Two basic political concepts were trashed last night
Permalink +Tue, May 20, 2003, 4:33 pm // John Servais
The Bellingham city council passed the Public Facilities District (PFD) agreement last night. What was passed was 100% what the mayor, last September, told the PFD board to propose. They obeyed. The board obstructed any public involvement for eight months. Last night's hearing was for political appearance only - as was betrayed by an internal city email. The presenters, including Tony Larson and his excellent slide show, demolished the mayor's lies. But the council again obeyed the mayor. We will now spend $13 million on a hodgepodge of startup projects that all will need $60 to $100 million in bonds or levies to be completed. The only good thing will be upgrading of the Mt Baker Theater which could be done with separate funds.The city and the PFD board are wide open to lawsuits and a referendum. The illegal processes are so blatant - not following state laws on public meetings - and the recommended projects in violation of what state law allows - museum storage space and the partial funding of a new library - that we could see all PFD funds lost by our city. The blame will rest with the mayor's fat-cat friends on the PFD board who started meeting in secret executive sessions almost before they had organized last year and the mayor who pushed through the process with his usual ability to openly lie and sidestep public process.
Sour grapes? No. The Mt Baker Theater deserves all our support. But the athletic complex deserves as much support. The mayor has allowed those stadiums to fall into disrepair. The Island View Park proposal also has great merit and is a natural for our city.
More than we can afford? No. User fees, Greenways funds and perhaps a modest bond issue could fund all three easily. Use of the PFD funds for the athletic complex - which needs $10 million - would allow us to spend lesser amounts on the other two.
But the PFD is more than we can afford. Most of the PFD total of $13 million will be spent to start up projects that will take millions to complete - another museum and two new theaters. The worst project is a parking garage for city and county employees - an illegal use of the PFD funds. For ten years every planning study has recommended a new parking garage downtown - never for city hall and the court house. One of the mayor's lies is saying studies and ten years of planning support this parking garage. The council gazes at him and votes as he tells them. After three hours of public hearing last night the council did not even discuss the concerns people spoke to. They asked staff a few short questions and voted to pass the PFD agreement.
Two basic political concepts were trashed last night. Public process and fiscal conservancy. It is time that we who have fought for years for true public process join with those who have fought for years for responsible public spending and elect a new mayor and a new city council.
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