Kitsap County is a great place to live, but it's turning into a big whore for Seattle and for growth. There's a saying about not being able to see the forest through the trees and that's a very fitting statement about some of the leaders we have at the state and county level.

First, I'm tired of hearing everyone rail on me because I should embrace growth. I am unapologetic in my statement that I do not embrace it. If I wanted big cities, huge entertainment venues, traffic jams and crime, I would move to Seattle or Olympia. I moved to Port Orchard for a reason, and I'm seriously considering leaving it for those same reasons. You people who like to pave over the whole world in the name of growth and progress are the same ones of you who pack up your RVs and drive hundreds of miles to sit in a crowded campground and feel good about yourself for "getting away from it all." There is nothing wrong with having rural living areas, nothing wrong with those who choose to live in them, and nothing at all wrong with taking a long breather on the way to ruining this planet for all those who come after us. I think many of you won't be happy until the whole county is a solid cement slab and you choke on the same toxic air that has killed the entire ecosystem but by golly, you'll have your ferries and your stupid Nascar race and your arteries will be as clogged and ineffective as your highways.

(Keywords: Gorst, traffic jam, bottleneck, Jan Angel, County commissioners, Nascar, Kitsap Sun).
Read on ...

Jan Angel is a wonderful woman whom I have known for a long time but from what I read in the newspapers, she's really turned into a person I can no longer relate to. When she first became a county commissioner, I accused her of becoming a "career politician." I later retracted that, very apologetically. But on the issue of Nascar, Jan and I do not see eye to eye and I am her biggest and often, most vocal, critic. She spoke to our Kiwanis Club 15 months ago, but didn't stop talking long enough to listen and understand the fact that WE DO NOT WANT THE TRACK! It's amazing how a politician can speak to a room full of people who are grumbling and shaking their heads but the politician hears accolades and sees enthusiastic nods.

What part of "It's not good for Washington" don't they understand? Just look at all the legal-wrangling and back-door attempts at legislation to make this fly. True, there are some who want it. And I will give you a bone in that there would be some economic benefit to the county. But that's it - some economic benefit. But that benefit takes other items off the table - things that are vital to our quality of life. Why don't we fix problems we already have before rushing to create more?

And there are many; I'll bring up just one: Do our County Commissioners ever sit in the Gorst bottleneck? I do. Every day. I waste 60 to 90 minutes of my life every day in it. I'm late to pick up my kids, I miss parent teacher conferences, I get flipped off three or four times a week and sometimes I really really really have to pee but I can't. What are our local leaders doing about that? Anything?

Let me put it this way: KITSAP COUNTY COMMISSIONERS: WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT THE GORST BOTTLENECK? Is a one-or-two weekend a year sporting event more important to you than the thousands of us who waste entire concatenated lifetimes to that traffic jam? Why are you even in your position? I would have you all thrown out, the entire kit-n-kaboodle, on that issue alone. And what about my property taxes? $500 increase in one year? And $110 to register the tabs on my truck? Do you commissioners (and politicians, Gregoire included) really think that we are a bottomless pit?

I make a good salary and do a job I love to do but I'm bleeding out of the ears with all this. And now you want to build a track. The "Back the Track" people say it will require no new taxes. What, we have $130 million just laying around? How can that be? And, true as it may be that there will be no immediate taxes raised in the name of the track, we all know that you'll get it out of us in the end. How do we know this? Because you've all screwed us so badly and so many times in the past. None of the "Back the Track" talking points make any sense. I just love this one: It will only affect you two weekends a year. That alone tells me that the track is not going to get the kind of use that will provide a sustainable year-round benefit they promise. And the claim is ridiculous in itself: for most people constipation affects us only a weekend or two a year. Does that make it good, enjoyable or beneficial?

I'm not even going to get into the public vs. private funding - that's another post for another day. This posting deals more with our quality of life and the scenic beauty of Kitsap County - a treasure that is being eroded and paved over in the name of progress.

We don't need Nascar. I do tip my hat to those county commissioners we have who are showing some restraint and good judgement on this issue. But I thumb my nose to the other. Stop legislating through special-interest glasses. There's more to life than home values, high property taxes and special interests.

Keep your hands off my property. You're bleeding me dry. I would just like to enjoy my acreage and the quality of life I've invested in here - without you ripping it away from me to fit your whims and build your so-called "legacy."

Oh, crap. I didn't mean to use the word "legacy." That brings to mind Mayor Greg Nickels and his silly tunnel. That, too, is yet another post. The wonderful thing about life in the People's Republic of Washington State is that there is plenty of fodder in the pen - lots of material.

Posted by Jim W Coleman at 7:17 PM | Permalink

Don't get me wrong - when the local politicians talk about "growth" - they are talking about revenue. That's all. Money. They think your money is THEIR money.

Oh, yes. They hide it with nice little platitudes about better education for our kids, more jobs, higher standard of living, etc. But if you listen to the snake oiled seductive tones long enough, you'll thtart to hear a lithp - and iths all about revenue. Dollarth. Yourth.

They were saying the same crap ten years ago. And twenty years ago. We need growth. We neeeeeeed this money so we can do this for you. In actuality, they need it so they can do this TO you. Maybe growth isn't the big aphrodesiac it's cracked up to be. Why not? Because it's needy. It requires more. It creates displacement, resulting in a vacuum, sucking dry the teat.

Try to confront a politician about why things are so bad today, even after compounding one tax upon another to fix schools, roads - you name it: "Well," they'll spin, "bad decisions were made in the past. There was a lack of foresight."

Mark my words, all they're after is your money. In ten or twenty years, new politicians will be saying the exact same thing about them. And these miracle fixes and cures (Nascar, Sonics, new arenas, fat-assed Nickels tunnels, etc.) won't have done what they are promising you today. Why not? Because it's all a black hole into which we can pour innumerable dollars. We can build their legacies. Politicians have broad collars, from which they like to dangle your dollars. Remember that big fat gas tax that was supposed to fix everything? Get ready, your fuel tax goes up in July. And again next July. And guess what - we still have the problems but they are even larger, more complex problems now - problems which can only be fixed with MORE TAXES.

It's something to think about while you're driving over potholes, waiting in traffic jams and smelling the sewage spills in Puget Sound. What are they doing with all that money?

But, hey - at least our politicians see the infamous BIG PICTURE. They know what's best for us - and that appears to be sports stadiums.

When evaluating an incumbent politician at election time I can only say this. Don't look at what he or she has done. Look at what he or she hasn't done. Or, putting it another way: Don't look at what they've done for us. Look at what they've done TO us.

From today's newspaper, an AP story from Bloomington, Miss.:
State Sen. David Tomassoni, a Democrat who opposes a statewide smoking ban, said he worries about the lost tax dollars.

Posted by Jim W Coleman at 8:17 PM | Permalink