by Annette Huenke | Feb 5, 2023 | General
The shell game
Over recent decades, municipalities have been shedding responsibility for various community services by creating what have been dubbed ‘junior’ or ‘special’ taxing districts. Rationales range from increased service demands to vague descriptions of ‘modernization.” Though we’re typically promised greater efficiencies at the outset, the net effect across the board has been the expansion of local governmental jurisdictions with ever-increasing budgets that further burden the taxpayers. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the state of Washington ranks eighth in the nation in states with highest count of special district governments.
Mechanisms exist for these special taxing districts to avoid significant new arrangements being put to the voters by employing the guise of “consolidations” and “interlocal agreements.” A number of these have occurred here in the last twenty years, not the least of which was the Port Townsend City Council-orchestrated “Pre-Annexation Agreement,” which essentially stacked the deck in favor of moving forward with plans local administrators already had in mind for East Jefferson Fire and Rescue (EJFR).
We’ve seen similar sleights of hand in every local agency in recent years. These shell games make it more challenging to watchdog revenue streams. If the city shifted funds that were originally earmarked for Fire/Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to the general fund, who would be the wiser?
Getting our arms around the levy lid lift
The lid lift proposal, if approved, will be permanent — that is to say, it will become the fiscal floor of any future levies. There is a statutory maximum of $0.50 for EMS and $1.50 for fire services, which can only be changed by the state legislature. We could use an honest discussion around the accounting gimmick of separating out Fire from EMS (they are mutually inclusive), but that’s a discussion for another day.
Owners of a home currently valued at $400,000 are paying approximately $0.85 per $1,000 valuation for fire services ($340) and $0.36 for EMS ($144), for a combined total of $484. The new rates of $1.30/$1,000 for fire and $0.50/$1,000 will rise to a combined total of $720 next year, a net $236 increase. Yes — the Fire/EMS property tax rate will increase from $1.21 to $1.80 per $1,000 valuation — a whopping 48.7%!
These individual examples are close approximations. Actual figures are based on total district assessments — once new construction, senior citizen discounts, and timber and utility levies are calculated. If assessed valuations go up, the levy rate goes down; if they go down, the levy rate goes up until it hits the statutory maximum.
This image would be more accurate if Fire and EMS were depicted in one slice — they are hand-in-glove at 16.08% of the 2023 pie.
Fires account for less than TWO PERCENT of calls – the vast majority come from PT senior living centers, for aid cars
According to EJFR’s 2021 Annual Report, EMS calls “remained steady” at three-quarters (75%) of the districts demand. Only 1.56% were fires. At a recent town hall promoting the levy, Chief Black said there were 5,029 calls in 2022. Roughly 70% of calls are within Port Townsend’s city limits, unsurprisingly dominated by the area’s senior living centers.
A friend who works for EJFR tells me that it’s not uncommon to get two or three calls a day from Avamere alone. That facility and Victoria Place are owned by mega corporations with annual revenues between $500 million – $900 million. Why should overburdened taxpayers (JeffCo’s median household income is $57,700) subsidize these affluent outfits? We could easily create a tiered fee structure for these heavy users that recoups a reasonable portion of district costs.
Volunteer vs. career fire districts — the macro view
The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) is the primary union in the U.S. and Canada. An illuminating industry blog article from 2017 highlights some historical tensions: [Editor’s note: this came from an unfunny April Fool’s false story posted to an industry website]
“In an incredible policy reversal, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) has called a truce on a decades-long feud with the volunteer fire service. It’s widely known that 70% of the American fire service is comprised of unpaid or barely compensated volunteers, while the remaining 30% are career staff. The large majority of firefighters in the United States are volunteers.
It’s been a long-held position of the IAFF that volunteer firefighters take jobs away from career firefighters, thus threatening the sanctity and long-term viability of the union. The IAFF’s continued mission to grow the union has been happening at a slower pace than planned…”
IAFF President Christopher Montgomery stated that it was time to rethink the 100-year-old IAFF platform. During a brainstorming session with the executive board of directors, the idea of unionizing volunteer stations was presented… After very little discussion it was clear the decision was pivotal and necessary for the health of the union.”
The Union über alles. Too commonly the institution itself becomes the raison d’être for its existence, especially when large sums of money are involved. This is the natural trend for all governing bodies.
But it gets even darker, according to this Nov. 2021 article in The Hill…
“The ongoing challenges with recruitment and retention are compounded by the constitution and bylaws of the IAFF, prohibiting career firefighters from volunteering. These bylaws were codified in March and include “volunteering” in a list of serious charges such as embezzlement, assault of an officer, or membership in a terrorist organization. The penalty for a career firefighter donating his time to help a child who is having an asthma attack, or to respond to a car accident or participate in saving a neighbor’s home or business could be a “reprimand, fine, suspension from office, or suspension or expulsion from membership.
In states and jurisdictions with collective bargaining laws, the IAFF’s ban against volunteering is expanding past its bylaws with recommendations that are highlighted in the union’s “Model Contract Language Manual,” to prohibit a career firefighter from volunteering regardless of union membership.”
The micro view
My sources tell me that an effort to squeeze out the volunteers began in the early 2000’s, progressively leaving the department very close to 100% career (the IAFF played a role in that shift) despite the Annual Report’s claim of 30 volunteers. I’m told it’s more like 6 outpost volunteers (Airport Station, Kala Point, Marrowstone) with EMT certification, and a few support folks who can drive certain vehicles. The word is that the Union shop has not been a friendly atmosphere for the volunteers for some time, so they do their own thing and respond to emergencies as needed. If you look closely at the YES! yard signs on area lawns, you’ll see the Union logo.
What community doesn’t value its emergency responders? Ours are well trained and offer the district a high level of knowledge, skills and abilities. For that, they are well-paid, with the most senior employees earning pay packages topping $200,000 a year.
The median salary with overtime for EJFR’s 41 full-time firefighters/EMTs is $109,415, not including their generous benefits package — typically valued at an additional 40%, so roughly another $43,000+. On average, they work 8 days a month. These are 24-hour shifts where they are basically on call. They have a kitchen, showers, beds, television — most of the basic comforts of home.
In comparison, the average salary of PT police officers is $74,194. It could be argued that their job overall is as dangerous or moreso — dealing daily with homelessness, mental health, drug and alcohol related violence — and it doesn’t include nearly as many attractive perks.
What are the options?
This tax increase will have significant cascading impacts on residents with modest and fixed incomes, as landlords will be forced to raise rents for both residential and commercial occupants in an already-strained rental market. Many economists say the US (and its Western partners) are already in a recession that promises to worsen. What else could be done at this crucial moment to ameliorate EJFR’s cash crunch?
For starters, the administration and line personnel might take a 10% pay cut. Sound harsh? An average salary of $98,500 seems a respectable remuneration for a force for whom medical transports constitute three-quarters of a day’s work.
Combination departments: Restore some balance between career and volunteer crews. South Whatcom County Fire Authority (SWRFA), for instance, has a force of 21 full-time career and 35 volunteer and part-time FF/EMTs. South Whidbey Fire/EMS (SWFE) has 12 career and roughly 40 volunteers. Clallam County Fire District 3 (CCFD3) has roughly 40 career and more than 60 volunteers.
Special use assessments for high volume (eg. assisted living facilities) and high risk (eg. the mill) users.
Aggressive pursuit of grant monies, eg. FEMA’s Fire Service Grants and Funding (AFG), which provides funds for equipment, apparatus, training and salaries.
Develop your own immunity — to the scare tactics
Despite the district’s 1.5% fire calls figure, emotive images of blazing fires are employed in agency documents and marketing materials to engender empathy, support and — let’s face it — fear. So brazen is this campaign that, rather than a photograph of Chief Black and Asst. Chief Brummel on the Organizational Chart page of the Annual Report, there are pictures of — you guessed it —
Ours is already a highly fearful population who are easily convinced by these tired manipulations to demand the very solution that’s being put forward by their ‘trusted leaders’ without a drop of critical thinking. Legacy media and comment forums are peppered with snarky, alarmist replies to anyone questioning the lid lift — yeah, wait till your house is on fire! It’s 98.5% more likely that you’ll have any other reason to call 911 in the future, so perhaps take added precautions to prevent slip-and-falls, heart attacks and strokes (hint: non-pharmaceutical for the latter).
It would be great if these tax increases covered the services most needed by district residents. Nope. Should you need a ride from uptown to Jefferson Healthcare in an ambulance, you’ll get a bill for about $1,000. Cardiac issues will be swept directly off to St. Michael in Silverdale to the tune of around $5,000. Any other serious illness or trauma will be taken to Seattle by helicopter, normally from Jefferson Int’l Airport. Make that $30,000+.
I learned an awful lot while researching for this story. Insiders subscribe to these services, and suggest we do too — Airlift NW ($60/household per year) and/or LifeFlight ($75/household per year) as backup to whatever insurance you may have, including Medicare (though you’ll need A and B), so you don’t get stuck with one of those big fat bills mentioned above.
Don’t believe the hype. We are not at risk of being neglected by our first responders if this levy fails. The district could bring back to the voters a more reasonable rate increase that does not have such a deleterious impact. If both administration and line personnel agreed to voluntarily lower their wages, such an effort would go a long way in fostering support for the next round.
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Editor’s Note: The original post of this article included a math error that has been corrected.
by the Editors | Feb 1, 2023 | General
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by Ana Wolpin | Jan 16, 2023 | General
Out of 39 Washington counties, Jefferson County rang in the new year with the dubious distinction of being the only “red alert” spot for Covid cases in the state.
We’ve reported extensively on the disinformation from Public Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry, our health department, and the Board of Health — all parroting a thoroughly discredited global narrative — and on the damage that has wrought on our community. This article will take a look at how our county is currently faring in the wake of nearly three years of a massive propaganda campaign to keep residents in a state of fear and anxiety, a campaign that shows no sign of easing up.
And we’ll compare two other counties that help flesh out the picture: neighboring Clallam County, also under the direction of health officer Berry; and Adams County, at the other end of the spectrum. Where Jefferson has the highest numbers for the case and booster metrics being tracked, Adams reports the lowest figures in the state.
The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) posted the maps shown here on their COVID-19 Data Dashboard on January 11. Data is updated weekly. Numbers of Covid cases are converted to rates per 100,000 so that there is equivalence between counties.
The map above, for the period between December 26, 2022 and January 2, 2023, shows the 7-day Covid case rate in Jefferson County at the start of the new year — 127 cases per 100,000 (41 reported cases in a population of 32,190).
Contrast this with the lowest case rate in the state: Adams County. The Eastern Washington county shown in blue reported only 2 Covid cases in a population of 20,450 or 10 per 100,000 during the same week. The third comparative, Clallam County, shows a case rate of 46 per 100,000 (35 people out of 76,770).
The colors on the map’s 39 counties vary from week to week as new data is reported. But it is not unusual for Jefferson County to be a red standout and for Adams County to have the lowest Covid cases, represented in blue. Clallam County typically is yellow or orange.
Which brings us to the second of Jefferson County’s “bests”:
JeffCo’s booster rates are also highest in the state
The charts below depict the dozen counties with the highest Covid bivalent (Omicron) booster uptake followed by the dozen lowest as of 1/9/2023. (The fifteen counties in the middle are not shown.) Jefferson County again tops the list of 39 counties, with the highest jab uptake in the state for bivalent boosters. The percentage of uptake is based on county residents eligible for the booster, defined as people aged 5 and above.
Below is the state map from the DOH dashboard showing the levels of uptake throughout Washington as of January 9 by color coding.
The increasing awareness that after a brief antibody response the shots soon offer no benefit and only cause harm has led to a national uptake rate of only 11% for the Omicron bivalent boosters. Adams County, with the lowest uptake in Washington’s 39 counties at 11.1%, reflects that national figure. But again we see that Jefferson County leads the state with a whopping 47.3% — nearly half of those eligible — receiving the shot. Clallam is third highest in the state at 36.5%.
More boosters —> worse outcomes
By now everyone should know that the mRNA injections do not prevent anyone from contracting Covid. But higher numbers of infections among the vaxxed than those who declined the shot? Is there a connection between high jab rates and high case numbers?
The phenomenon of seeing more cases among the jabbed is playing out globally. Not just in more Covid infections, but greater illness in general. Reports indicate that as strains have become less virulent hospitals are treating few Covid patients, but those who do seek medical care are people who got the shots. Especially those with multiple boosters.
One recent survey of hospital workers, conducted by Vaccine Safety Research Foundation founder Steve Kirsch, asked “What is REALLY going on in hospitals?” Kirsch summarized five key results (emphasis his):
- Hospital COVID wards are empty
- Emergency is not justified
- The only patients with COVID are the vaccinated
- Vaxxed doing worse than unvaxxed (< 10% disagree)
- More boosters —> worse outcomes (only 1% disagree)
The link to survey responses can be seen here.
Even mainstream media is acknowledging this problem, with headlines like these:
“Experts” continue to make excuses for negative outcomes. However the public can see that they have been lied to, and their increasing rejection of the shots reflects the crumbling narrative. Less and less people are opting for boosters.
But not in Jefferson County. According to the state dashboard, uptake of the latest bivalent booster rises here with each passing week (now at 47.3%, it was 32.1% at our last reporting). All local health messaging continues to push the jabs:
“Get up to date with your COVID-19 vaccinations,” says Jefferson County Public Health (JCPH) on its website.
Health Officer Berry also urges more shots at every opportunity, spouting demonstrable falsehoods:
“Thankfully we have a good vaccine… to reduce one’s likelihood of contracting the virus and passing it on to others,” Berry told the Peninsula Daily News in a story about winter cases on the rise. “The bivalent booster is still holding up strong against these variants,” she continued to misinform, “so if you have gotten yours, you are well protected.”
A study just published in December 2022 evaluating the bivalent shot in over 51,000 Cleveland Clinic employees found the opposite:
“The risk of COVID-19 also varied by the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses previously received. The higher the number of vaccines previously received, the higher the risk of contracting COVID-19 (Figure 2).”
Cleveland Clinic Figure 2: Risk of COVID-19 infections increases with number of doses.
Black = 0 doses, Red = 1 dose, Green = 2 doses, Purple = 3 doses, Orange = >3 doses
As we have documented in previous articles, the boosters not only are failing to protect — let alone protect well as Berry concocts — they create negative efficacy. The more boosters, the more likely you will elevate the risks of hospitalization and severe diseases rather than reducing them. ‘Negative Efficacy’ Should Have Stopped COVID Vaccine Recommendations in Their Tracks wrote The Epoch Times in November 2022.
Since we first reported on it more than a year ago, data has been pouring in confirming negative vaccine efficacy around the world — from Denmark, Iceland and other northern European nations to Britain, Scotland, Canada, and most recently South Africa. And with new variant XBB.1.5 (ominously dubbed Kraken) quickly overcoming Omicron as the dominant strain, any possible benefit of the bivalent Omicron booster even in the short term is completely negated.
But Berry continues to peddle the failed shot with the absurd assurance that “if you have gotten yours, you are well protected.” So well protected that our heavily-jabbed populace has the highest case rate in the state. Still, nearly half of Jefferson County’s population appears to believe her dangerous disinformation.
Is JCPH just exaggerating its numbers?
We’ve seen that Berry and our health department have ramped up fear over Covid cases at every opportunity. Is the high JeffCo case rate because our health department is over-reporting?
JCPH claims that the opposite is true — that the number of Covid cases is significantly under-reported. From their website:
“Jefferson County Public Health staff estimate that 1 in 12 COVID-19 cases in Jefferson County were reported to public health last week.”
Those reporting their Covid infections to the health department do not even come close to the actual number of cases, JCPH says. A previous estimate of under-reports was even higher: 1 in 15. From the cases that were reported, according to the JCPH website, the two-week case rate — the metric that they use for their visual risk meter — is 252 cases per 100,000 people (last updated 1/9/23).
The department’s website continues the local fear messaging it has been engaging in for nearly three years with this red alert:
Reinforcing that fear porn in JeffCo is our Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), a trio who also comprise nearly half of the county Board of Health (3 out of 7 BOH members). In October 2022, all but fawning over Berry’s autocratic pronouncements, they led the state in another dubious distinction. As Covid restrictions were dropped statewide and nationally — with Covid acknowledged as endemic and relegated to flu status — Jefferson’s BOCC was the only board in Washington state to officially extend its State of Emergency. We remain perpetually in official crisis mode, in an “Emergency Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic.”
How does Jefferson County’s messaging compare to Berry’s other jurisdiction, Clallam County, with the third highest booster uptake in the state?
And what about distant Adams County where the bivalent shot uptake is dead last, faring as poorly as the national average?
Clallam County: Notable Differences
To start with, Clallam’s commissioners reasonably discarded their emergency declarations as of October 31, 2022 — along with Washington State and every county board statewide except Jefferson.
The spell that Jefferson BOCC still appear to be under was not successfully cast over Clallam’s commissioners. While our BOCC gave Berry a bully pulpit for Covid “briefings” at every commission meeting — providing relentless bombardment of her fear narrative — Clallam’s electeds did not. Periodic “coronavirus briefings” were held in Clallam, but they were not weekly.
And the Clallam briefings were not amplified, as they were in Jefferson County, through a radio show. Not only was our young health officer’s rhetoric a constant feature at Jefferson BOCC weekly meetings, Port Townsend radio station KPTZ first elevated former health officer Tom Locke’s reports, then Berry’s, to a weekly community broadcast over the local airwaves. (The station did not air the county’s full meetings, only the Covid briefing segment.) True “programming” of the masses.
Clallam’s Health and Human Services “Coronavirus Information” webpage is far less bombastic than Jefferson’s. It offers a state hotline, a sidebar saying “Covid Cases Are Back Up!” with a link to order free at-home Covid tests, and a link to a separate Clallam County COVID-19 Dashboard.
The dashboard is also less aggressive than Jefferson’s Covid page. It provides the stats below and a couple of charts, directing people to the state DOH website for all other statistics.
A sidebar there has the standard Mask Up! and Get Vaccinated! messages. But significantly, there is no risk meter, no tally of weekly cases to generate anxiety.
With Berry overseeing both counties, Clallam endured the same damaging Covid orders as Jefferson, the most draconian in the state. Her two-county mandate requiring people to be vaccinated before being allowed to dine or drink indoors at restaurants and bars not only set a precedent for the state, it was the first in the nation. In Jefferson County, the BOCC embraced it with enthusiasm, and traumatized residents accepted it compliantly. But in Clallam, so many showed up to protest outside the commissioners hearing room at the courthouse, it took three hours to hear all the public testimony.
“More than 50 were against the mandate, called for Berry’s resignation or insisted she be fired by the county board of health,” according to a September 8, 2021 PDN article. And while there was no pushback from Jefferson County businesses, Clallam restaurants initiated a lawsuit, forcing the Proof of Vaccination Order to be rescinded.
The main platform in Clallam for Berry’s rhetoric was and continues to be the Peninsula Daily News, that county’s newspaper of record. Both the PDN and Jefferson County’s Leader have given her their full support, censoring letters and even paid ads that challenge the official narrative. Berry’s domination of the media and her ongoing disinformation, as quoted earlier, is surely a factor in the high booster rate in our neighboring county.
However we see less masking, lower jab uptake and fewer Covid cases in Clallam County. There are clearly more people in Clallam than in Jefferson paying attention to the actual data, rejecting our joint health officer’s fear messaging and thinking for themselves.
Adams County: Another World
As everyone who has traveled east of the mountains has noted, eastern Washington exhibited far less Covid hysteria than our side of the state.
According to the Washington DOH Covid dashboard, 68.7% of Adams County’s population had an initial jab and just 61.6% completed their primary series. While 42.3% received “any booster,” as described earlier only 11.1% have gone for the bivalent shot. Comparing those numbers to our two western counties:
Adams County – 68.7% / 61.6% / 42.3% / 11.1%
Clallam County – 77.7% / 71.6% / 65.2% / 36.5%
Jefferson County – 86.4% / 80.4% / 74.8% / 47.3%
With less initial primary series injections, and only a fraction of our booster uptake, Adams’ case numbers are also significantly lower, the correlation we are seeing worldwide. Their weekly cases are now in the single digits, two people out of a population of 20,450 at last report.
What kind of messaging about a continuing threat from Covid are Adams’ residents getting? In looking for information on the Adams County Health Department website, Covid is not even listed under their Public Health headings. You have to enter COVID-19 in the search bar to tease out three related links:
The Resources page doesn’t contain any information; it is comprised entirely of links to Washington state websites. The only local link is to the Adams County Facebook page. That page stopped reporting on Covid last summer, as is described below.
The Covid-19 Graphs page looks like this:
Nothing to see here. Literally a blank page. The yellow band at left accesses archived documents from early in the pandemic — a March 16, 2020 emergency declaration; a May 4, 2020 letter to the Governor stating the county’s compliance with state guidelines; a May 26, 2020 media release; a November 2021 press release about free Covid tests, an old booklet for phased re-opening of businesses.
The Covid-19 Update page does not have any Covid-related information.
In a general web search for “Adams County WA COVID-19” the only media coverage that comes up is a story about 43 cases tied to a wedding more than two years ago (November 2020). The county’s Facebook page mentioned above does show some case information, but it is five months old, last updated the week of August 8-12, 2022.
Since last August’s case numbers, there is nothing on any of Adams County’s websites about Covid. No graphs, no charts, no alerts. No statistics of any kind. No Mask Up or Get Your Vax messages.
Might there be a semblance of normalcy in Adams County? Based on what can be found online and what the Washington DOH Covid-19 dashboard shows, as far as Adams County is concerned, Covid is a non-issue.
As well it should be here, too, three years in. But still the hype, the alerts, the “emergency” persist.
The only statement coming out of Berry and our health department that may bear a kernel of truth is that just one in 12 or 15 people are reporting their cases. It wouldn’t be surprising if that ratio was even higher.
Why should we participate in the health department’s fear-mongering?
My household and numerous friends had bouts with respiratory illnesses in the last month. None of us tested, reported, or sought medical care. Was it Covid — Omicron, BA.2, BA.5, BF.7, BQ.1, BQ.1.1 or Kraken? Or some common cold or flu? What does it matter? The symptoms and severity are similar, sometimes identical, the treatments are the same. We all recouped at home as one would with any respiratory virus. As people everywhere have been doing for millennia.
The real illness in this community now is the relentless fear and anxiety that persists over normal health challenges that have been with us forever. Adams County got it right. Respiratory viruses have always been endemic and will continue to be with us in the future.
All the masking and injections in the world will not eliminate risk to the elderly, immune-compromised, and those with multiple co-morbidities. Conversely, overwhelming evidence shows these interventions are damaging immune systems and increasing risks. Having admitted a link from the shots to myocarditis in 2021, just days ago the CDC also finally acknowledged that Covid boosters are “possibly” causing strokes in people over 65.
Continuing to terrorize the public with risk meters and red alerts, telling us to test every time we have a sniffle, to mask up and get dangerous shots, is itself a sickness. What will it take to undo the brainwashing and trauma we still see all around us — most especially here in Jefferson County?
Public Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry dispensing fear
by Brett Nunn | Jan 13, 2023 | General
I was among the three hundred plus citizens who packed the meeting room at Fort Worden Commons for what the city described as Open House #1, City of Port Townsend Golf Course plus Mountain View Commons Planning Effort. This meeting marked the midpoint of a roughly ten-month time line that started about five months ago with a series of community meetings from which the city extracted that the public would like to explore alternative uses for the golf course property.
Mayor David Faber opened the meeting and passed the microphone to City Manager John Mauro who said a few polite remarks, and then passed the microphone to Carrie Hite, Director of Parks & Recreation Strategy. Hite announced this was the start of a community discussion, part of a process that will lead to a vision for the park, but no decisions had yet been made. Someone in the audience reminded all present that the golf course is not a park.
Eventually the microphone was given to Chris Jones, principal and founder of Groundswell Studio, the Seattle firm hired by Port Townsend to put the alternative uses proposal together. He did a fine job discussing the history of the golf course property, the details of landscape as it currently exists, and finished with a review of several similar projects done in other towns around the United States.
No one in the crowd of around three hundred was allowed to speak. If they did, they were ignored or told their questions would be answered in the Q&A session later. In lieu of public comment, we were given a piece of paper on which to write a question. The papers were gathered by the consulting team who then flipped through the several hundred questions and selected a few to hand to Mr. Jones. He then read them out loud and either provided an answer or passed it on to city staff.
Half an hour was allotted for the Q&A session. No follow up was allowed during the session, except when the Parks & Rec director neglected to say how much had been spent so far and more than a few people yelled “How Much?” — loudly enough that Hite said her time plus $125,000 to the consultant.
My question wasn’t answered, nor were the majority of the questions because there just wasn’t enough time, clever that. To be fair, we were told we could talk with the staff and consultants after the meeting, but gone was the power of the community speaking their minds to city officials in public. It seems the only polite choice on this evening was to follow the city’s lead.
What caught my attention during the presentation (and this is listed in the history of this project on the city website) was that the golf course is zoned municipal and thus, as it stands, can only be used for municipal purposes. municipal purposes are generally defined as all purposes within municipal powers as defined by the constitution or laws of the state or by the charter of the municipality. Whether all the options presented fall under the definition of municipal purposes remains to be seen. Mayor Faber, in answering a question about affordable housing, believed that it would be difficult to rezone the golf course for such a purpose.
With the presentation and Q&A session over, we were supplied with six green sticker dots and six orange sticker dots.
Mr. Jones instructed the crowd to number these stickers one through six. We were to step up to the poster boards prepared by the Groundswell Studio and place sticker number one on the image of our preferred choice and then on down the line to choice number six. We were not allowed to put all six stickers on one choice, only one per choice, or we could give our stickers back to the consultants. Green corresponded to the Golf Course options and orange to Mountain View options.
Hopefully accompanying photos will show you how the attendees prioritized their votes. In order to handle the crowd, there were three sets of each poster board.
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Golf Course Site Potential Uses
Even though we were assured many times over that no plans had been made for the golf course, it took two boards to showcase all the options. They are as follows: Golf Course as-is, event space, sports fields, educational center, exercise stations, boardwalk, picnic, art, multi-use lawn, affordable housing, habitat.
Three each of the two boards were set out for people to put green stickers on. The sixth board from this compilation below is the one featured at the top of the article.
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Mountain View Commons Potential Uses
Fewer options were presented for Mountain View Commons, so there was only one poster. The options were: pool, plaza, farmers market, educational center, festival street, pickle ball, splash pad, art, affordable housing, dog park, playground. Three identical boards were set out for orange stickers.
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Can you tell me what is missing?
I describe this experience as being led into a candy shop with no prices and told you can pick your six favorite items. Months later you get the bill and you think to yourself, “I might have made different choices if I had known the particulars.”
The poster boards presented only pretty pictures — no prices, estimates of cost, or sources of funding associated with any of these options. I understand this is the start of a process, but at least with the ongoing taxpayer funded multi-million dollar nightmare of the Carmel Apartments, we had a starting price of about $250,000 to barge that broken dream of affordable housing down from Victoria.
So here we go again. If you want a say, or in this case, a question written on a small piece of paper that may or may not be answered, on the options for the future of the Port Townsend Golf Course or Mountain View Commons, now is the time to make your opinion known.
The City Council will be briefed on the project January 17th. The consultants will analyze the boards and present the two or three community favored options for both facilities at Open House Number Two in mid-April, where I assume more stickers will be handed out and more choices will be made. Open House Number Three in June will reveal the one or two most favored options. More information can be found here on the city website.
by the Editors | Jan 1, 2023 | General
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by Ana Wolpin | Dec 22, 2022 | General
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.”
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“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.”
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“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.”
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?
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Streatery photos by Stephen Schumacher, Harvey Windle and Ana Wolpin.
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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.
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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 entryway 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.
y between Quimper Sound Records and The Old Whiskey Mill are what gives our downtown a rich ambience and celebrated appeal.
