Port Townsend’s most ambitious, costliest “affordable” housing project. Barged from Victoria, B.C. the Carmel House, the building at the center of the Cherry Street Project, sits empty and blighted above PT’s golf course. The 2022 work plan for the City of Port Townsend includes no work on the Cherry Street Project except paying down the $1.4 million indebtedness the city incurred to get the thing rehabilitated. The building has been vandalized and is home to rats and raccoons.
The lessons of this abject failure run throughout our coverage since 2018. The first lesson is, simply, don’t believe what you read in The Leader. From the beginning, the newspaper “of record” has done nothing but act as a stenographer for city leaders and activists. It has been a willing participant in every PR effort to put lipstick on this pig. The Leader has never reported the true cost of this boondoggle, or any of its many failures.
Its most frequent tack was to proclaim “Progress!” even when failure was painfully clear to everyone. The Leader has never asked a hard question of the city or the housing activists — the former Homeward Bound Community Land Trust, recently rebranded as Olympic Housing Trust — who defaulted and wasted millions of dollars in public largesse. The Leader has never looked behind the candied words of the project’s backers, nor dug into public records that show taxpayers have been misled and lied to. Instead, the Free Press has done the work our city’s newspaper should have been doing.
The second lesson is in the dysfunction of an ideologically and politically homogeneous legislative body that operates by peer pressure and virtue signaling. The ultimate failure of this project was evident from the beginning. The city failed to inspect the building before purchasing and floating it across international borders.
Lo and behold, there was a Canadian hazardous materials inspection detailing the presence of asbestos and lead paint the city never saw until a couple years later. The project never could “pencil out” as a viable affordable housing project — not that numbers, which represent taxpayer dollars, seemed to matter to council members. It was more important to make a show of doing something grandiose and kind of artsy about affordable housing than it was to crunch numbers with an eye to reality.
Most shocking of all, the city’s own pro forma for the large loan it extended to the activists showed they would default in a couple years. Council shushed up the lone council member who noticed that and rushed the loan through. By the way, we found and reported that the loan contained a $400,000 hidden interest subsidy that was to be shouldered by taxpayers.
How could an unavoidable, predicted default not matter to City Council? That leads to lesson number three, the antidote to the problem observed as lesson number two.
There must be real diversity in a legislative body to make it work. The City Council that saddled taxpayers with the Cherry Street Project all came from the same political and ideological petri dish. They were a clique of the elite and the woke. It was more important to them to get along, reinforce a narrative, repeat feel-good/look-good buzz words, and nod in agreement than it was to get things right. Someone strong who stood outside the clique and didn’t seek their approval and friendship was needed on council to fight their headlong rush into failure.
The fourth lesson is that Port Townsend Free Press was needed back in April 2017 when council rushed into the Cherry Street Project by buying the Carmel House sight unseen. At least we’ve been hounding this story since we launched in May 2018 with our first article focusing on Cherry Street. Now taxpayers know the ride that has been their misfortune (there’s 17 years left on the bond that funded the defaulted loan, so the ride’s not done).
According to The Leader‘s uncritical reporting, the Cherry Street Project was to have been finished and occupied in the Fall of 2017 with a renovation price tag of only a couple hundred thousand dollars. We did the first of many public records requests and dug into the financial documents to get the real story, published May 28, 2018, just a little after the Cherry Street Project’s first birthday: “Cherry Street “Affordable” Housing to Cost More than $2 Million.” The latest cost estimates put the total cost of the project above $3 million. With the spike in construction costs, count on the price tag being higher today and in the future.
Still a mystery is why the city turned down a $1 million cash offer in September 2020 to bail them out of this mess. Not one city council member ever publicly raised a question about why the city manager gave the back of his hand to Keith and Jean Marzan when they offered to take the mess off the city’s hands and actually build some affordable housing on the site.
The Leader‘s last article on Port Townsend’s hugely disastrous, most expensive, most ambitious affordable housing project was October 1, 2020, when it proclaimed that “Port Townsend will forge ahead with the troubled Cherry Street Project, but with a new nonprofit partner.” The paper accommodated the city’s need for some positive spin on the heels of the activists’ default on their generous loan.
Since that rosy proclamation by The Leader, the only work on the project has been repairing some of the vandalism when teenagers launched a refrigerator through a window and broke out almost all the glass in the blighted 1950s asbestos-and-lead contaminated derelict. Oh, and putting up some fake “this site under video surveillance” signs.
Here is the full list of our reporting on the Cherry Street Project since our first article:
The Tragedy of the Cherry Street Project, 12/12/18
What’s Happening With the Cherry Street Project? 10/29/19
“Completely Bogus” Numbers–More Problems and Delays for Cherry Street Project, 12/2/19
Multi-Million Dollar Fraud on Taxpayers: The Cherry Street Project Unmasked, 6/27/20
Cherry Street Welcomes First Tenants, 2/28/20
Default the Cherry Street Project Now, 4/22/20
Latest Cherry Street Giveaway Hits Taxpayers Harder, 10/2/20
Cherry Street Project Handover “Not a Done Deal,”10/19/20
Accomplished Developer Will Donate Time and Services for Cherry Street Project, 10/20/20
Cherry Street Handover: Red Flags About Bayside Housing, 3/3/21 (and related articles)
Happy Fourth Birthday, Cherry Street Project! 5/10/21
Cherry Street Project Costs Soar in Bayside Housing Proposal, 6/23/21
New Majority on Council Should Kill the Cherry Street Project, 11/27/21
Cherry Street Project Vandalized, 1/4/22
“Incredibly Expensive” Housing Project Follows Cherry Street Debacle, 1/6/22
Mayor Faber (Almost) Opens Up on Cherry Street Project Failure, 4/23/22
Jim Scarantino was the editor and founder of Port Townsend Free Press. He is happy in his new role as just a contributor writing on topics of concern to him. He spent the first 25 years of his professional life as a trial attorney, then launched an online investigative news website that broke several national stories. He is also the author of three crime novels. He resides in Jefferson County. See our "About" page for more information.
Still want to know where is all the money? Is that project a corrupt politicians slush fund?
Now I’m being told that there are Fox and coyote dens on the property, attacking neighborhood animals. Time to either finish the project ar tear it down and clean out the property. But my question remains where is the money? Someone made bank,, who?
Wait until those foxes and cayotes decide it’s easier to get little Johnny or Suzie than pets or the deer. Then, you’ll hear some screaming at City Hall.. It may be soon, as cougars have been spotted inside the city limits. They’ll need a home and food too.
Jim wrote:
“The second lesson is in the dysfunction of an ideologically and politically homogeneous legislative body that operates by peer pressure and virtue signaling.”
“There must be real diversity in a legislative body to make it work. The City Council that saddled taxpayers with the Cherry Street Project all came from the same political and ideological petri dish. They were a clique of the elite and the woke. It was more important to them to get along, reinforce a narrative, repeat feel-good/look-good buzz words, and nod in agreement than it was to get things right. Someone strong who stood outside the clique and didn’t seek their approval and friendship was needed on council to fight their headlong rush into failure.”
It seems to me we’ve had several council members who were capable of standing strong and not going along to get along. But one or two on the council is not enough. There has to be a strategy to counteract this behavior by the council, which is not dependent upon members of certain or specific political parties or ideologies being elected. The reason I say this is that historically, in situations of redevelopment that go this far afield,
it has happened under the tutelage of both Democratic and Republican city councils across the nation. Which suggests the problem is not “wokeness”, the problem is not who signals which virtues, the problem is that Americans are not realizing the power and the breadth of what Chris Norby refers to as The Unknown Government.
Before you roll your eyes, wait; I’m not talking about some scary nebulous “deep state”. I’m not talking about conspiracy theories. I’m talking about the suggested directives from the United Nations which helped cities and counties all across the United States set up myriad non-government non-profit organizations to facilitate the redirecting of taxpayer funds away from infrastructure and into “sustainable” “smart growth” “economic development” schemes. The Cherry Street project is just such a scheme. It fits a pattern which has happened on the watch of city councils across all ideologies and stripes. This problem is bigger than the current political divisions in the United States.
Progressive people, conservative people, and countless formerly apolitical individuals have become aware of this process by which cities and counties are using non-profit loopholes to divert taxpayer money away from projects that reflect the priorities, interests and needs of taxpayers, (roads, housing, education and so on,) and into the pockets of insincere profiteers who claim to be acting on behalf of a “sustainable future”. Meanwhile taxpayers are left in decades long servitude to bond and other debt which will be extracted from property taxes they can no longer afford to pay. How many Americans are now homeless because of these schemes? How many Americans will never be able to own a home because of these schemes?
It’s not just the Cherry Street Project. It’s not just the parklets. It’s not just streateries, making downtown carless, or cutting down the Poplars.
It’s a systematic relentless destruction of property rights and the ability of citizens in any given area to reasonably expect to vote on projects that will create massive debt for said citizens.
Every single expenditure these so-called city and county leaders make going forward should be voted on by the people whose taxes are paying for the projects. When we pay taxes which are then used by county and city commissioners and councils to enact programs and schemes which
do not benefit the population being taxed, that is taxation without representation. There are countless graveyards across this planet, tending the remains of human beings who were willing to die for the idea that if people are taxed, their interests, priorities and needs must be represented by those collecting and spending those taxes. What the Port Townsend city council and county commissioners have been doing is serious. It’s egregious. It’s absolutely un-American and unconstitutional. But it’s also legal. THAT is what we need to change. We need to defund these schemes, and we need to make them illegal.
Let’s start by finding out how much taxpayer money is being used for dues to ICLEI, which is the liason for enacting the UN suggestions, locally.
Kate Dean is our local ICLEI member. We can accomplish what we need to accomplish for future generations in this city and in this country without ICLEI. And it must be done from the heart and will of the people whose taxes are paying for the projects. We do not need cookie-cutter solutions devised by a group of people curated by the United Nations. We need solutions specific to our city, and the needs of the people of our city. But most of all, we need solutions which have been voted on by the people who are paying for them.
If we make these issues about the political ideologies of individuals on our city councils and county commissions, we lose the opportunity for a much needed sea change in how projects are created, how ordinances are amended, how all of it is paid for, and most importantly, who has the final say on enacting any new policies, bonds, taxes or liens; (hint: the correct answer is “the taxpayers”.) First we close the loopholes.
Then we open the ballot boxes.
There is only one virtue we need to signal in this town, and it is the virtue of voting. Sadly, on local issues, our turnout is painfully low. Whatever political party you involve yourself with, please work to encourage all around you to vote on local issues. But more importantly, let’s let the city council know and the county commissioners know, that we are wide awake now; we want to be asked how we want to proceed, and we want the question to be in the form of a ballot.
Thank you for writing about the pattern of intentional destruction. I attempted to write about it several times but had trouble finding some combination of words I thought anyone would believe. I’ve witnessed multiple instances of intentional damage to business districts and neighborhoods in Washington State starting with downtown Seattle in 1995.
Most of the elected officials and non-profit employees involved appear to be useful idiots for the operatives who initiate the projects. I call them “Great Reset Operatives”. The most obvious operatives in our region are appointed – not elected.
They are obvious because the patterns are so repetitive. Targets tend to include anything that generates civic pride. Some examples are the iconic Seattle downtown, our beautiful Capital in Olympia, and the Port Townsend historic district. Former safe, affordable working class neighborhoods are routinely converted to no-go zones by the Homeless Industrial Complex.
Repurposing the Jefferson County Fairground as a drug camp was one of the best examples of a Great Reset operation. It attacked the County Fair tradition AND a residential neighborhood. The Cherry Street project trashed an existing residential neighborhood that overlooks the golf course.
Great Reset operators also like to create divisiveness. Restaurant owners against all other types of small business. Classic. Another common feature is the normalization of all things ugly as in the “aesthetic” of gutter dining tents.
I’ve read this phenomenon described as municipal and cultural “self-harming.”
I wish we organized a party. Maybe a year 6 celebration. Thank you Jim for writing about this. I have been increasingly disappointed by the Leader’s lack of coverage. When there is coverage on important issues it seems to be buried and laced with a tone of complacency and encouragement that is far from neutral. Appreciating PTFP! Thank you!
Does any of this sound familiar?
“Trained facilitators present a range of choices to a group but have tailored them to direct the outcome. This is most often done in public meetings, called ‘visioning meetings,’ put on by your city or county to get your opinion on Your Town 2020 or 2035. Money for these programs often comes from federal
agencies (members of the President’s Council on
Sustainable Development) in the form of grants to your local
government. The meetings are advertised as an opportunity
for you to give your input to an exciting new plan for the
redesign of your city center for the future. You’ll usually see
It as a specific plan for a redevelopment project or a regional
transportation plan that involves housing and land use
restrictions.”
Sounds a bit like the Main Street surveys and the
“open house” for streateries, hey?
And
“The key thing to know about this is that of course you have
no input. Only comments and observations, that support the
pre-aporoved plan will be supported. All others will be
written on a big pad of paper and discarded later. The
illusion of public buy-in is all that is needed. The organizers
can later point to the fact that they held a public meeting,
a certain number of residents attended, public comment was
taken, and the community approved the plan. The facilitar
is often a private consultant who has been professionally
trained in running and managing a meeting. This consultant
has been hired by your city to fulfill the requirement that the
project has been seen and supported by its citizens-
it’s YOUR plan. If the project is a controversial one the city may have put out the call for non-profit groups, neighborhood
associations, city boards and commissions, and city
employees to send members to seed the audience and
outnumber potential opponents. This is war. On those few
occasions when the majority of the attendees object to
planned outcome, the facilitator will close the meeting a
reschedule it for another time and place. You are
experiencing the new consensus.”
Sounds like what happened after Ben moved to table the streateries discussion until there was an actual parking plan in place. OMG NO, FREAKOUT! FREAKOUT!, OMG THE BAD THING IS HAPPENING!
Those quoted words were originally written in 2011, relating to events in California. They were written by a lifelong Democrat; lesbian, liberal, progressive, and fiercely dedicated to the notion of this nation being a representative democracy. But her words also describe what has been happening with the streateries program. They describe what happened with the Poplars. They describe what happened with Cherry Street. The words describe what happened with the bulbouts, and the parklets. It describes what has happened with local schools. Only the people of Quilcene seem to have figured out how to live Herb Beck’s constant caution not to let people PILE ON to actual necessary projects with their expensive and undemocratic shenanigans.
This is not a partisan issue. It’s not a time to attack one another for personal and private ideologies and beliefs.
It’s time to lay those divisions to rest, and get to work.
[Text by Rosa Koire from “The Green Mask”.]
These are good convos.
Thank you PTFP.
A pdf report on the specific Trust which is pushing
these projects which are designed and planned to
circumvent full discourse and voter approval.
https://preservewa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2021-Washington-Trust-Annual-Report.pdf
Things of note–
Board of Directors includes David Timmons.
Members, Donors, Sponsors:
$1,000 – $2,499: Craig Britton, Port Townsend
(Britton is an officer of the Port Townsend
Heritage Association.)
And of course, their flagship project is none other
than the Main Street Program which we are all now
very familiar with, due to the work of Kris Nelson
and Mari Mullen.
Buzzwords, code words and keywords
these groups use, which you
should be aware of:
Gateway Project
Complete Streets
Working Waterfront
Transit Villages
Livable
Walkable
Bikeable
Vibrant
Community
Diversity
Carbon Footprint
Endangered Places
Stakeholders
Sustainable
Smart Growth
Local
Regional
New Consensus
Collaborative Decision Process
Place Activation Planning
If you have been thinking this is a local problem particular only to Democrats or only to our local citizens, you are
sadly mistaken. This is happening all over the country.
It seems like a lot of people here have their eyes
wide open. Good on all of you.
The problem isn’t that we don’t want bike lanes, of course we do; and we definitely don’t want a city and a county that is full of pollution and industrial waste. What we want is for these things like bike lanes, and which industries are made to flourish, to be publicly discussed in a proper manner and decided by elections.
The argument by these “Sustainable Growth” folks is that time is of the essence and certain things must be PUSHED through. Absolutely not. That is not how we do things in the United States of America. This is a democracy by the people, which means ALL the people, not just people who have connections to international foundations and federal grants, placing themselves as the arbiters of truth and rightness in the world, in this nation, in our county and in our town. No one has the right to circumvent the will of the voting public.
How can local officials, with straight faces, encourage us to only buy things in town for the sake of our city, but they themselves are using ideas planned, packaged, and propagated by the United Nations, not the people of Port Townsend. It’s cartoonish.
What is the total debt now for PT property owners
to pay off, due to these freely funded follies?
Anyone know?
Excellent piece of writing Dean. We’re now headed toward the edge of a cliff. If the United Nations gets a foothold in this country we can kiss our freedom goodbye. That’s why the military wouldn’t go in when the attack on Washington DC. happened. The first UN troops would probably be from Russian, Communist China and North Korea. I’ll leave you with that little piece of cheer.
Not to forget Fort Worden, recently “partners” there became the overseers of most of the campus with their own organization. The meltdown worked out well for them and others separating out profitable hospitality parts of the orginization.
Makers Place or Square or whatever was described in the PDN according to Timmons I believe as being poorly designed and non-functioning. I believe that is well into the multi millions in cost.
It kind of fell off the radar and was supposed to open already.
As Robeson the Executive Director of the melted down FWPDA was exiting with benefits he was described as a “visionary” for the same project.
Which is it?
And……..
An old Leader article is linked below. One of two articles whose comments were deleted. I re pasted the comments a while ago.
Why would anyone delete comments in 2 FWPDA stories. He who controls the past……
If I had a wish, I would wish for someone to check out the guy in the photo from that old story. He’s still here. Who is past player and current board member Roger Schmitt seen in a photo in the story link below? Interesting history as I recall. I stand to be corrected.
Public property into private hands was the issue back then. How about now? Perhaps it’s all fine after all.
Streateries are only part of the salad.
https://www.ptleader.com/stories/fort-worden-forum-draws-a-crowd-full-of-questions,49740
Harvey thank you. As always!
Rodger Schmitt:
<<Commissioner, Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission
Rodger Schmitt was appointed to the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission in 2009, where he has served as secretary, vice-chair, and chair. Mr. Schmitt also has served on the Jefferson Land Trust’s board of directors for 8 years and as its operations director. He has been secretary, treasurer, and vice-president for a number of committees during his time with the land trust. He continues to serve on the Governance Committee in addition to the Resources Board of the Jefferson Land Trust. Mr. Schmitt retired from the federal government in 2003 with 34 years of experience in natural resource and outdoor recreation work. He ended his professional career as the director of recreation for the Bureau of Land Management, providing leadership to the bureau’s recreation program with responsibility for all outdoor recreation programs and policy development for visitor services, interpretation, recreation management information system, land use permitting and management, recreation fees, wild and scenic river use and management, and planning and accessibility.>>
Ref: https://rco.wa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/ParkOutdoorTaskForce-Recommendations.pdf
Now, observe a pattern which is being talked about. People came out to voice their disapproval of what was happening at Fort Worden. Rodger Schmitt was there. This is what he said afterward.
<<“This is really exciting, how we could develop this in a way that is flexible and sustainable. It’s great that the consultants recognized input from the community, rather than coming in with a preconceived idea.
Rodger Schmitt, Washington State Parks Commissioner”>>
Ref: https://signalarch.com/project/fort-worden/
Just from this one man you can see evidence of everything we have been discussing. The same buzz words and keywords are being used. The same pattern of performative public meetings, and then the projects go forward anyway. The same pattern of claiming these ideas came from the public, which is the exact opposite of what really happened.
This is exactly what Chris Norby (Republican) and Rosa Koire (Democrat) have been talking about and writing about. It’s been happening right under our noses. All these trusts and foundations have connections eventually to the United Nations group. This is a prepackaged program of how to get around voters and force these crazy projects on them. On us!!!!! All of these players get voted out of their seats and just go take a seat somewhere else to do the same thing.
We need to start a list of who has held which seats, and see how many of them are being elected and how many of them are being appointed by people working on the same agenda.
Whatever this is, it’s definitely not democracy.
I thought Schmidt was originally on the FWPDA advisory committee, which was setting up the FWPDA. (According to the City website a city council person was also on that committee). City Council did nothing when State Audits showed problems years ago. The FWPDA is a shadow City organization. The City had oversight responsibility. It failed.
Schmidt was then put into State Parks. He was part of the original group along with current board member David King, past PT appointed Mayor who wanted full title to all of Fort Worden.
I was involved in stopping that, and others negotiated the Co Management arrangement that left the campground in State Parks hands and the upper campus was leased to the FWPDA for 50 years.
A person fired by the City was hired as executive director of the FWPDA. We see how that worked out and would have without the Covid factor now blamed along with a relatively small amount taken by the CFO.
“Partners” are and were out of compliance with the MOU with the State that Centrum had to make tenants “inclusive” not “exclusive”. The public was to be able to tour and participate in tenant’s spaces in the spirit of State Parks.
So much went wrong on State Parks end, you will never find State Parks finding it made and is still making mistakes.
One person gave a presentation at the time the FWPDA was wanting to take over showing the closed loop of power. Nothing has changed but a train wreck that some benefited from, getting much of what was originally wanted structure wise.
Recently a City of PT “committee” of unknown origin was formed to select the new FWPDA board. There were some critics of the FWPDA who applied. None were selected.
A long time ago I knew of a wreck of a person who was hired by the owner of a business. The owner wanted to declare bankruptcy. The wreck of a person drove the business into the ground as the owner knew he would.
Don’t know why I mention that.
The Leader has a piece on the ongoing glamping tent problems. No mention of Maker’s whatever. Far more money involved there I believe. Comments are interesting.
https://www.ptleader.com/stories/pdas-glamping-camping-declared-an-emergency-as-project-sits-unfinished,82664
Something Les said, got me thinking.
I was wondering what the constitution of China
says about property rights. It was sure interesting.
“Article 10 Land in cities is owned by the state.
Land in rural and suburban areas is owned by collectives except for that which belongs to the state as prescribed by law; housing sites and cropland and hillsides allotted for private use are also owned by collectives.
The state may, in order to meet the demands of the public interest and in accordance with the provisions of law, expropriate or requisition land and furnish compensation.
No organization or individual shall unlawfully transfer land through seizure, sale and purchase, or in any other form. Land-use rights may be transferred in accordance with the provisions of law.
All organizations and individuals using land must use it in an appropriate manner.
Article 11 Non-public economic sectors that are within the scope prescribed by law, such as individually owned and private businesses, are an important component of the socialist market economy.
The state shall protect the lawful rights and interests of non-public economic sectors such as individually owned and private businesses. The state shall encourage, support and guide the development of non-public economic sectors and exercise oversight and regulation over non-public economic sectors in accordance with law.
Article 12 Socialist public property is sacred and inviolable.
The state shall protect socialist public property. It is prohibited for any organization or individual to seize or damage state or collective property by any means.
Article 13 Citizens’ lawful private property is inviolable.
The state shall protect the right of citizens to own and inherit private property in accordance with the provisions of law.
The state may, in order to meet the demands of the public interest and in accordance with the provisions of law, expropriate or requisition citizens’ private property and furnish compensation.”
After reading that I wanted to go back and see what the United States Constitution says about the land and property
rights, public, personal and private. The United States constitution gets very specific about some of these things.
Starting with the third amendment, “No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.” Fourth Amendment, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” From the Fifth Amendment,
“nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
Fourteenth Amendment, Section 1, “…No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
So I read all of this and I ponder what is going on in our country right now, such that United States citizens have apparently been very busy for a very long time, figuring out how to circumvent constitutional land laws and rob private citizens of the ability to vote on how their tax dollars are used in their communities. The programs these US citizens have come up with to do this, are even more disrespectful of private property rights than the constitution of China, as maintained and upheld by the Chinese communist party.
Don’t believe me? Read this again:
“Article 12 Socialist public property is sacred and inviolable.
The state shall protect socialist public property. It is prohibited for any organization or individual to seize or damage state or collective property by any means.
Article 13 Citizens’ lawful private property is inviolable.
The state shall protect the right of citizens to own and inherit private property in accordance with the provisions of law.
The state may, in order to meet the demands of the public interest and in accordance with the provisions of law, expropriate or requisition citizens’ private property and furnish compensation.”
Not even Communist China would allow citizens from a city to make private plans behind closed doors, to transfer public property to private entities, for private profit. All in the name of “the public interest”.
What these fellow citizens are doing is not in accordance with the Constitution of the United States of America, and it’s not even supported by the constitution of Communist China. It’s beyond Socialism. It’s beyond Communism. The arrogance it reflects, is shocking and disgusting, and both major US political parties have members deeply involved in it.
The city of Port Townsend is proposing taking public parking spaces and subsidizing the transfer of ownership to private entities for private profit, in the name of public interest. Not even Communist China does that to its citizens.
Here are the links where I got the information:
Constitution of China
http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/constitution2019/201911/1f65146fb6104dd3a2793875d19b5b29.shtml
Constitution of the United States of America
https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/
https://americanstewards.us/about/
About
American Stewards of Liberty (ASL) is a non-profit organization working to protect private property rights and the liberties they secure.
We challenge the policies that seek to undermine American’s ability to produce the food, fiber, energy, and minerals our nation needs. We confront the radical environmental movement, which believes the administrative state, not individuals, should determine how people use their land.
Whether in rural America or corporate boardrooms, we help citizens protect their lands and protect our country. From defeating the Trans Texas Corridor and developing the local government coordination strategy, to proactively delisting species— our work is unique, effective, and has led to some of the most successful efforts protecting property rights in America over the last thirty years.
We fully believe John Adams correctly stated: “Private property must be secured, or liberty cannot exist.”
Has PUD ever tried anything like this?
https://www.santarosaneighborhoodcoalition.com/sonoma-county-energy-independence-boondoggle.html
People who read the Leader may claim not to read the PT Free Press, but people who run the Leader sure as shootin’ do. They seem to be feeling some heat.
https://ptleader.com/stories/pt-council-to-revisit-long-term-streateries-plan,82790
“Damn the torpedoes! Four bells.
Captain Drayton, go ahead!
Jouett, full speed!”
(Adm. David Farragut)
Earlier, Dean M shared a link to a site which
contained this information–
https://preservewa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2021-Washington-Trust-Annual-Report.pdf
Members, Donors, Sponsors:
$1,000 – $2,499: Craig Britton, Port Townsend
(Britton is an officer of the Port Townsend
Heritage Association.)
Then i was reading this– “The city-sponsored Port Townsend Main Street Program and the city’s Historic Preservation Committee both collected feedback from residents and business owners on the outdoor dining spots over the past two years to present to the city council as part of the potential long-term streatery plan, according to the city of Port Townsend.” (that is the last sentence in the Leader’s latest piece about the streateries situation, written by James Sloan.)
I thought to myself, wait a minute. Historic preservation committee? I went to look–
Historic Preservation Committee
Members
Kathleen Knoblock
Michael D’Alessandro
George Randels
Walt Galitzki
Richard Berg (Chair)
Craig Britton (Vice Chair)
Kathleen Croston
So the vice chair of the PT historic preservation committee donated between $1000 and $2499, personally, to the parent trust (https://preservewa.org/) from which the Main Street Program is funded, which put up the streateries after an OKAY from The PT historic preservation committee. He gave the donation before or after he gave the OK on the streateries? Which is worse?
This is definitely not democracy; it’s racketeering.
This guy? This is the guy who is the vice chair of the historical group which okayed the gutter tents????
https://www.ptleader.com/stories/owning-a-piece-of-port-townsend-history,31637
“Craig and Carleen met while working together at the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District in Los Altos – a greenbelt system in the Bay Area near San Francisco, where they worked to preserve the uninhabited land. They married in 1993, and it wasn’t long before they noticed their shared love of antiques and Victorian-style homes.
When the time came to retire, the couple knew they wanted to live in an old-style home. They both had an appreciation for historical construction and design; even while living in Los Altos, the couple occupied a house built in the 1920s.
In the early 2000s, they knew exactly what they were looking for.
“We wanted a Victorian home, for it to be within 25 miles of the ocean, and we wanted to spend less than $1 million,” Craig said. “The reason we picked $1 million is because there was a nice Victorian for sale in Los Altos for $4 million.
In 2002, the couple bit and purchased the property from Gary and Mary McDowell, whom, just six years earlier, had purchased it from Dr. Randy and Mary Jacobs. The McDowells were in the midst of building another home near Fort Worden, so they rented the house for a few years as Craig and Carleen worked with the late Barbara Marseille of the Jefferson County Historical Society on a plan to faithfully restore areas of the house.
“She was our consultant, helping us make sure that the things we did were historically fitting in our home,” Carleen said.
[…]
“She was a real stickler,” Craig added. “I wanted to put in a tin ceiling in the kitchen; she wouldn’t let us do it.”
this is a man who understands the historical significance of things like picking a tin ceiling, and being told no. But gutter tents are okay. Why would that be?
FYI
https://www.paloaltoonline.com/print/story/2007/12/21/craig-britton-retiring-from-open-space-district
https://saveland.org/our-story/board-staff/
https://www.mainstreet.org/mainstreetamerica/theapproach
this is what we’re up against
its like a pyramid scheme
or amway lularoe tupperware
its how to destroy a community
in one easy package
just ignore democracy and go
that whole thing reads like 1984
the book i mean
upside down world
everything they say is opposite
of what they do
Warning–
Old man story ahead……..
Years ago, when I was Director of the Daystall Tenants Associationat the Pike Place Market I took the Historical Commission there to a Hearing Examiner over a denied needed cover for craftspeople trying to make a living in very bad weather that many times ended days early or even prohibited starting one for some.
We (a pro bono law firm advised pre hearing) basically deconstructed the process to deny and showed that the denial was pre determined despite similar covers elsewhere serving bank machines and a park. Getting the Historical Commission folks on the record answering questions revealed quite a bit.
As it would in many different but related situations here in PT.
After all the work and winning the decision, the Hearing Examiner found the Historical Commission had “broad powers” and she could not reverse the decision.
As is often the case, important positions are often just a clique or insider club of folks awarded positions for odd reasons. Perhaps some know of ICLEI, perhaps some just fall in line to please other players and keep position.
Dots are being connected here. Varying manifestations of a root cause. We may all mutter and mumble about things, but setting up a real counter force is key. A NON PARTISAN “Neighborhood Party” where the basic premise is do unto others and be a good neighbor is needed. Perhaps impossible as factions within factions would likely emerge.
The toxic beauty of “them” is that no one really rocks the boat even when committing self harm to community.
Following and publishing Council votes past and future, getting candidates ready for the next election to remove some toxic waste holding office, and hanging together or surely hanging separately is key.
Streateries led to understanding parking, and key players. That can lead to the understanding the FWPDA grab, and key players. That can lead to Cherry Street key players, poplars, a 1.2 million dollar over priced butt ugly non functional “park and plaza”, and even to selecting a City Manager who is and was not qualified. He showed this by not dealing with parking as any real city manager would feel legally obligated to for 2 years now, dragging police chiefs and others with him.
Lip service is that parking will now be dealt with. Far easier to destroy than rebuild. Look at the talent available.
Can “we” get it together and really organize? Or will the Powers That Be simply yawn and note that the natives are mumbling?
The real root cause is “us”. What do we do that has impact and meaning now that much of a pattern is becoming understood? First is to leave your donkeys and elephants out of it.
Citizens of Jefferson County WA
For Redevelopment Law Reform
How’s that Gotta start somewhere?
Remember ppl of Quil are dealing with
all of this too. All of us in the county need
a clearinghouse of info and connected dots
But also arent there any of like mind in the
state, already gathering? we could use
their input if so. Will try to find out more.
we cant be the only ones seeing this.
Harvey i like your idea of getting candidates
ready. any member of any party or no party,
sincere in taking this on is going to
be a huge asset. But we have to have
their backs. Otherwise the money and
power represented by those groups
will crush them. we can already see how
City council treats anyone who speaks
with conviction against the undemocratic
processes currently happening.
Your old man stories are good.
keep em comin.
From Washington Trust for Historic Preservation website;
[[The Main Street Tax Credit Incentive Program provides a Business & Occupation (B&O) or Public Utility tax (PUT) credit for private contributions given to eligible downtown organizations. Once your business’ donation request is approved by the Department of Revenue, you are eligible for a tax credit worth 75% of the contribution to your downtown revitalization organization. Designated Washington Main Street Communities are eligible to receive contributions through this state tax credit program.
Businesses statewide can also donate to the Main Street Trust Fund for the same 75% of your donation. In fact, a business can donate to both up to $250,000. What other program essentially lets you self direct your business taxes? Further, if your downtown organization is a 501(c)3 you may be eligible for a federal income tax deduction as a charitable contribution.
The Main Street Tax Credit Incentive Program is established in RCW 82.73. For more information about the program, please view the Main Street Tax Credit brochure in English and Spanish, the Main Street Tax Credit FAQ, and the Step-by-Step Guide to Applying from the Department of Revenue:]]
Keep in mind, our state does not have an income tax so the B&O tax is one of the main sources of income for projects
necessary for the public good, aka infrastructure.
Think about this as you are driving the potholed streets of Port Townsend, looking at the total lack of sidewalks outside of uptown and downtown along the main thoroughfares in this so-called walkable city. Then pay attention to the fact that
money which existed which should’ve been used as taxes to pay for paving our roads was instead funneled into the Washington trust for historic preservation, and for the interests and needs of just a few downtown business owners.
There is every sort of trail along peoples’ backyards and property lines, with all sorts of useless and self-serving so-called historical information attached. But when working people (who can’t afford cars or don’t drive and aren’t able to ride the bus or the bus isn’t running,) need a safe well-lighted place to walk from home to work or the grocery store, they get nothing. There is more than one Cherry Street fiasco. The other one has to do with the condition of the street itself, and how, to walk that road is to put oneself in grave danger.
I wonder sometimes what tourists think when they see downtown and then they drive through the neighborhoods.
It’s clear where all the money of the city has gone. It’s not been for the maintenance of the whole city. We needed our roads paved. We need the fire hazard weeds mowed. We need sensible solutions for our roads; not endless roundabouts. It’s really clear how this particular plan was paid for. It was paid for by taking money from the rest of the city, for just one specific part. The Corredor that leads to downtown. If you can’t drive through your neighborhood without ruining the suspension on your car, this is why.
http://weblink.cityofpt.us/weblink/0/edoc/150146/Gateway%20Development%20Plan.pdf
The bottom line is that actual infrastructure money is being diverted away from the people who need it, into the hands of these trusts and foundations. Instead of safe streets we can actually use, we get “Gateway Projects” and “Complete Streets”; streateries, parklets, and the threat to force downtown, home to residents and businesses alike, into becoming car-less.
They claim all of this is necessary because of climate change. We have to save the planet. Okay, sure.
Clearly, climate disruptions will present challenges
we’ll deal with together as American citizens.
We expected to be part of the process.
We expected we would be voting on these issues.
Instead, we have a bunch of people with “urban planning” degrees, superimposing their Disnified “Main Street”
visions on our real lives, and forcing us to pay for it.
While they reap personal profits.
All the people who live and own property within the
newly designated “Creative District”, need to sit up
and start paying attention.
https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/news/port-townsend-creative-district-finding-its-way/
https://ptcreativedistrict.org/
https://www.arts.wa.gov/port-townsend/
https://www.ptleader.com/stories/pt-designated-as-creative-district-by-washington-state-arts-commission,69163
Main Street is just the beginning.
The rest has already been planned out.
Welcome to the Redevelopment Industrial Complex.
It’s kind of like the Military lndustrial Complex, only
this manufactured war takes place at home.
https://preservewa.org/taxcredit/
IS THIS REAL LIFE?!
°°°In fact, a business can donate to both up to $250,000. What other program essentially lets you self direct your business taxes? Further, if your downtown organization is a 501(c)3 you may be eligible for a federal income tax deduction as a charitable contribution.°°°
Selfish greed wearing a do-good mask
Great string of articles & commentary — thanks PTFP.
What we’ve been seeing — locally, regionally and farther afield — is the tip of a global restructuring iceberg, laid out over decades, inherent to the nefarious U.N. agenda 20/30…. more recently haled & marketed by Klaus Schwab, and the WEF, as “The Great Reset”.
https://www.weforum.org/great-reset
https://straight2point.info/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/COVID-19_-The-Great-Reset-Klaus-Schwab.pdf
The restructuring occurs simultaneously with the demolition of all “legacy systems”, which include the entirety of human institutions — social, family & residence, foods & agriculture, educational, trade & economics, employment & currencies, resources & energy, transportation & shipping, legal/political/governmental, national & international, medical, military…. among others. Even where we are “allowed” to live & travel. A complete overhaul.
One of the bylines is — “You will own nothing and be happy”. Which means, of course… “they” will own & control EVERYTHING.
We’re already deep into it.
Terrific investigatory journalism here — from the makers of the documentary linked below — “this is a housing crisis”, along with many investigations over the years.
http://truthstreammedia.com/
“This video encompasses what is going on all around this country (and many other countries) while everyone is busy focusing on everything else that isn’t this.
A few weeks ago, after a lot of prayer and contemplation, I felt an incredible pull to look into our housing situation in this country. Once I looked, it was like a train wreck. I wanted to, but I couldn’t look away. What is happening out there on our streets right now is, without a doubt, unprecedented in our lifetimes. Crazier, it has seemingly only been talked about in little bits and pieces on local news stations from what I can tell as if each story is a local anomaly… but that’s the thing.
It’s everywhere. And, like the Nothing in “Neverending Story,” it’s spreading.
The stories about our affordable housing shortage, skyrocketing rents and housing prices, and an alarming rise in homelessness were coming out faster than I could keep up with by the time I began editing this piece. Now multiple stories are coming out about this every day.
This was admittedly an incredibly hard topic to make a video on; I cried more than once. So I know how upsetting talking about this can be, but I’d be remiss in what I feel is my responsibility to my fellow humans if I didn’t make this video.
I believe this is something that is going to affect so many of us.”
Sooo much is already in place, but forewarned is hopefully forearmed.
Imagine the mind boggling numbers of people & institutions around the world it takes to pull off this level of madness….
Ally thank you for sharing that video.
It makes so much sense now, how cities like
Port Townsend are allowing these trusts and foundations
to come in and set up their profiteering rackets,
while siphoning off the tax money that should’ve been
used for things like low income housing and affordable housing, schools and roads. Meanwhile, the taxpayers
are told that they now have to pay for more affordable/low-income housing, schools, and roads. But they already
paid for all of that! It’s just that the robber barons look
like sweet grandparent retirees, beach bunnies, surfer
tech bros and fresh-faced college grads, now.
But something else makes more sense to me as well.
I know of two projects within the city limits which were
never completed or were completed differently because
of Smart Growth type demands from the city, on the developers. Both projects could have added desperately needed family and low-income housing to the city, but both developers decided to either walk away in one case and not develop the rest of the land at all, or in the other case, only spruce up the project, instead of complete renovation.
These Smart/Sustainable Growth projects are strangling
Port Townsend. By the time the cumulative effect of the legally stolen taxes can be fully seen in the city, the people responsible will be long gone. The people forcing this on all of us seem to think that we will simply adjust. But they are forgetting that we are also the people who make their businesses run. Already they are having to do things like wait their own tables. That will just get worse as time goes on. The working class cannot afford to live in this city. And they want people to not drive into town (only tourists can do that). So I’m not really sure who they think is going to do all of their work for them. Robots? Is Rosie the Robot going to feed tourists off of the cruise ships and pick up the trash?
Pat yourself on the back a little harder there, Jim.
Also: when did it become standard for the PTFP to sh*t on the misleader and PDN at the start of every article? It’s becoming an eye roll every time.
The hit dog howls.
Those of us reading and posting here would be happy to support either of our local newspapers if they actually presented facts in an unbiased manner. They do not. They aid and abet people who are damaging our lives and making our lives unlivable. Have you checked the counties suicide rate, recently? We will continue to fight for our own needs and our own interests, since they are not being represented by our local elected leaders nor our newspapers. You miss all the points if you think this is solely about Jim Scarantino. But we are okay with you thinking that. In fact, we hope you continue to think so, indefinitely.
Hi Jenny,
Some links for you:
https://www.agenda21course.com/tag/washington-state/
https://www.teaparty911.com/issues/groups_against_agenda_21.htm
https://preparednesshub.com/agenda-21-multiple-states-passing-laws-to-protect-property-rights-but-few-americans-are-even-aware-of-the-mounting-threat-against-them/
https://americanpolicy.org/2016/08/29/stand-us-agenda-2030/
Take care!
SK
I know this is an article from May but I got to thinking about how there are more nonprofits than actually for profit businesses in Jefferson county and found a spreadsheet that contains all of nonprofits in Washington state. I found that Port Townsend has 204. I found a total of 321 with searching by zip codes. I found Homeward Bound in this spreadsheet so I did some digging on Homeward Bound Dba Olympic Land Trust and found this interesting financial filing with the Secretary of State.
https://ccfs.sos.wa.gov/#/CFTSearch/cftSearchOrganizationFilings
I was shocked that it was reported on their 11/17/2021 financial statement that is a matter of public record:
Solicitation Comments:
IN PROCESS OF RETURNING A MAJOR LOAN FROM THE CITY, WHICH WILL LOWER OUR NET ASSETS. CURRENTLY NOT REPRESENTING THIS RETURN.
All of filings with the Secretary of State were interesting not just the financial statements. The yearly renewals are as well. I was amazed at the changing of names involved and change of addresses. I don’t know a lot about the nonprofit racket but it appeared to be excessive since inception in 2005.
I also found a reconveyance that the city gave Homeward Bound after they defaulted on the Cherry Street project. I am puzzled as to how a reconveyance would even be a consideration when the agreement wasn’t fulfilled.
Things that make you go hmmmmm