Note: U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair came by the office. David Nelson has his notes and video from the conversation at his blog, From the Editor’s Desk. Ed Friedrich shared his notes with me and I hope to transcribe them later. I want him to see them before I post.
Some Bremerton residents are showing how citizens can go over the council’s collective heads on an issue.
On Monday residents presented their plan at a meeting of people from Councilman Roy Runyon’s district. They talked about their plan to gather petitions to get a citizen-led initiative on the Bremerton ballot to allow residents to have up to four hens. My hunch is many of them won’t like the comparison to state initiative guru Tim Eyman, but they’re doing exactly (except for the making money part) what he does. If your local electeds won’t do what you want, do it for them.
What they really want is for the council to make all this unnecessary by putting the item on the agenda for the full council. Until then, the citizens promise to continue charging ahead with the initiative drive.
In a sense this isn’t like a game of chicken, where two cars line up against each other and drive straight toward each other until someone chickens out or they crash.
There’s no crash here. The council is standing still. If the council does nothing and the residents get their signatures, voters will decide whether hens should be legal within the city. If the residents say “yes” then the citizens have essentially passed the council by and created law the council has no power to change without another vote. If the residents say “no” then it’s akin to the finish line moving to the council.
Any guess what the council will do? I have one, but I probably shouldn’t share it and I’m not very confident in it anyway.
Thanks for the view on this Steve, you explain well the situation. I would like to say one thing though, what these people are doing is not what Tim Eyman does (self promotion and profiteering, while playing on peoples greed and fear), it is what CITIZENS do. By participating in local government we hopefully make a better community. If more citizens were involved in government on all levels, what a very different place this city, our state and our nation might be.
“If more citizens were involved in government on all levels, what a very different place this city, our state and our nation might be.”
I assume from the first part of your entry, Moosette, you mean if more of the “right kind of” citizens were involved… Meaning people who agree with your particular world view. Obviously you don’t want involvement by those you disagree with (those stooges who can have their “greed” and “fear” so played upon by people like Tim Eyman). Right?
Obviously you don’t want involvement by those you disagree with (those stooges who can have their “greed” and “fear” so played upon by people like Tim Eyman). Right?
Wrong!!! While I may vociferously disagree with Tim Eyman, he has every right and every responsibility to do whatever he feels is necessary to create a better Washington. My assertion here is that there is a vast difference between what the self promoting, profiteering Eyman, and a grass roots movement such as this. It appears to me that this initiative is about allowing those who want to choose hens the ability to do so, while not impacting those who don’t. A hen initiative does not impact funds for roads, schools, law enforcement or other publically funded services.
And remember it is you who chose the word “stooges”, not me.
You are aware that Tim Eyman’s initiatives all go to a vote of the people, right?
You are aware that Tim Eyman’s initiatives all go to a vote of the people, right?
Blue Light Special, I am indeed aware of how the initiative process works thank you very much. What is your point here?
I just get tired of people denigrating Tim Eyman as “profiting” and “preying on people’s fear and greed” without acknowledging that his efforts would all be for naught if a majority of the State’s citizens didn’t vote for them. I think doing so ignores the very real concerns of the vast majority of people who have voted for his initiatives. I think I have probably voted for, maybe, half of his initiatives; so I am not a lock-step minion in that regard. It just seems to me that characterizing his efforts as solely motivated by his personal profiting ignores the underlying dissatisfaction with State government that – obviously – over half the state’s voters feel. Our state government tries to portray his effort in such a manner and – thus – continues to ignore the people saying PRIORITIZE YOUR SPENDING. And, consequently, are now facing a $2.9 billion budget deficit, by the way (with a much larger one next time around).
Why did you call me Blue Light Special? Because I disagreed with you? You’ll note I didn’t call you anything.
My apologies Blue Light, it was rather a cheap shot and a poor attempt at humor. It just seems to me that the whole hen issue is so innocuous and involves so few people that it really doesn’t compare to Eyman initiatives. There are no taxes affected by this, either in cuts or increases and really has nothing to do with government spending at all. This is an initiative to allow people the freedom to choose how they live and eat, while impacting those around them as little as possible.
No offense taken, Moosette. (I also think the shallow name calling that passes for public discourse is something we should call out when we see it; those questioning immigration policy are “racists”, those advocating for smaller government are “teab*ggers”, etc. It doesn’t advance the governance and – in fact – entrenches opposing viewpoints. I hope you will join me in chastising those who resort to this shallow, sophomoric avoidance of our very real issues.) Thank you.
It’s funny, because as I was writing this I was going to go more into what Eyman’s motives might be. I decided not to, fearing I’d set off land mines.
While Eyman may be all those things you say, BlueLight is absolutely correct that it takes voters agreeing with him to make it possible for him to make whatever money he makes. If he didn’t get the signatures, and then the votes, who would know anything about him?
What I was going to write last night had to do with whether Eyman would actually be happy if the Legislature saw one of his budding initiatives, saw it as a decent idea and passed it before he could get paid for getting it on the ballot. I can’t pretend to know. Again, I have my ideas, but I best keep them to myself.
Steven Gardner
Kitsap Caucus pusher in chief
Steven, glad to see you are feeling better. Having attended the District 4 meeting on Monday and hearing both sides of the issue there and in other forums, and knowing the council track record, I think they will cave BEFORE it goes to the ballot.
Number one, they have some budget shortfall decisions coming that are going to strangle the basic foundational services of this community while at the same time they would be continuing forward with the building of parking garages combined with residential and retail spaces using federal and state money to pay for it while still not having any committed developers or tenants signed on paper to date. On top of all of this if the urban chicken issue continues to divide this community and goes on to cost additional taxpayer dollars for an election that really isn’t necessary if the council had handled this whole issue in a better manner in the first place..Well that might be a little more heat than a majority of the council is willing to take on.
Colleen Smidt
“What I was going to write last night had to do with whether Eyman would actually be happy if the Legislature saw one of his budding initiatives, saw it as a decent idea and passed it before he could get paid for getting it on the ballot. I can’t pretend to know. Again, I have my ideas, but I best keep them to myself.”
I, also, will not hazard a guess at how Tim would feel toward that. I will speculate that – probably – a majority of the state’s citizens would – finally! – welcome it. Unfortunately our legislature hasn’t even taken the PASSED initiatives to heart; much less gotten proactive on the underlying messages behind them.