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Past Issues


Whatcom Watch Online
County Issue; Humor and Satire


July 2014

Twenty Years Ago

County Issue; Humor and Satire

To celebrate 20 years of publishing Whatcom Watch, we will be publishing excerpts from 20 years ago. David M. Laws has been generous enough to volunteer to review the Whatcom Watch from 20 years ago to find suitable material to reprint. The below excerpts are from the July 1994 issue of Whatcom Watch.

County Issues: Stacking the New County Planning Commission

by Sue Lorentz

After behind-the-scenes maneuvering at the end of 1993 blocked the former Whatcom County Council from filling planning commission vacancies, the new county council made its appointments. […]

District One Commissioner Lois Garlick was up for reappointment. She had an outstanding record, but was a bit too well-educated on environmental impacts for the current county council’s tastes. Rather than reappointing the current commissioner, a practice often used in the past, rather than allowing a balance of viewpoints to exist on the commission, the new council voting bloc finally left Executive Shirley Van Zanten with only two similar choices: Bob Moore and Phil Urso.

Mr. Moore objects strenuously to the designation of Lake Whatcom as a “drinking water reservoir,” preferring to argue that only the water coming out of the treatment plant is the drinking water. This is the “technology is God” mindset, holding that we can correct anything we degrade, so why bother with protection? This opinion ignores the fact that clean-up is generally more expensive to the taxpayer than protection. It ignores the people who withdraw drinking water directly from the lake. It ignores the needs of fish and wildlife (public resources) for a decent, sustainable habitat. It ignores the limited success rate of this approach. This argument also ignores the fact that some pollutants are not removed by the existing treatment facilities and that water treatment itself produces carcinogens when organic matter is chlorinated. […]

Mr. Urso, who Shirley Van Zanten eventually appointed to the commission, has been a vocal member of the Sudden Valley community. He is a member of the Keystone political action committee, a group which successfully promoted a slate of county council candidates (who are proving to be very supportive of certain developers’ agendas). Protection of Bellingham’s reservoir, Lake Whatcom, and the watershed streams which feed the lake, has not been a noticeable part of his public testimony either. [...]

The current priority demonstrated by Mr. Urso appears to be speeding ahead with the development of Sudden Valley, a complicated issue mired in concerns about an internal sewer system (substandard construction); Sudden Valley’s probable pollution of a major watershed stream, a pending court case regarding the construction of a new sewer main with no environmental review or mitigation of impacts from the additional development it would serve; the desire for a major new highway to service Sudden Valley, built with public money through property with abandoned (possibly subsiding?) coal mines, deep gorges, shearing bedrock, and expansive clay soils; private property rights vs. public resources and health concerns, etc.

In short, expect the new county council to continue stacking the deck against balanced representation. As future planning commission terms expire, watch to see if the current council has the ability to do the “unthinkable” and allow environmental representation on the commission. Previous county councils have made it a practice to permit diversity. Let’s see how committed to fair representation this council really is.

[…]

Humor And Satire:

From the Balcony: Some Amusing and Satirical Whatcom County Video Reviews

by Kenyon Fields

For serious collectors of classic grade B movies starring Ronald Reagan (especially the ones shot live at the White House), new video releases starring the county council in “Keystone Capers – 1994” are a must see. Not to be outdone by those zany Reagan appointees who gave us “Ketchup is a Vegetable,” “Greed is Good,” and “Just Say No,” new county officials fresh out of Keystone Studios in their latest film (which brought us that rising new star, Bill Geyer) are captured selling the public on the notion that turning strip mall developers loose will put a chicken in every pot.

[…]

For viewers who have difficulty sitting through full-length feature films, “Standing Committee” shorts provide hours of hilarious ‘”trickle-down” economic theory, a real treat for anyone nostalgic for those masters of comedy, James Watt and Ed Meese.

“Neat Ideas” (a la Ollie North) returns as Keystone developers, realtors, attorneys, and consultant “extras” advise the council on how to make rules more business friendly.

“Fox Watching the Chicken Coop” (based on early Mel Brooks productions) follows citizen advisory groups such as the “Jobs-Based Economy Committee,” and should leave viewers in stitches as they legitimize future council actions for an obvious sequel where their clients take a chapter from W. C. Fields to conduct raids on public coffers.

[…]

And finally, for serious viewers who prefer documentaries, the Republican Convention, filmed on location in Bellingham, reveals candid remarks about their intent to repeal growth management. (Should we expect a special next year about special property rights for white Christian males?)

The next few years promise to be entertaining indeed. Time to invest in bumper sticker stock for sure.

[...]


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