To the editor:

Four years ago, Val Tollefson, Wayne Roth and Roger Townsend ran for city council on a “trust us” platform, that they were smart guys who would take care of things, that they would make city government work, harmoniously. However, with the addition of Mike Scott through appointment to a vacant position, we’ve gotten a split council that consistently rubber stamps what the city manager wants with a narrow 4/3 majority on projects that more often mean empire building and job security for staff than a better place for residents.

How else to explain variances on the scale and character of development that led to Visconsi, $100,000 for the study of the Island Power proposal, clearcutting along Highway 305, the doubling in costs of the new police station, and now continued pursuit of the pedestrian “Bridge to Nowhere”?

We need to get beyond narrow council majorities and put people in office who will take the time to carefully work through good policy with all of the other council members, and not simply ramrod through some backroom decision that they have already made with those they get along with.

We only have so many acres of land here, and if our council doesn’t do a better job, we will lose our sense of place, especially along the major travel corridors that frame our views of it day to day.

Please take the time to learn about which people running for office will be good stewards of the island and responsible in their spending decisions. These votes don’t come up very often, and, like mowing the lawn or fixing the roof on our house, preparing for them is part of our own responsibility for taking care of this place.

ROD STEVENS

Bainbridge Island