Editor:
After reading comments in My Edmonds News (MEN), it is apparent that many residents are upset about the Comprehensive Plan and the city is not listening. So, if our pointed comments are not heard, maybe we should try some humor. As one concerned citizen wrote: ”Edmonds, from the Sewer to the Sea.”
Summary based on MEN comments… The “Plan” is a near permanent roadmap for Edmonds’ future. The Plan follows the urban planning template — maximizing density and getting rid of parking/cars (when you’re a hammer, every problem is a nail). The planners are “selling” increased housing density to meet fantasy population growth projections under the guise of affordable housing and the state’s “one size fits none” template. Surveys and commissions have been biased to desired outcomes and meetings specifically limited to preset agendas. A proposed alternative growth strategy was dismissed with the excuse that it would cost additional money (no concerns in the past for costs) and take time (self-imposed deadline to minimize resident input).
I am hoping that we can find the funny and use our humor (with replies) to communicate to the city – “Stand up for Edmonds.” A few quick thoughts that a new resident may say — “not enough crime,” “too much parking,” “it’s hard to sleep it’s so quiet,” “sure is lonely in the bike lanes” and “affordable housing, you only need to fool four on the council”…
Jon Milkey
Edmonds
All so sad but, true. This agenda is driven by Democrats in Olympia and the four sympathizers on our City Council. Local control has been removed for State planning. Remember the five year plans in the old USSR? Government from the top down instead of from the people up. You will comply or else no tax revenue for you. Resistance is futile. The Borg will absorb you.
So your premise is that our city council is obligated to “listen” to the comments that random people write into the comment boxes in the web version of this independent newspaper?
Chris, I interpreted the author as knowing the online open house results were not consistent with the votes of the majority of the Council members at their workshop on Apr 9th. Maybe he’ll reply and elaborate.
This free online newspaper is a bit of an echo chamber, isn’t it?
Of course, not everyone agrees with your point of view.
Strom Peterson is one who really pushed for increased density
I think it’s helpful and important to point fingers and blame exactly who’s responsible for this disaster. The culprit is the local voters many who were too busy, too lazy, too gullible or just plain stupid, but then surprised and shocked by what happened when they’re hyper-extreme kingpins acted. The voters trust in a bunch of leaders selling a false utopian paradise made them ripe for the picking. The planning process was a facade. Clearly from the beginning “The Fix was in”.
All of us random people apparently need to sit down, shut up and obey our overlords? We don’t need to share our vision, the city will hire someone to think for us. Unfortunately, every single one of us is a tax-paying, legal citizen who earns the right to be heard every single day. You may as well block the back seats on the bus. Nobody in our city should ever sit in them.
Great LTE! Love some of your examples—my favorite, “Edmonds, from the Sewer to the Sea.”
May I add a few…”traffic jams provide inner reflection time,” “hide and seek parking, extended event,” “water runoff/flooding=free kiddie pools,” “wildlife looking for affordable housing,” “Oh Boy, free State/federal funding for environmental disasters,” “developers dancing in the streets.” OK I’m done. Unfortunately I don’t believe the “fooled 4” Council members have a sense of humor. The joke seemed to be on the Citizens of Edmonds.
Activists making city policy is a disaster and we know that from results in Seattle. But can we stop it. We voted these “fooled 4” into office and we can vote them out. Yes, but not in time to save us from their current agenda. So what options do we have? Writing the Mayor and the Council appears to equal silence. As much as I enjoy humor, it will not get results. Activists love “peaceful protests” and maybe that’s an option. I think if we had a public relations type (outreach through MEN and social media) to organize many would show up.
When I was in High School in the 60s, the term was “Edmonds, where the sewer meets the Sound.”
It is all fun and games until our taxes get raised to support someone else’s ideas. Yes the joke is on us, our government is going to be laffing all the way to the next pet project. While we will likely see untreated waste being pumped into the sound when the sewer system malfunctions we will really be enjoying those hot summer days when the the power is out because of excessive demand. And of course bike lanes on every street but sidewalks those aren’t the city’s responsibility except when it comes to ADA compliance. Sad state of affairs when the best comedy show on television is the weekly council meeting it is so funny sometimes I just want to cry. Oh and the real funny part is when we all get our fire service added to our property taxes about 800 per house and the city will have a extra 800 per house to spend on the flavor of the day. They city is like a kid in a candy store that never gets a gut ache but I sure do every time my taxes go up.
Love the satire John. How about this: “Edmonds, a high-priced consultant lurking under every beautiful hanging basket”?
Come on now people. Council Member Eck, most recently of Lynnwood but now gracing all of us in Edmonds with her all things ultra liberal wisdom and open support for Dem. Rep. and County Council Rep. Peterson (holding down two positions of our representation needs at the same time – double dipping in the electoral “gravy” benefits pool) says we have to have “equitable” housing in Edmonds. How dare any of you question that wisdom?
Thank you, Jon. The tragi-comedy of “maximizing density and getting rid of parking/cars” is that cars don’t magically disappear when parking is eliminated. New residents park their cars on surrounding streets. A majority of residents need cars to drive to the few neighborhood “hubs/centers” (Westgate, 99) that host grocery stores and other “15 minute neighborhood” services.
See my Reader View:
https://myedmondsnews.com/2024/04/reader-view-items-for-council-to-consider-when-updating-comprehensive-plan/
Ms. Bloom is correct. There must be parking requirements with any new housing be it density, ADU, DADU, whatever. Vehicles will end up being parked on surrounding streets. Take a look in Perrinville on 76th as just one example. 76th now has many more vehicles parked in the street with the new townhouse development on the Lynnwood side combined with the appartment buildings. Residents with extra vehicles park them in the street. The new bike lane also narrows the road creating a vision safety hazard when entering the street for all. Vehicles do not go away they just clog the streets. It is unclear why this fact is so hard to understand and ignored. So frustrating.
Helen, I found your quips to be very amusing and wrought with truth. The end of this year 24 is when all of this is actually finalized, I think, and I have been told some of it could be changed later on. 2 of our CC members are up for reelection in a year and 1/2. Some of that is campaign time. THIS means right now is the time to find new candidates. This last election for CC we didn’t have enough candidates and we had 2 running unopposed. Vivian was a no brainer for me as she has been involved forever and consistently nonpartisan. Nand ran unopposed and to put it kindly I don’t think we really knew enough about Nand + others. SO, it is imperative we find truly nonpartisan candidates and we vet by who associates with who socially and politically. We research way back into backgrounds and also the last few years before running. Then we will have candidates that can make our whole city proud to have as CC members. We will have candidates not so swayed by their own ideals. They exist among us right now. Everyone knows everyone in a small community and can easily find out what we should know before we vote. We just can’t drink the Kool- aid anymore without analysis of the ingredients.
Please go to the meetings and express your concerns…… Vivian Olson on the council will listen!!!!
Such great comments. I’m spoiled by texting and wish I could put a ‘thumbs up’ to almost all of them. Thanks for all your intelligent views on our sweet but changing little town. And yes, we need to look for good candidates now.
I am “the citizen” who publicized the “Edmonds – Where the Sewer Meets the Sea” (this is the correct version) as push-back to people criticizing citizen concerns as just those “Not Wanting Change” , “Afraid of Change” or NIMBY (“not in my back yard”).
And my intent (using the saying I got from Clint Wright) was to get everyone to react to ALL the potential consequences of the proposed housing changes – – its not just building heights or lack of parking in neighborhoods – – its ALL the resulting disastrous changes to Edmonds from the very short-sighted view of increasing housing density without regard to Edmonds unique geography as a coastal community on the shores of Puget Sound with antiquated infrastructure that is suffering from past over-development.
[ so I’m agreeing with use of “tongue-in-cheek” and humorous comments if that’s what it takes to get citizens to open their eyes to the crap that is being forced upon us ]
I have enjoyed visiting the Edmonds waterfront ever since the late ’90s, when I was a frequent customer of the old senior center and even more now as a member of its transformation to the Waterfront Center.
A family member suggested I move to the Retirement Center.
But I am curious why the Edmonds edition of this online paper uses the inclusive/exclusive MY, rather than just calling it Edmonds Today,
Hi Laila — When I started My Edmonds News in 2009, I decided to include “My” in the name to ensure everyone felt ownership of the publication — it was theirs. I hope that helps — Teresa Wippel, founder
The idea of community ownership with the “My” in the publication’s name was absolutely brilliant. Especially now that it’s a nonprofit organization.
Teresa will probably give me a “be nice” lecture the next time she sees me, but I suspect MEN has always been sort of a non-profit organization, except not by design at first. We need to keep this venue going for the good of the community so I urge everyone who can to sign up as a monthly subscriber with a donation so they have a good cash flow and can pay for more reporting, including investigative type reporting when needed. The ultra Right in this country is advocating for no public funding (tax money) of NPR/PBS and community owned newspapers like MEN. So, it is important to let them know that we plan to keep these things whether they like them or not. They help keep “honest” people honest.
Clinton should government fund biased or one sided media? Should we have a government funded propaganda channel? I think if government is going to subsidize media then they need to spread the wealth or not help fund them at all. NPR has become a left wing media organization.
Jim, why don’t you try reading what people actually write in their comments instead of making stuff up. My point is we need to fund good unbiased journalism ourselves and not depend on the government to do it, if we want to keep it. You write in MEN all the time just like I do. Are you helping Teresa fund MEN, or do you see it as just another highly biased news source like NPR/PBS supposedly is. If so why do you keep writing and why does Teresa let you. Here’s a hint. It’s because she started and now helps run an unbiased newspaper.
Clinton my apologies if I read it the wrong way. But you did bring government funding into your comment on our local media. I can’t agree more that we need good independent reporting and I think MEN does a good job of presenting the news in a unbiased way. I’ll have to let you and the rest of the rich donate I have to watch my pennies if I want to continue to live here on less than 20 grand a year especially with all the new or higher taxes coming soon.
Jim, not to snoop or get personal but if you really are kind of on the edge income wise and own or are buying your own residence (as opposed to renting) then you might qualify for a very good county property tax exemption program that could save you big bucks. I know you aren’t a big on government programs guy but this is one that might benefit you if you meet the criteria. I’m involved with a very small volunteer group trying to help people learn about and access this county benefit and you can learn more by calling the senior center regarding the County Property Tax Exemption program or the the county directly. You are right in the belief that property taxes will soon sky rocket out of sight here. I really feel sorry for people who are renters because they will just be stuck paying higher property taxes passed along in rent increases.
Thanks Clinton I have heard of the program and will look into it this summer when I make the age requirement. You are right I am not a big fan of a ever growing list of programs funded by higher taxes I would rather have lower taxes then I wouldn’t need a program.
Sorry Clinton, I read your ravings the same way Jim did.
So Cliff, I assume you are giving MEN a nice monthly or yearly contribution too, or is MEN just another one of your “highly biased” news outlets you like to comment on but condemn for not always sharing your viewpoint? I get accused of being both a flaming Socialist Liberal and a Trump style flag kissing Conservative and that’s just how I like it. Good solid ideas based on learning from history solve problems, not ideological mumbo-jumbo spouted from the Right and the Left.
I know Clint learning from history can or could solve problems. But when you are living at a time when apparently cancelling history is the cool ha thing to do I think an outlet for ideas and ideals is the only thing we have left in our country. I am not a big social media fan but I do like MEN. I think that at least getting opinions out there in our city has helped. It may not change the ideals of our CC of Departments but it can unify us and at least we know what is going on a bit more than we did before. Yes, NPR is very liberal more so now than in previous years back, but it has always been more to the Left. PBS has also gone more to the Left. I have a friend who is a big NPR fan, and she posts articles every day. They are always favorable to L wing politics. Now MEN at least we have opinions from our local citizens (for the most part). Right and Left. I donate to MEN because I think all of our opinions in Edmonds are important and usually pretty honest. I may not like everything but who does right? Many newspapers are going broke and Teresa had to allow our paper to go the way it is.
Deb, it’s so funny how we all see things thru such different lenses. I tend to watch PBS nightly news because I find all the others too biased or too shallow in how much they cover things. NBC, CBS, and ABC seem like they are little more than a series of long sound bites and FOX and MSNBC for the most part are just too biased for my tastes. PBS just did a big series with Judy Woodruff interviewing as many people as possible in the generally Red and Purple States with panels of both Trump supporters and people not so enthused about him to try to get a feel for how and why we are so divided as a nation. I find PBS really goes to great lengths to explore things in depth and give an entire picture and range of views on every major issue facing our nation. I just do not see how they are so liberal or coming at us from any specific ideological viewpoint for that matter. Guess I’m just naive.
Hi Clinton. I like PBS. I don’t watch the news there but I did donate to them years back and once I won tickets to a concert for a nice donation I had sent to them. I just mean it has moved in some areas a bit more to the L. I do not watch MSNBC or FOX for the same reasons that you state. I have never watched any news on PBS but I will check it out it sounds like maybe I am wrong about what I wrote. I may just see posts on FB from the L I know and they may just post the L view. That is also where I see all of the NPR stuff. I see the Washington Post and the New York times too a lot and I guess it depends on the person sharing the posts hum? I do on occasion watch the local news stations you mention but mainly just to see what is going on crime wise etc. Seattle I agree its not that good either. I tend to read on the internet and try to stay away from the extremes and just find facts. It’s hard to find facts.. Thanks Clinton. I know my husband likes PBS for documentary programs and I will go in there and see what he is watching ha.
I do watch local news on the three networks all of which do a pretty good job of local reporting with some in depth. My problem with them is they all sprinkle in national news bits as well to fill all the time they have. Too much “news” for lack of a better description.
So pull up the drawbridge , put correct thinking Council members in the moat, and not let in any “invaders” ? (definitions of invaders vary from citizen to citizen.)
If that happened many people will live in their nice homes and not see any housing diversity so we’ll have no baristas, library staff, retail workers, bankers, in short no entry level occupations will exist as people might not be able to live here, start families here, or pay for child care (’cause they are paying for commuting instead from an hour away). What family will be able afford a stay at home or underemployed parent? Residences without a realistic mortgage payment, no starter homes and only single family housing is a recipe for disaster, in my opinion. There will only be ‘grudge’ ADU’s, (unattractive and low quality) no affordable housing in *all parts* of Edmonds and our walkability and cultural vibrancy will be sorely tested. To say nothing of estimated growth from climate refugees in the next 30-50 years.