Letter to the editor: Lora Petso knows that ‘progress is improvement’

Editor:

There are many in Edmonds who equate progress with change. Progress is not change, progress is improvement. Lora Petso knows this to her core, and that is why I am voting for her.

 

Let’s take the Westgate plan as an example. Instead of piggy backing on those who championed the plan because “we” (the administration) had been working on it for “years” (multiple public meetings) with “experts” (UW graduate students), Lora took the plan approved by the Planning Board and improved it.

How did she do that? She met with staff members, discussed the plan, made suggestions for changes, crafted amendments to present to Council, and advocated for her suggested improvements, all in the face of continuous criticism from those who wanted the plan to be accepted as approved by the Planning Board. Not all of her amendments were adopted by Council, unfortunately in my opinion, but enough were to improve the plan.

It would have been much easier, and way less time consuming, for Council member Petso to simply rubber stamp the plan as presented. But she cares so deeply about her community and its success, that she works diligently to make certain that necessary improvements are made to all development plans put before Council. Council member Petso always thinks of what the community needs in order to thrive, and to improve. To have a successful business community, we must support our current businesses, and this means making sure there is sufficient parking for customers. In order to have safe, thriving, neighborhoods we must have the traffic infrastructure to support the planned development.

Working side by side with Lora Petso, I have seen this care, attention and diligence applied to every issue the Council faces. I have been actively involved in Edmonds politics since 2004 and, in all of that time, I have observed no other candidate who has even come close to Council member Petso’s unselfish dedication to improving Edmonds for the betterment of all of Edmonds’ residents.

Lora Petso has my vote.

Joan Bloom

  1. The best part of valor over rides my desire to make a rational response to this voter. I therefore must respectfully disagree with every word of her rational. I will vote for Neal Tibbot

  2. Michael I respectfully make the case that your response lacks any specifics and therefore lacks substance. Hopefully you are more thorough in your accounting work.

    I have known Lora Petso for almost the entire time I have lived in Edmonds and have found her to be one of the most knowledgeable if not the most knowledgeable member of the City Council. As a member of the Economic Development Commission I have watched Lora come to all the meetings and offer thoughtful insight into what is going on.

    Lora doesn’t take the “easy” way–she takes the “right” way for all the Citizens of Edmonds.

    She has my vote.
    Doug Swartz

    1. “Lora doesn’t take the “easy” way–she takes the “right” way for all the Citizens of Edmonds.” REALLY!

      Councilmember Petso selected the Public Disclosure Commission’s (PDC) option of Mini Reporting so is not required to file reports with the PDC. She has stated the following: “I chose mini reporting because I usually do not raise or spend more than $5,000, and by using mini-reporting I do not have to file time-consuming weekly or monthly reports.”

      It is interesting to note that Councilmember Mesaros also chose Mini Reporting, but he has been regularly filing reports on his contributions and his expenditures.

      What this all boils down to is that Councilmember Petso does not want to do the work to provide transparency to the citizens of Edmonds. She has taken the “easy” way.

      1. I’ve recently heard that bologna contributes to cancer, but no one buys this silly (and obviously wrong) attack on Lora Petso’s work ethic that we need an accounting of who contributes a few dollars to her campaign. (I dropped an anonymous $20 bill into one of her campaign funding buckets). Ron is the only person I have ever heard accuse Lora of not wanting to do the work to provide transparency to the citizens of Edmonds !! Ho ho ! ho ho ho !

        No public accounting for her contributions is required. No report on campaigns that spend less than $5,000 is worth reading,

        The danger of undue influence in local elections doesn’t come from the neighbors who chip in a few bucks for a council candidate who collects less than $5,000 to finance her campaign. The danger comes from out of state, exclusively financially interested corporations like the National Board of Realtors in Chicago that generously provided $35,000 worth of campaign services for one of the candidates running in Edmonds’s last mayor campaigns.

  3. Beware of those ALWAYS denigrating those that ask the important big questions, state the clear facts, show the laws and believe that we live in a country where those of us that believe in a civilized society and the following of ALL laws, rules and regulations for EVERYBODY and that corruption is a vast hindrance to all of us and our way of life in our country…………. These are the people we should listen to and not just go along with those that clearly are not working for We The People….just for the select few and special interests

    Again, we do not live in some third world country with a strong-arm dictatorship. It was quite incredible (and shocking to the point of obsurdity) to see the “police” presence at our City Council meeting this week at the back of the room Our City Council meeting that one practically falls asleep in………………Deadmonds comes to mind again…..really

    So, I guess just in case the 15 people in the room start rioting or actually request a government to follow the LAW!………………….or practice a right of free speech which could cause a huge riot and mischief from the few people in the room…..and a number over 60, 80, etc. If it wasn’t so sad I would be laughing. I was in many protests in my life with 100s and 1000s (50,000 to be exact) of people, and it is ludicrous that someone, I’m assuming our Mayor, wanted to get the message across that there had been some kind of threat to warrant this…….the spending of tax payer money for a show……..for an absolute show…….to me, that is that third world country thing. Anybody familiar with South American history, particularily in the 70s knows it when they see it

    I say our threat is a government that continues like this. Strong-arm tactics and intimidation for those who may ask questions, question and expect answers or just plain exercise their right of free speech and being an equal partner (and at the top) of our government. An equal partner

    I’m very sorry to see Council woman and grand citizen Joan Bloom of our great City of Edmonds to be leaving her position for what I can only say are obvious reasons.

    We need ALL the Joan Blooms and Lora Petsos we can get for a government that actually represents We The People, follows all laws of our land and builds a community with justice and fairness for all.

    Vote for Lora Petso who always asks the questions and heavily researches everything that passes her desk. Oh, if only all of our City Council members to be this devoted……..oh yeah, did I say intelligent and smart and not working for some other cause or entity…………just putting her head down and doing the business and representation for the people she represents

    I think the City of Edmonds would be better off with a City Manager and then we could fire him for unacceptable behavior and the total waste of our few precious tax dollars left for what appears to me to be an abuse of power

    1. Those denigrating those who ask the big questions. I see a large number of questions in the post above:

      1. What happened to grammar?
      2. Fill us in on those apex predators that stalk us with special interests, who are they?
      3. I agree that corruption is a vast hindrance. Let’s see a few examples.
      4. Did the police infringe upon your free speech or the free speech of others?
      5. How do you figure equal partner? My vote, that was undecided, will certainly cancel yours after this diatribe.

      For years I have read nothing but baseless accusations, vitriol, and zero solutions. Raising hell is easy. Yelling that you are being subverted is easy. Tossing around inuendo is easy.

      You know what is hard? Putting down your sign and picking up your shovel. It’s hard to bury the truth, but it’s pretty easy to spot a pile of vitriol.

      You’re right, in my opinion, in one regard. We do need council members to volunteer their time and effort. Right now, it is a wondrous time, because we, the people, have a choice. I hold anyone willing to subject themselves to public scrutiny in local office at high regard. I also know that if I suspect I have a better alternative, I am going to choose it.

      In this case, I will.

  4. George ,I agree with your comments. Tere I was at this weeks council meeting and there was not a police office present. I have never seen you provide any proof of any of your allegations, what a shame and don’t accuse me of being part of any posse because that would again be untrue.

  5. I was at a meeting last month where there was a police officer present — sitting in the back row along with everyone else, very unobtrusively and not the least bit intimidating to any reasonable person. I came to the meeting specifically to see if the mayor was using the police to intimidate people, and saw no evidence of that. It also was anything but rowdy.

  6. Everybody at the City Council meeting on Tuesday night would not have missed him at the very back row next to the door, Mr. Hall. His patch clearly said “police”. Other people present saw this and can attest to seeing him present there. …….always the “possee”

    Again, I dont lie, so I dont appreciate you guys inferring that I do…….just the facts, but always a possee present to refute the facts for whoever…..interesting in itself. Ive done my research

    1. I was at the meeting sitting in the very back row from the start of it until 8:45; there was no police officer at the meeting during that period of time. There had been officers in attendance the prior several meetings.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Real first and last names — as well as city of residence — are required for all commenters.
This is so we can verify your identity before approving your comment.

By commenting here you agree to abide by our Code of Conduct. Please read our code at the bottom of this page before commenting.