Council doesn’t listen
To the editor:
In 2019-20 the Bainbridge Island Planning Commission spent an extraordinary amount of time evaluating a code amendment for a parcel in a residential area. The objective of the applicant, Aveterra, is to locate an industrial composting facility on the site. It would compost vegetation, horse manure and food waste. The site is in a sensitive area above the aquifer and near the community well that serves hundreds of homes. The Planning Commission denied the request.
Yet the applicant has applied directly to the City Council to approve the request. That is their right, as it is mine to strenuously object to the project and the direction the council seems to be taking to support the zoning change. The council is having study session to discuss the proposal. It is taking this action after hurrying through a recommendation from the Planning Commission two weeks ago and dismissing their input.
It is disheartening to see all the work that the Planning Commission did on this sensitive topic to be ignored. Many hours of study, research, public comment and thoughtful discussion were invested in the proposal. The Planning Commission voted 5-0 to deny the it. Yet the council voted 4-3 to approve a draft site code amendment.
I suggest that the council spend time reviewing the records of the Planning Commission, the public hearings, all of the citizen input and listen to some experts. I understand the emotional pull of wanting to do composting. It’s very Bainbridge. But it is complicated at an industrial scale. It has significant risks.
If the council is not going to listen to the various commissions that are a part of city government, why bother having them? The council’s collective abuse of the various citizens efforts to help take the island forward responsibly is an embarrassment. It would be much more efficient if the council just did everything without citizen input so that these matters can get to Superior Court faster, which is exactly where the city seems to spend an extraordinary amount of time.
Michael Sherry
Bainbridge Island
This is why
To the editor:
Trump’s current behavior is exactly the reason he was not reelected.
PJ McEwan
Bainbridge Island
Votes count
To the editor:
The Constitution says states control elections. The 14th Amendment protects voting. This administration is querying votes in swing states. The same poll workers and elected Secretaries of State always run elections. In Georgia, Minnesota and Nevada they are Republican. Why would they cheat to get a Democrat elected?
Also, there were no down ballot candidates who came forward complaining about their votes. The president has implied that mail-in ballots are less secure, and then sabotaged the post office by hiring DeJoy to oversee removing sorting machines and banning overtime.
This affects people’s faith in the post office to get their ballots in on time. This is not fair — the post office easily handles surges such as Christmas. States have had to extend the amount of time after the election they can accept correctly post-marked ballots as a result.
The president tweeted that mail-in ballots are subject to voter fraud. That indicates to people that they should vote in person – but people in lines can spread the pandemic. This is disingenuous because every year apart from this, he has voted by mail. Ivanka and Jared did this year.
To be clear, mail-in ballots are the same as absentee ballots. Every state has always had absentee ballots for folks in the military and those who cannot vote in person. And they are always allowed to be counted late. States need to be allowed to count the votes without interference.
Holly Brewer
Bainbridge Island
