that Mr. Dykes applied for a contract rezone. The north structure includes two residential buildings above the podium, for a total height of 75 feet, not counting elevator and penthouse. The south structure inclues two residential building for a toal height of 60 feet. Hmmm, interesting time to be putting in for this re-zone prior to the Primary in which both Mr. Walmbolt and Mr. Peterson have accepted funds from him for their campaigns. Maybe we should just ask about the 30 foot questions? In 2004 and 2005, Mr Peterson is on record advocating for taller buildings as if not, the downtown will "whither away". In my opinion, the general public, including me, DOES NOT WANT taller buildings and condos. on the waterfront as people want to see the water and sky and have an open atmosphere that celebrates our charm and heritage. Taller buildings on the waterfront DO NOT equate to increase tourism or marketing of our town.
7/16/09 - If you watched Channel 21 recently, Ordinance 3745, a water utility tax was passed and I spoke twice about how problematic it was for a Citizen to review the data to make a decision (see blogs last month). A citizen is trying to obtain 3,000 signatures in order to put this decision on the ballot. Should you want to help this gentleman out, contact him through http://www.edmonds-wa.blogspot.com/ and he will need help as he only has three weeks to do it. So, get involved. I argued that there was not sufficient information and that once again the government is not providing the public with the information necessary to make an informed decision.
7/14/09 - Financials are out and the Finance Committee didn't seem to find any issues to discuss last night. The 2008 CAFR is also out with new and interesting items. I didn't seem to find the Mayor's summary anywhere. In any event, I have yet to really dive into the numbers, but plan on doing so next week while I am in NY waiting for our goods to show up at my husband's flat. So, stay tuned.
On a side note, I attended some endorsement meetings these last few weeks and I am astounded at how politicians can stand up and put people down that they don't even know. As a community organizer, if something derogatory is stated, we always allow each party to clear the air and find truth. But, I am finding that seems to be the MO here as of course, City Council and the Mayor sometimes lead us down this path by example. When elected, I will continue to treat everyone with respect and remove myself from any type of "character bashing".
7/8/09 - Fire Stations consolidation - my questions I asked last night: 1) Why now in the toughest finanaical times when real estate properties are very cheap and all investors are making deals? 2) What is in it for me and those serving on the force? 3) Will insurance coverage and pension plans remain similar to current past the 20 year deadline? 4) What about the consolidation in terms of firemen, as after five years, how will RIFs work? 5) Where is the meat of this entire proposal - the numbers? 6) Every citizen should be given sufficient data and an executive summary, so that anyone can understand the numbers and how those numbers change and the cost of pay-outs to the City. For me, my radar from my regulatory days tells me, it is not the time to sell property, even if it is a fire stations. Some of those stations are state of the art and I could see someone in some small rural town buying one and re-converting it to a home like they have done to barns. I also need to review this further as we were not provided any details other than an extensive power point presentation. Try and catch it on Ch21.
7/5/09 - The human calculator is in the air and heading for NY. The end of a nice era living a quiet life with great neighbors and community involvement while my husband worked for WAMU. All the anger, tears and agitation towards key individuals in the regulatory/banking circles will have to melt away as my new life has no time for negative feelings. The City of Edmonds will certainly miss the quietest, yet hardest working volunteer this City will ever know. Steve Tholl is a man of few words (unless its' sports, finance, and animals) but is fill with passion, grace, and intelligence beyond belief. We will miss him dearly.
7/04/09 - Happy 50th Birtday Nat! Thanks to all the volunteers that worked, walked, biked, sang, and just had fun at the Edmonds' 4th of July Parade. Special thanks to all the individuals at the Chamber of Commerce's that make the parade worthwhile. I missed my good friends Suzie and Ben Bradford as my oldest dog Buddy is severly frightened by firecrackers and loud sounds. We usually take him someplace where they cannot be heard or if heard, does not associate with our neighborhood. Animals suffer so much during this time of year.
6/26/09- Here is my levy answer: If I sat on the CC, I would pursue a specified "parks" levy as I stand by my word and have the leadership coupled with a strong financial and regulatory background that could help people see the money is not going into a black hole (i.e. general fund). I have listened to people and have an idea what they want (parks, senior center, pool). Since the Mayor and CC has spent hundreds of hours of our time and spent thousand of dollars on presentation materials AND vocalized that the levy was a do or die situation, I can not understand why the Mayor or CC are now having second thoughts. Are they now looking to sell the Fire services and infrastructure as a means of obtaining funds? What has changed from a couple of months ago? That question has not been answered.
Since I don't sit on CC, it really is not my decision. As I stated two weeks ago, passing a general fund levy is going to be problematic as CC has spent time on other issues (plastic bags, understanding some of our small businesses, Chapter 20, etc.) and the levy momentum is gone. What is most troublesome to me is that the Mayor and certain members of City Council continue to mock, disparage, and even scourn one another and citizens which in turn chips away civility. Another issue that concerns me is the way CC sometimes puts a spin on public input (i.e. this is the second or third public hearing or we have had a number of public hearings on these issues in the past). As an example, the public hearing for the water and utility rate increases was a joke as at the end of the day, staff got what they wanted. As a citizen, why should I waste my time trying to understand this issue when the data was first not available and then inadequately summarized and then the CC voted in favor of it anyway. It seems that the driver is spending time spinning the wheels with no one really steering. Lots of "mechanics" are making bundles of money on this car owner. I think we might need to find a new driver and/or someone to provide the oversight for the mechanics bills.
6/26/09 - I'm back from NY and we found my husband a nice row house in Jersey City three blocks from the Hudson. The Edmonds Art Festival was a great success and the Beacon printed a nice Letter to the Editor from my co-director Rune and me. I am grateful that Edmonds has such a thriving Arts Community and volunteers and sponsors willing to give. I had a blast except for a new contacts issue..so my advice - never try out new contacts at major events, stick to glasses if the old contacts are trashed. I will write more about the levy issue as I received over 25 emails on this subject. Time to unpack and repack for a short trip to Stumptown for my nephew's (Godson) graduation.
6/12/09 - Regarding Mr. Walmbolt's response in the Beacon: I am tired of disputing this case and am tired of being labeled that I don't understand. Passing Chapter 20 reduces City Council oversight and removes Citizens from appealing to City Council (our legislative body): those facts are indisputable.
6/3/09 - Council President DJ Wilson flipped flopped last night on Chapter 20. City Council passed it (4-2 with Orvis and Plunkett voting no) in its original context which means the City Council is completely removed from any type of oversight relating to substantial shoreline development and shoreline variences. While these elected officials accepted the job to guide our City, it appears to me that they are not taking the responsibility. Furthermore, now these Council members won't even be able to hear from YOU on these matters unless YOU spend thousands of dollars going through the court system. While Mr. Walmbolt criticized my comment regarding the Gregg proposal that was in the Washington State Ferry Report, he missed my point - developers are now able to do ANYTHING without City Council oversight or comment. I don't buy into this type of legislation and will continue to try and educate the public on this matter. It will only take one incident to clearly show that the City Council is now removed from this type of development.
Attorney costs! It would interesting to know how much money has been spent to date on attorney's fees in preparation for this plastic bag ordinance. Furthermore, if the City has to get involved in a legal dispute over this issue, Mr. Synder stated it will cost the City about $80K in preparation fees and now they have to also review it to make sure it complies to SEPA. Hmmmm.....looks like the attorney's budget of $500K may have to be bumped up. This money is taken from the General Fund which is what the Levy is to replenish.
Political pundit Bill Mahrer in his May 15th "Real Time with Bill Mahrer" show indicated that the world had gone through an economic 9/11 and that for years we will be rebuilding our financial and regulatory sectors. Although I strongly opposed this comparison (and wrote him about it) as I still vividly see those planes flying into the World Trade Centers and their subsequent collapse, and empathically feel for everyone that was touched by this horrific tragedy: his statement does vividly encapsulate the enormity of despair in our financial markets both in the US and abroad. For this reason, I am still shocked that the City Council changed the Emergency Finance Reserve Fund (Ordinance 2912) in April 2009, to further refine the language to reflect use only for an extreme natural manmade disaster.
The vote was narrowly defeated and Mr. Peterson, who championed this change, kept throwing out the term "more transparency" for the City. In reading the related documents for the City Council Approved Minutes dated January 12, 1993, (Laura Hall administration) it is clear this fund was to be utilized for both catastrophic natural events AND declines in Federal and other revenue, unanticipated emergency costs and emergency liabilities. Here is the summary: "The City Council hereby states as its policy, purpose and intent that the Emergency Reserve Fund has been established to handle unanticipated emergencies with which the City may be confronted including but not limited to declines in Federal or other revenue, unanticipated emergency costs and emergency liabilities....approved". Motion Carried. So, I really wonder if that money is there and why wasn't the interest ever put back into this account as opposed to the General Fund.
6/01/09 - Public accessibility to documents is once again a concern of mine over the public hearing tomorrow for the Utility Rate and Tax Increase. The seven exhibits attached for this public hearing did not include the study from the Financial Consulting Solutions (FCS) Group who apparently did an analysis that supports the increases. Once again, like with Chapter 20, the public is not provided the same information as City Council and as such, this public hearing should be postponed until all information is made available to the public. Furthermore, this firm has been "contracted by the City" for twelve years? No wonder our general fund budget for professional services is $1.8 million for 2009.
5/28/09 - Interesting City Council meeting this week. Three City Council members (SP, PPO, RW) all voted in favor of Chapter 20 in its present state. In fact, RW decided to take my Letter to the Editor comment and challenge what I had written (i.e. city bureacrats can now allow developers to waive shoreline enviromental regulations, reduce setbacks, or even allow taller buildings and these issues would not be able to go to appeal to our elected officials). Fortunately, City Council member Orvis was able to provide examples to support my comments since I could not provide my insight as public comment had been closed. His outstanding research and guidance on this issue led City Council President Wilson to vote against Chapter 20 in its present state.
5/25/09 - Government transparency and accountability was an issue our yellow team of the Citizen's Levy group brought up as in order to pass the levy, we needed "tools" to support why the City needed a General Fund Levy. As I am doorbelling I am getting lots of questions like: what comprises the General Fund; who manages it; why is it in need of funding as doesn't the City balance the budget every year; who provides the oversight...and so on. A lot of interest and interesting questions. I brought up two issues last week with member of City Council which I wanted an answer for and one item actually got pulled from the consent agenda, so that brought me some insight that someone is listening to me.
My first comment was that in February 2009, Mr. Bernheim provided the language to loosen the Dogs on Public Grounds ordinance 5.05.060 to include Sunset Avenue Overlook. In March, I presented a paper to the Public Safety Committee and Brian McIntosh that the non-profit group O.L.A.E. (Off-Leash Area Edmonds) was in support of this addition and that I had spoken to neighbors who lived on Sunset and with Animal Control Officer Dawson. It is now May and nothing has been done. I was contrasting the fact that in about a week's time, the City Attorney had provided three extensively written ordinances on plastic bags. So, I could not understand why there had been no ammendment to ordinance 5.05.060 and Mr. Berheim, who is an attorney, had provided the language. So, I was wondering what was taking so long to get this item added to the ordinance as it seems like a pretty simple thing to do.
My second issue was the questioning of a professional contract that was presented before the Finance Committee in May. Only Mr. Walmbolt was available for this presentation and the contract was presented without a competitive bid and "ad hoc" work had already been performed at a rate of $135 an hour payable in 15 minute increments. The contract was also loosely structure to include all types of services that would be difficult to trace, monitor or determine the extent of work being performed. I questioned the City Council President on this issue since it appeared to me that Mr. Walmbolt had been put in a precarious position and had to approve the contract. I further stated that in the 2007 State of Washington Accountabiltiy Audit Report that the City had been criticized for not complying with competitive laws.
Mr. Wilson's response was: "the full Council still has to review everything and doesn't abdicate authority to approve any reviewed items. So all of those concerns should be addressed through regular full Council review". However, I questioned him on his response as generally these type of service contracts appear on the consent agenda and I wondered if City Council members really reviewed this documents since they had already gone through committee. Fortunately this contract was pulled from the consent agenda and it will be interesting to see how it will now be handled since the work is probably still moving forward. The 2009 budget for this fiber optic project is $200K and the budget for professional services is $1.8 million. If this contract would have been approved without my questioning, it makes me wonder how many other contracts have gone through the system this was as well. So, stay tuned and I will try and fill you in!
5/20/09 - As soon as I really retire, I am going to write a autobiography about my life in Lithuania after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Those were the days when I had to stand in separate lines to get my bread, meat, eggs, sundries, etc. and all checkout women wore uniforms, filled out detailed grocery slips and EVERYTHING was strictly regulated. Well, almost everything was regulated except for the crowds....as many women would cut in front of me in the lines as I kept a larger personal space. I would look at the policeman standing at the door with his oozie and he would just smile. During that time, we worked very hard with the government to deregulate and reregulate their laws.
I was asked an question last night at my Police union interview what I thought was the largest pressing issue for this City. My response was MONEY and working on ways to curtail our expenses and increase our revenues. I was at the Community Development meeting on May 12th where attorney Bio Park presented three lengthy ordinances for reducing plastic bags. I have participated in a lengthy email string that Mr. Bernheim started to get community input regarding this issue. At last night council, attorney Scott Snyder provided some insight on an existing regulation on single-use bags. We all can agree that thousands of hours have been devoted to this important public awareness issue. At last night's meeting Ron Walmbolt provided a pretty informative example of what can happen with over-regulation. As a citizen, I applauded Ron (and got heckling) as he is financial savvy and brought the BUDGET issue to the forefront and the fact that we need to prioritize how we are spending our money. The attorney's budget is $500K and professional sevices is $1.8 million in the 2009 budget.
While I do not mind having an ordinance or paying a fee for plastic bags as I do not use them anyway; I do believe we need to continue to focus on our environment. However, I have also learned from my five years in Lithuania that society CAN CHANGE without regulation and simply with proper EDUCATION. We don't have a recycling ordinance and yet we all recycle.
5/17/09 - I had an interesting conversation with Dennis Gallagher the other night regarding why I chose to run for position #2. If I had been appointed to that position, I would have welcomed Strom Peterson to run against me. In this regard, I would want to ensure that I was the public's choice and not be handed the position. So, this was the only logical choice.
5/11/09 - Blessed are the journalist as they can write press releases: I never knew how difficult it was until I walked in their shoes. After hours of emails back and forth with my editing crew, my beloved cousin (out of the blue) saves us with formatting and structure. I am running for position #2 as I believe that position should be won by public vote. Click here for my press release.
5/5/09 - Chapter 20 is back on the menu tonight. I have already spoken about this twice. First time I said there was not sufficient transparency for the public as a necessary matrix wasn't included. The second time, I had the past procedures vs. new procedures matrix and insighfully saw that the the City Council would not be involved in substantial shoreline development and variences. HELLO! Did you just see what you read. In the new process, a citizen can appeal to the City Council, but that is only after the person has hired a lawyer and appeared before the superior court to defend the Hearing Examiner's ruling. So, tonight rather than go celebrate the Cinco de Mayo with all my fellow Art Festival friends, I will be at City Council defending our rights as citizens one more time.
5/02/09 - Spent the morning at the Edmonds Floretum Garden Club and had a great time. Made a lot of money for those scholarships and I learned a lot about plants. My next gig will be a Rock the Vote Concert on June 7th at Dr. Rich Senderoff's house and please find out details on my upcoming events page. My favorite "Edmonds' Idol" Suzie Bradford and the Side Project will be performing the benefit. It is from 2-5 PM and will be catered by Zeitoon Cafe and Bistro partnering with Plush Catering. ROCK THE VOTE and come see what I am all about! Contact Rich at richsend@comcast.net for more details.
4/25/09 - Betty and Brian Larman hosted a tea for me today to kick-off my campaign. About forty people showed up with many questions. My five minutes speech had over an hour of questions and answers. It was a very valuable experience and a good representation of the community. Click here to see my brochure. The time is now to implement change and I will be your best advocate.
4/24/09 - If you are not a pet lover, well don't bother reading this as this day was dedicated to Duke Buckshnis-Perkins, a St. Bernard/Labador mix who weighed 150 pounds, slobbered like crazy, howled to music and was one tough defender of property. Thank God I got to pet that big goof on Easter and give him love and affection. Dukie was peacefully laid to rest today in Redland, Oregon at the great age of 12.
4/21/09 - The Emergency Finance Reserve Fund (Ordinance 2912) was narrowly defeated last night to further refine the language to reflect use only for an extreme natural manmade disaster. Mr. Peterson who championed this change kept throwing out the term "more transparency" for the City. In reading the related documents under the Laura Hall administration, it is clear this fund was to be utilized for both catastrophic natual events AND declines in Federal and other revenue, unanticipated emergency costs and emergency liabilities. Considering last week that Mayor Nickles spent $5.0 million of Seattle's reserve fund to close the budget gap, he at least, understands what type of "economic catastrophy" we are currently living in and the challenges all of us are facing. Mr. Peterson was also going to present another resolution concerning creating a "General Reserve Fund" for the general reserve. This reserve would be approximately 15% of the General Reserve and of that newly created reserve 33% would be dedicated to times when there was a man-made disaster. HUH! Isn't this the same as Ordinance 2912? Fortunately, he pulled it for a later date, but he is not making any sense on this resolution.
Lastly, although I like to keep things factual and without emotion, last night should have been a night of CELEBRATION over the community getting together and providing funding and ideas in order to open YOST POOL. Instead, I must admit I was embarrassed at the actions of the Mayor and City Council over the Yost Pool fee increases. While I agree, City Council was not given the proper information in their packet and therefore should ask questions, I was appauled at the name-calling and cheap jabs coming from the Mayor and that of course won't make it to the written word. We should have been thanking the community and instead it turned into a TV drama. I was also surprised that Mr. Peterson did not support opening the pool and indicated that without the increased fees, the City would be stealing from somewhere else.
4/17/09 - Community is the ESSENCE of our lives. While I participated in the Citizen's Levy Committee and our Yellow Team spent hundreds of hours developing thoughtful questions, most of those questions remain unanswered. I stumbled onto a Citizen's Levy Group process that was utilized last year in Redmond and if you have a chance to check this out, click on this link.
4/8/09 - Although I brought up the land use permitting issues again and the proposed Ferry and Skipper/Gregg partnership plans, the night really belonged to Peggy Pritchard Olson. She is an inspiration to us all and Senator Paull Shin gave a great presentation! God Bless you - Peggy, and Team Peggy for all their help.
4/07/09 - I have been deep in number crunching for the Citizen's Levy Committee. While I think the Committee is a great idea and the group has many seasoned professionals, we are not really looking at the numbers or being provided venues to ask specific questions regarding our current economic situation and when we pose these questions to the City, we get answers that dance around the topics. When I am elected, I am going to bring transparency to the citizens so we can see where our money is being spent and look at ways to increase revenue. The City of Seattle had a windfall when they installed those parking kiosk in 2006. It is time to RE-THINK how we run this City. As an example, the Hood Canal Bridge will be out of commission in May and June. We could easily market our City as one way of getting to Port Townsend is via the Edmonds - Kingston Ferry.
3/24/09 - It was quite an emotional meeting last night as many spoke about "re-thinking" how we manage Yost Pool and dealing with the budgetary crisis. When I first arrived in Lithuania in 1994, to assist that Country's lawmakers in restructuring its regulatory system, it was like stepping back in time 75 years. That Baltic Gem was in a financial disarray with only a Soviet framework to live by. The Lithuanians had to "re-think" how they ran their public institutions, how they lived, how they created commerce and how to survive as a community. One of the most important values my fellow Lithuanians held close to their hearts and promoted was taking care of their seniors and their youth: the seniors because the past can never be forgotten and history needs to be written, and the youth because they are our future. I was part of a monumental change that I never imagined could happen and I believe we need to employ some of these same strategies today. As citizens, we need to pull together as a community and support our leaders and give them our ideas so that we can create our own movement. Let's use this crisis to break the mold and define a new future in public service for our generation. I have attached a compelling article called Crisis as an Opportunity and I think you will see some of my ideas are captured in this document.
3/17/09 - What an interesting night at City Council! There was quite a controversary over Chapter 20 or rules dealing with the processes and procedures relating to land use issues and the permitting process. As an example, if a citizen decides to appeal a ruling given by a Hearing Examiner, the citizen will now have to go to the Superior Courts rather than the City Council. Or, another issue a citizen may face is city bureaucrats potentially can no allow developers to waive shoreline environmental regulators, reduce setbacks, or even allow taller buildings and these issues would not be able to go to appeal to our elected officials.
This was a complex chapter and one of my main complaints was that there was no transparency for the public. The entire chapter was re-written and Planning Board Member Reed requested that City staff prepare a spreadsheet for the public hearing so that we could indentify the current processes to that of the proposed processes. This information was never made available to the public. As citizens, we need to be getting all the information that the City Council receives in order for us to provide sufficient comments regarding these serious issues at public hearings as this is a way for OUR VOICE to be heard and we can help mold this City. Unfortunately, the City Council voted 4-3 in favor of passing this law which will now RESTRICTS THE PUBLIC from interfacing with the City Council and I was quite shocked that they did not vote this issue down and request a second hearing. Councilmembers Plunkett, Orvis and Bernheim seem to have got it and voted it down. I wonder how Deanna Dawson would have voted?
Lastly, I am now in the throes of politics as DJ Wilson decided to throw me under the bus for no reason and said that I was passing around a rumor that the Citizen's Levy Review Committee was being disbanded. I do not know what "grape vine" he is listening too, but it is obviously someone who is trying to cause my campaign havoc. I don't really make it a habit to pass around negative rumors and always look for a positive spin on all things. Happy St. Pat's Day to all my Irish friends!
3/14/09 - I saw a large plane flying overhead near my house the other day and thought I better check out the latest news regarding the potential expansion of Paine Field to allow commercial flights. If you haven't check out my resume, I was a project manager for a company that sold integrated weather stations. We had a contract with the Air Force and I worked with airmen at McChord AFB and saw the different jets take-off and land. While it was fascinating and beautiful to watch, I was able to see the impact of sound and air quality from these lovely flying birds. Save our Communities is a non-profit group of concerned citizens (me included) dedicated to preserving the quality of life in residential neighborhoods of Puget Sound. Their largest concern is opposing Paine Field from becoming Sea-Tac North. So, if you have a chance, check out the website, and if you believe in keeping commercial flights out of Paine Field, write to Congressman Jay Inslee or Senator Patty Murray and Senator Maria Cantwell and tell them your opinion.
3/12/09 - An inquiry came in from Mr. Jim Wilkinson regarding my opinion about the short-term rental issue. Mr. Wilkinson owns the tri-plex on Sunset Ave. and would like the city to change the ordinances to allow for weekly rentals in SFR zoned areas. I had a commercial zoned home in Lincoln City OR that was used as a short-term rental while I was working in Lithuania. While the income was lucrative and I paid the necessary VAT taxes to the City, it divided the neighborhood and caused dissension. Additonally, my beautiful home and exterior yard and fence quickly became an eye-sore from transient use. Consequently, I am opposed to any short-term renting shorter than 30-days.
I have sat back and watching this issue unfold at the Planning Committee, in the neighborhoods, and at City Council. While I am sure Mr. Wilkinson could screen his renters and keep an eye on their activites so as not to disrupt the neighborhood that much, I can see many other people trying to get some extra income who may not use as stringent standards. As such, changing the ruling would potentially degrade and divide our neighborhoods. My platform is for promoting and retaining Edmonds heritage and gaining back our community spirit. I see no way how short-term rentals could effectively enhance our City's image.
3/04/09 - Spent the morning at the Fabric of Life store (where I volunteer) as founding member Carol (Schillios) was doing a spot for King 5 news. It was an uplifting piece and supports everything that I believe: that in order to promote change, we must first "walk the walk" so that we easily "talk the talk". In this regard, we can work effectively with the people involved in the change and make them feel the need to be a part of it...and then hopefully, change will occur. Like many, both Carol and I have been working all our lives through various stages of change. Her work in Africa is probably more pronounced than my work in Lithuania, Kazahstan or even during the savings and loan crisis in the 1980's; but one thing is clear...to implement change we must rise together and work as a community and rely on each other for strength and knowledge.
At last night council meetings, I applaud DJW for bringing up the issue of increasing advertising revenue by charging a higher cost to vendors who advertise in various locations throughout the City (i.e., Yost Pool and banners on Caspers Street). It is unfortunate that the Mayor took offense and cut him off using a micro-managing comment. The banners that are placed on Caspers Street are marketing our City's assets and letting locals and tourists know of developing events. I did not think this was an unreasonable request even in today's environment. It is unfortunate DJW had to let the issue die as it was a quite valid.
3/2/2009 - Working on completing and compiling the edits of our O.L.A.E. newsletter. I decided to take a break and read both the Beacon and Enterprise. In viewing these papers and the (CC's) retreat mintues, I thought....why has the CC President selected the newly appointed CC Member to be in charge of the Sustainability Agenda as opposed to our veteran CC (Sustainable) Member. I am not saying that either man is not dedicated and has donated hundreds of hours to the various causes...but, if my husband and I were stranded on a desert island and had to pick another couple to survive with...it would be the Bernheim-Bauer team. Yes, I do watch "Survivor" (although I do fast-forward a lot) and started watching it in 1999 with my dad who was dying of cancer.
2/25/2009 - Just spent the afternoon helping Betty Larmen with the Edmonds Floretum Garden Club's 501(c)3 and got inspired! I have decided that the best way for my readers and supporters to get to know my opinions and thoughts on certain items presented to City Council this year, would be to blog about it. I am now going to City Council Meeting and here is a link to their website if you want to look at the agenda or minutes.
The 2/24/2009 City Council meeting was too long. By the time we got to the working part of the meeting discussing Chapter 20 (which deals with a number of new concepts such as moving certain applications and permit processing away from City Council and therefore, creating less governmental transparency) it was 9:45 pm. Roger H. gave me his document and I looked at it and read his notations. There was little, if no comparisons, given to which part of Chapter 20 was being removed, changed, or amended; I agreed with what Bernheim, Orvis and Plunkett said and then I left. I believe the City Council needs to be more transparent so everyone can get on the same page. When I was a regulator any and all rules and regulations were highlighted and/or annotated to a separate page. Everything given to City Council should be clearly documented and accounted for and...in saying that: I need to do the research on the dangerous dog laws and off-leash regulations that the City Council at Mountlake Terrace just passed and present these differences to our City Council and not rely on Officer Dawson or others to do the legwork.
My only other comment about this meeting would be this: why are we still spending money and time to continue to promote an under-funded project (Edmonds Crossing would move the ferry system less than a mile south) that has been going on for fifteen years? Think of how much time, money, and energy that has spent by the staff, the Mayor, the City Council, the consultants, and of course, the public for having to listen. Moreover, think of the ecological impact of moving the ferry in regards to the wetlands, the salmon hatchery and the birds nesting in that area. Also, the downtown merchants will suffer from the lack of ferry foot traffic. More importantly, what about the tourism and the community that will be lost due to the destruction of Marina Beach Park and the off-leash dog area. Fifteen years is long enough to continue to dream, especially in this recession. We don't want to continue thinking like the "Field of Dreams" movie: if we build it, they will come.