City Club luncheon
City Club luncheon
First a bit of news. It seems ACB will not be moving to the outskirts of Ferndale for their expanded manufacturing space. Instead they are negotiating with the Port to move into the soon-to-be-vacant
First a bit of news. It seems ACB will not be moving to the outskirts of Ferndale for their expanded manufacturing space. Instead they are negotiating with the Port to move into the soon-to-be-vacant GP tissue converting plant.
The City Club luncheon today, with the two mayoral candidates speaking and answering questions, was packed to the walls with people. Over 300 and the MC noted how large it was. We were rewarded with an hour of great point and counter point by the two Dans. It was one of the best candidate forums I've ever attended. By the end every person there could have a solid feeling about who they were going to vote for. One person drew strong applause from all when he said that no matter which won, we were going to get a good mayor.
The audience wanted a clean campaign and at two or three points in the forum the candidates touched on this issue. Pike simply said he is only addressing issues. McShane brought up criticism and conspiracy and mixed them up with rumors. He seemed to equate criticism with rumors. It would be nice to have a video of this entire forum but there probably is none. I was particularly attuned to McShane's answer on this because of the personal insults that have been sent my way by the McShane campaign people over my criticism of McShane. Now I know a bit more. They have trouble discerning criticism from rumor.
The best question was perhaps when they were asked to each identify two differences between themselves. Pike went first and said: 1) that he would work for solutions in the neighborhoods and Lake Whatcom without creating two new departments as McShane has proposed and 2) he would work for better collaboration between departments on city issues and the city/county/port on regional issues. McShane said: 1) he was not afraid of change as we grow into a big city and 2) he has more experience dealing with local planning issues.
Judge for yourself. For me, the issue of Pike being afraid of change was a surprise. Where did that come from? No one till now has suggested that Pike is afraid of change. To me, this is how rumors start. McShane did not give any example to back up this statement. Ok, so now Pike is afraid of change. How do you counter that? Watch to see if this spreads.
By the way, McShane had minutes before talked of how collaboration was almost impossible when working to make a million-dollar project go forward. Pike had spoken of how he got collaboration with many state and local governments and agencies over the past few years as he administered several multi-million-dollar transportation improvements in Puget Sound. So his citing that as a difference was based on what McShane himself had said.
I came away feeling very good about supporting Dan Pike. He continues to impress with his grasp of the issues and concerns that we have - and with how he will approach them to find solutions we all can live with. While Dan McShane is a fine guy and works for our community betterment, I think that with Dan Pike we have a rare opportunity to elect a person who will make an outstanding mayor. We want to elect this guy and put him to work for us as head of our city government. And we can expect very good things from him.
The City Club luncheon today, with the two mayoral candidates speaking and answering questions, was packed to the walls with people. Over 300 and the MC noted how large it was. We were rewarded with an hour of great point and counter point by the two Dans. It was one of the best candidate forums I've ever attended. By the end every person there could have a solid feeling about who they were going to vote for. One person drew strong applause from all when he said that no matter which won, we were going to get a good mayor.
The audience wanted a clean campaign and at two or three points in the forum the candidates touched on this issue. Pike simply said he is only addressing issues. McShane brought up criticism and conspiracy and mixed them up with rumors. He seemed to equate criticism with rumors. It would be nice to have a video of this entire forum but there probably is none. I was particularly attuned to McShane's answer on this because of the personal insults that have been sent my way by the McShane campaign people over my criticism of McShane. Now I know a bit more. They have trouble discerning criticism from rumor.
The best question was perhaps when they were asked to each identify two differences between themselves. Pike went first and said: 1) that he would work for solutions in the neighborhoods and Lake Whatcom without creating two new departments as McShane has proposed and 2) he would work for better collaboration between departments on city issues and the city/county/port on regional issues. McShane said: 1) he was not afraid of change as we grow into a big city and 2) he has more experience dealing with local planning issues.
Judge for yourself. For me, the issue of Pike being afraid of change was a surprise. Where did that come from? No one till now has suggested that Pike is afraid of change. To me, this is how rumors start. McShane did not give any example to back up this statement. Ok, so now Pike is afraid of change. How do you counter that? Watch to see if this spreads.
By the way, McShane had minutes before talked of how collaboration was almost impossible when working to make a million-dollar project go forward. Pike had spoken of how he got collaboration with many state and local governments and agencies over the past few years as he administered several multi-million-dollar transportation improvements in Puget Sound. So his citing that as a difference was based on what McShane himself had said.
I came away feeling very good about supporting Dan Pike. He continues to impress with his grasp of the issues and concerns that we have - and with how he will approach them to find solutions we all can live with. While Dan McShane is a fine guy and works for our community betterment, I think that with Dan Pike we have a rare opportunity to elect a person who will make an outstanding mayor. We want to elect this guy and put him to work for us as head of our city government. And we can expect very good things from him.
