From the Edmonds Mayor: Stark contrast

Dave Earling

This past weekend, we in Edmonds had the “perfect” weekend. The weather was perfect and the sun and warm temperatures made the city come alive. Along with the weather we mixed in the first Saturday Summer Market, sponsored by the Edmonds Museum, and an amazing Edmonds Arts Festival run on Friday through Sunday.

The mix of weather and special events brought the community out to celebrate. The restaurants were full, shops busy, people young and old were moving about with smiles galore. My wife and I made it to the Arts Festival after 3 o’clock on Sunday, thinking the crowd would lessen with the 6 o’clock closing… nope! People out and enjoying the community is a positive which indicates the upbeat personality of the community.

Talking to folks today (Monday), the common theme seems to be Edmonds was an exciting, fun place to be over the weekend. There seems to be common agreement the Arts Festival crowd was record setting and that the festival is always looking for ways to change and grow. I was in town Saturday for the first Saturday Market of the year and it was packed! People were there for fun, to shop and see other friends. Yes, it was a “perfect” weekend… life was good in Edmonds. So where is the “Stark Contrast,” you ask?

For me, the “Stark Contrast” alluded to in the title of this column is at the national level and the amazing discord in Washington, D.C. which we are continually forced to endure. As you know, I try to keep national politics out of our local government, but the entire immigration chaos pushes me over the line. Crossing the line for me is when the answer to a problem is to leverage the situation with the separation of families and the displacement of kids from their parents.

Yes, I know “it’s complicated”! Any large national issue is complicated. Children, however, should never be the pawn in any situation, and they have clearly been the pawn in this case. While the President has just responded by issuing an order directing authorities to keep families together, he has directed that Congress debate this issue further. To me there is no debate. The government now faces the daunting task of matching children located anywhere from California to Florida with their parents, who we hope are still trackable, since some may have already been deported. To have children separated from family is quite simply, wrong-headed in any circumstance!

Kids should not be used as leverage no matter what your politics: Republican, Democrat, Independent or other. While the President’s recent action may signal the beginning of a reversal, I can only hope that Congress will see clear to settling this particular issue in the most humane way once and for all and not use children as continuing pawns in their wrangling over other immigration-related details.

In my comments at this year’s Memorial Day Ceremony I mentioned the powerful book I am reading, The Soul of America by Jon Meacham. Meacham convincingly argues that throughout United States history, while we’ve had wide swings on social and political issues which cause enormous strife, the American spirit, through its good judgement and belief of the wisdom of our founding fathers, always find its way back to the middle.

Meacham introduces his final chapter with a quote by Harry Truman, “The people have often made mistakes, but given time and the facts, they make the corrections”

Let’s hope for the “middle” soon.

— By Edmonds Mayor Dave Earling

  1. Okay, so this immigration with kids has been going on for years. I’m not surprised that all this is “coming to light” under President Trumps reign. Maybe because people know he is the only president that has the guts to change it??
    I’m getting very worried about Edmonds. We just had a couple of break ins off Olympic View Drive (where I reside) and I hear we have some homeless camps in our park off Olympic View Drive. We are getting more and more homeless drug people in our Edmonds. What are you doing about it? International issues will be dealt with but you are hired to deal with Edmonds. Another burglary East of 5 restaurant . (Recently). These are the ones I know of recent. Rapes too I hear. What are you doing to protect our community?

    1. Right there with you, Joy. Virtue signalling seems to be getting in the way of doing anything constructive these days. Reminds me of Jenny Durkan jetting off to Texas to ‘protest’ while tourists and citizens are literally being attacked by bums in downtown Seattle.

  2. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It is easy, and it can be tempting, to live in the beautiful enclave that is Edmonds, and not think about the worries of the world. But sometimes the issue is very clear, and we must say “No”. Hundreds of the children separated from their parents at the border were shipped to Washington state. These traumatized youngsters are not theoretical, they are here.

    And, yes, the world is a complicated place. We can say “No” to a federal policy, and still work locally to assist the homeless, do mental health outreach, protect the environment, tutor children, and tackle the opioid addiction crisis. Hundreds of people in our community are already working on these issues.

    Be brave. Speak out. Help out. Support those working on complicated problems. That is how our lovely city will thrive. And the same is true for our country.

    1. Every home owner has the ability to accept a homeless person into their home. Even renters have a couch. A friend of mine took in a homeless teen who aged-out. Lead from the front.

  3. Mayor Earling,
    While I agree that children should never be used as pawns, I find it distressing that we continue to allow our own resident children to be pawns of gangs and gang violence in cities like Chicago and Philadelphia for the sake of other “politically correct” government policies. Should we not also mourn what happens weekly to our young men [mostly] in these cities as they are slaughtered? It took me two days of reading many newspaper stories and searching government websites to even discover that the only children being separated from their parents were children of parents crossing the border illegally. Why did the news media not tell us this up front? It changes the discussion of what to do with the children of people who have broken our laws immensely. What was done to the children should not have been done. But, if we are to return to the middle, we need public leaders who “do their homework” before speaking out.

  4. Welcome, humanitarian comments from the Mayor. Yes, there are other problems that we face in Edmonds, as Joy Trevino points out, and they are being addressed. But this message was about something else. It seems simplistic to attack the mayor for speaking about a crisis which has the attention of the whole nation as if we can only deal with one thing at a time. And “virtue signaling” – is anyone who speaks about a broader issue somehow posing, being dishonest? That seems remarkably cynical. We should be grateful that he has the guts to speak out.

    The mayor is entitled to his voice on this, as on topics nearer to home. Frankly, I’m glad we have a mayor who expresses dismay at division and support for humanitarian measures – all politics aside, we are fortunate to have a mayor with a wider, kinder view. His messge makes one optimistic that the other issues Joy Trevino speaks of will be dealt with sensibly and firmly.

    1. Johnny-come-lately Humanitarianism ruins progress and credibility that real Humanitarians try to make, regardless of the administration. Best let consistent voices take point on this, Nathaniel.

      1. Matthew, while I read your comments with great interest for the most part, I enjoy Nathaniel’s as well. He is a consistent voice worthy of attention. Keep sparring, guys. Informed discussion benefits us all.

  5. Inspiring. Harry Truman dropped the bomb just to see how it would work. Americans who commit crimes are separated from their children too. You can’t jail adults and minors together. If I entered the City Hall after hours, I’d be jailed and separated from my kids. Obama was actively sending people to prison (not jail) for marijuana while his own daughter was filmed smoking it at rap concerts. Washingtonians have been imprisoned by Obama for medical marijuana (we voted to allow recreational), separated from their kids, but where was our mayor’s concern? I am particularly proud of myself for crashing a protest organized by Maria Cantwell, over Trump’s Immigration Ban (which wasn’t a ban). I pulled up and they all had smiles on their faces expecting platitudes, but I shouted, “None of you were protesting Obama when he destroyed Libya. The country is destroyed for no good reason, and there is open air slave-trading there now.” I asked them why they are more concerned about a white-collar Iranian trying to get a job at Amazon over a poor Yemeni who was killed at a wedding party. They were shocked, and one guy attempted to say they opposed that too – BS. I didn’t vote for Trump, would like to see someone else in 2020, but I fully recognize that there is an immigration crisis beyond what can be solved with an executive order. I think the mayor should be thanking Trump because irrational hate for the President provides the impetus for Real Change. Obama supporters covered for him. Maddow never shed a fake tear over kill lists, the draconian expansion of the NDAA, the moral hazard created by DACA (imagine if Japan had DACA), 6 new wars and the largest weapon sales in world history. SMH. We need a new mayor.

  6. What happened to “thumbs up” and “thumbs down”? I’m glad that that feature is gone because it provided a hiding place for some to express views they wouldn’t make publicly.

      1. The “complainers” win? Perhaps you should have implemented a “Poll”. You know people write more complaints than those that write compliments. I did not know this was a “test”, perhaps those that liked the “thumbs up”, should so state their preference.

  7. Here’s an excellent opinion letter this week from the Seattle Times.
    As a first-generation Mexican-American, I am sick of the negative media backlash President Donald Trump and his administration are receiving because of their willingness and commitment to prosecute those who violate our immigration laws.

    We need to secure our borders. Our president is not the one separating children from their parents. These parents have themselves to blame. My parents came into this country legally and raised 13 children in modest dwellings. My father never collected welfare or went asking for a handout. Three of us served in the military, myself included. These individuals want to jump the line and know how to navigate the system. They share information and teach each other the right words to say — wife abuse, fleeing violence, etc.

    I feel sorry for their children, too, and agree they are the real victims here, but it’s on the parents. What are they teaching their children? It’s OK to break the law, lie and manipulate the system?

    And as for Nicholas Kristof, who states, we must “protect our soul,” let God worry about our souls, not President Trump. He has enough on his plate taking this country where it needs to go.

    Graciela (Gracie) Lange, Bellevue, Maj. (retired), U.S. Army

    1. I think we need to remember several things. One is the 19678 international protocol on refugees and asylum seekers, where signees (of which we were one) agree to take in those threatened by violence at home, and the 1980 US law making it mandatory that we should do so. Then we need to remember that many of these coming through our borders are just that: refugees and asylum seekers from countries where violence is rampant.

      Then we need to remember that a certain amount of the violence in countries such as Honduras has it roots in destabilization by interference by the United States. What re we doing to re-stabilize those countries the refugees are fleeing?

      I heard on the radio today that it cost approximately $135 per day to house detainees. The present administration canceled a previous program where detainees were monitored by a case worker who saw to it that the detainees and asylum seekers turned up for their immigration court hearings. This cost approximately $35 per day, and was around 90% effective.

      During World War I, the Germans instituted a policy called “Schrecklichkeit,” “horribleness” whereby their actions would be so dreadful as to discourage resistance. This seems to be the basis of the current situation, where separation of children from their parents is solely designed to be so terrible as to discourage refugees, asylum seekers – and illegal workers (who are generally not coming in with the entire family and children).

      Moreover, we have to ask the question how well did the administration actually plan this? Losing children speaks to hasty, shoot-from-the hip reaction, not considered policy. “Amateur” hardly sums it up.
      I think we should ask ourselves two questions: what does it take to induce an entire family to leave everything they have and know, cross Mexico (a very dangerous undertaking) and try to enter the US? The second question is: “would I have the courage and fortitude to do that?”

      Illegals are illegals. But refugees and asylum seekers are human beings, and if you are a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim, we are all enjoined to treat the stranger well. We are very far from doing that.

      1. To my knowledge, asylum seekers arent being arrested. Even asylum fakers aren’t being arrested, and it’s the case more often. The Time Magazine cover really sums up how sideways people are on this. Why exactly did Hillary Clinton encourage and recognise a coup in Honduras? the coup in Libya? both coups in Egypt? ISIS’s coup in Syria?

  8. Earling’s comments were nothing but political bias. The only children being separated are those who do not cross at an Official US border crossing, otherwise they are not separated. Garbage activism by the “Mayor”.

    The letter above by Graciela (Gracie) Lange, Bellevue, Maj. (retired), U.S. Army, is spot on. There is a legal way and an illegal way. My grandfather came to the US thru Ellis Island at a very young age, along with his brother. They did it legally. We have laws.

    I have traveled in many countries, just walk into any country in the middle of the night and when you are caught, see what happens to you. I think you would find the US is the most accommodating country in the World.

    Earling, in his narcissism, believes that he should espouse to everyone how they should feel and what their political leanings should be on every issue. Maybe he should attempt to run the City of Edmonds, before disseminating his uninformed perceptions on the failures of the the US Government.

    Maybe Earling should tell the voters why his campaign was funded by $ 25,000.00 from a Chicago firm. Was that strictly a way to skirt Washington State Campaign finance laws?

  9. The only children being separated from their parents, are those who’s parents choose to cross into the United Stated at a non-official point of entry into the USA. There are laws, but then Edmonds disregards laws whenever it suits their desires. More fake new from Dave Earling.

    My grandfather came to the USA, with his brother as children, when they left Italy before WW1. They did it legally.

    Earling should attempt to run Edmonds, and stop trying to espouse his own political, fictional reality, onto the citizens of Edmonds.

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