Jerry Effendahl reports about this "discussion" without any public participation (but silent) allowed: our local democracy at work. All our thanks to the Friends of Cannery Cove for persisting.
Dear Friends of Cannery Cove,
Well done, everyone! We may not have been allowed to speak. We did sing - thanks for the guitar accompaniment, Rick! - and we did have a terrific turnout for a sunny, summer evening!
LAST NIGHT'S CITY COUNCIL "DISCUSSION" ...
was extremely well-attended (and reported on by BITV. DVD copies available.). It was packed and witnessed by many. It was not just the same old faces. Most wore "Save Strawberry Cannery Park" lapel stickers. One source reported that the fire department had been contacted and asked to make sure room capacity was not exceeded. A police officer assigned to the meeting reported that hasn't happened often. Attendees, if frustrated, were, of course, well-behaved as usual. Both Kirk Robinson and Paul Bang Knudsen, Park Directors, attended.
NO public comment was taken. It was a "discussion" between the staff and Council only. It was mostly the same old City face-saving exercise - "a clarification because of so much mis-information out there!" It was another Libby Hudson and contractor John Small "show and tell". Council. members asked a few questions. The discussion ran well beyond its scheduled 20 minutes.
You ought to be able to get a "clarification sheet" from City Planning to see what they thought needs "clarification".
The word "fish" was not uttered once - not once - in all the discussions. It has become increasingly clear that this just seems to be about getting rid of the paved work yard and parking, about reducing and not enhancing public access, no boat landing, no preservation of historic landmark and not about any informed or knowledgeable response to the needs of fish or people!
"Unearthed" was that the City may not have enough fill to create their new inland "meadow" and no budget to bring in any fill. Many important questions were never asked.
A NEW PARK NAME ...
was coined last night when one young staff jumped up to aid Libby Hudson's pitch for the City Park Plan..
"Why it's just like Hawley Cove Wetland," he said, puzzling most with a comparison with a true stream-fed marsh with no boat landing or access and little parking. He continued, "Or it is just like Point No Point!"
In perpetuity he may well have trumped all of the other Park names - Strawberry Plant Park, Strawberry Cannery Park, Cannery Cove, John Nelson Park at Cannery Cove, and Weaver Road End. If the City plan goes forward, this will forever be known as "Park No Park"!
We still lament the lack of the City allowing the public to formally engage in any substantive, unhurried, public discussion and the lack of any park design committee, commission or task force benefiting from local experience, creativity, ingenuity, history and science. We see the polarity of the debate and multiple park names as symptomatic of the need for a real "discussion". There are still many significant issues about the City Plan which need public debate and light, and student exploration and study.. In several years, no one has even done a siltation study there.
The public, the site and the historic and cultural losses seem not felt by a Council who before their election last fall told voters and the League of Women Voters that the greatest value of the Park was its history and its best use was active recreation.
Why then are we now diminishing the resources of both, reducing the shoreline by more than fifty percent, excavating and submerging 2/3rds of an acre of shoreside pre-existing meadow, forcing all Park parking into the neighborhood and reducing the Park which today accommodates and offers more amenities to fish and people than the City proposed plan which wastes tax payer dollars at a time when WA State Auditor Brian Sontaug says we need to scale down? The processes seems destined not to unite us as it should at "Park No Park"!.
Dear Friends of Cannery Cove,
Bill Knoblach and Libby Hudson are leading a 20 minute discussion on Strawberry Cannery Park at 7 PM, WEDNESDAY, JULY 21 at City Hall.
This week's "special work/study session" is supposed to be geared to allow for more public involvement. Last week, Council had NO discussion at their regular meeting. They did hear short "public comments" from eight or nine Friends of Cannery Cove - Ed Kushner, Elice Wright, Doug Hatfield, Capt. Fred McGinnis, Melanie Keenan, Charlotte Rovelstad, Richard Labotz, and me.
If you can, please attend and come a few minutes early. The Council needs to see and hear from more and different faces. We do need more two-way "discussions" and in person witnesses to what is going on. This is a moment to ATTEND - SIT AND WITNESS or STAND & SAY A FEW WORDS -- PLEASE -- NOW!!
Respectfully,
Jerry