Before beginning the before beginning, I'm not even going to try to get rid of all that underlining. Just as with the sheriff's italics, I don't know how to deal with the underlining and I really don't want to have to retype this whole thing. Be aware the underlining is an artifact and means nothing. If anyone would like to offer me a lesson or two in Blogger, it would not be taken amiss.
Before beginning, I need to clear up some confusion. Island
County, like most, has 3 County Commissioners, each representing their own
district. Only the residents of the district vote for a commissioner in the
primary. The general election, by contrast, is open to everyone in the county.
So, while this race will not show on your ballot unless you are in District 3
(Camano and North Whidbey), I might as well do the homework now because 1/3 of
you need the information now and the rest of
you are going to need the info in November for the general election.
rhannold@comcast.net
I’ve been watching Rick Hannold for
the last 4 years and to say that I am underwhelmed would be a gross
understatement.
The latest in a series of
foot-in-mouth episodes involves Hannold’s appointment of Planning Commission
members. Each County Commissioner appoints 3 Planning Commissioners from their
district. Hannold chose to appoint 3 women who all believe that people should
have to earn the right to live in Island County, and that people who live in
tents in the woods do so as a lifestyle choice. After 2 years of work on an
Affordable Housing plan, Hannold’s latest appointee torpedoed the whole thing –
and Hannold defended her. The Planning Commission holds a great deal of power
over how we live our lives in Island County. Hannold has made it clear with his
appointments that poor and working people need not apply for residence.
He has consistently refused to spend
and even refused to accept funds for projects in districts other than his own –
and when he is overridden, claims credit for the good the projects have done.
There was a package of federal and
state grants to build a trail from the Clinton ferry to Ken’s Corner. Hannold
and Jill Johnson turned back that funding because they had other priorities in
their own districts. Never mind that there was no funding for those other
priorities. We end up losing the Clinton trail and having no funds for the Oak
Harbor and north trails. Good work, guys.
Hannold has consistently tried to
shut down the Conservation Futures fund and program. In his campaign literature
he claims to have “successfully reorganized” Conservation Futures. Right. His
reorganization eliminated the Technical Advisory Group which did the research on which decisions were
based. Conservation Futures is the program which provides the seed money which
Whidbey Camano Land Trust so skillfully leverages into significant grants which
they then use to buy such places as the Trillium forest, conservation easements
all over Ebey’s Landing National Historic Reserve, and Barnum Point on Camano,
among many others. Without that seed money those other grants are not
available. Rumor has it that Hannold tried to sell off Barnum Point to
developers. Failing that, he then took credit for what I hear is becoming a
great public asset. And in his campaign material he even takes credit for the
Land Trust’s work securing the Fakkema Farm. Now that is some chutzpah, given
that WEAN spent inordinate amounts of $$ defending Island County against Oak
Harbor’s demand to annex the farm, and WCLT eventually raised the multiple
millions to buy the development rights.
One of Angie Homola’s accomplishments
as a commissioner was to create the Clean Water Utility, intended to fund
projects to do just that. I found the minutes of a Water Resources Advisory
Committee meeting from late 2016 in which it was reported that “C/Johnson and
C/Hannold were not in support of implementing this phase of the CWU. Bill Oaks
has a million dollars in reserve with approximately $600,000 spent annually.
They voted 2-1 to not release the money this year.” One might conclude from
this that Hannold is not interested in protecting our water quality, even when
specifically designated funds are available and waiting to be spent.
Hannold also claims to have saved
Island Transit from bankruptcy. Right.
Most egregious is Hannold’s claim to
have “led Island County’s victorious fight to keep multi-national open net fish
farms away from Whidbey and Camano Island waters.” Maybe I’m most PO’d about
this one because I was so intimately involved in the entire process. It began
in 2010 when Angie Homola convinced her fellow commissioners to support a ban
on Atlantic salmon net pens in the upcoming review and update of Island
County’s Shoreline Master Program. The review and update went forward and
eventually was sent to Ecology for review and approval. Ecology held the
Shoreline Master Program hostage, demanding Island County remove the ban. There
were a series of meetings and hearings, all of which Steve and I attended.
Steve wrote a major paper summarizing all the science he could on the subject,
and Ecology’s negotiator, Mr Tim Gates, acknowledged that Steve’s paper was the
reason they waited 2 whole years to respond, and when they did it was to cave
in an allow Island County’s ban. Rick Hannold’s only involvement in any of this
was to approve the final adoption.
Oh, and Rick Hannold does not believe
that climate change is real, so sees no reason why Island County should prepare
for it.
I have very strong feelings about
giving credit where credit is due. There is no shortage of this commodity and
it doesn’t cost a lot to acknowledge what others have done. Rick Hannold has
obviously never learned this lesson.
Janet is more than a breath of fresh
air. She’s a bit of a strong wind who will stir up Island County government in
a most positive way. Her background is in human services. She sits on the
Island County Community Health Advisory Board, so already has some idea of how
things work (or fail to work) at the county. Among other things she has seen
just how personally offensive some county commissioners can be, which has
caused her to take a pledge for civility. That in itself is a welcome and long
needed change.
Unlike incumbent Hannold, Janet has
genuine hands-on experience in developing and administering significant
budgets.
Here are the points Janet makes in
her campaign literature:
·
Access to healthcare, including mental health and substance abuse
treatment
·
Dignified retirement and resources to age in place
·
Affordable housing and economic
opportunities for Island County residents
·
Parks, access to beach and open space for everyone to explore our outdoor
wonders
·
Stewardship of the natural beauty of our islands through sound planning
and policies
·
Respectful, experienced leadership that values community and people above
all
Janet believes climate change is real and that human activity
is responsible for it. She sees that Island County can reduce its impact and
can prepare for such things as sea level rise. She already leads a small
environmental organization in pubic education on these issues. She proposes, as commissioner, to work
locally and regionally to develop policies and provide incentives for positive
behavior. She is a proponent of low impact development, reducing stormwater
runoff, working toward converting the county’s vehicle fleet to lower energy,
providing more electric vehicle charging stations, and supporting I-1631, the
proposed carbon tax.
She has plans to deal with homelessness and affordable
housing, and the background and experience to lend some reality to those plans.
Here’s a quote:
I support the following strategies that
can increase housing inventory while staying within GMA mandates and protect
the rural and small town nature of our communities.
a.
Increase in-fill housing inventory in establish urban growth areas and
incorporated towns/cities
b.
Create and incentivize co-housing and shared housing policies that do meet
septic and water standards
c.
Develop policies for micro-housing on large parcels that do not detract or
damage our environment and farms
d. Incentives for
owners to transfer existing housing from a VRBO inventory to rental inventory
where fiscally possible
At the candidates’ night Janet
pledged to hold town hall meetings on a regular schedule, both on Camano and
North Whidbey, in the evening so working people can attend. She also wants to
work on ‘virtual representation.’ Something Angie Homola spent years
accomplishing was a video link between the county courthouse and the Camano
annex, so people on Camano could participate without driving for several hours.
The technology has advanced and Janet wants to make use of those advances to
increase distance participation.
On the environmental front, she spoke
about the need to “de-armor” Island
County’s shorelines. There are in fact regulations to prevent new bulkheads,
but those are honored primarily in the breach. The effect of all these
bulkheads is that the waves which would otherwise run out on the shore are
blocked, but bulkheads have ends, so the blocked waves go around the ends of
those bulkheads with more volume and energy – and erode the neighboring
properties. There are technologies called “soft shore armoring” which could in
many cases replace those bulkheads, reduce the wave energy, and prevent
damaging erosion. Janet gave the recent project(s) at Cornet Bay as a great
example.
Someone raised the issue of NAS and
Growler noise over Coupeville and the prairie. Janet responded that this was
very much an economic issue, and that even the Navy itself says that there are
alternatives. They just don’t want to implement them. Janet sees the preferred
alternative as having too great an impact on central Whidbey. She is very clear
that challenging the current and proposed flight patterns and numbers does not
make people anti Navy. She sees a tremendous adverse economic impact which she
does not believe the people on central Whidbey should have to shoulder. She
intends to consult with Rick Larsen and Senators Murray and Cantwell to address
this, and ask them what plans they have to buy out all those homes and farms.
Island County needs economic mitigation for the Navy’s plans.
Janet will make a great county
commissioner and if I could vote for her in the primary I would do so in a hot
flash. I will definitely do so in the general election. I would/will vote for Janet St Clair.
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