Questions, Musings, Observations

Written in January, 2014

I went to a celebration for Martin Luther King last night. This is not about that. But I can't help but think of a quote that Sharon Abreu quoted (paraphrased): "Cynicism is the intellectual face of despair." Yup. Count me among the despairing when it comes to the County, with its inner workings of... is it corruption? Greed? in Community Development and (not) Planning, Council, and Public works.

Questions Un-answered:

 Why is commercial development still being allowed in Eastsound, when there are empty commercial spaces all throughout Eastsound?  Why are more trees getting cut? Why is there allowance for a 40 unit building on a quarter acre of property in Eastsound Basin? Why are only vacay rentals and air b &b's and luxury condos being built while homelessness is continually on the rise - who are they for?


Do the residents of Eastsound UGA know what's coming down the pike?

What is Public Works going to do with the remaining parcel across the trail from the future Eastsound Market Place or whateveritz going to be? Scary to think of the possibilities, since, with 9 engineers, their penchant for spending grant monies by making up things to do is stupendous. As are the damages when their projects don't get maintained.


Observations of the world around us (through a glass, darkly):

I used to see bats all the time in summer behind where I live. I haven't seen a bat - not one - for at least two years. Where did the bats go? What killed or repelled them? Ditto with Swallows. They used to fly around here; now NONE. Since the Lavender Hollow and the Christian School are weed -whacking all the tall grasses, not ONE red wing blackbird do I see or hear anymore. In our quest for "tidiness" we are killing off and repelling the beneficial birds and wildlife.

The Mount Property Constructed Wetland has all the SAME noxious weeds that was the justification for removing 260 10-yard ump trucks full of hydric soil - effectively ruining the wetland (part of Eastsound Swale - no matter what the "experts" tell you that it's not. It is. Or was. until they removed the hydric soil and now it can't recover.)

 Eastsound and surround are in the Pacific Flyway migratory bird route. The San Juans are in that flyway. Light pollution is one of the biggest causes of bird deaths. The birds get confused and fly in circles in the light beams - and die of exhaustion. Now, they want streetlights in Eastsound Village and the new lights are blinding LED. Light pollution is already a serious problem in Eastsound; hence contributing to bird deaths. The birds get confused, think it's daytime, become diurnal. They're easy meals for predators - cats, owls, etc.

Musings (Not A-musing)

Stormwater control - GIANT FAIL. Eastsound is flooding. The September floods never should have happened. Public Works had not cleaned out the storm drains in YEARS. There's more.  Public Works's solution to stormwater? Keep cutting down wetland trees. Put roads through wetlands; then never clean debris or silt out of the culverts. That's how most of the trees in Eastsound Swale by Enchanted Road got killed - drowned. Haul away all hydric soil so a natural wetland can't recover. Kill off beneficial amphibian populations. DO NOTHING to address stormwater running down from the tops of hills two miles away that all roar into Eastsound Basin through the ditches so deep that your car is automatically totalled if you happen to be unlucky enough to get your car in one. Putting in landscape designs destined to fail and then wiggle out of maintaining them, or anything else they engineer or build? (Actually, the workers do fix the potholes with some regularity.) A road is planned to go through the community garden in the heart of town. That is the short list.

There's talk of putting the road through and connecting Orion Lane with A Street.  Right next to a SCHOOL and apartment complex where kids play in the street - there's no place else to play. Or they want to put A Street or Fern Street through Eastsound Swale to Lovers Lane. All of these ideas are disastrous for Eastsound Swale and any trees in the way of their idea of "progress."

One of the last horrifying things I witnessed/ overheard/observed at an "open house" last October;
the minions of Eastsound Sewer. The three men were: Greg Ayers (who thankfully was NOT elected as a County Councilor), Paul Kamin (head of Eastsound Water Users), and Dan Vekved - engineer at Public Works. They were all jubilantly entertaining the notion of joining forces into a Utility District. Can you say Monopoly and Total Control of the populace? The poorest people would pay the money to support the lifestyles of the rich! I swear they were licking their licivious craven lips - No, No, NO!


Possible Ways to Go:

 What Public Works could do - if coerced by public opinion - is to fire 6 engineers at least - and hire more laborers to keep up with their Granted Projects. Instead, what gets bankrupted is Eastsound Swale, Fishing Bay, and President's Channel - not to mention narrow land bridge between the two parts of the Salish Sea. Hiring more regular workers would insure success of more of their projects. Having less "specialized "engineers means each engineer left would actually need to be a generalist and study details pertaining to a project - ie educated.


"Cynicism is the intellectual face of despair." Somebody, please help me. I have tried and tried. I can't get through to the county. I feel so heartbroken and negative, I  can't get through to the people to incite them to ACT on their own behalf and on behalf of the environment before it's too late. It probably is too late, but something (stubbornness? denial? "optimism?") compels me to keep trying, keep acting. If I let myself feel the despair on this micro-cosmic level,  at what a hash we've made of our lovely wetland basin, I won't have a way left to even get out of bed. Most days, thinking about all of this makes me want to cry. And cry. And cry. I write instead; about swallows, bats, destructive rabbits. I need to offer some solutions to the People. ATM i have none, except to advise people to get educated and let your county officials know what you think and feel about the plan to sacrifice Eastsound for the gain of a few realtors, developers, and mercenaries.