Ray Kistenmacher’s Statement at the 10/4/00 Council Meeting
I have two comments to make tonight.
Regarding the allegations of wrong-doing recently leveled at me, my wife, and GRIT, they are for the lack of a more appropriate word, lies. But those are matters that will be addressed in a court of law, not here. Indeed, they should never have been given light of day in this forum.
I have been critical in the past of the lack of detail, and at times even accuracy in the minutes of these meetings, and I find it more than a little strange that the first time they literally bloomed with detail was with the venomous attack on our organization known to all of you as GRIT. I would hope that same level of detail continues with my comments here tonight. Toward that end, I am giving a copy of this statement to the city clerk to ensure its accuracy.
Wendell Smith made a very salient comment at the last council meeting. He said "…it seems like reasonable people could put a stop to this problem" He was referring to what has been called harassment and a waste of taxpayer’s money by our efforts to obtain information from the city.
Indeed there is something that reasonable people can do, and it is what GRIT has been trying to accomplish since our first public information request went to city hall.
The city could begin full compliance with all laws and codes related to development; they could put as much effort into publicizing ‘land use actions’ and ‘planning meetings’ as they have for events like the dedication of city hall and the community portrait, rather than sliding by as they do now, on the minimum legally mandated notices which result in almost no-one even seeing them. And they could make a genuine effort to get broad public input at meetings and hearings to find out what the people actually want.
And all of this could be done at no cost, other than the risk of the public becoming informed, and objecting to what has heretofore gone on in virtual secrecy.
We currently have a volunteer proposal before the mayor and the council to work together in a cooperative effort to get public input into the development process. This would not require any grants or taxpayer funds except for paper and postage. And in four weeks’ time we have not even received so much as the courtesy of a response. This typifies the lack of concern for public opinion that has led to the ‘planning’ we see around us now.
As one example of how unrealistic and aggressive this ‘planning’ has become, I am giving the city attorney copies of data compiled from city documents, for his inspection and distribution to the council. If these copies never reach you, this same data can be viewed on our web-site www.ittakesgrit.org . This information clearly shows that by years end or first quarter 2001, the population within the city limits will have already reached the oft-quoted ‘target’ population for the year 2012 as stated in our comprehensive plan. And upon completion of the fully approved development which is already in the pipeline, the population will be 374 above that target, and only 80 people short of the stated maximum capacity for the city as published in Snohomish County Tomorrow. And this with still more than 10 years to go until the target year of 2012. With these facts in mind one might expect reasonable people to begin scaling back on the rate of development rather than pressing onward with reckless abandon.
Contrary to what others would have you believe, or perhaps what you already believe for yourselves, we have never said it nor do we wish to grind city hall to a halt, nor do we want to stop development. We could not do that even if that was our agenda, which it is not. Our only purpose is to hold the city accountable to its own codes and to the laws of the land. And if there are any among you that see this as harassment, or a waste of taxpayer funds, or of your time, then ‘shame on you’, because that IS precisely the essence of your job. And if our own government will not observe the laws and codes, then I ask you, who will?