December 31st is the deadline for removal of all streateries remaining in Port Townsend.
As year-end approaches for the expiration of the streatery temporary use permits — which despite public outcry, the City Council extended yet again last May — five rarely-used eyesores remain. Our last article focused on Alchemy’s ripped, moldy and potentially hazardous gutter tent next to Haller Fountain. This roundup will provide an update on that situation and take a look at the four other streateries which have continued to eliminate precious downtown parking during the peak holiday shopping season despite disuse and disgruntled neighbors.
The most visibly obtrusive and un-neighborly of those remaining four is The Old Whiskey Mill tent on Water Street, pictured at top and below. Not only does it front a portion of Kris Nelson’s restaurant (the windows at far right), it obscures Quimper Sound Records’ storefront (center portion of photo) as we have previously reported.
Quimper Sound owner James Schultz wrote the City Council last spring about the damage this unfair taking of his street frontage was causing his business. His letter was apparently ignored, with council extending the injury — blocking visibility to his business and removing the parking in front of his shop for Nelson’s profit for another eight months. His story is perhaps most instructive regarding the harm this experiment has caused, benefiting a few select restaurants to the detriment of other businesses.
In a comment to the Free Press on December 1st, Schultz once again described his frustration:
“As the Covid restrictions were brought down upon us by the state my business was shuttered leaving no foreseeable future. My neighbors as well felt the effects. We began to see the hope of being allowed to reopen by the state and this came with heavy restrictions. I was asked if I would allow the space in front of my shop on Water St to be part of a temporary tent structure to be used during the time these occupancy restrictions were in place. I gave up valuable street frontage to help because I was raised to believe we are all in this together. That time has passed. The occupancy restrictions were lifted. Then the vaccine mandate went into effect. I bit my tongue as the tent covered my storefront because I understood telling 30pct of potential customers and their parties to not come in is fiscally deadly to a service business. I pitched in to help. Our county finally removed that last restriction.
I read the tea leaves after meeting our City Manager at a public meeting. His only objective was to make streateries permanent. Appointed officials are like Gods and he will get his way so I asked that the council and his office make their rules that we build nice, fitting structures that only sit in front of the place served but noted I prefer no streateries. Well they could have done something and I would have spent a summer season in sight but they kicked the can down the road leaving the ugly tent in front of my shop. Frankly I am just disgusted by our City Council and our Manager. My business has suffered. The last few years has been horrid anyhow but getting calls from professional delivery drivers and customers saying they cannot find my storefront even with an address….”
Schultz’s comment is more than a tale of personal difficulty; it provides a glimpse into the bait and switch by the City, and the fast-track process engineered to achieve a predetermined outcome. Other business owners like Gail Boulter, a downtown merchant with multiple shops over a 40-year span, also described initially being assured by City Manager John Mauro that the streatery scheme would only be temporary — just to help restaurant owners out during the pandemic — only to learn after that emergency passed that a process to codify a permanent program was underway.
Mauro had called her, Boulter told council in an April public comment, when Covid restrictions first began affecting restaurants:
“[He] wanted our impression about how we felt about the streateries… I said we would be happy to do anything we can to help our restaurants. However, under no circumstances would any of us merchants downtown want to see this to be a permanent situation. He assured me at that time Oh, no no no, this is a temporary fix.”
The month before Boulter’s comment, one week after a survey designed to support the City’s intended outcome was released (a survey that was never publicized and most of the public never saw), Manager Mauro held an Open House about making streateries permanent — the public meeting Schultz references. We heard from numerous people who went to that Open House, ostensibly held to gather feedback from the business community and other members of the public about making the program long-term. The story from those in attendance was consistent. A couple of dozen business owners attended, gave overwhelmingly negative feedback, and were not listened to. “His only objective was to make streateries permanent,” as Schultz said of Mauro. This was not a good-faith gathering of input, it was a box to be checked fulfilling “public process” so that the City could say in its justifications for a permanent program, We held a Public Open House.
Over multiple City Council meetings that followed, Whiskey Mill owner and streateries beneficiary Kris Nelson was the only businessperson to speak or write in favor of the permanent program. In the face of widespread opposition to allowing streateries to remain any longer, the council nonetheless continued the temporary program — through the extension of Streatery Special Event Temporary Use permits — with the rationale that we needed extra outdoor dining over the summer for those still fearing Covid. Summer somehow stretched out to January.
A couple of new streateries sprang up following approval of that May extension — seating in the street outside the Silverwater Cafe on Taylor which took out their handicapped parking spot, and a new installation at PT Anchor on Water Street near City Hall. The Silverwater removed their outdoor tables after the summer season, while Anchor’s streatery is still in place.
All the photos in this article were taken over the months of November and December, most of them during the lunch hour. No diners were ever seen using any of the streateries over that span, yet restaurant owners like Nelson have continued to take up valuable parking to the detriment of the business community as a whole. It would appear that all are waiting until the last possible moment to give up their free street space, the year-end deadline.
The Old Whiskey Mill
Nelson claims she asked the City if she could shift her 48-foot tent so that it did not block Quimper Sound’s storefront, so that more of the tent was in front of her own restaurant, and she says that the City said no. Yet she chose to keep the nearly-always-empty visual blight in the street through this prime shopping season, knowing it was taking up valuable parking and hurting her neighbor. All except the snow shot are lunch hour photos taken during November/December:
Three More Unused Streateries
Tommyknockers:
Also on Water Street, Tommyknockers has maintained its long-standing installation of picnic tables and a picket fence, even though it has outdoor seating in the back of the restaurant. It replaced three of its four umbrellas with infrared heaters that put propane bottles at diners’ feet — and in the street.
Cellar Door:
Nearly two years ago, in February 2021, City Manager Mauro signed off on a no-fee agreement for the Cellar Door (off Tyler Street behind the Mount Baker Block building) of three city-owned public parking spaces to be used “during COVID-19 Restricted Dining.” While Mauro was assuring downtown merchants that this “temporary fix” would never be made permanent, the Cellar Door owner was led to believe their street use would be a permanent gift, and as a result invested in infrastructure work unlike the temporary tents and tables that other restaurants put in the streets. They graded the area and built high-walled structures. The end result created problems for delivery vehicles that frequent the alleyway, some near-accidents, and on at least one occasion led to an altercation that resulted in police intervention.
PT Anchor:
As described earlier, Anchor was the last restaurant to join in the streatery free-for-all, after the council extended the temporary use permit last May. As the newest and simplest streatery on the block, It is the freshest looking today. No tent, umbrellas, propane tanks or lighting, just a picket fence with wooden picnic tables in the gutter. Has this empty streatery across from City Hall also remained in place during the winter just because it can?
The Icing on the Bad-Neighbor Cake: Alchemy
Our November 30 article focused on the ugly mess in front of Alchemy just days before Main Street’s annual Christmas tree lighting at Haller Fountain. It described the upset among neighboring businesses and wondered why the City was allowing it to remain. The tent was not removed before the event, continued to deteriorate (shown below on Dec. 3), and is still in place.
I suggested that any coverage of Santa arriving at the fountain on December 4th would pretend the tent wasn’t there. As it turns out, the Peninsula Daily News did just that, cropping their photo to avoid the embarrassing tattered elephant in the room entirely. The Leader didn’t even cover the annual event. Here is what “JOY IN PT” actually looked like in our famously picturesque seaport on December 4th, as families awaited Santa’s arrival, and after the traditional community tree lighting:
Following the festivities, Alchemy added insult to injury by stringing the dilapidated picket fence surrounding the disgusting tent with multi-colored lights, drawing even more attention to it. It now consists of a moldy mess at one end, with the other half a rickety, stained skeletal frame.
Lipstick on a pig? Or a grotesque joke from Alchemy owner Adam Levin, further thumbing his nose at the outpouring of complaints?
In an email exchange with Public Works Director Steve King, I asked him why he had only sent inquiries to Levin about the state of the tent (inquiries which he previously told me had been ignored). Why was the City not taking action to remove this dangerous eyesore? Was it because the temporary use permit which had been extended — and then extended again — had no teeth for preventing this kind of abuse?
“Yes,” King replied. “All of the tents downtown were part of the special events temporary permit and not subject to the ordinance.”
The ordinance he refers to is one allowing for permanent streateries in the future, which prohibits the degradation we were all witnessing with the tents and tables in the streets. But even though council had already seen problems last winter with this program — using phrases like “ugly tents” and “unsightly weathering” — rather than adding safeguards, they simply extended the already problematic special events temporary permit for another eight months, preventing the City from removing messes like Alchemy’s tent.
Community Feedback
How has all this sat with the people of P.T.?
Following the publication of our November 30 article, a Free Press reader alerted us to a question posed to a large local Facebook group called Port Townsend Community. A member of the group asked “What do you think of this?” and gave a link to our article about the Alchemy tent.
Sixty-six comments followed, nearly all of them opposing the streateries.
“Ugh, I’d never eat in one of those filthy virus incubators.”
——————————
“Street dining needs removed imo. It’s unsanitary as shown, unsafe having people in the street. Additionally simply giving restaurants those boosts while taking away from other downtown businesses is ridiculous.”
——————————
“Take ’em all down, I say. They were necessary last year during COVID restrictions on indoor dining, but they are not now. They represent a free giveaway of public space to private businesses, and a reduction of precious downtown parking spaces.
I got a little chuckle about the opposition to taking them down from the owner of the Old Whiskey Mill. Last year in the winter, my wife and I dined in the tent outside that establishment a couple of times. Both times, it was a miserable experience, with cold winds and rain, and ineffective heaters connected to the indoors by extension cords strung across the sidewalk.”
Photo: Peninsula Daily News
Some pointed out the irony of the City’s recent demand that uptown’s popular, artistically-crafted tree sculpture called Raccoon Lodge be removed:
“And yet the raccoon lodge has to go, lmao… I just don’t get it.”
“So these are ok but the Raccoon lodge needs to go???”
The same week, a NextDoor poll asked “Who supports onstreet restaurant tents sacrificing parking spaces?”
The poll generated 35 comments, offering a broad range of views through its small sample. Some people wanted to see Port Townsend be “car free” — the primary rationale behind the streateries push by City Manager Mauro, Mayor David Faber and some of the council members. A few folks paranoid about respiratory viruses, still afraid of indoor dining, also supported the streateries.
But one comment stood out for the person who first alerted me to this poll. He sent me a screen shot of the response from Brent Shirley, former mayor of Port Townsend, who was at the City’s helm when Port Townsend Main Street first came into existence:
“Port Townsend Main Street Program was founded in 1985 by the Mayor & City Council and was the first in Washington State,” Shirley wrote.
“Our mission is to preserve, promote and enhance our historic business district. As Mayor at the time, I don’t believe what’s going on today meets these goals at all. We’ve spent millions of dollars over the last 40 years, rebuilding the docks on the waterfront & replaced a contaminated bulk oil plant with the Northwest Maritime Center. This was all accomplished by locals and I don’t believe City Hall is even aware of this or they wouldn’t trash it up by keeping shelters, on the streets in use for Covid19 that are passed their useful life, no longer in use and are, in my opinion, a blight.”
The fact that today’s city government is pushing this agenda and that Main Street simply looks the other way when a business in downtown’s historic district trashes its traditional community tree-lighting at Haller Fountain is testament to the truth of Shirley’s criticism.
What about future streateries?
Council’s deadline to remove the existing streateries by year’s end does not mean we’ve seen the last of them. The limit on further temporary extensions was simply a pause on developing a permanent program downtown until parking issues are addressed that have plagued downtown for decades.
Nearly all council members have expressed their enthusiasm for creating permanent streateries downtown once a new parking plan is in place. The quiet deal first offered to the Cellar Door exemplifies the widespread parking giveaway that they envision, replacing it with street dining. Faber is especially emphatic about his agenda to eliminate vehicular traffic and prioritize private use of public streets for business owners. He has called it “the storage of personal property on the street.”
In conjunction with extending the temporary use permit, council unanimously approved an ordinance (the one referenced by Public Works Director King) allowing a limited number of permanent streateries Uptown and in all other commercial districts except for downtown. The streateries displayed here that had temporary status have to come down by December 31st, but restaurants outside of downtown can apply for permanent ones at any time in the future.
The permanent streateries program operates on a lottery system. I asked Steve King to clarify how it works:
“The lottery system is based on preliminary screening to make sure the applicant knows what is required and then application. If there are more applications then allowed spaces in Uptown, then there is a drawing.”
Whether it’s because of resounding public sentiment opposed to this agenda or lessons learned over the last few years, to date no businesses have applied. There had been one streatery Uptown, outside the Seal Dog Coffee Bar on Lawrence Street (see “Uptown Streateries: A Reality Check“), and they removed their tables and fence after the summer season. They have not applied for a permanent streatery.
Applications are due by July 1st of each year. Since no one applied before last summer’s deadline, no new streateries will be possible until the next round. Time will tell if we will be subjected to this scheme again.
The good news is that the current blight on our historic Victorian streetscape must be cleared out before the new year. I asked King if there was any grace period for removal and if a streatery owner does not comply, what penalties and/or action(s) the City would take.
“We have notified all the streatery owners that their streateries will need to be removed by the end of day on 12/31. If the streateries aren’t removed, then the City will have the right to remove them.”
King’s answer only raises more questions.
Will the City’s “right to remove” translate to actual action and oversight, something we’ve not seen demonstrated to date? Alchemy’s owner has ignored concerns from its neighbors, the community at large and even the City. Will businesses who have shown blatant disregard for others now do the right thing? ARE there any penalties for restaurant owners who do not comply?
Removing a flimsy picket fence and a few picnic tables is one thing, but what will it take for the Cellar Door to restore three parking spaces by Dec. 31? If the City is forced to invoke its “right to remove” any streateries, who pays for that? Does the City — meaning the taxpayers — pick up the tab?
————————————
Streatery photos by Stephen Schumacher, Harvey Windle and Ana Wolpin.
————————————
UPDATE 1
A note from Harvey Windle just prior to publishing informs that the Old Whiskey Mill tent is in the process of being removed:
“The Whiskey Mill mess tent is in parts and taken down. The massive multi-ton concrete blocks bookend the parts. A crane truck would be needed to move those.”
There’s no arguing with Mother Nature. Snow prevails.
————————————
UPDATE 2: The Old Whiskey Mill Tent Comes Down
As noted above, there is still debris to be cleared off the street. The large concrete blocks (one of them visible inside the corner of the fence above) were a safety measure at either end of the tent to protect the structure and diners in the street from parking cars. Here they are, following the tent’s removal:
Why is the removal of these streateries such a big deal?
The real revelation comes in seeing the difference in the streetscape without that tent blocking the storefronts. Even with the slushy snow, with concrete blocks and other debris remaining in the street, the contrast between the visual blight we have been enduring and what we see now is startling. Compare the aesthetics of these two images:
The loss over the last two-plus years to our town’s special character has been significant — an aesthetic so important to PT’s identity that even paint on these buildings is restricted to colors approved by the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC). Details like the arched entrywa
y between Quimper Sound Records and The Old Whiskey Mill are what gives our downtown a rich ambience and celebrated appeal.
The grandeur of Port Townsend’s classic historic buildings is a legacy that secured our downtown and uptown commercial districts a place on the National Historic Register. The stunning Victorian architecture is what inspired the city to establish the first Main Street program in the country, as former mayor Brent Shirley describes above.
This special frontage is why commercial space downtown is so expensive. Stores like Quimper Sound pay a premium for the visual draw it offers. Well-designed window displays are critical for attracting shoppers into these establishments. Allowing restaurants to obscure other businesses’ prime frontage to boost their own profits is not only visually degrading to PT’s entire commercial district, the negative impact to the bottom line for the shops being blocked is incalculable.
Parking has not been restored yet and a bit of a mess remains. But Quimper Sound’s creative and inviting storefront is able see daylight again.
“After” photos taken by Stephen Schumacher on Dec. 22 (with snow and slush) and Dec. 25 (snow melted). By Christmas Day, Anchor’s streatery had also been removed.
Arriving in Port Townsend in 1975 in Sherpa, her Ford van, Ana Wolpin has watched a sweetly funky, diverse and tolerant community increasingly gentrify, polarize and lose its soul. After almost half a century engaged in local business, city politics, county organizations and community projects, she joined with fellow editors to revive the Free Press and bear witness to extraordinary times. For a short sketch of Ana's history in Jefferson County, see “About the Free Press."
I hate to use a well-worn cliche, but as age creeps up on me, I resort to them often. This is a “NO-BRAINER”. A historic Victorian town with limited parking is allowed to put up these eye-sores! Ignoring the business owners’ wishes except for one very successful property owner. Really, protection from illness is provided??
Perhaps the residents need to stop supporting these establishments. Fiscal pain seems to be the only thing they understand or respond to.
Many of us have, Peggy. Which makes us very sad, but it was the only option remaining for us to express our displeasure with selfish choices. Unfortunately, we can’t use the same tactic against the city officials who deviously brought this situation to fruition.
Well- maybe we should boycott their businesses as well. If you know a realtor or business who causes harm — let’s stop feeding them. I would love to see the photos on Utube. Tourists, locals and real estate customers should be aware of what it is really like here. Thank you for keeping us posted- would love to see the circle widened.
People, I don’t know how to tell you this kindly, but the rest of the world is running free and maskless and it’s like none of this ever happened… except there in PT. Everywhere else, businesses are open, parties are being thrown and attended -and people are eating in restaurants without face diapers. I Iived in PT for thirty years and escaped last year after seeing the writing on the wall. Can’t believe what all is still happening there. Get out while you still can! As long as you keep voting for the same policies, it will never improve. PT and China… the only 2 places in the world still doing this pathetic dance…. my heart grieves for my friends still there.
“…the rest of the world is running free and maskless and it’s like none of this ever happened… except there in PT. Everywhere else, businesses are open, parties are being thrown and attended -and people are eating in restaurants without face diapers.”
CE, I’m grateful for your input, but no, the rest of the world is not running free and maskless (too many examples to cite here, but a modicum of research will prove that not to be true). Businesses here are open, parties are being thrown and attended and people are eating in restaurants without face diapers. PT and China are far from “the only 2 places in the world doing this pathetic dance…” I wish it were so. Some of us are unable to move for financial or family reasons. You were fortunate.
Main Street and Mari Mullen the director for around 25 years does not only ignore mess tents and street tables. Main Street was crucial to not distributing information, as were Compromised City Manager Mauro and Appointed Mayor Faber. The results of what feedback was gathered were questioned. Seems positive responses claimed did not match other paperwork.
Kris Nelson of Whiskey Mill, and the one who put up the Alchemy tent and sold the business with it included to a new owner that had no covid losses to make up for was president of Main Street for many years. An employee of hers last I saw is still on the board. I am asked many times a day where to eat. What would your answer be if you were me?
City Manager Mauro in conjunction with Mari at Main Street and Kris Nelson originally tried to shut down Taylor Street and put in tables under the “Open Streets Initiative”. Per Orwell “Open Streets” closes streets. There is no initiative process involved with real public input. Other articles have photos of that attempt. I did contact the City Attorney and advised that they walk back this attempted takeover. It went away and Mauro said he only wanted to show what 6-foot separation looked like. Thanks Johnny. We didn’t know.
Two Orwell quotes keep coming to mind.
“It’s not so much staying alive, it’s staying human that’s important. What counts is that we don’t betray each other.”
The betrayals of actual community by those in public and private sectors working together are very well documented in the FP series of articles regarding the taking of limited and mis managed public parking for private use.
Good and valuable documentation FP.
The more known Orwell quote is this
‘If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.’
I used to think that was a bit over the top. I no longer do. The boot wearers here eagerly reveal themselves. Money and power over community every time. In tide pools and petri dishes large and small. This is only a microcosm of the macrocosm. No shame. No responsibility.
Thanks again Free Press for all the volunteer time put in. This is a big and very slimy deal. Very well documented.
Now, who is John Galt?
The adage, “you deserve the politicians you vote for” is ever so true. Yes, it is a disservice to those of us who vote for honest leaders who truly have the people’s interests in mind vs those that seek power for power’s sake, and do more harm to the communities than good. From what I’ve read, the PT Mayor is more interested in perversion and queer people than he is in running a safe and happy community where, maybe, neither extreme gets what they want, but EVERYBODY can happily live with the compromise.
These things that we don’t like will continue until the voters wise up and choose better leadership.
Welcome to life in a post-constitutional, World Economic Forum occupied territory. The decaying streateries are a message from the current rulers that they do not have to accommodate their subjects’ culture, traditions, safety, or aesthetic preferences. The message was amplified when the empty streateries remaining after summer appeared strategically located to maximize blight.
The rulers are dedicated to converting our communities into dystopian hellholes. Remember the drug camp at the fairgrounds? It was responsible for destroying lives. It was an assault on the county fair tradition. It compromised the health and safety of a nearby residential community. The Cherry Street project turned an existing neighborhood into an instant trash dump.
The solution? Start by at least questioning the motives of any government action that uses the greater good excuse to violate individual rights or existing contracts. Stop surrendering your rights and your neighborhoods to aggressive virtue signalers. There is plenty of land available to build the eco-villages of the future. Water Street is a terrible location for this purpose.
How long will taxpayers in PT continue to take orders to bend over??? Looks like there are many idiots that like to be screwed. It is time to hold special elections to VOTE the dictators out. Frankly, these self-serving sociopaths are so good at keeping those apron strings tightly knotted for public control. My tax dollars pay these clowns. Enough. Pt is a melting pot, but no longer of interesting diversity. It is full of political shit and when stirred smells worse than the mill on a bad day, but many have lost their sense of smell. Perhaps a Stepford town best describes the current undertow!
Repurposing parking spaces appears to violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. City of PT could face loss of all Federal Funds: Block Grants, HUD, FHA, Highway, EPA, etc for repeated violations of the ADA. Feel free to report City of PT to DOJ, and other agencies for this likely violation of the ADA.
It is a clear violation of the ADA. Anyone can file a lawsuit on behalf of the disabled. This is prime for big money damages!
Ana Wolpin has watched a sweetly funky, diverse and tolerant community increasingly gentrify, polarize and lose its soul. When the globally-orchestrated new normal began unfolding—bringing full-blown censorship, authoritarian rule and mass psychosis—she joined with fellow editors to revive the Free Press and bear witness to extraordinary times.
Like CE, I too, reached a breaking point watching the beautiful town I adopted 15 years ago evolve into something I did not recognize nor wanted to live in. So I moved. It may not be the “rest of the world running free” but where I traveled in search of a new home, the number of masked individuals was less than 5%. In those communities, the local politicos are not trying to be dictators with their boot on the necks of the residents, and their hands in the our pockets, raising taxes for the foolish choices they make.
This is a LTE to the Mis Leader Posted Wednesday, June 12, 2019, as new city manager John Mauro was being vetted by Appointed Mayor Stinson and 3-time 20-year council member and owner of Windermere Real Estate Michelle Sandoval.
He was sweet talking two cities on 2 coasts professing that each was his favorite. He had no qualifications to be a city manager. He is easily directed what to not deal with. It shows.
https://www.porttownsendfreepress.com/2020/10/07/who-is-john-mauro-port-townsends-city-manager/
Stinson lost the election to Monica MickHager. Monica came in to talk to me after seeing the LTE below. No word after election from Monica. I supported Monica with ads but would not again. She drank the Kool Aid. Everyone seems to.
What changed under new City Manager Mauro, and Faber as appointed Mayor? Meet the new bosses. Same as the old. What will be different in a few years? Nothing.
The June 12, 2019 LTE.
The City of Port Townsend is the no-term-limit city council and mayor they appoint from within. Their sole employee is the city manager, just retired after around 20 years and $2.5 million without any current plan to deal with parking.
No enforcement was the answer approved by the city council. Any new city manager will have the same bosses.
There is simply not enough parking for residents, business owners and employees. Many harm their own community and business by taking limited posted two-hour parking all day.
The job of the city manager and council for the last two decades was to keep ahead of this problem. Failure and denial are easily seen, don’t believe their spin. The solution now means fixing self-entitled no-rules parking, a cultural shift easily traced to city hall.
There has recently been minimal enforcement for the sake of appearance. (Appointed mayor Stinson election was ahead) I have sent over three years of photo and text documentation to the city, stepping it up recently. Customers complain about parking many days. Business owners, employees and residents are abandoned to work parking out among themselves. Thoughtlessness flourishes. Unknowing visitors obeying signage are discriminated against. I meet them daily.
Booster organizations and others turn a blind eye. A perfect storm of complicity. (Main Street and Chamber)
I now believe the problem is “us,” who blindly allow a no-term-limit council to appoint from within and ignore cultivated problems.
Parking is a difficult issue anywhere you go. Creating a negative damaging culture has been the answer. We get the government we deserve and enable. The long road back starts with term limits, and an elected mayor. Special interests and incompetence exist in many forms. Self-entitled disrespect needs to end. Conversation needs to begin. Term limits. Elected mayor. Who is threatened by that?
End LTE
Retired City manager Timmons was put into the crime scene at Fort Worden, a property belonging to all of the people of the State. He was in part along with all City Council members responsible for not heeding early pre-covid financial warnings.
Below is only one link to many Free Press stories regarding the Fort Worden purposeful train wreck where the most valuable parts were taken by players long wanting city control of some of the most valuable parts through easily manipulated and controlled Non-Profits.
.
What does this have to do with mess tents, parking, Cherry Street and so much more. What players keep popping up? You decide. As in nature and the web of life, all is connected. The web of corruption and influence is easily seen. Just look.
https://www.porttownsendfreepress.com/2020/11/20/fort-wordens-promised-financial-oversight-never-happened/
I most likely won’t get an answer here from LC or CE, or others. But, please, having moved here many years ago, my love for PT was similar to yours. Where oh where are these areas/towns you moved to? I have to tread so carefully asking these questions or giving an alternative viewpoint considering many subjects (Covid, vaxxes, they/them rhetoric…). I can no longer get a recommendation for a physician, for example, from NextDoor as I have been given the boot for just mentioning Mercola or Zach Bush and their ideas. Is there a small town out there that thinks limiting free speech and disinformation is hogwash?
What makes me really sad is that every single person who leaves is one less vote we have to help turn this around. The more people who leave the worse it gets. But the other thing is, there are so many of these wrong headed entitled elitists that they are moving to every small town and taking over with their money and their UN agenda. You can run for the short term but you can’t run for the long term. Somewhere, you’re going to have to stay in place and fight. That is the uncomfortable bottom line.
Leeriviera — a good many Californians have fled to Texas in the last decade. A few notables in the medical freedom movement from this region have relocated to Tennessee and North Carolina recently. Then there’s always Florida — Mercola country! Montana, Idaho and So. Dakota are also options, but moving there from a temperate zone like this one will require some serious adjustment.