In the realm of policymaking, global to local, predicted costs of measures taken today often bear little resemblance to the reality that unfolds. In the case of Jefferson County Public Utility District (PUD), poor policy choices have resulted in additional costs to ratepayers, not least of which is reliance on a crew coming from inland Washington (image above).
Early last fall, we reported here on the PUD’s controversial decision to mandate covid jabs for all employees. No other PUD in Washington State felt the need to be so exclusive at the time, and the policy met with pushback from employees and PUD contractors, customer/owners and one commissioner.
Our follow-up article was published on Dec. 23rd, three days after the deadline for being considered “fully vaccinated” had passed.
The inability of the jabs to prevent infection or transmission was already well established, even within the PUD. Subsequent to his firing for non-compliance (despite his accepted religious exemption), 7-year veteran lineman Kurt Anderson recounted in a letter to the commissioners and his co-workers how unjust this policy was, given facts on the ground:
“One only has to look to the PUD roster to see this truth, after being fully vaccinated a PUD employee contracted covid. The fully vaccinated coworkers of this individual were allowed to continue working regular and overtime hours, the unvaccinated coworkers were sent home on unpaid time off for 10 days quarantine with the requirement to complete a covid test…”
Also in his letter, Anderson highlighted the dubious claim by both General Manager Kevin Streett and Commissioner Ken Collins that the mandate was necessary to “be in compliance” with state edicts filtered through the Department of Transportation (WSDOT), despite the fact that this agency had already agreed with the Washington Public Utility Association (WAPUDA) that PUDs were exempt. There was not an iota of curiosity that no other PUD was concerned that they were “out of compliance.”
As the penny drops — tails, we lose?
It’s as though talking point memos have been distributed to PUD leadership. In unison now they’re using the straw man defense that imposition of the unpopular mandate was “to comply with the governor’s order.” That order mysteriously did not affect other PUDs in Washington state.
The fallout is measured in employees and contractors who’ve lost their jobs — or taken the jab (against their better judgment) to keep them. Recent records requests reveal that our PUD has granted four employees exemptions from the mandates and, sadly, three have been fired.
Fallout is also measured in higher costs to the customer/owners because the only electrical contractor our PUD management could procure who purportedly had “fully-vaccinated crews” is charging us a shocking premium to cross the Cascades to lend a hand.
At the first meeting of the year on Jan. 4 it was announced that Palouse Power, an electrical contractor from Quincy WA, would be replacing Titan, the outfit that was fired in December.
Confusion among PUD leadership around bidding was apparent that evening. When presented with the request that the board “accept the qualified line contractor applicant, Palouse Power,” Commissioner Collins asked, “So what action is required of the board?” GM Streett replied, “A motion by the board to approve them…”
At this point, Counsel Joel Paisner interrupted with “I think it’s to accept them as low bidder.” GM Street said, “No, no, per RCW all line contractors are approved by the board. Yearly, we bring a list to you, this is the first one… it’s just the formality that we do yearly.”
Streett said Titan left because of the mandates and “vaccinated crews were tough to come by.” He claimed that there were some locally, but they were busy. He admitted that Palouse “is a bit more expensive.” Commissioners Dan Toepper and Jeff Randall inquired further about bidding, with the latter asking if there will be a bid process. Streett replied, “For the next while Palouse will be our contractor… We’ve gone through our [RCW] obligations, it was difficult” referring to the challenge of finding vaxxed crews.
Included in the agenda packet was a resolution “declaring the [storm] period of December 24, 2021 through January 8, 2022, a state of emergency,” an exemption process provided to municipal entities through RCW 39.04.280. Recovering from his earlier delusive reference to “the lowest bidder,” Counsel Paisner confirmed that this declaration allowed the PUD to “waive the competitive bidding requirements” that normally applied based on RCW 54.04.070. It is unclear how the future end of the emergency, January 8th, was arrived at a week before, when the agenda was prepared.
At the Jan. 4th meeting, I requested an estimate from GM Streett for additional costs to ratepayers for Palouse over Titan. In a responsive letter, Operations Director Scott Bancroft explained that making a direct cost comparison was difficult because of varying crew qualifications and how each contractor charged for equipment. It appears that Palouse is adding a markup to employee wages. The contract also guarantees overtime.
Inside sources tell me it was the perks our PUD offered that incentivized Palouse top-tier journeyman linemen to commit. Scheduled overtime is a real sweet deal compared to what our utility’s line crew gets — regular interruption of family life — dinner, kids’ ballgames, sleep, holidays…
My sources disagree with other details in that letter from Bancroft, including crew structure needs and how Titan fulfilled them in the past. There are also serious concerns about misuse of emergencies to bypass bidding requirements and the legality of these projects vis-à-vis the Small Works Roster.
Line crews are arguably the most critical position in an electrical utility. Current and former employees say that in order to develop and maintain a healthy, cohesive line workforce, the PUD needs to train them from pre-apprentice through to the journeyman lineman stage. They know what the job entails and work best without micromanagement. Our PUD is struggling to achieve these ends.
Was the mandate ever enforced without prejudice?
Now, as jab mandates around the globe fall faster than the scales from many Americans’ eyes, our sources reveal continuing unequal — even dishonest — application of the vax policy from the very beginning. Why Kurt Anderson was fired despite the acceptance of his religious exemption remains a mystery.
Senior administration reportedly told contractors at the outset “just sign the [attestation] form,” indicating that one only needed to say that they were complying.
After firing main contractor Titan which supplied back-up crews, as well as some of our own linemen who refused to take the shots, then discovering that “it was difficult” to find all-vaxxed replacements because no contractors imposed that requirement, Jefferson PUD was in a tough spot. Like Titan, Palouse had a mix of jabbed and unjabbed linemen.
There is suspicion that Palouse Power was brought in from the other side of the mountains because none of the PUD employees who work in the field would know for certain the jab status of their crews, which was not the case with the familiar Titan employees. Palouse could send unvaxxed linemen and no one would be the wiser.
From internal communications, it looks like there was no other choice — Palouse was the end of the line. In a letter to the commissioners and GM Streett, Scott Bancroft explained that Titan “would not provide documentation for vaccination or an accommodation.” Nor would four other contractors on the PUD’s small works roster that Bancroft reached out to. But in a phone call with Palouse — who was not on the roster and had not even bid on the contract — Bancroft was told yes, they’d sign the requested forms:
“Palouse Power was called and they were able to provide a vaccinated dock crew [to] the Jefferson County PUD.”
As with local contractors who simply were asked to sign unverified “attestation” forms, it appears the PUD required only the appearance of vaxx status to seal the deal for Palouse crews, too.
————————————
At the February 15 meeting, GM Streett assured fired contractor, Marty Kithcart, that “contractors, when they come in our yard, have to be vaccinated. That’s a true statement.” But PUD employees claim that they’ve seen people they understand to be unvaxxed in the yard.
Click above for archived recording of Feb. 15 meeting. Exchange below between Kithcart and staff takes place from 2:01:00-2:05:00.
Streett appeared to struggle to answer more questions from Kithcart:
Marty Kithcart: So if you’ve got one vaccinated person versus an unvaccinated person, can they ride around in the truck together?
[extended pause]
Kevin Streett: So… we’re vaccinated, so I’m going to say there would be vaccinated people together.
Marty Kithcart: But if one is unvaccinated?
Counsel Joel Paisner: You know, I’m going to step in and answer that and say that that’s really a hypothetical and it’s hard, because the policy itself has to be applied to individuals. So, so it’s hard to know.
Despite that eye-watering feat of doublespeak, the dodged answer to the question is obvious.
What’s going on here? We were promised transparency.
Policy-driven emergencies or emergency-driven policies?
Whose idea was the mandate? In its own right, it created an emergency — fewer line crew, an unhappy workforce, highly questionable ‘fair labor’ practices — all the while staring at the likely prospect that this policy would ultimately be rescinded, based on numerous observable situations at the time of its enactment.
It looks to be an expensive choice, as well. As it stands, Palouse is charging the PUD $41,287 per week. Any personnel needs above that are charged per diem. We paid $5,980 to lodge the crew at the Harborside Inn during the holiday storm power restoration and cleanup.
As of February, they moved to three RV spots at Point Hudson, which cost us roughly $2,355/month (the estimate we were given publicly was $1,800/month). We were told at a meeting in January that we’ll be using those spots for temporary housing for incoming employees after our need for Palouse is behind us.
As a comparator, we were charged $21,959 per week for Titan’s last dock crew. No RV spots. No per diem.
This ill-advised course of action was initiated by general manager Streett and supported by legal counsel Paisner and two commissioners, Collins and Randall. The position these four men have taken has proven to be untenable. At the moment it appears that they’ve painted themselves into a corner from which they cannot emerge gracefully.
Annette Huenke studied International Relations at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to heading west, she was a manager for an Auckland-based international publisher of peer-reviewed drug information journals. In 1992 she moved to Port Townsend, opening Ancestral Spirits Gallery in 1993. She is past vice president of the Jeff Co EDC and board member of The Boiler Room. She researches, writes and wanders the forests around PT.
I sure would like to know how many of those contract crew members are Vaccinated but i realize there are HIPPA Laws preventing this. Titan has had this Dock crew for over 3 years and apparently they don’t recognize the religious exemption since the ones i provided for our crews were not good enough.
It sure would be nice to know how many religious exemptions have been recognized to date at Jefferson PUD? I believe Titan should have this contract currently but we saw the beginning of a potential hostile work environment pitting the Vacced employees against the non-Vacced employees so we chose to leave to save face and not ruin a relationship with this PUD that we worked so hard to keep over the years.
We all know Public Utilities have to follow the Laws mandated by the Public Utility’s Commission, but apparently this doesn’t apply to them since they have awarded the work to another contractor that wasn’t Low to my knowledge.
Titan has now lost the crew that was there for 3 years and some were local residents to the area. Our Foreman is still unemployed and the other employees went to other contractors out of the area so they could feed their families. I wish the best for the district and its rate payers but this doesn’t pass the smell test in my opinion.
Steve Douglass
General Manager
FB Titan
Steve, thank you for providing perspective from Titan. Not only was Palouse NOT the low bid on that contract, they never even submitted one when the PUD went out to bid.
In the contract documents Annette linked (http://solmaker.com/public/PUD/PalousePowerDockContract.pdf), you can see that Palouse was not even initially on the PUD’s “pre-qualified” small works roster. There were six on that roster who submitted bids including Titan and every one of them refused to attest to vaxxed status except one. FB Titan, Potelco Inc., Michels Power, Magnum Power, and Wilson Construction Company all said no. The sixth, “DJ’s Electrical was called multiple times,” but never even returned Bancroft’s call.
So Bancroft began scrambling to find a new contractor. “PUD staff began acquiring contact information to electrical contractors and began the process of making contact.”
Palouse was able to bypass the low bid requirement and set whatever fees they wanted because no other contractors would agree to the PUD’s wrong-headed vaccine policy. The “state of emergency” declaration Annette described provided the rationale. They were then added to the small works roster and awarded the contract after a memo from Scott Bancroft informed Kevin Streett that “I just spoke to Joel Paisner… I explained the process and he has just approved the method of securing Palouse Power.”
it appears Palouse had free reign to set their own fees because of that process and are costing our PUD more than double the charges we paid your local crew.
Thank you for taking the time to comment here, and at last night’s PUD meeting, Steve.
I’m sickened to hear this news. I had no idea what happened to your crew. As we’ve heard from others, there has been no consistency in the acceptance of religious exemption accommodations and testing options, which begs several questions, one of them being — is this about health or is it about the pretense of compliance?
Regarding exemptions, I filed a Public Records Request with our PUD last month. Here is the reply:
In response to your request:
Number of PUD employees granted accommodation/exemption from JPUD’s vaccine mandate policy.
The number of employees granted accommodation/exemption is 4.
Number of PUD contractors with employees who have been granted accommodation/exemption from JPUD’s vaccine mandate policy.
There are no contractors that are granted an exemption or accommodation from the PUD. That is done at their place of employment.
Kevin’s refusal to answer your direct questions about exemptions at the public meeting last night is unacceptable. This is not a private matter between a general manager and a contractor. This is everybody’s business — we all need to know the answer to your questions. In the case of the firings, the loss of livelihoods has disrupted family and community. For those who took the experimental product against their will, concerns about long-term adverse health effects are nagging, legitimate and stress-inducing. In terms of increased costs, the jab mandates have impacted every PUD customer/owner.
The double-standards and lack of transparency have created an environment of suspicion and mistrust. Going forward, for many of us, it will no longer be possible to have faith in the honesty and integrity of the PUD administration.
Explain to me how all this is SO much better than when Puget Sound Energy was our power company?
Thank goodness for Contractors like Titan that have integrity in the face of losing an important contract. Thank you for actual truthful journalistic reporting.
Thank you for writing this story Annette. What a disgusting policy our local PUD has embarrassingly enacted. Can someone point out the names of the people (“general manager and supported by legal counsel and two commissioners”) that initiated this reckless policy?
Apologies, Swan. I should have included their names. They’re in there now!
I regret having voted in favor of the PUD takeover, although I did so due to PSE/Potelco’s extremely poor response times and service to their West Valley Road customers. By that vote I erroneously turned yet another public entity over to the Marxist cabal that, by their indifference, corruption and incompetence, continues to run Jefferson County’s public sector into the ground.
Interested readers should join other customer/owners by joining today’s Zoom meeting at 4:00 pm:
https://www.jeffpud.org/event/regular-meeting-of-the-boc-4-2022-03-01/
Open letter to Kevin Streett;
Dear Kevin Streett,
I believe you’ve been misguided by some of your advisors. Namely, PUD counsel Joel Paisner and commissioners Ken Collins and Jeff Randall.
I’m sure you’ve noticed everyone dropping restrictions all over the world. This puts our local PUD in a tough spot. You’ve implemented the most restrictive vaccine requirements out of all other PUD’s in the state – unnecessarily. You have doubled your labor costs by bringing in non-local workers to the tune of over $20,000 per week. That is an astounding figure, an astounding slap in the face to our local community and an egregious misappropriation of funds. Aren’t you supposed to be working towards lowering costs as part of your job description?
Even liberal late night television got the memo. Take a look at this Saturday Night Live skit mocking useless face masks and the fact that people have lost their livelihoods over vaccine mandates.
https://youtu.be/2k6xroHtn-8
The pandemic is over. If only you had waited a couple more months to enact that policy because then it would have been moot. It will be hard to come out of this debacle unscathed.
But there is a solution. You can rescind the reckless policy like everyone else is doing worldwide. It may even ward off the lawsuits that are doubtless to be headed your way.
The Icelandic Ministry of Health has rescinded its mandates in this Feb. 23 statement. “Widespread societal resistance to COVID-19 is the main route out of the epidemic. To achieve this – as many people as possible need to be infected with the virus as the vaccines are not enough, even though they provide good protection against serious illness. ”
COVID-19 measures for travelers in and out of Iceland have also been lifted “regardless of whether individuals are vaccinated or unvaccinated.”
You might also want to rethink your paid legal counsel. So far his recommendation has the PUD hemorrhaging money by the minute. I’m sure he charges you by the minute as well.
Sincerely,
A local PUD resident
It appears he does indeed charge by the minute. He also has a few flat fees thrown in to round it out. $37,437.50 for the months of November and January according to the PUD accounts payable check register on today’s meeting agenda, page 23. https://jeffpud.communitybydiligent.com/document/9370 His fees are approaching that of the Palouse crew. Truly remarkable. It’s sickening to consider that he is receiving that amount of money while these local workers are left jobless based on his advice.
The thing that I wonder about is how much is Titan going to want to come back to us. It could make our power more expensive than when the crews were fired. We would probably been ahead to fire the people who made this situation happen.
Thanks again, Annette, for the fine-tooth details of investigative bull-dogging, and PTFP’s journalists & commenters. Bows & kudos.
That we have a sovereign commons here is not only gratifying, it’s a profound gift.
Orwell summed it succinctly — “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”
Except for a few very honorable exceptions, our very own PUD’s managerial bureaucrats have demonstrated consistent dearths of transparency, honesty, accountability, and integrity — as if running their own fiefdom, at rate-payers expense. Distastefully wasteful of good moneys, employees & contractors — they are out of reach and out of touch — and damn the public anyway.
Once again, trust has become the usual ubiquitous casualty.
Backing up the camera, in particular the last two years, we’ve witnessed over & over the same/similar ditto-heads in bureaucracies everywhere, regional to global. All part of the great mystery & antics of the covid era, though clearly extending back in time for anyone previously attending.
Locally, besides the PUD — the list is complete — the BOH, BOCC, PT city council, alongside every single school board. It’s as if they all drank the spell from the same kool-aid well, including the waters of forgetfulness of who & what they serve, and why.
Something else is plainly running the show, and not just here & there — it is essentially monolithic in scope & directions. Once PUD’s below-radar plan for “deploying” “smart” meters across our county popped suddenly into view 5-6 years back, we soon discovered “something else” driving the cogs & wheels of our own utility.
Our county’s citizens were unusually fortunate in being able to halt that expensive, nefarious & un-smart boondoggle, which, given PSE’s international corporate ownership from afar, and the vast mega-utility grip on the entire electric grid — by now the county would have somewhere around 20,000 “smart” meters installed on homes & businesses.
Given the relevance of related convergences, and thus widening our local scope & microcosm to include far greater manipulated bureaucracies — one is impelled to ask the macro questions, and seek macro answers.
Thanks again for sparking us locally, and for the sparkling lights on extremely dark times.
The problem in this country is the hard-left voting bloc that refuses to support candidates with an “R” after their name, thus condemning the public sector to those who lack business experience and common sense. When you look at each of the seriously corrupted, ineffective and bankrupted public agencies in JeffCo, they have all been subjected to management by a core group of “usual suspects”, those with little or no experience meeting a private sector payroll, while profiting from selling a product or service.
Paraphrasing a lyric from a previous era — parking on the left is now parking on the right.
“Meet the new boss, same as the old….”
Pardon, salt herring, for piping in here from a different angle. While i get your depiction of what’s become of “the left” — BIZARRE hardly does justice — but these divisive/ideological red herrings have never served us. To be honest, i find no shelter, let alone use for either so-called political left or right. That was fairly plain by the time the 60s were “history”.
“The one thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn”.
Left/right, lib/con, purple/chartreuse — longterm ideological stigmata, more/less meaningless — except for their enduring capacities to be utilized as distractions & pawns on the PTB chessboard. Not much really changes — humans weaponized against each other — ye olde circular firing squad.
Divide & conquer remains the oldest science. As long as humans are bickering, posturing & blaming amongst themselves, governments continuously get away with an endless array of lies, mayhem & murder.
“Above all we should not forget, that government is an evil, a usurpation upon the private judgment and individual conscience of mankind.”
~ William Godwin (1793)
(Democide) The eager willingness of government to murder its own is the embodiment of evil.
~ Gary D. Barnett (2022)
Breaking down “govern – ment” from its older constituent (latin) roots, translates as “control of mind” — but at the level of mass psychosis.
At this late/dark hour, one would hope that the peeps finally recognize who their real enemy is, and always has been — government. Period.
“Then i’ll get down on my knees an pray, we don’t get fooled again….”
[Public comment to PUD meeting, March 1, 4pm]
Dear Jefferson County PUD Commissioners,
I’m writing to chime into the likely chorus sounding from those gravely concerned by facts revealed in yesterday’s Port Townsend Free Press reporting, as well as the additional perspective provided by FB Titan GM Steve Douglass in his comment noting that “Titan has now lost the crew that was there for 3 years and some were local residents to the area. Our Foreman is still unemployed and the other employees went to other contractors out of the area so they could feed their families.”
I’m appalled that our county PUD has jacked up costs, violated low-bid laws by only considering a single high-priced bidder based in Eastern Washington, and discharged (and dissed) so many fine employees and contractors essential for the reliability and repair of our power infrastructure… all for what?
No good reason I can see… just a tendentious crusade to impose discriminatory mandates upon linemen who mostly work alone, justified by absurd claims from GM Streett and counsel Paisner that their destructive policies were legally required just for our PUD, but not any others.
Now that such mandates have been scientifically discredited, proven widely unpopular, failed in federal court, and are being dropped like hot potatoes nationwide, it’s past time for PUD commissioners to reverse course, drop its own mandates, and repair damage by making reparations and endeavoring to rehire essential employees and contractors PUD has wronged and lost.
Yours truly,
Stephen Schumacher
Port Townsend, WA (District 1)
I agree with Mr. Douglass. This does not pass the smell test.
Thank you Annette for shining a light on this.
I moved here in 1957 from Camas, WA and graduated in 1961. I couldn’t get a job here because of injuries in a car wreck, so I returned to Camas that had two big problems. The first thing the schools wanted to know was your Dad hourly or salaried. Camas was red lined. Out of about 2,500 employees we had two that were black and one lived in Vancouver and the other lived in Portland.. I knew and worked with both of them. At that time I don’t remember ever seeing a black family in PT. There was a Chinese family (everyone likes the food) that had the restaurant. Other than that, PT was a wonderful place to live. I had a variety of friends whose wage earners were both hourly and salaried. The town had everything a town needed. What went wrong? Hippies moved up in the 70’s for the free assistance, bought a home at a price they could manage and became rich. Now, some of them are doing great and own businesses as hobbies and making real estate only available to people with money.. As a sideline they’re pushing being a far-left Democrat. Now, people are drinking the Cool-Ade of what the corrupt leaders are selling, whether it’s good for everyone or not. PUD is one of the last nails in the populace coffin. One of my favorite sayings in situations like this is, It’s time to clean out the barn. You have to start with the smallest pile and keep working to get to the one with diarrhea.
This is imperfect. Food for thought. Thanks for this place to speak with and to others without judgement.
Nice to see some Orwell quotes here in comments. I have included many Orwell quotes to point out our timeless situation in past comments in the (Mis) Leader and Free Press. Some ancient rock lyrics are here as well. I remember using “Meet the old boss, same as the old boss” as City Manager Mauro took over for Timmons. Vetted by dirty handed Council folk. A shiny compromised new tool that would continue the practice of not following laws and codes and clouding the issue of responsibility of who makes policy.
My fellow boomers had and have some sacred songs, as all cultures do, which help us remember our earlier purer selves. Many have forgotten them. I think they are as important as much literature is to help us remember how we were going to change the world. Most became cogs in the wheel and teeth in the saw. It was safer and more secure in the short term. It’s a long game.
Re focus Harvey….another PUD/City related issue is the planned cutting of all the poplars coming into this “green” town. It seems somehow trees will be saved as other things like firing the unvaxxed are not reexamined. Yet.
Last week I had business to do with PUD that required dropping of notarized papers. The new and expensive public service area was still closed off to the public due to Covid. No one would come to the door. What culture is this? I had a mask. I was outdoors. This is a disconnect.
Apologies to those I know in PUD. It makes no sense. As with the vaccine mandates.
As some point out here the PUD problems reflect larger problems in larger and larger systems, as someone here pointed out, as I have for years using the larger and larger series of tide pools or petri dishes to illustrate. The infected element is always the same that corrupts systems from Boeing to Phiser to State and Local government.
Cover your ass. Don’t make waves. Follow the leader even if there is no real leadership with a business background that ever had an oar in the water or stake in the game.
To illustrate. Not naming names or blaming. The PUD had a large tract of timbered land near Eaglemount. It was slated to be clear cut for the cash. Illustrative numbers and not the exact numbers were $600,000 worth of timber gross value. After expenses for roads and logging the PUD would get around $50,000. A person I spoke with brought up the lack of value to PUD after clear cutting at a meeting. I knew the answer due to how systems work, but asked “you only brought it up once, right?” The answer was yes, once. Not one more time. The land was clear cut. Environment and being a “green” utility was not considered. This employee knew their future in the “system” depended on not rocking the boat.
Extrapolate that to most systems and situations. There are no “new bosses” to meet.
This is the basic “peter principal” aspect to all systems I have ever encountered. The human need to feed the family and keep the job, “Led” by leadership that is most often led by ego, greed and control, and or ignorance. Sometimes one, sometimes all.
A forest is gone. The money evaporated in an instant in the PUD coffers. All kept jobs. Not “bad” people. Just controlled people.
If you do not work for a large system, revel in your freedom. Many have none if they really looked at themselves.
You will see no public employees or politicians commenting here. They are not free to do so.
So, I remind all of my boat rocking starting over 8 years telling all that no parking, planning, or education in PT is not dealt with to benefit special interests. All of you were quiet. Still are. It is all related, friends.
It never was about just parking. I still is about holding government responsible to stay within its own laws and codes. from parking to vaccine mandates. I am not your experiment. Fool.
Like a 4 year old government sees no resistance and grows its cancerous self. Day after day, year after year, decade after decade.
Housing and homeless issues didn’t start just now. They have been manufactured in a way by unrocked boats. There is no local answer. The answer is national. No one at the top locally wants this to be a destination for the unhoused or homeless. You probably don’t either if you thought about it in real detail. “Affordable” is not just a PT issue. Everywhere needs to deal with the root causes, socially and economically. Some ancient rock and roll plays in my head. It covers PUD, Homelessness, Parking and much more.
“Some try to tell me
Thought they cannot defend
Just what you want to be
You will be in the end…….”
The moody blues there, “in the end”. A favorite band in that era, with a significantly wide-angle lens on the nature of reality.
Enjoyed the tour of our old/new predicaments & lyrics. Thank the muse there are always decent soundtracks for this journey — though all in all a rather strange dream.
This may appear somewhat off topic, but the moodys nailed something down back then, which set personal pursuits in motion over widening orbits. Looking back, they’d tagged an ancient predator, a mind parasite native americans called “wetiko”. An evil inexorably substituting artifice & artificial for everything natural & innate to our Earth. Currently throwing everything it’s got to control/crush the spirit of all life, including human… but my sense is that it’s own distorted entropy has morphed into a hastened dooming of itself.
The lyrics in this song triad are as profound as prophetic.
“it’s been just like a dream…
[First Man:] I think, I think I am, therefore I am, I think.
[Establishment:] Of course you are my bright little star,
I’ve miles
And miles
Of files
Pretty files of your forefather’s fruit
And now to suit our
Great computer,
You’re magnetic ink.
[First Man:] I’m more than that, I know I am, at least, I think I must be.
[Inner Man:] There you go man, keep as cool as you can.
Face piles
And piles
Of trials
With smiles.
It riles them to believe
That you perceive
The web they weave
And keep on thinking free.
Not a bad glimpse into current circumstances, eh?
Alby- A few years ago some folk targeted me on a review site. They fed off each other and gave me single “stars” and lied and lied. There is and was no recourse in dealing with the “great computer”. Outspoken folk sometimes pay a price.
An important lesson for me was that business continued to thrive. The cyberworld had no hold on me, although I could empower it by giving it my energy and power to change what actually had no hold on how I lived my day-to-day life. Myself in my “analog” world was real. They and their “stars” are and were not. Miles and mile of files.
For some time I posted on my website what you just did………. then I gave negativity no more power and removed it. Here it is again. Thanks. For those that don’t comprehend how far into the machine they are and cause so much negativity for others, quit feeding off each other and stand alone and free. But that so many actually could at all.
Off topic? Actually not. Please do take a minute and listen to the link Alby gave.
[First Man:] I think, I think I am, therefore I am, I think.
[Establishment:] Of course you are my bright little star,
I’ve miles
And miles
Of files
Pretty files of your forefather’s fruit
And now to suit our
Great computer,
You’re magnetic ink.
[First Man:] I’m more than that, I know I am, at least, I think I must be.
[Inner Man:] There you go man, keep as cool as you can.
Face piles
And piles
Of trials
With smiles.
It riles them to believe
That you perceive
The web they weave
And keep on thinking free.
Thank you Annette for bringing to light yet again the blunders and double standard business practices of Jefferson Co PUD.
Thank you, Kurt, for your continued courage and for your comment last night at the meeting. Yes, it’s time to right the ship. I don’t see an interest in that though. I see denial, doubling down, pedal to the metal — more secrecy, fewer answers.
The Free Press will continue to illuminate goings on at our little utility. If more people don’t show up and speak out, conditions are likely to remain the same.
Annette-
I have related in many comments over the last 8 years the reason I came to Port Townsend 26 years ago after participating in the PDA Council run Pike Place Market. I won’t go over the details again, but I finally found that our community, “the public” was great at complaining and blaming, but short on following details and taking group action.
It was just a microcosm of the macrocosm.
I personally also found that you can “win” but not get resolution. “Broad Powers” came into play. The community would not contribute funds to follow up. and eventually blamed the ones trying to work for their cause. The community failed, not the ones working for them.
We all have lessons to learn. You are in just a current chapter of yours,as we all are. How to motivate and reach a public not paying attention.
I just browsed the Leader and found the same old complaints from newcomers and those not connecting dots who have been here long enough to do so. The root cause as always, systemic problems with the City. Tat is the City Manager/No Term Limit Council, and a newspaper that rocks no boats. The Leader gives their readers what they want, mostly superficial feel-good content.
Regarding the PUD, it is just another tide pool or petri dish, your work and research is stellar. So has been the case with others work and City/FWPDA problems. What is the engine to feed this fuel to? The Free Press.
Where is the transmission (readership) to get the power of your thought and work, and other facts, to the tires (public) meeting the pavement? (Public Servants)
The pavement knows it is full of ruts and open ditches, but pay and social rewards are good. The Leader pretends there are no chuck holes. Advertisers have mattered.
I think, I really do, that it’s time for a well-funded version of the Free Press. Port Townsend is now Disneyland with foundations and City/Port Government running most everything. It is nowhere for a small business like myself to be with Main Street and Chamber sold out and fully influenced. The devolution continues and will continue.
Not to stray from the PUD, which over the years dealing with projects and water I found to be the most accommodating agency I have ever worked with. Then power was added. Yes, a play on words. One of my customers was a past Puget Power employee. He told me of infrastructure problems he spotted regularly just driving around. There is a new shiny building, should that have been the priority? Not according to him. Just relaying qualified “public input”.
I know people associated with the PUD. If I had created problems, I would expect to be reminded of them. Nothing personal. You signed up for the power/responsibility.
Pull back the curtain and as with City/Port etc you see simply your neighbors. Many lost within the current system, many afraid to rock the boat. The boat(s) has had a slow leak for years.
My gloves are off when a neighbor tells other neighbors that they must submit to an experimental vaccine or lose their living. No freedom at all. WE YOUR NEIGHBORS DECIDE FOR YOU. Never mind the information and understanding of related benefits changes regularly. We own you.
WOW.
The negative financial ripple effects that you document will not be seen or understood by most. Except the limited readership of the Free Press.
So, it is time for the Free Press to become more. Not a polarizing chasm creating entity. A bridge anyone can walk across, and back from without donkeys and elephants getting in the way. If you cut those symbols open both are full of crap, but think theirs doesn’t stink.
The proposal, let readership contribute funds to make this a viable widely distributed publicly supported paper with paid staff. Give the monopoly of the Leader a run for its hearts and minds. It was mentioned before. Time to really think how that might come to be. The Jefferson County Free Press. I would pay for advertising. I would stop if polarization were practiced.
Well paid parasites and leeches take on the history of PT and the County. It is time to realize history is now. Always has been. Time to get some power to the tires and smoke that pavement. You may find out “the public” are just baby birds chirping for more worms in the nest. They can fly. Most lack the information to know how.
Time to fly little free press bird, and find out if you should respect your readership. There are those out there in readership that know how to make it so. I know it’s true. What can start in this little petri dish can spread. Petri dishes start and harbor cultures. Positive or negative is the choice.
You can’t make a mule move if he/she doesn’t want to.