Most everyone has heard that Jefferson County is interested in creating affordable housing and jobs. We have heard that over the past 15 years, at least. But housing costs continue to escalate and jobs are scarce.
Our children know this. They mostly have to move away to find a job and housing they can afford. So, why, after all the talk, do we not have affordable housing and jobs?
To understand this we must first understand that even in this day of virtual reality, data on the cloud and telecommuting most jobs are at a physical location. An actual place where work is done. Whether the job is manufacturing, retail sales or service industry, they all require a place to do the work. So, land and buildings are a requirement.
Housing also requires a physical location. No one as yet can live in a virtual apartment or house.
A piece of land is a requirement as is a building. But, first you need to have the “right” under zoning regulations to perform the particular business or construct housing on any particular piece of land.
We do not lack land in Jefferson County, but we do lack appropriately zoned land. As an example, should Tesla wish to build a manufacturing facility to manufacture one of their new green battery powered vehicles they would need to find an appropriately sized and zoned piece of property. Next they would have to propose the facility, buildings, etc. by applying for permits from the Jefferson County Department of Community Development.
They would need a good sized piece of industrial zoned land. We have the land. Rayonier (formerly Pope Resources) has large tracts of land. But, there is no large parcel of land in Jefferson County that is zoned for industrial activity. Under the Growth Management Act we could designate an area for a large manufacturer but the county never has done it.
Of course, some would say that Tesla, or any other industrial or manufacturing concern, would never locate here. Many excuses could be made–not enough people, not enough transportation. But most likely the fundamental reason is that there is not enough vision by our leadership.
Next, let’s look at affordable housing. There are over 300 subdivisions in Jefferson County. Subdivisions used to be done but no more. They used to be done by developers to lower the cost of a single family home. Rather than build one home on a 5 acre parcel the land it could be subdivided under State of Washington septic rules into as many as 17 building lots. The lots could then be sold to individuals so affordable single family homes could be built.
This is no longer being done as Jefferson County implemented a minimum 5 acre lot size, in some cases the minimum is 10 or even 20 acres. This has resulted in stopping many potential single family homes from being built. The existing building lots have escalated in value. Basically, the minimum lot size rule ended affordability in single family homes.
Then there are apartments. The problem with apartments is that due to tightened septic rules they have to be hooked-up to a sewer system. The City of Port Townsend is the only place where apartment buildings can be built in Jefferson County unless and until a sewer is provided in Port Hadlock.
So, affordable housing and jobs have been stymied by rules. Rules created by our elected officials. It might be a good time to reflect on this.
A local businessman has left Jefferson County after false accusations of racism incited by the Jefferson Community Foundation. And a small business already devastated by the Governor’s shut down order is the talk of protests and boycotts that could finish it off. Rather than retract its racism libel, Jefferson Community Foundation has opted to let the hate and division it fomented continue to hurt the community it has pledged to uplift and unite.
They turned what could have ended as a pissing match between landlord and tenant into a cause celebre‘ with racial overtones. And now they’re fundraising off the public controversy they created.
JCF has done so much good work it is difficult to understand why they have behaved in such an irresponsible manner. In fairness to them, this article is rather lengthy as I will reproduce in full the relevant documents to justify the conclusions reached.
Sowing Seeds of Discord to Settle a Score
On June 30, JCF announced on its Facebook page and its website that it had been forced to leave its offices at the Salmon Office Park in Port Hadlock and “that the reason cited by Property Manager Brent Garrett was that a Black Lives Matter sign we taped in the window violated a clause in our lease requiring approval for signage.” As will be seen, while he did at one point tell them to vacate because they were violating their lease, he quickly was willing to accept their explanation and allow them to stay. It was JCF that chose to leave, not Garrett who forced them out.
JCF complained in its announcements that its Black Lives Matter sign was being singled out for disapproval, thereby implying a racist motivation on Garrett’s part. JCF stated, “We have been located in the Salmon Office Park for years and have posted many signs in the windows without written approval.” It did not mention that neither it, nor any other tenant, has ever been permitted to post anything that can be considered political or even controversial.
To add to its insinuation of racism by Garrett, JCF went on to proclaim: “Our staff and Board are unequivocally committed to equality and we stand with and support the goals of the Black Lives Matter movement.” On its website the foundation said it was “evaluating potential legal action and reviewing our culture, programs, policies and practices to ensure that we continue to grow in our commitment to anti-racist action.” The implication is clear, the property manager is racist because he would not let them have their BLM sign. Unlike them, he is not growing in his “commitment to anti-racist action.”
This announcement set off a firestorm on social media that only a fool or liar could claim they had not seen coming in this current environment of heightened tensions and sensitivities. One example: Port Townsend Deputy Mayor David Faber shared the JCF post on his Facebook page, declaring, “Absolutely disheartening and despicable to boot out the Jefferson Community Foundation for posting a Black Lives Matter sign in their window.” The comments that followed called the property manager “scumbag,” encouraged escalating the situation with boycotts and protests and broader coverage, and revealed Isaac Sheldon Urner posting “a pissed off review” of the Crazy Otter in Port Hadlock in retaliation because he thought it was Garrett’s business. Urner eventually learned it had been started by Garrett and a partner two years ago but he was no longer involved with the business.
The discussion of the JCF post on other Facebook pages was similar, with calls for protests, retaliation and boycotts of any business associated with Garrett (particularly the Crazy Otter) and a lot of hateful epithets directed against him. JCF permitted these threats and accusations on its own Facebook page–while repeatedly blocking posts of the actual emails underlying the controversy that you will read below.
JCF has allowed to stand on its Facebook page comments such as, “I hope your community makes that owner pay for that decision,” and “I want to know everything this person is involved with so I can boycott.”
Garrett told me that as a result of JCF’s actions he has received hateful calls and all kinds of hate mail. The racist accusation cuts right to his heart as he has three Black members of his immediate family whom he loves dearly.
Garrett has spent years making contributions to Jefferson County. He has started businesses, provided affordable housing, and owned and managed commercial and residential properties. He has struggled with ever-rising taxes and endless regulatory headaches. He has invested money and countless hours to make this a better place to live and work. But no more.
“This was the last straw.” He was on his cell speaking with me as he drove east. He has left Jefferson County and he’s not coming back.
It’s a terrible shame, because what JCF wrote is false and they know it. They also obviously know how to incite a mob and did so for the petty purpose of making themselves look like persecuted social justice warriors, while also getting back at Garrett, and incidentally giving themselves another opportunity to seek donations.
JCF Was Not Evicted And Isn’t Telling the Whole Story
Garrett provided me with all the emails behind the controversy. JCF has refused any comment, and not only to me. It also refused to talk to the Peninsula Daily News which ran its own story on July 2.
It started on June 12, when Garrett noticed a very large “Black Lives Matter” sign in JCF’s window (see the photo above). Garrett told me that political signs of any kind have never been permitted at Salmon Office Park. It makes sense. If someone put up a Biden sign, he would have to permit a Trump sign. If JCF could have its BLM sign, someone could insist on an “All Lives Matter,” or a “White Lives Matter” sign. Or even a “Black Lives Don’t Matter” sign. Things could get out of hand. It is a business park, after all, not a protest site.
Garrett on Friday, June 12 sent this e-mail to Siobhan Canty, JCF’s president and CEO:
Good morning Siobhan, I’m writing regarding two things; first, please familiarize you [sic] staff with section #8 of our lease. Political signage (your BLM window) applied to this building will not be granted written approval to anyone for obvious reasons. This is time sensitive notice to that fact. I understand. I have black family members, but we can’t do that to the building. Also, on Wednesday Peninsula Heat is upgrading all your heating and air conditioning equipment. They will be going through the common area at some point (after finishing the heat pump outside) to upgrade the air handler. They are wonderful people. Please treat them with due courtesy. Sincerely, BG
Sobhan Canty, President and CEO, Jefferson Community Foundation
He received no response. The very large sign stayed up. He had said this was “time sensitive.” There is apparently a 48-hour deadline in the lease for tenants to remedy violations. Thinking he was being blown off, as Garrett told me, two days later, Sunday, June 14, he wrote to Canty:
Re: Notice! Siobhon, [sic] You have now beached [sic] your lease by ignoring Fridays [sic] email and purposeful inaction. You need to vacate immediately. This is also notice that I will be taking down your BLM signs myself tomorrow morning if they are still up. Also, please immediately remove all the art you have in the hallways. I have new tenants waiting to move in.
He sent that email again an hour later, as it had been sent an hour short of the 48 hour response time in the lease.
Canty now responded, within minutes. Her message in full was: “Notice back to you that I did not see this email until right now. This [is] callous, hateful and undeserved.”
Garrett responded at 7:30 Monday morning: “I suggest we talk in person immediately this morning. Text me when you get in.”
Getting no response, at 1:30 Monday afternoon he tried again: “I’ve been trying to reach you. I texted and called.” At 4 p.m. he heard from Canty: “Hi Brent, A friend of mine died yesterday. Be in touch soon.” He wrote back, “So sorry. A friend of mine died last week. When you’re ready lets talk and smooth this out.”
The next communication from Canty came two days later, Wednesday, June 17. It was entitled, “Move Date”:
Brent, I do not want us to part on bad terms, but I had no option but to take your earlier messages seriously. You clearly terminated the lease, and you also told me that you had a new tenant ready to move in. Because you exercised your option to terminate, JCF is already planning to vacate as soon as possible. We have paid rent in full through June, so I don’t think we can be required to move out before the end of the month, but we have already taken steps to leave. Our plan is to be gone by the end of the day on June 30. If your new tenants need to move in before then, we will do our best to accommodate that, provided you are willing to refund a percentage of the monthly rent for June. I will be in touch again on Monday, as you requested, to talk about that more. Thanks, Siobhan
She sent this without ever responding to his invitation of two days earlier to sit down and talk. He responded within the hour. He was willing to understand that she had not seen the notice of violation and his request to remove the sign. He offered to let it go and let them stay if they wanted.
If it was truly a misunderstanding (unread email) then that can be forgiven if you’d like to stay. But if you’d prefer to move, I do understand. It does sound like that is the course you’ve chosen.
Five days passed until he heard from Canty again, writing near the end of the day the next Monday, June 22:
HI, I am back from the funeral and just seeing this note. Unfortunately, based on your emails last week telling us that the lease was terminated and we had to get out immediately, JCF had to make several quick decisions and we have no choice now but to vacate. In fact, we moved out of all of the common spaces the day I received that notice…that is how fast we thought we had to move. It would be helpful now if we can agree that JCF will move on June 30th. I have a moving company coming tomorrow to give us a quote and I would like to confirm the date with them then, if possible. Is that date ok with you? Also, are you feeling better? I hope so. Thanks, Siobhan
On June 30, near the end of the business day, JCF posted its false announcement about being evicted for posting a BLM sign and set off the firestorm of racist accusations that drove Garrett out of Jefferson County.
Lawyering Up
When JCF’s post provoked hate mail and hateful calls, and he became aware of discussions of protests and boycotts, Garrett got his lawyer involved.
Canty received this letter from attorney Matt Lind, of the Poulsbo firm of Sherrard, McGonagle, Tizzano & Lind, P.C.:
Ms. Canty: I represent Shold Business Park, LLC, d/b/a Salmon Office Business Park, and Brent Garrett as its Manager. My client provided me with the attached images of public posts on your organization’s facebook page. However, I also understand that statements included in this post are false and as such constitute defamation. This email shall serve as a demand that you cease and desist any further defamatory statements, and if this causes any damages to my client, we will seek an immediate restraining order and damages. I suspect your organization has difficulty with funding already, I certainly wouldn’t want to see your organization saddled with attorneys fees and damages for defamation, which are easily avoidance [sic]. You should either remove or substantially revise the facebook post immediately. Your lease includes provisions which require consent from my client for any signage. My client put you on written notice, and perhaps this notice was not initially received, but my client exercised his rights under your lease. This is not for any political reasons, as my client prefers that all politically motivated signage not be used. Note that there is no other political signage allowed at Salmon Office Business Park. My client is entitled to adopt certain standards for appearances and uniformity. My client offered to discuss this with you (for which there is written documentation that you have omitted), including allowing you to stay as a tenant after you removed the signage, but you have refused to engage in a reasonable dialogue on this issue preferring instead to engage in gas lighting. Please do not attempt to create political hysteria based on a pretext. The current circumstances are already difficult enough for us all with COVID and BLM in the background. My client’s demands were solely for business purposes, not political. This has nothing to do with my client’s opinion about the BLM movement. I trust this will resolve this matter. If not, please advise immediately. If you have an attorney, please provide this notice to that person and have them contact me.
Garrett anticipates he will have to eventually sue JCF for the damages and injuries they have caused him. He says it is no longer possible for him to live and work in Jefferson County as a result of their actions.
Jefferson County Foundation’s Deplorable Conduct
They’re playing the bully here. JCF is a power in this community. It has raised and dispersed a lot of money. Not only did it want a special exception for its BLM sign, it wanted to punish the person who would not let them post it. It could have found another space and announced its new location. Instead it went out of its way to stir up hatred and get on its self-righteous but rather petty high horse.
No matter how much money they raise and give away, no matter how wealthy and influential its backers, there is no excuse for how Canty and Jefferson Community Foundation have behaved.
[This article has been corrected to identify Canty as JCF’s president and CEO. It had initially identified her as executive director.]
Port Townsend is finally doing something to help businesses that have been closed by the Governor’s COVID lock down order. City Council will consider at its June 1, 2020, meeting a resolution to turn city street parking spaces and sidewalks into extensions of restaurants and retail businesses and waive a $250 special temporary use permit fee.
Under the proposal the city will declare a special event for the Phase 2 reopening of Jefferson County. That intermediate step towards full reopening allows restaurants to offer inside service at 50% capacity and retail stores to admit customers so long as social distancing and other protective measures are observed. Adding sidewalk and street parking spaces to a business operation gives it a place for customers to wait outside, freeing up inside space for use, and, for restaurants, gives them additional seating space for diners, increasing their capacity and allowing for a greater volume of service.
The declaration of a special event is necessary, according to city staff, to avoid possibly violating the city’s shoreline management plan.
Normally, businesses would have to pay $250 for a special use permit to use sidewalks and street parking spaces. The proposal would have the city waive that fee, and allow the public space expansion, subject to a review within 60 days to confirm that the business was operating within Department of Health guidelines.
An application process is being drafted by city staff, which will require an interested business to apply to the police department, per their standard practice of overseeing special use permits. Though the permit fee is being waived, businesses may be required to indemnify the city for losses and injuries occurring on city sidewalks and streets.
Observations: The proposal recognizes that our businesses are suffering. “Due to the long closure, the City,” the proposal states, “is concerned about the viability of many of our local businesses.” Since time is of the essence for businesses on the brink, the city should allow businesses to immediately use the adjacent public areas while review of their application is pending. Further, the city should not require indemnification as a permit precondition. That may force businesses strapped for cash to buy riders to their insurance policies, which will take additional time to negotiate and procure. These businesses already have liability policies which cover their operations, though they likely do not list the city as a beneficiary or contain indemnification clauses. Retail stores and restaurants are not inherently dangerous operations. Any risk to the city is outweighed by other considerations. Considering the emergency situation confronting our businesses, nothing should be added to the time or burden of reopening a business struggling to survive.
The full proposal and city staff analysis may be read at this link.
“There is no evidence tourists spread COVID.” That was what Dr. Thomas Locke, Jefferson County’s Public Health Officer, told the Board of Health. Unfortunately for Jefferson County his words at the BOH’s pivotal May 21 meeting were quickly forgotten.
Driven by fear, almost all members of the Jefferson County Board of Health voted to keep sending the county’s consumer dollars to Big Box stores and to kill off many of our restaurants. What they did, in their words, was to prohibit in-store retail sales and even limited dine-in restaurant service until Kitsap County, with its quarter million population, and Clallam County, with 78,000 people amass sufficient medical resources and hospital space, implement plans for any potential future outbreak and suppress COVID sufficiently to move into Phase 2 of the Governor’s reopen scheme.
No matter what we do here, no matter how hard our businesses and their employees try, no matter how negligible the virus risk here, the fate of many of our retail businesses and all our restaurants will hinge on what happens elsewhere.
More than a month ago, Georgia allowed its restaurants, retail stores and just about everything else to reopen. The press went into a gleeful frenzy of feigned concern. People were going to die by the tens of thousands. Inhumane madness, they cried. The media has since lost interest in Georgia. Why? Because Georgia’s rapid and robust reopening is doing just fine. Consider this graph from the Atlanta Journal Constitution showing hospitalizations dropping by over a third since Georgia reopened:
COVID related deaths in Georgia are also down by nearly 25% since reopening. We could learn from Georgia. But never mind science and data.
County Commissioner Kate Dean led the opposition to reopening our restaurants and retail stores. From the start of the meeting she had been throwing procedural roadblocks in the way, such as wanting to wordsmith and rewrite Dr. Locke’s entire proposal. She was the first to shoot down a motion by Commissioner Greg Brotherton and seconded by Hospital Commissioner Kees Kolff to allow Jefferson County restaurants and retails stores to get the same green light as restaurants and retail stores have now received in 20 other Washington counties.
Dean’s reasoning: She agreed with Brotherton that our business people are responsible and trustworthy. She “has faith in them,” and is convinced they would do everything to operate as safely as the other retail establishments the Governor never closed, from grocery stores to wine sellers to pot shops to convenience stores. But she “distrusted” (her word) people from places like Kitsap County. “There is something psychological” she declared that makes people coming here irresponsible and a danger to our community.
As every day of closure is critical for businesses on the brink, you would think, were she acting responsibly, that she would have had something solid to justify forcing our stores and restaurants to continue to suffer.
So what was the basis for her insights into the despicable people who live across the Hood Canal? What does she imagine someone from Port Gamble or Kingston would do in our town but not at home? Spit at clerks, cough in the face of waiters, smear saliva on contact surfaces? Dr. Locke said at the start of the meeting that investigations have found no evidence of tourists spreading the virus. What evidence did Dean have to contradict the Public Health Officer?
She just made stuff up. Her imagination supplied an excuse for keeping scores of Jefferson County businesses closed, bleeding red ink, their owners draining the last of their life savings, and their employees on the phone trying to get unemployment benefits from a dysfunctional state agency that only doles out money quickly to Nigerian crooks.
Watch the video of the meeting. Brotherton starts his valiant effort to help our economy at 2:02:59 and makes his motion to open retail at 2:08:3. Dean is the first to speak in opposition and spouts her prejudices and fantasies about people she’s never met.
Dean wasn’t the only local official wigging out at the idea of our stores reopening. Denis Stearns, the citizen-at-large member of the Board of Health, a wealthy semi-retired lawyer, had from the beginning expressed resistance to an “early open.” He’d only “just gotten over being paranoid about going into the Co-op.” He says he sits in the parking lot, counting cars, and won’t enter if he thinks “it is too busy.” So he, what, drives home, comes back in an hour, counts cars, freaks out, drives off, comes back, counts again…..? How many attempts does he make in a day to score some lettuce and cereal?
Stearns spoke sternly against letting retail stores reopen. His frame of reference was always his own “risk tolerance” (to use his words) until condescension and arrogance took over. Unlike Dean and Brotherton, he has no confidence in our local business people. Never mind the small shops that have been operating for two months without spreading the virus, places on Water Street that sell wine, ice cream and candy. Never mind the spacious Quimper Mercantile, closed as a “non-essential” business or the open floor plans in our women’s clothing and shoe stores, or the other stores that are larger than some of the pot shops that have been open since the start of the lock down. He lumped all our downtown retail stores into the “too cramped to operate” category. Why bother? Allowing any of them to even try would be “inviting [them] to fail,” and he did not want to trouble the Board with a “symbolic gesture” of permitting any to reopen.
City Councilor Pam Adams, Vice Chair of the BOH and remarkably unconcerned about the devastation to Port Townsend’s downtown, joined in the chorus drowning out hope for retailers and restaurants. This is not surprising. As we’ve reported over the past months, the Port Townsend City Council hasn’t even talked about helping the city’s struggling businesses. A letter to the BOH from Kris Nelson, the city’s leading restaurant entrepreneur, about the “important lifeline” the restaurant industry provides for many families was found to be “moving,” as several BOH members said. The risk that restaurants may never reopen is very real and will seriously damage the fabric of life here. But, meh, let’s put this off until Kitsap and Clallam Counties get their act together, whenever that may be. Restaurants and retail have already been locked down for over two months. What’s another couple weeks of going broke and being unemployed? Don’t forget, we’re all in this together.
(On a side note, it has to be disconcerting to businesses that their fate is in the hands of two of the key players behind the lamentable Cherry Street Project: Dean, who is a leader of the group that has been bungling the project for 3 years, and Adams, who voted to get taxpayers into the mess.)
County Commissioner David Sullivan stuck his knife in the back of retail and restaurant businesses by also just making stuff up. You can tell he’s motivated by fear, not science. He spouted off about how the COVID virus strikes down children and kills teenagers. The Washington Department of Health has reported not a single death of anyone under age 20 caused in any way by COVID. The overwhelming majority of young people (that is anyone under 60, for this county) experience few or no symptoms and have not required hospitalization. Only 6 people in this county have been hospitalized for any period of time, some for only a night. One individual did require being moved to Harbor View, but has recovered. Six people hospitalized in a county of 32,000, so, yes, by all means, let’s kill small businesses and push people onto welfare.
One fact Mr. Sullivan chose to ignore: with our grocery stores, pot shops, wine store, hardware stores, equipment rentals, and convenience stores open the whole time, Jefferson County still had only 30 COVID diagnoses and nobody died. So why can’t the rest of our stores open to sell clothing, shoes, books, records, yarn, tea, spices, furniture, artwork?
Dean and Sullivan pay no price for keeping businesses shuttered and sputtering. Without interruption they have continued to receive their full pay, over $81,000 annually with great benefits paid by the same taxpayers they are driving toward bankruptcy and homelessness.
Board of Health Chair Sheila Westerman oversaw a meeting that only occasionally stumbled into following Robert’s Rules of Order. I lost track of the number of times she announced, “I’m confused,” “I don’t understand,” or “I am very confused.” She said she was “concerned” how many people in their comments to the BOH wanted to reopen now. Just as she and the majority of the BOH disregarded input from the business community showing overwhelming support for reopening, she disregarded any public comment except ones that fed her own overblown fears of a virus we now know is much less a threat what we were told back in March. We have learned it leaves untroubled 35% of those it infects, results in manageable, frequently minor symptoms for the vast majority of its hosts, and kills almost exclusively the elderly, and then only those with preexisting, severe health conditions that were already life threatening. Out of a state population of nearly 8 million, with 331,000 tested so far, only 20,065 have been diagnosed positive.
Westerman lamented that so many people remained “uneducated” about the virus, when to the contrary, they may have learned more than her.
Not all members of the Board of Health are guilty of malfeasance. We should recognize the compassion and selflessness of Kees Kolff, age 74, who argued for a full move into Phase 2. He argued for allowing the young to get back to their lives and jobs and for the vulnerable to protect themselves instead of forcing the low risk population to continue to sacrifice. “I don’t have to go [to that open restaurant or store] and expose myself,” he said.
And kudos to Brotherton for trying, repeatedly, for common sense moves to lift the lock down order. And, Commissioner Brotherton, thanks for asking the direct question of Dr. Locke that should have been asked as soon as we qualified for an early open. “Is there any evidence that tourists have been spreading the virus?” Unfortunately Dr. Locke’s answer–“There is not””–fell on too many ears deafened by fear.
UPDATE 6/30/2020: A reader in the comments asked us to update the information on how Georgia is doing with its robust reo-open, now several months old. While Georgia is testing thousands more and seeing an increase in positive diagnosis, and a bump in hospitalizations, its death rate continues to drop. This graph shows the latest on Georgia’s seven-day rolling average for deaths. During the time since Georgia reopened it also experienced the riots and protests when thousands of people congregated together, frequently in close quarters and with no social distancing or mask protections. Georgia’s daily case totals and hospitalizations were either flat or declining until about a week after the riots and protests started. The good news, as this graph shows, is that with its robust reopening and the riots and protests, the state’s death rate continues to drop.
Who has been informing on their neighbor? An enterprising citizen journalist has enabled a searchable database that answers that question. Allegations of violations of the Governor’s “Stay at Home” and “essential/non-essential” business list have generated thousands of pages of public records that before required hours to review. That task has been made much easier.
The site is Cop Blaster at https://quilcene-wa.copblaster.com/snitches/copcallers/
To do your search type “Snitches” in the first box, “Informants” in the second. “Washington” remains constant for state information. In the fourth box type in the locality, such as Port Townsend or Quilcene. New information is being added as public records requests continue to produce new information. The search results come back with different results occasionally.
Just because someone snitched does not mean they know what they are talking about. The business in question might be essential, the activities being conducted inside might be within the scope of the Governor’s permitted activities list, they may be misinterpreting what they are seeing, they may be acting out of malice, they may be lying.
As far as we can tell, none of these reports amounted to anything other than to generate records now available to the public. Everything in this database comes from material anyone could access with their own public records request.
We searched for “snitches,” “police calls” and “Port Townsend” and got four hits one time, six hits the next. Here is the link to what we found. One of the six hits was actually for a Port Hadlock organization, so we categorized it there:
Christina Roth informed on Vintage Hardware and Lighting, alleging it continued to operate.
Nancee Braddock informed on the gun club, alleging it was allowing shooting.
Anonymous informed on Jefferson County Fairgrounds, alleging concerns with homeless staying there.
Anonymous informed on an unnamed gym, alleging it remained open.
Anonymous informed on Jefferson Healthcare, alleging that “non-essential” departments remained open.
We performed a similar search for Quilcene and got these results:
Joseph Gallant informed on Coast Oyster, alleging their employee parking lot was “as full as ever.”
Terri Naughton informed on Outback Bud Company, alleging it was engaging in construction..
For Port Ludlow, one result: Tom Stevens informed on Port Ludlow Condominiums Number 1, alleging it was continuing with residential construction.
For Port Hadlock we got three results:
Someone named Kachele informed on Enclume Design Products, alleging continuing operations.
Anonymous informed on The United Church, alleging it was holding services.
Anonymous informed on DD Electrical, alleging the business was nonessential and open.
“Are you going to Silverdale or Sequim? If you go to Silverdale you can hit Lowe’s. Then swing by Central Market in Poulsbo. I’ve got a list.”
One of the great injustices of Governor Inslee’s lock down order is that he has bludgeoned small retail at the same time he has redirected consumer dollars to the Big Box stores.
“Shop locally” makes a great bumper sticker. It should have been a battle cry for city leaders. They should have been champions for the entrepreneurs that put it all on the line to bring charm and a personal touch to our community.
Those leaders have been sleep walking through this crisis. As we’ve reported about City Council meetings, they have discussed absolutely NOTHING about how city government can go to bat for our businesseses and the people those businesses employ. You get that? They haven’t even talked about helping (we watch the virtual meetings so you don’t have to).
In a town that depends so much on tourism, probably the industry that will lag the most in any recovery, you’d think its leaders would have been working overtime to find some way to stem the bleeding for every business that can be helped.
Now it might be county leaders turning their backs on small retail.
Retail is open in eight counties that qualified for “early open” under the Governor’s Phase 2. Jefferson County is not among them, though we were on the Governor’s initial list that got the go-ahead. Some counties delivered their application to the Governor in just 24 hours; our leaders are running out the clock with meeting after meeting. With all the foot dragging, another COVID case popped up and went away just as quickly. But county leaders now worry it disqualifies us from the “early open” because we weren’t supposed to have a single new case. It is an unrealistic requirement, but so are many other of Governor Inslee’s ever-shifting targets.
With fingers crossed hoping we might still be considered for maybe a couple days advance move into Phase 2, Public Health Officer Dr. Thomas Locke on Tuesday, 5/12/2020, released his list of businesses that should be opened now (and, in the opinion of many, open last week, and the week before that and the week before that…) Many are no-brainers. The Governor has said existing construction could resume, but held back on new construction, which never made any sense. Locke says all construction can resume. In addition he concludes that people in maritime manufacturing and fabrication shops can get back to work, as can office businesses, hair and nail salons, repair businesses, pet grooming, nannies and house cleaners.
Locke has intentionally left some things off his list and advises against them reopening. Those businesses are mostly tourist related. But for some reason he is withholding approval for our retail businesses to reopen. He lumps all retail into the “tourist-attracting” category, without distinction. Like Inslee, he takes a bludgeon to anything smaller than a Walmart.
“Trader Joe’s is open, darling. Get us something special for dinner.”
The County Board of Health will vote on May 21 to accept, reject, expand or contract Dr. Locke’s recommendations. The next day, the Board of County Commissioners will vote the BOH’s resolution up or down, no changes permitted in the process decreed by the Governor.
There has to be a way to let our small retailers turn the lights back on and start making some money. We have to stop exporting not only consumer spending, but also tax dollars. While local leaders may be callous about the pain to the private economy, they do feel the pain of plummeting tax revenue from retail sales. The county administrator has concluded that salary cuts for “the electeds” will be necessary. I’m thinking along the lines of 50% cuts for county commissioners retroactive to the date of the Governor’s emergency decree and continuing through 2021, but that’s for another op ed.
Back to why we must and can reopen all retail. Consider Quimper Mercantile, the largest small retailer downtown. We do not want an empty, dark shell as the anchor store at the entrance to Port Townsend’s historic district, you know, a taste of Detroit urban decay dished up with salt air and sea gulls staining an abandoned building.
Quimper Mercantile already has an established list of in-county customers which they should be allowed to serve. If your name is in their database, you get the locals-only discount.
Locke would allow barbers, stylists and manicurists to reopen if they serve only locals. Quimper Mercantile should be allowed to do the same. You could say they are “shovel ready.” It should be their call.
Other retailers could open under Locke’s overtly discriminatory restrictions. They better get open soon. Very few of these stores have the ability to stay closed much longer with a realistic hope of ever reopening and turning a profit again. It is the rare small retail operation that has a pile of cash to carry them through drought and famine, and many are already saddled with a heavy debt load.
“Last call, sugar. What else do you want from Silverdale?”
Better yet, just let our stores sell to everyone. There are no restrictions on the Big Box Boys limiting them to serving locals. Why, they even sell all kinds of stuff to people from Jefferson County.
