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Nimbys, Bananas, and Greens (chin deep)

6/19/2013

22 Comments

 
PictureAngry sign, recently seen.
     Futurewise has been power-tripping the light fantastic, over the moon, since it won its rural element "water" case against Whatcom County at the Growth Management Hearings Board  (GMHB) on June 7.  Maybe you've seen or heard the hyperbole that's been flooding the press and radio airwaves about it.


Depite all the early whoop, on Tuesday night former county planning director and current Bellingham city county planning employee David Stalheim spat flames and venom at council in person, threatening to "play hardball" ("...it's going to be long and it's going to be expensive,"  and, "You dig holes, and you dig 'em deeper").  Dog-gonnit, this county had better knuckle under and restrict growth more that it does already, or else.  Bullies do things like that.

By all accounts, the evidence given to the Growth Management Hearings Board in the latest water diatribe was cherry picked to make it appear that the county has done "absolutely nothing" in the last ten years to protect water, allowed pollution, and failed-failed-failed to protect fish (check out the decision's voluminous footnotes).  And it seems that the all-appointee GMHB ate-up the mountain of vague reports and odd accounts of "science" presented by Futurewise's attorney and WWU prof, prior planning commissioner Jean Melious.  Check out the Stalheim-Melious blog "Get Whatcom Planning."  It's regularly loaded with bitter complaints, dramatic interpretations of law, and rather pathetic and phobic-sounding posts about germs and "poop" in an unfair world.

Melious pleaded to the GMHB that dire neglect and "lack of water" have created a crisis that requires strict "measures" despite the reality that this is, and will very likely remain, a rain capital on the Pacific Ocean.  (Uh, step outside but better take your umbrella.)

With this "ruling" - Melious and Stalheim and their very tight band of city supporters fiercely intend to have their way in many respects:  reductions of land use to 20% or lower, even stricter restrictions of "impervious surfaces," more plantings, etc. and so forth.  There was even talk between Melious and the board about a "moratorium" on permits if need be, which is something citizens cringe to hear.  The Lake Whatcom moratorium has lived on and on - well over 10 years.

Denying folks the use of water and land - the property they've dreamed to use, paid taxes on, and will continue to pay taxes on - was discussed glibly as a practical necessity for what? To retain "rural character."  Would all these regulatory impositions and losses be compensated?  Forget that.  Color that precious rural character increasingly desperate and frustrated as the rural community itself is run not by residents but by regulation.

Mind you, Futurewise isn't the only party looking to win big in this legal battle that has waged on for years. The grossly ballooned conservation industry and tribes stand to do very well cashing in on restrictions and resources they've cobbled-up to the tune of "How dry I am".  It's sad to think that few everyday folk can afford the outrageous cost of environmental "restoration" that never quite meets elusive and ever changing goals.  Elaborate retrofitting for stormwater and other "solutions" can run into the tens of thousands, and some have little practical value most particularly in sparsely settled rural areas.   (Remember, all this is supposedly saving rural areas - the "rural element" of the comprehensive plan.)

Other "solutions" waiting in the wings are crippling  (like buying credits from the newly-created Lummi Wetland and Habitat Mitigation Bank, at $200,000 per credit or share), or from the Washington Water Bank which has been sniffing the environs.  Some very cozy crony relationships have developed, including well paid-partnerships that - let's face it - have become routine patronage.  Planning-buddy outfits like Farm Friends and ReSources are constantly on the dole -  along with sole source relationship vendors like Dumas, Blake, and Peterson.  Facilitators can work deals from agencies simultaneously for "outreach" while fishing and nudging grants along that rely on this crisis scenario.   (Facilitators coordinated the recent "certainty" symposium at considerable cost).

The deepest price of all this is paid by the public in personal disappointment if permits are denied to those who can't afford expensive testing and other requirements. The ability to put a thrifty trailer or modest home on a rural lot is slipping out of reach.  It skews rural life, which used to be practical.  It may be no big deal for the rich.  But even those who can afford kneel-and-deal permits may be forced to encumber their deeds forever to trusts or to forfeit extra buffers and open space, just to build or to get water.  It's unsettling to think that rural property owners should be commandeered to agree to unspecified future demands to merely use their land, or to access water in this wet place.  But that's what "measures" mean to Futurewise and friends.  The planning bureaucrats have paved an impervious trail that led to this point.  How did Stalheim put it when he challenged council?  Something like, "We've built a case".  Yes, he did - they did.

Finding a place for a home has become very tough for the young, the struggling, for retirees, and others who can barely get by in this county. Those with only lint in their pockets have avoided the high-tax, high-rent cities to live in rural areas.  That demographic - that reality - is well known.  Now, thanks to the strong-arm tactics of Futurewise and the growing mitigation industry, rural living will become even more unaffordable for the neediest.

Given this ugly trend, WE thought we'd share this excerpt from a Tom DeWeese, American Policy Center piece.  It's depressing; sorry about that.  But it hits close to home, here on the heels of yet another Futurewise-GMHB decision:

Excerpt from
NIMBYS, BANANAS AND GREENS
By Tom DeWeese

"The real political parties in America are the NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard) and the BANANAs (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything). These two political forces are driving the future of the nation by dictating the policy agendas of the Republicans and Democrats. Soon, the national bird will no longer be the noble eagle, but the ostrich.

Americans are becoming adolescent children who want towns to remain small, yet they themselves have children who must have schools, jobs and homes of their own. They want to build their homes in rural areas with beautiful vistas, yet complain when someone else wants to do the same thing. They argue that a neighbor’s new home has blocked their “view shed,” never considering that their home used to be someone else’s view shed or open space. Americans support programs to lock away land to keep wilderness pristine, free of human development, power lines and cell towers. Yet they want to use their cell phones and computers wherever they go. They want three car garages to house the family van, the daughter’s little bug and the husband’s sports car; but don’t blight the landscape with filling stations, refineries or power plants.

There’s no place in our pretty, clean, politically-correct, well-ordered world for industry to make the things we need, yet when all of our toys don’t work, Americans are outraged and they want heads to roll. Fix it!

Yes, what silly children Americans have become. But, one can hardly blame the results of three decades of implementing the radical agendas of special interests like the Sierra Club and The Nature Conservancy. These rich and powerful groups have spent billions of dollars to push their agenda of no growth (called Sustainable Development) through Congress and into our local communities. And they use the news media and corporate commercials to constantly barrage us with the “Go Green” message to indoctrinate the rest of us to feel guilty about our very existence. We’re sorry we need to use energy. We’re sorry that we have to grow food to eat. We’re sorry that we keep inventing creature comforts for ourselves.

The answer from a sorry society, while not giving up our toys, is to just ban the building of the things that make them work. It all sounds so noble."...

"...Our elected representatives play silly games. The Greens relentlessly push their anti-civilization agenda. And the indignant NIMBY’s and BANANA’s continue to sleep, satisfied that their world is well controlled. These are the cadre of self-serving brats who now are selling out America to their whims.

22 Comments

Whatcom County Politics Gets National Coverage

6/13/2013

2 Comments

 
So the "coal port" story hit the national news on MSNBC tv, May 31st.  The video's been 'talk of the town in some circles.  Check it out for yourself:   (sorry, there's always an ad)

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


Once you've had a chuckle or two at the bungled mispronunciation of the word "Whatcom," you may agree that this nationally broadcast featurette put a very interesting spin on the tough up-down permitting decision that lies ahead for County Council.

WE were irritated that these reporters implied, throughout, that this decision is mighty big for a parochial, podunk local legislature (a county council).  The tone was very "Oh my" and "Tsk-tsk."

So, MSNBC - "What about local decision-making seems so odd?"  WE realize some elitists don't grasp the concept of representative government, but this was a mighty crass put-down.

In response, WE'd ask, "Who do they think would make a better job of it? People who don't live here?"  (It sure sounded like this pair felt that outsiders would know best.)

Then, the newsies shifted gears to say that that big money is headed here ("coal money" and millions, no less) - supposedly to fill local election coffers and (we presume) sway judgment.

Now, that was downright insulting.  Whatcom County is too small for dirty 19th century Tammany Hall tactics.  Nobody would get away with it, even if they wanted to (WE hope).

Watching this led us to wonder, "Who would drum up such a sleazy story?"  It's hard to believe that GPT supporters would put that spin on it, though opponents might benefit from such insinuations.

Another thing about this story seemed creepy.  After the talking heads more or less suggested that our council is small potatoes and vulnerable to bribes, they went on to chatter that Governor Inslee has taken a position.  One of the last lines was, "Even though we know what his view is, he can't step in."  WE generally focus on local, and don't follow the man.  So we dredged a bit and discovered that Inslee and his followers have created a substantial "greenest governor" legend for the guy.  Is it possible that his legend involves thinly veiled wink-and-a-nod prejudice for certain endeavors, before the facts are in?  WE hope that ain't so.

Read this story about the recent joint Washington/Oregon letter that was transmitted from Olympia to the White House (see the actual letter).

If it's true that the governor’s taken this thinly-veiled anti terminal position, what expectation of impartiality and honest handling could proponents expect at the hands of his state agencies?

There's a long way to go on the GPT issue. WE expect the process to move forward in a way that's objective, fair, and impartial.  But with press like this flame-bait - plus Inslee's political nudging in D.C. - can it be?

For the record, WE do trust this council to do the right thing - meaning, to be scrupulously thorough and fair.  'Hope they don't blow principle for politics.
2 Comments

What Part of Infringe Don't They Understand?

6/10/2013

6 Comments

 
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The local Whatcom Tea Party got its start in 2009 as the "Bellingham Tea Party," then it grew and expanded county-wide.  It's just updated its website with a new look and format.  Their web address, if you want to check this out, is still whatcomteaparty.org.

This update is news?  Well, in a way, yes.  What's newsworthy is seeing that liberty continues to ring modern despite efforts to diminish and quash the movement.  Perhaps you missed the recent hearings in D.C. about the IRS asking "are you now of have you ever been" questions of patriotic groups.  That was followed by the irritating news that the NSA has been mining masses of domestic phone and bank metadata.  Closer to home, many have been chaffed by this county's being a testing ground for some of the most oppressive regulations in the state - often framed as "more than necessary" and voluntary.


PictureUniversal, left or right
Despite the growing bureaucracy's heavy handed policies into ag and woody rural areas, the joyful rural body politic of self-reliance and individualism lives on. Four years since the campaign began, tens of thousands of "We The People" signs stand fresh, with more popping up every day.  Hope for justice and reason  springs eternal.

As for the website update, WE were pleased to see that the following  short feature remains on the tea party's home page:


What Part of “Infringe” Don’t They Understand?
Whatcom Tea Party (website)

Webster’s dictionary defines infringe: to encroach upon in a way that violates law or the rights of another. The US and Washington State constitutions frequently use the term “infringe” in regards to the actions of government on its citizens — saying it may not.

Infringement burdens and frustrates rights. You know it when you feel it. Making voters take a test or pay a fee would frustrate or burden their right (ability) to vote. Forcing us to pass what we write or say before a political correctness board would burden and frustrate our First Amendment right to free speech. Taxing and regulating legal things or activities to the point that nobody can afford them, such as building permits, French fries, soft drinks, tobacco, or limiting the Second Amendment right to bear arms burdens and frustrates those rights.

Rights are not something you need, they’re something you have. You have the right to speak truth to power. You have the right to self-preservation, self-defense. You have all the rights you were born with, whether or not someone else thinks you need them at this time, and whether or not you should choose to exercise them. They’re yours at birth: no government can grant them, therefore, no government can rightfully take them away.

The role of government is to protect our rights, using the specific powers that We the People grant to it. Infringement is the exact opposite of government’s rightful role: a major malfunction and gross malpractice.


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WE concur.  Rights are so fundamental to our being they can't be taken, but they're vulnerable to battery and denial. The big question that bureaucrats pursue is, "What rights can be bent to achieve the greater good?"  As it's an election year, ask candidates questions about crossing the line if you can.  They may just blink at you, but ask.  The tea party's site is a good place to bone up on the basics;  check it out.  It's relevant.

6 Comments

Water Torture – Upcoming Symposium, Kool-Aid for the Uninformed

5/26/2013

11 Comments

 
http://seekingalpha.com/article/24410-t-boone-pickens-invests-in-water-should-you
WE have been following announcements and articles about the upcoming “free” symposium being offered in Bellingham on May 30-31 called “Water Supply:  Searching for Certainty in Uncertain Times.”

WE have good reason to believe that the information being presented will be insidiously stacked for a pre-determined outcome.  If you attend, it’s certain you’ll be “educated” that:
  • The “science is in.”
  • There isn’t enough water for both people and fish.
  • Climate change is going to make this worse.
  • “Exempt” water use, if not “illegal,” must be policed.
  • Tribal claims about water rights are rock solid; better not question them.
  • Property owners should put their fate in the hands of public-private partners to manage their resources and land.
  • It’s all too complicated for you to deal with – leave it to the “experts.”
  • If you don’t get with the program, you’ll be in a world of hurt.
  • Voluntary land use trades for water and mitigation will bring certainty (for your own good).
  • Halting rural and ag development will be necessary soon.
  • No other approach is “sustainable”.
  • And above all, don’t ask too many questions.  There are no answers but these official answers.
Don’t be delphi’d.   The narrative at this symposium is Kool-Aid to the uninformed.

Look at the list of presenters, and you’ll see that big money interests behind this symposium have everything to gain.  The symposium is about land control as much as water resources (this land is your land, this land is their land).  The program will pitch an elaborate system of autocratic control through trusts, a "natural resources marketplace," and a water management board that in all likelihood would never be directly accountable to anyone, just as notorious and remote as the WTA and PUD #1.


http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2011/04/kiuc-sells-off-water-rights.htmlWhat would stop it?
Is the water situation so dire that nannycrat control of Whatcom County is necessary?
News flash!  The Pacific Ocean isn’t going to go dry and it’s highly unlikely that the North Wind will ever stop blowing rain our way.

So, while Whatcom County will always be one of the wetter counties in the entire state and nation, numerous well-known rent-seekers stand to make a fortune if citizens can be convinced that they should check their freedom at the door.  [Musical note/quote:  Bob Dylan, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows," and "The pump don't work cause the vandals took the handle."   Subterranean Homesick Blues.]


(Lest you think we're going dry, here's some verified climate data - precipitation and snowpack:
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Click the images to see detailed information about actual data showing current trends.)

Given that - will the public be offered anything but envirodoom and restrictive agency policy?

http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/home1.5.html
No. The presenters control the data and the narrative. This symposium is set to nudge the public in one direction only.  If you revisit the recent "WRIA Watch" post, you'll notice that WIT folks are among the chief organizers and presenters of this symposium.

Whatcom Planning & Development and Public Works departments (and their cohorts at the City of Bellingham) have been directly involved, along with WWU/WSU based WWIN.  Now, WWIN stands for the Whatcom Watersheds Information Network which claims to be a community group, but it's obviously run by bureaucrats.  And the contractor hired to put this together is directly affiliated with the Puget Sound Partnership, who tirelessly promotes its "Action Agenda".  Farm Friends (a grant-dependent lobby more than a real farm group) is involved, along with Futurewise's Jean Melious and the tribes.  These special interests have their DNA all over this “free” informational extravaganza.  The truth is, this event is being put on at considerable public expense to push official programs.

And none of the agencies behind this -- not one -- has an interest in protecting private citizens' water rights as they've existed historically. The thing is, we citizens aren't organized, and our interest in this topic is diffuse -- we're all busy working at our livelihoods. For the organizers, promoting the planning, "conservation" and "restoration" trade is their livelihood.


http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/455/
Across the board, the “education” looks stacked.   The only thing "certain" is that big dollar  interests and career bureaucrats will have steady jobs far into the future policing citizens' water use, no matter how much pain and expense it inflicts on little guys like ranchers, small ag, small dairies and horsemen, tree farmers, and all the other people with private wells who can't afford to fight "the bigs" where it comes to retaining their rights.

WE wonder, "Who approved the grand plans that these people are presenting?"  Look through the two day play-by-play script.  Most of the presenters are staffers and middle-management types, lawyers, and a truckload of tribal employees.  Some have extremely thin credentials to present the topics slated.

Events like this are professionally orchestrated by promoters, and loaded with shills -- with a few token “outliers” invited to make the event look fair.  But the "fork in the road" outcome on Day 2 is designed for a crescendo of applause, and the illusion of community support and consensus. (While there are methods to keep heavily programmed meetings on the up-and-up, they require encyclopedic knowledge of the material plus intensive training.  Amateurs confronting the ersatz authority of blue-ribbon panels often find themselves lambs to the slaughter.) If you don’t want to be manipulated, you may be better off elsewhere. 

The bureaucratic overtake of water resources and land management can proceed only if the public goes along willingly.  “Low information voters” are all-too willing to support the idea that others' rights are arbitrary.   This event aims to manipulate with slick presentations, while impressive looking "experts" spout unfamiliar material and cite law cases.  A big gobsmacked crowd is essential to make the junta look good.


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Maybe you're going.  If you are, listen closely to the rhetoric and try to find out what triggered this odd conglomerate to make the pitch they're promoting.  Don't doubt for a minute that it doesn't intend to limit citizens' direct control of their property and resources.

But some people have decided not to go.  Sentiments heard about town include:


Our
Water
Is Our
Business

This is
Local?
NO!

No
Thumbs
On The
Scale

Insider
Trading
Inside


Wheeling
& Dealing
Inside

We Insist
On A Fair
Process

No More
Secret
Deals

Real Farmers
Want Truth
About Water


No More
Crony
Deals

Power
Grab

How Dry 
We’re Not
Kool-Aid 
For The
Uninformed


Those could make some dandy signs.   WE honestly don't know if anyone will protest this event, but it sounds like a very good idea.
11 Comments

Property Rights and use - Are they not tangible?

5/25/2013

3 Comments

 
Given that so many moves are underway to control land use here (by Futurewise and paid Puget Sound Partnership apologists, local planning and public works staffers, and state agencies) to restrict if not completely deny the use of privately held property, WE thought it was important to share this story.  It explains a few fundamentals that must not be forgotten.

Heaven forbid the court of appeals' opinion in this case should stand.  PLF has begun action; they're taking the issue the Washington State Supreme Court:

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Yes, the Due Process Clause covers property owners.
Pacific Legal Foundation, by Daniel Himebaugh
April 3, 2013

We recently filed another brief asking a court to hold that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause protects property owners.  I say another brief because the question of what constitutes protected “property” for due process claims continues to come up in various cases that PLF attorneys are litigating.  The latest case on this important issue is Manna Funding, LLC v. Kittitas County.

The Due Process Clause says that no state shall deprive any person of property without due process of law.  Naturally, you first need to know whether a person had “property” before you can determine if the government unlawfully deprived her of it.  This is where courts sometimes trip up.  In Manna, the Washington Court of Appeals held that Manna Funding—the owner of a tract of land—could not sue for damages when Kittitas County arbitrarily denied Manna’s request for a rezone, because Manna did not demonstrate that it had a constitutionally protected property interest at stake in the rezoning process.

You might think that demonstrating a property interest in Manna’s case would be easy.  It is well-established that landowners enjoy a variety of legally protected property rights, including the right to use their property.  As the Washington Supreme Court put it, “The basic rule in land use law is still that, absent more, an individual should be able to utilize his own land as he sees fit.”  Furthermore, property owners who seek permission from the government to develop their property retain the “right to be free of arbitrary or irrational zoning actions,” according to the U.S. Supreme Court.  This applies to Manna, so what happened to Manna’s property rights in the state court of appeals?

Instead of acknowledging that Manna has a property interest deriving from its ownership of land, the Washington Court of Appeals looked to whether Manna had an “entitlement” to have its property rezoned.  The court found that there is no right to a rezone and therefore no property interest, but that misses the point.  A property owner who needs special permission to use her property is not seeking a government entitlement (like social security or welfare) that may or may not constitute a property “right.”  A property owner already has constitutionally protected property rights.  Obtaining a land use permit is merely the process that the owner must follow in order to exercise those rights.  The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals said it well in River Park v. City of Highland Park: Zoning restrictions are not the measure of an owner’s property interest; they just create a set of rules restricting the exercise of preexisting property rights.

This does not mean that the government violates the Constitution every time it denies a land use permit.  However, it does mean that the Due Process Clause applies whenever a property owner seeks permission to use her property in a particular way, because the owner has a property interest in her land and enjoys the right to be free of arbitrary government decisions related to her permit application.

Related posts:

  1. Do property owners have a right to recover damages for bureaucratic delay?
  2. PLF petitions Washington Supreme Court to uphold property owners’ right to sue government for damages
  3. PLF to Ninth Circuit: Owning land creates property interests protected by due process
  4. Koontz oral argument: the Takings Clause protects “private property,” not just real property
  5. Takings and due process in Laurel Park Community: public burdens on private shoulders


There's an irritating attitude about rights that Whatcom County government has exhibited for some time:  "What's not permitted isn't permitted."   Really?   How far does that go?  When do zoning regulations,  recommended stormwater "practices," mitigation requirements, and other prohibitions amount to uncompensated "takings" of not only property but personal rights?

The heart of this issue is addressed at the WE page,  Diminishing Property Rights.  The timeless principles discussed are not partisan or ideological.   The matter of fairness related to "yours, mine, and ours" is universal.  Rights and justice are the keystones of healthy and vibrant civilization.
3 Comments

Whatcom County destroys the environment in order to save it

4/23/2013

6 Comments

 
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Freedom Foundation Liberty Blog
by Glen Morgan
April 23, 2013

In 1968, during the Vietnam War, AP Correspondent Peter Arnett attributed a quote from an American Army Major after the destruction of the Vietnamese Village Ben Tre, “It became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it.”  This quote, which is still controversial, was repeated frequently by the anti-war protesters as an illustration of the lack of logic in the Vietnam conflict.

Today, this is also official policy and business as usual at Whatcom County as they require property owners to destroy wildlife habitat and wetlands in order to save the wildlife and wetlands.  Last Friday I visited with a property owner – Joe Remenar in North Whatcom County near Blaine.  Not far from the Martin property which I discussed in this post a few weeks ago.

Joe retired from the Department of Justice as a former special agent working with drug interdiction who had done overseas tours in places like Afghanistan.  He purchased a small property and home not far from the Canadian border in Whatcom County.  Enjoying the views out his back deck, he decided to improve the wildlife habitat on his property.  He didn’t apply for a grant or take taxpayer dollars, he just spent his own time and money to improve the habitat for the birds, amphibians,  insects, and other critters by building a pond.  He was careful in his pond construction.  He did not interrupt the flow of a stream (also known as an “instream flow” violation).   The State Fish and Wildlife biologists reported that his pond was a clear and obvious wildlife enhancement project. 


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He was justifiably proud of his accomplishment and it changed a field with little habitat into a pond with nesting geese, feeding grounds for great blue herons, and other wildlife in the area.  However, he made one crucial mistake – he did not get permission from the Central Planners at Whatcom County.  For this crime against bureaucracy, he was going to be punished.  As further proof that the Nanny State isn’t just a thorn in everyone’s side, but it is also a thoughtless, rapacious beast – the geniuses at Whatcom County led by Whatcom County’s lead Central Planner – Lyn Morgan-Hill (no relation to the author), demand that Mr. Remenar must destroy the pond and wildlife habitat in order to save the wildlife habitat.  This was the solution only a dedicated Central Planner could invent and justify.  Just to be clear, of course – Mr. Remenar would also have to pay one of the “preferred” consultants approved by Whatcom County to create the plan on how to fill in the pond.

Like most people, Mr. Remenar doesn’t want to destroy the wildlife habitat on his property.  He wants to save it, but the Central Planning mindset at Whatcom County has only one plan, and Whatcom County’s plan is not required to make sense.  The faux environmentalists who attack property owners like Mr. Remenar never have to say they are sorry or even have a rational reason for their actions.  They just inflict harm on property owners like Mr. Remenar and care little about the consequences.  To Central Planners like Lyn Morgan-Hill, it makes sense to destroy the environment in order to save it.

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6 Comments

Can trees grow without Central Planning?

4/17/2013

3 Comments

 
Update:  Glen led a "Freedom Academy" event at the Rome Grange on Mt. Baker Highway April 20th, attended by over 50 folks.  Freedom Foundation encourages the public to learn about civics and become directly involved in local government "because people want to be free." (Well, most folks do.  Some take juvenile pride in mocking liberty. )
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April 17, 2013
Glen Morgan, Property Rights Director
Freedom Foundation, Citizens Action Network blog

How many government employees does it take to plant a tree? 

It sounds like an old joke (the answer starts at five and grows from there), but it is a real question some of us have asked when we see the expansion of “Tree Ordinances” in local jurisdictions in Washington State.  The City of Tukwila, for example, is exploring a tree ordinance consisting of many pages of make-work rules to manage every aspect of pruning, planting, protecting, removing, and enjoying trees and landscaping.  The question, unanswered, of course, is how did the City of Tukwila become one of the most heavily treed cities (47% according to their “consultant” report) in Washington State without this critical, crucial, crises ordinance process to save our trees from ourselves?  This is indeed a mystery nobody in the Tukwila government appears able to solve.  However the citizens and elected officials of Tukwila still have the opportunity to avoid the tree ordinance fiasco which the Mercer Island City Council attempted to impose on their citizens (and which was impressively rejected by the residents in 2001).


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Anyone who has ever enjoyed driving around some of the older neighborhoods of Seattle, Tacoma, Bellingham, Spokane, Olympia, and other cities has been able to enjoy the wonderful landscaping located there– many of the trees are more than a century old.  If you were to look back on photos from the late 1800s in most of these locations the ground was entirely barren before the homes were built.  No hundred page tree ordinances with fees, fines, arborist requirements, or other complicated bureaucratic contortions existed at the time.  Somehow, to our modern amazement – trees were planted and they grew without the Nanny State and Central Planners to micromanage the process.  I’m sure this is a great mystery to the current Central Planners and naïve politicians who are writing, and passing these mostly worthless and pointless ordinances.  It is something to ponder.


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Bellingham (historic)
However, if what we are experiencing is “progess” then the “Progressives” have decided that trees can no longer grow on their own, and in fact we would all live in a barren wasteland devoid of plants, trees, and beautiful landscaping without their critical ordinances - despite overwhelming common sense observations to the contrary.  At some point, like George Orwell’s memory hole from the novel 1984, the current Central Planners require the inconvenient fact that all those beautiful trees in all those old neighborhoods just somehow were planted, cultivated, and grew without Central Planning’s interference. 

Unfortunately, what we are more likely to see with the proliferation of pointless, homogenous tree/landscaping ordinances provided by Central Casting at the American Planning Association (this is the group that provides the cookie-cutter planning documents for most of our planning departments), is the reduction in both variety of landscaping/tree planting results, and the tendency to force whatever the fad of the day might be upon our communities with little local control or individuality allowed.  Secret, midnight pruning, and using the ordinance as the excuse to file complaints against neighbors are certain and well-documented outcomes.


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Bellingham (now)
My recommendation is to dump most aspects of these pointless tree ordinances.  I’ve personally planted thousands of trees and dozens of varieties.  I’ve also had to remove trees that were either unhealthy or becoming a problem where they were located.  I am far from alone in this interest and activity, and miracle of miracles – nobody had to write a law to force me or most other people to do this.  None of us need the Nanny State or Central Planning to tell us what to do.  This is the cycle of life, and the beauty of landscaping and interacting with nature is that you can make it better now and for the future. 

We do this because we enjoy watching the trees and plants grow, and if a community wants to encourage tree planting, they can do so without these ordinances.  Use the history of Arbor Day as an inspiration on how you can get your community to plant trees without government harassment.  Review your local ordinances to see what is restricted, "managed," or "permited" where you live.  To the Nanny State and those who support it – please just leave us alone and let us plant and manage our trees without your interference.  To the amazement of the Central Planners the trees really will grow without their ordinances.

Do we really need a tree ordinance to "manage" this?

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Editorial note:   Look through our LOCAL LANDSCAPING ORDINANCES for yourself.   Ferndale's (very new) takes the cake!

Bellingham
Whatcom County
Ferndale
3 Comments

That Which Must Not be Named

4/2/2013

9 Comments

 
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He Who Must Not be Named
Say the name, "Agenda 21" and a shocked pall falls over the room. Environmental collectivists glare menacingly, and cast a spell conjuring up incantations about tinfoil hats. Conservatives shrink in fear. Boo! Agenda 21? It doesn't exist! Stop talking about it, you... you foolish conspiracy theorists! What Agenda 21...? Oh - the 21st Century Agenda. Gotta stay current on the nomenclature.

Guess which sorcerer invoked "That Which Must Not be Named" by name yesterday? That's right, the headmaster of the Forbidden Forests, Ken Salazar apparated yesterday into Anacortes, which isn’t even in the San Juans (but no matter, those with federal powers conjured the illusion). With a magic wand, the presidential pen, these islands have been declared a national monument, an unusual new brand of territory with special magical places and waters that must be protected from Muggles, you know. Click here, if you dare! Just make sure you have practiced your defenses against the dark arts. 

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The Magic New Map (with all of Lummi Island)
The little people can thank "conservative" councilman Sam Crawford and Whatcom County Council for adding their blessings to this, back in 2011.  WE can't imagine this was conjured-up to have no affect.  What that will be, we shall see in time.
9 Comments

From the Island Guardian, "Thy Neighbor"

3/22/2013

2 Comments

 
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There are some who say that we need to "give up some of our rights" for a better world.   Give up rights...  That's an interesting concept.  Which rights?  The right to freedom of speech?  The right to vote?  Nobody wants someone else's religion forced on them, but can government deny the the practice of religious principles?  Is there any such thing as a right to privacy?  What about protection from unwarranted aerial surveillance and thermal scans? How about unreasonable search and seizure?  Where should the line be drawn, and by whom?  Assessors and building departments?  Questions, pesky questions... 

The Trojan Heron posted on this Orcas Island  story, and the Island Guardian just reported on the courtroom proceedings Thursday March 21 with details,


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"Google Maps, Permits, Search Warrants"

(UPDATED 02-21-13 10:20 A.M.) ~ An Orcas man is in court on a criminal charge, that stems from a civil charge, resulting from construction of a building without permits, that ended up being used for a residence. 

Based on the court record it is hard to tell when Errol Speed’s trouble started, but it is clear that when Speed added his complaint in May of 2010 to the County about what he and others believed was land use violations by a commercial enterprise on Orcas, it resulted in the owner of that property making a similar charge against Speed.   (more)


This post puts even more perspective on the story, asking the most important questions of all about what community is, and the humanity of the situation:

Thy Neighbor?
by Gordy Peterson - Island Guardian


The hard old oak chairs in the Courthouse have held the butts of generations of islanders. Judge Stuart Andrew peered over the huge dark paneled desk down upon the small audience in the oak chairs. Faded historical photos of island characters hang from the courtroom walls. These are the men who sat in judgment of their neighbors, men who handed down rulings according to the laws of the territory. I was here today out of an interest in justice. My neighbor and friend Errol Speed, is on trial, charged with serious crimes.

My butt is in an old oak chair. Errol ‘s butt is in a sling. That’s right, he is charged with the most heinous of crimes (at least in San Juan County), building code violations! OMG! 

The district court judge sees a daily parade of substance abusers, domestic violence perpetrators, and people who commit violent crimes against others. Then along comes someone who is slammed up against the wall by jackbooted thugs for a difference of opinion over the size of his barn. 

In this case a business competitor turned his butt in to the County Assessor, and the Planning Department for alleged offenses he found by looking at aerial photos of Errol’s farm on Google Earth. Errol was served with a search warrant and the authoritarian enforcers from the County swarmed his private property and busted him because he had no permit for his trailer or wood stove. He didn’t even know he needed one for his trailer. I’ve known Errol for more than 20 years. He is a father of six with ten grandchildren. I was the neighborhood grocer on Orcas where all his kids grew up. I saw Errol and his family in the store almost everyday. He’s a hard worker, a good father, a small business owner, and an organic farmer (why does SJC persecute organic farmers? This is the third one in a row! Charles Dalton, Nick Jones, now Errol Speed?). 

Now here is the point of this article; seriously, is this the way we want to treat our neighbors? Have we come to the point in San Juan County where the correct application of the building code is the same as criminal assault? Where a landowner can face fines and jail time for using an unpermitted wood stove to keep warm? Why wouldn’t San Juan County exhaust civil remedies for non-compliance before violating the privacy of its’ citizens and storming the property with a search warrant? Is this the way we want to treat our neighbors? 

This case brings some important issues to the forefront:

Can the County use information obtained from magnified aerial photographs as the basis to obtain a search warrant?
Does a private property owner who is doing no harm to his neighbors have a right to privacy?

Have regulations in San Juan County gone too far?

Regulations in this county have done an adequate job in protecting community values. Soon we will see the implementation of the most onerous and unnecessary regulations to ever come down the pike. These regulations are nothing more than tools to use to harass your neighbors for a vendetta of any kind. Is there someone you don’t like? You can stick it to them with the new CAO. If the County gets its’ way you can use aerial surveillance photos to turn in your neighbor. Have we crossed the line here into some kind of fascism? Does the “golden rule” have any meaning in the islands anymore? “Love thy neighbor” or put his butt in jail, that’s our choice. I hope for a better community. I don’t even recognize this one anymore. 
2 Comments

Water Planning Hijacked, Needs Council Attention

3/16/2013

3 Comments

 
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Yesterday, the county water district caucus of the WRIA 1 Planning Unit transmitted a letter to Whatcom County Council.  That may sound boring, but WE think it's important and something everybody should see.   Why?

The letter describes in clear terms how water laws affect everybody.  It explains what's supposed to happen.  Then it lays out how agencies and planners have basically run away with the process since 2009.  A lot of people have been dumped - citizens with wells, private water associations, the county's public water districts, and even small cities in large part - even though the Watershed Planning Act (RCW 90.82.10) says:

The legislature finds that the local development of watershed plans for managing water resources and for protecting existing water rights is vital to both state and local interests. The local development of these plans serves vital local interests by placing it in the hands of people: Who have the greatest knowledge of both the resources and the aspirations of those who live and work in the watershed; and who have the greatest stake in the proper, long-term management of the resources.

In spite of this very clear law, state and regional agencies and the county's departments have jumped the tracks.  Not only has resource planning become remote, but both public and private water rights have been fought over behind closed doors without transparency, or open public meetings (check out the state law).

Next week, council will have the opportunity to do the right thing to start fixing the situation.  It's pretty clear that only council is motivated to step-in.

This is a critical issue that affects everyone.  Read this situation letter and attend the meetings listed below if you can.  Get involved however you can, or brush-up on the words and music to "How Dry I Am."

MEETING ALERTS

A Whatcom County Council Surface Water Work Session is scheduled for next Tuesday, March 19 at 10:30 a.m. in Courthouse Room #513, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham.  Be there!  It's a biggie.

(A Puget Sound Partnership/WRIA 1 "WIT" meeting is also scheduled for Tuesday, from 2:30-4:30 p.m. at the 1000 N Forest Street, Bellingham.  You may have missed this post.)

A special meeting of the WRIA 1 “Joint Consolidated Board” is scheduled for next Thursday March 21 at 1:30 p.m. also in Courthouse Room #513, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham.


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