Tuesday, September 23, 2008
A Thoughtful Voice
Speaking of budgets, as we were in the post below, the Lakewood City Council got a very thoughtful anonymous letter recently. The letter is from someone who says they are a city employee who might lose their job if the coming initiative passes.
I thought this person hit some targets pretty darn well. I'm surely not saying by posting this note that I agree with all of it. Among a couple things, I don't at all agree with the part about raising taxes. And unless something has changed that I don't know about, the statistics disagree that we are a 'vice capital.' The more of the debate I hear, the more it sounds like to me that folks are making minicasinos a scapegoat for all sorts of nationwide problems ranging from addictions to failure to parent properly. But geesh, maybe I am the only person who thinks that. Clearly, because we have minicasinos in this town people think we have unusual issues right here in Lakewood city; that's a perception that simply must be respected.
Now having added a long qualifier ... I include the document because it's got a lot of thoughtful things to say, and especially for the second-to-last paragraph. The person makes a valid point that we need to take tough steps to get our city's core services off of gambling dollars. It reminds me of what I was trying to say in the post below. Assuming the letter is from someone who is indeed in danger of losing their job, this is a pretty impressive piece of work. I encourage you to read it.
Forward this post
I thought this person hit some targets pretty darn well. I'm surely not saying by posting this note that I agree with all of it. Among a couple things, I don't at all agree with the part about raising taxes. And unless something has changed that I don't know about, the statistics disagree that we are a 'vice capital.' The more of the debate I hear, the more it sounds like to me that folks are making minicasinos a scapegoat for all sorts of nationwide problems ranging from addictions to failure to parent properly. But geesh, maybe I am the only person who thinks that. Clearly, because we have minicasinos in this town people think we have unusual issues right here in Lakewood city; that's a perception that simply must be respected.
Now having added a long qualifier ... I include the document because it's got a lot of thoughtful things to say, and especially for the second-to-last paragraph. The person makes a valid point that we need to take tough steps to get our city's core services off of gambling dollars. It reminds me of what I was trying to say in the post below. Assuming the letter is from someone who is indeed in danger of losing their job, this is a pretty impressive piece of work. I encourage you to read it.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Phasing In the Solution
You may have already seen the article in The News Tribune about considerations involving the Lakewood budget. The council is looking at two budgets: one assumes the initiative to ban minicasinos does not pass, while another budget would assume it does.
What I suggested to the council Monday night is that we come up with a third budget option and approve it.
Here's the background: It's very, very clear that the folks who want to ban minicasinos feel very sincerely that banning them in Lakewood will have a huge effect on the community. One can assume that even if the initiative does not pass this year, the opponents of minicasinos will be back next year, and the year after that.
Under those circumstances, it makes no sense to rely on a source of funding that is constantly under attack. If nothing else, how would you feel to be a city employee whose job is constantly up for layoffs, year after year, depending on an election?
What I propose is that the council gradually cut the core city budget over four years to eliminate the amount produced by the gambling tax. It would mean an adjustment to city services that the public would notice ... but the process would be a lot less painful than having 8 percent of the budget lopped off overnight.
Under this proposal, we would wean the city's essential services off of the gambling tax. We could spend gambling money in the meantime on expenditures that don't have to be repeated year after year, like road repairs and improvements.
A final notion: There would be an additional benefit in terms of clarity of thought. You should decide whether you want to allow minicasinos in Lakewood solely on that issue alone. The whole question of what their tax pays for is a distraction. It's an inevitable distraction because the city relies on those funds right now. But if we got ourselves off an addiction to the gambling tax, voters could make up their mind on the issue of minicasinos alone. That would be a good thing.
Forward this post
What I suggested to the council Monday night is that we come up with a third budget option and approve it.
Here's the background: It's very, very clear that the folks who want to ban minicasinos feel very sincerely that banning them in Lakewood will have a huge effect on the community. One can assume that even if the initiative does not pass this year, the opponents of minicasinos will be back next year, and the year after that.
Under those circumstances, it makes no sense to rely on a source of funding that is constantly under attack. If nothing else, how would you feel to be a city employee whose job is constantly up for layoffs, year after year, depending on an election?
What I propose is that the council gradually cut the core city budget over four years to eliminate the amount produced by the gambling tax. It would mean an adjustment to city services that the public would notice ... but the process would be a lot less painful than having 8 percent of the budget lopped off overnight.
Under this proposal, we would wean the city's essential services off of the gambling tax. We could spend gambling money in the meantime on expenditures that don't have to be repeated year after year, like road repairs and improvements.
A final notion: There would be an additional benefit in terms of clarity of thought. You should decide whether you want to allow minicasinos in Lakewood solely on that issue alone. The whole question of what their tax pays for is a distraction. It's an inevitable distraction because the city relies on those funds right now. But if we got ourselves off an addiction to the gambling tax, voters could make up their mind on the issue of minicasinos alone. That would be a good thing.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Update on the Sounder Station art
Not a ton of new news here, but a nice update about the newest public art in Lakewood: http://www.soundtransit.org/x3645.xml
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Getting Involved: Budget, Transportation, and Volunteerism
As I posted below, the council had a workshop Monday to discuss the coming budget and what money the city should spend where. Every Monday in October will be a budget workshop, so that's probably the time to go into more detail. But just so you have the original document, here's the city manager's list of proposed budget cuts that would be implemented in case citizens decide to ban minicasinos.
At some point, I will put together a survey to give you a chance to tell me how you think the budget should be adjusted for 2009, and what we call Plan B ... what should be cut if we lose 8 percent of our general fund from the minicasino ban. It might well be you want to propose an alternative to what the city manager listed above.
If you are real overachiever, you can go to the documents that I will be using for this survey. That link is to the council packet for Sept. 8, and includes a very, very long set of lists of various city operations. The list enumerates the services the city provides, and associated costs.
You could print the lists out and look for places to cut the budget. But again, I'll get a more Web-friendly survey ready by mid-October. That will be a good time to get involved.
And speaking of getting involved .. it's time for my reminder that the city is always looking for volunteers to give staff, the council and other citizens about various aspects of what goes on in the city. The city's community advisory groups have a big say in what is spent where and how, among other things.
The deadline to apply for spots on a couple of groups is Sept. 22, which is not that far away.
Our transportation advisory group is suggesting the city raise taxes and fees to pay for roads. There's a surprising amount of momentum for this. The volunteers have presented some compelling information to suggest that if the city doesn't spend a gallon of money now, the city may have to spend five gallons later on to make up for the damage.
Monday, Councilman Pad Finnigan suggested spending some of Lakewood's reserve fund to preserve the roads. Normally, you'd not expect him to propose deficit spending in a million years. So this transportation group is pretty important right now. You may agree, disagree, or feel you don't know enough, and the group is always looking for good minds.
There are many other advisory groups about subjects ranging from art to public safety to parks. The arts board is relatively new, and is particularly looking for people with fresh ideas and an interest in arts and culture. Whatever subjects interest someone, I always suggest people fill out the form when they have time to do so and turn it into City Hall; and then their application will be considered when there is an opening or when a term ends. You can get a PDF version of the application here.
Forward this post
At some point, I will put together a survey to give you a chance to tell me how you think the budget should be adjusted for 2009, and what we call Plan B ... what should be cut if we lose 8 percent of our general fund from the minicasino ban. It might well be you want to propose an alternative to what the city manager listed above.
If you are real overachiever, you can go to the documents that I will be using for this survey. That link is to the council packet for Sept. 8, and includes a very, very long set of lists of various city operations. The list enumerates the services the city provides, and associated costs.
You could print the lists out and look for places to cut the budget. But again, I'll get a more Web-friendly survey ready by mid-October. That will be a good time to get involved.
And speaking of getting involved .. it's time for my reminder that the city is always looking for volunteers to give staff, the council and other citizens about various aspects of what goes on in the city. The city's community advisory groups have a big say in what is spent where and how, among other things.
The deadline to apply for spots on a couple of groups is Sept. 22, which is not that far away.
Our transportation advisory group is suggesting the city raise taxes and fees to pay for roads. There's a surprising amount of momentum for this. The volunteers have presented some compelling information to suggest that if the city doesn't spend a gallon of money now, the city may have to spend five gallons later on to make up for the damage.
Monday, Councilman Pad Finnigan suggested spending some of Lakewood's reserve fund to preserve the roads. Normally, you'd not expect him to propose deficit spending in a million years. So this transportation group is pretty important right now. You may agree, disagree, or feel you don't know enough, and the group is always looking for good minds.
There are many other advisory groups about subjects ranging from art to public safety to parks. The arts board is relatively new, and is particularly looking for people with fresh ideas and an interest in arts and culture. Whatever subjects interest someone, I always suggest people fill out the form when they have time to do so and turn it into City Hall; and then their application will be considered when there is an opening or when a term ends. You can get a PDF version of the application here.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Fort Steilacoom Park forces, assemble
There's been much discussion about what to do with the old farm barns at Fort Steilacoom Park.There's a community meeting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday the 17th in Lakewood City Hall that would be worth going to. People, including hopefully maybe even you, will brainstorm and discuss ideas for the barns' reuse. Right now, they're pretty much storage and thoroughly dilapidated.
There have been a lot of these 'town hall' meetings about various resources here in town. It's always interesting and fun to watch our parks department and volunteers collect comments and get people talking about what could and should be done for a park, a project or something else
A commercial firm is studying a number of issues including the structure and safety and cost of fixing up individual barns, and whether there is a market for, say, a Farmer's Market. That's an idea thrown out by a number of folks including Sen. Mike Carrell, who helped save the barns several years ago. One of the barns has some internal bracing, thanks to his advocacy, and the saveable ones all have relatively new roofs.
But the Farmer's Market is just one idea. I think Sen Carrell and I pretty much just want to see the barns used somehow, whether it's for a Farmer's Market or something else. I've always fantasized it would be meaningful if there was more interpretive information for the amazing Native American, English pioneer, American pioneer U.S. military and mental health care history in the Fort Steilacoom National Register Historic District. But that would take a bunch of doing and is probably not a first step.
One of the more intriguing ideas notes that the barns are located near a lake and a scenic hill, and somehow turns the largest twin-winged one by the parking lot into a catered dining facility that could be rented for community enjoyment. Could such a place pencil out? Does the community even want that? Who knows? But these are good questions to ask.
I should note the photo above comes from the wonderful Tacoma Public Library web site.
Local history events
'Couple items to note: this Saturday is the living history immersion event at Lakewood's oldest museum, Fort Steilacoom. Military and civilian re-enactors will be interpreting and 'living' the year 1860.
This is a great way to introduce history to kids who think history is just something in books. And it's fun for everyone. Last year some flirting was so fierce that one of the sergeants almost married a 94-year-old member of the Lakewood Historical Society there on the spot. It was sweet, and they were both laughing something ferocious.
The living history is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday the 13th. The re-enactors themselves are actually spending the whole day there, in order to get fully immersed in 1860.
And now, for Lakewood's second oldest museum, the Lakewood Museum. It's currently located in the Colonial Center, but there are plans to expand. The annual meeting will be Oct. 16. The link is to a thorough writeup in The Suburban Times, but the short version is 7 p.m. Oct 16 at Clover Park Technical College. Assuming talks with the college continue as they are going, this may be a formal announcement of the plans to remodel a 13,000-square-foot hangar into a museum there at the campus. We're all pretty excited about it.
Forward this post
This is a great way to introduce history to kids who think history is just something in books. And it's fun for everyone. Last year some flirting was so fierce that one of the sergeants almost married a 94-year-old member of the Lakewood Historical Society there on the spot. It was sweet, and they were both laughing something ferocious.
The living history is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday the 13th. The re-enactors themselves are actually spending the whole day there, in order to get fully immersed in 1860.
And now, for Lakewood's second oldest museum, the Lakewood Museum. It's currently located in the Colonial Center, but there are plans to expand. The annual meeting will be Oct. 16. The link is to a thorough writeup in The Suburban Times, but the short version is 7 p.m. Oct 16 at Clover Park Technical College. Assuming talks with the college continue as they are going, this may be a formal announcement of the plans to remodel a 13,000-square-foot hangar into a museum there at the campus. We're all pretty excited about it.
Monday, September 08, 2008
Budget talks tonight
The Lakewood City Council holds the first of many budget workshops at 7 tonight. One of the most heated questions will be, what will the council remove from the 2009 budget if a minicasino ban passes in November? We need to make at least some tentative plans for the potential loss of tax revenue. There's
an overview of the question already posted on The News Tribune site that is worth reading.
No matter what the council proposes cutting, proponents of a minicasino ban will accuse us of trying to scare the voters. Not everyone will do that, of course; there are plenty of opponents of minicasinos who have good values. But other folks are going to peddle the deceptive concept that there's a free lunch and that the council can cut nearly $3 million with affecting anyone. Sure. Then sleep soundly at night.
I have to admit, I came out of the gate pretty quick on the TNT comment site. Check it out and feel free to enter the discussion. What I was trying to say in my diplomatic Neary style is, I'd be much more interested in what you think if you can do something besides complain. But maybe you need more information to make up your mind; let us know what you need.
I have also said in the TNT previously I don't think voters should make up their mind about the minicasino ban based on taxes at all. I still believe that. Voters have every right and many good reasons to ban minicasinos; and we as a community should and would find a way to live with the financial result. My point here is that it's just simply either delusional or deceptive to think the consequences will be without inconvenience.
Forward this post
an overview of the question already posted on The News Tribune site that is worth reading.
No matter what the council proposes cutting, proponents of a minicasino ban will accuse us of trying to scare the voters. Not everyone will do that, of course; there are plenty of opponents of minicasinos who have good values. But other folks are going to peddle the deceptive concept that there's a free lunch and that the council can cut nearly $3 million with affecting anyone. Sure. Then sleep soundly at night.
I have to admit, I came out of the gate pretty quick on the TNT comment site. Check it out and feel free to enter the discussion. What I was trying to say in my diplomatic Neary style is, I'd be much more interested in what you think if you can do something besides complain. But maybe you need more information to make up your mind; let us know what you need.
I have also said in the TNT previously I don't think voters should make up their mind about the minicasino ban based on taxes at all. I still believe that. Voters have every right and many good reasons to ban minicasinos; and we as a community should and would find a way to live with the financial result. My point here is that it's just simply either delusional or deceptive to think the consequences will be without inconvenience.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Following Western State II
As mentioned below, the paper did have an editorial about Andy Phillips and Western State. Good reading.
The first reader to comment on the paper's web page notes "Perhaps the state is being careful in what it releases because there is much more being investigated and they cannot compromise the ongoing items at this time." And that's always a challenge, what you release during a personnel situation. The story will probably more unfold than be suddenly revealed.
It occurs to me one reason I am smarting about Western State is that years ago I applied to be on their advisory board, just as I had been when I was editor, and I never did even hear back at all from Gov. Gregoire's office. I am not sure if they even still have a community advisory board. If not, it would be a good idea to rev such a group up and start including the community even more at Western State. But that's all chatter ... the question on the table is what's up with them firing a guy who was popular in the community? Might have been right or wrong, and I hope we learn more ...
Forward this post
The first reader to comment on the paper's web page notes "Perhaps the state is being careful in what it releases because there is much more being investigated and they cannot compromise the ongoing items at this time." And that's always a challenge, what you release during a personnel situation. The story will probably more unfold than be suddenly revealed.
It occurs to me one reason I am smarting about Western State is that years ago I applied to be on their advisory board, just as I had been when I was editor, and I never did even hear back at all from Gov. Gregoire's office. I am not sure if they even still have a community advisory board. If not, it would be a good idea to rev such a group up and start including the community even more at Western State. But that's all chatter ... the question on the table is what's up with them firing a guy who was popular in the community? Might have been right or wrong, and I hope we learn more ...
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Following Western State
It's been interesting to follow the departure of the very popular boss Andy Phillips from one of Lakewood's largest employers, Western State Hospital. Today's story was fascinating, and it sounds like the paper will have an editorial tomorrow. I'm glad the paper seems fixed on this story. I have no idea what happened within those walls. But Andy is a very highly regarded member of the local community. This is a case people will want to follow. Be interesting to see what develops.
One has to approach any such story like this fully aware that there is a lot working against any accurate account of what happens in a labor situation. Every time I've seen news coverage of a personnel case I knew about, there was one reason or another the account was incomplete. There are a lot of privacy protections, among other things, that work against full disclosure of the facts and passions in a labor situation. But we should be glad the paper is trying.
Forward this post
One has to approach any such story like this fully aware that there is a lot working against any accurate account of what happens in a labor situation. Every time I've seen news coverage of a personnel case I knew about, there was one reason or another the account was incomplete. There are a lot of privacy protections, among other things, that work against full disclosure of the facts and passions in a labor situation. But we should be glad the paper is trying.
All But the Train
Back when I first ran for the council, I was commuting by bus to and from Seattle. I sure don't miss that commute. Some folks don't have much of a choice but to make that trip. There are a lot of jobs in Seattle. And so we're delighted to hear of the opening of the new Lakewood commuter station and parking garage. No, there's still no train yet, but it will offer 600 parking spaces and a new bus route, the 599, to get people to the train. Read more about the 599 and this station at the Sound Transit site.The grand opening will be 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20. You've probably seen the darn thing going up and know where it is, but if not, the address is 11424 Pacific Highway SW, across from Lakewood Ford.
And this, says Sound Transit, is what the station will look like when the train starts running. Given the reliability of predictions, I don't think we need even bother printing the latest projection.
