Archive for DuPont
Read it and Weep, Suckers
Posted by: | CommentsThis, my 449th post, will be the last for RealDuPont. I do not plan on continuing the site in 2012.
I built the RealDuPont site around this time of year in 2007 with the first posts arriving in January of 2008. My readership began to grow, in large part to an article that the Hometown Clipper ran in the spring of 2008. Make no mistake, local advertising works!
Over time, I got to know several citizens as a result of the website. Their input has been invaluable.
Contrary to what some have asserted over the years, I did not know the identities of the people commenting on the posts unless they informed me. Frankly, I didn’t care who was commenting, I was just grateful people were reading my musings. And, much to my chagrin, often the comments to my posts where greater than my post itself.
I covered topics that ranged far and wide, but mostly I wrote about DuPont. I wanted to provide an antidote to what was being said at the time by the city cheerleaders and sycophants. I wrote to keep our neighbors informed on some of the events happening around town. I wrote to provide another perspective and to give a voice to those who may not have been otherwise heard.
But, I mostly wrote just to amuse myself.
Now has come the time where I am no longer motivated to continue writing commentary on city matters. To be honest, it was difficult enough to post anything this past year or more. And since I am not motivated to write I can no longer see the point of maintaining this website.
I can’t even muster a farewell address. So, I will just end it with goodbye and thanks for reading.
More DuPont WA Litter Shame
Posted by: | CommentsWill the town ever care about such messes greeting citizens and visitors alike? Merely a few short weeks since I last reported on a pile of garbage on a commercial property I happened across this monstrosity located at the not so enclosed dumpster that serves the retail area near Starbucks, Dominos, and Subway.
While it is not the city’s responsibility to clean up the trash it is their responsibility to enforce city ordinance. Since this trash area is home to four restaurants, it makes you question what lurks within the mound of refuse.
Maybe CalPortland can dig a gigantic pit where we can bury all this excess trash…er, wait. Never mind.
Occupy DuPont
Posted by: | CommentsYou have seen the headlines peppering various websites and media outlets. There is a movement afoot where a mishmash of people from a mishmash of backgrounds have banded together to occupy public spaces, steadfast in their conviction.
They have been categorized and labeled as hippies, crusties, slackers, do-nothings-who-can’t-hold-a-real-job, idealists, or simply ne’er-do-wells. Others see them lacking a coherent message or plan of action while some may say that they are content to leave a mess and have others clean up after them; perfectly happy spending other people’s money.
The “occupiers” would rather break things down in other terms. They’re the “99% of have nots” who toil to support the 1% with real power; the “occupiers” claim that they support you, the common citizen, against the interest of overlords.
In DuPont, we call our “occupiers” something other than crusty 99 Percenters. We call them the City Council and Mayor.
In our town of about 8000, the council and mayor represent not the 99% or even the 1%. No, they are more like the 0.1%. They have taken over our public space. Their immoveable encampment is our multimillion dollar, deeply debt-buried Civic Center.
And they ain’t going anywhere.
It was at one time amusing to watch our “occupiers” wring their hands over the bad decisions that they have made and claim to be caught up in the “great” recession. They forged ahead with their shrine to themselves confident that the REET money would keep rolling in like manna from the gods. However, reality had other plans and the housing market tanked. It actually tanked for the homeowners of DuPont, but since the council relies on skimming money off of the top, it affected them too.
Strange how the crying of our Occupying DuPont City Hall is louder than from those who actually lost money on their home values.
City Hall Staff Impervious to Recession Austerity
Posted by: | CommentsRecently, I have gotten email regarding the proposed salary increases from several people. Each one of them outraged, fed up, and frustrated. To that all I can say is, “meh.”
Isn’t this what we talk about every November?
To summarize for those who may have been in a coma, the city of DuPont is proposing pay increases for the non-represented staff at City Hall. Yes, that city hall where we cannot afford to meet our debt obligations.
I do not comment on the union negotiated raises because the city had their chance and this is the contract they agreed upon. Not that I like it, but it is what it is.
It is really a kick in the shorts to those who have not gotten a pay increase in the private sector, but it is particularly galling to those who work down in Olympia who have faced pay cuts and furloughs.
If you want to learn more, go to the South Puget Sound News and read their article on the matter.
Read the actual salaries here.
DuPont Strikethrough Voting
Posted by: | Comments
There have been many elections written about here are RealDuPont but to be honest, I cannot think of one that feels less fulfilling than this current November election. No state or federal implications and only a few, tired initiatives to consider. And, truth be told, no local seat worth a vote.
Based on principle, I did not cast a vote for any of the DuPont candidates. I just can’t see the point to affirm the fact that we are so apathetic in this town that we cannot offer a single opponent for any seat. Not one.
So who will vote for these unopposed candidates? Let their family and friends vote for them. It may seem, as the photo suggests, that this single candidate business is reminiscent of the old Soviet system of party voting, it is not; there is one significant difference. The Soviet’s gave you the option of drawing a line through the name as a means to not affirm the candidate.
Frankly, I think I would have preferred the Soviet method over the ballot I dropped off the other day with my initiative votes. Sham, or not, at least I could reject the notion of seeing some of the council reseated.
DuPont is well on its way to being a rental community. The ramifications of this are the subject for other posts at other times. But, the apathy is the first step on a journey that will seem more like a death march.
On the plus side, at least there weren’t many of those annoying lawn signs this year.
Post Script:
If you needed evidence of how irrelevant the DuPont election was today look no further than the results page of the Tacoma News Tribune. See anything missing?
Trash Heap: DuPont’s Latest Development
Posted by: | CommentsThe corner of McNeil Avenue and Center Drive has long been a symbol of hope to the settlers of Northwest Landing. As long as it remains vacant it remains a symbol to what can be in our retail district. Of course, there is no reason to keep it vacant just so we can daydream.
Now it appears no longer to be vacant, well, not if you count the accumulating pile of garbage, detritus, and debris all about.
I have noticed the garbage for a little while now. For at least the last month, and maybe longer, there have been discarded tires littering the landscape. Scraps of wood. Papers swirling around. And what would be a neglected lot in DuPont without a broken lamp post?
It is just sad. Sad that this land remains undeveloped; sad that people can care for a creek but remain silent on a vacant lot; sad that our city hall doesn’t pound its fist in outrage at this blight but will chose to squabble with citizens.
In case you were wondering about my comment regarding our city council, mayor, or her staff not caring about a garbage strewn lot, there is a city ordinance that covers the matter, 9.16.030 Nuisances.
In summary, 9.16.030 Nuisances:
The following specific acts, omissions, places and conditions are declared to be public nuisances:
(h) Offenses on Public or Private Property. The following conditions are considered unsafe, offensive, and prima facie indications of a nuisance:
(3) Filthy or littered house yards, factory yards, vacant areas behind stores, vacant lots, buildings or premises.
and
(6) Recycling materials such as tin cans, bottles, glass bottles, iron, wire, metal, or newspaper, unless such materials are contained in receptacles approved by the City and subject to regular removal, except that materials can be stored in containers or buildings approved by the City when they are out of view.
and
(7) Trash, litter, weeds or grass, rags and accumulations of boxes, crates, bedding, packing materials, or lumber not piled.
To be used with:
9.16.040 Enforcement.
Any violation of any provision, or failure to comply with any of the requirements, of this chapter shall be subject to the terms and conditions of Chapter 1.17 DMC, Enforcement. (Ord. 06-818 § 1; Ord. 08-864 § 1).
Interesting, huh?
Here are some pictures to help do the talking. Enjoy your home town trash heap. Cursor over to read comments. Click on photo to enlarge and view in gallery.
Bearing the Weight of the Local Economy
Posted by: | CommentsSometimes we can get focused on a single issue to the extent that we lose sight of things on the periphery. While that may be good when trying to sink a putt it probably is less desirable when driving to the market.
The focus has been on several things these past few years, and currently it is safe to say that the Settlement Agreement is that ten foot putt for many in town. Hit or miss, the topic we seldom consider is what got us to this point. Think of it as working on your pitching and chipping.
Can’t putt unless you get to the green, so why not get as close to the pin to improve that putt?
A few years before all the drama unfolded regarding dewatering, restoring, expanding; there was what seemed an inconsequential item on the council agenda. That day, way back in late July of 2006, was this item to consider “Ordinance Authorizing Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Amendments Regarding the Old Fort Lake, Mineral Resource Overlay, and the Civic Center.” Not as boring as it sounds, as it turns out.
You can review what that change entailed here; and you can see how it was debated and who voted for what reason here. But that the purpose of this writing (though I will refer back to it later).
The lesson learned is that not every item on the council agenda is inconsequential and more items are more interconnected than you may think. Take, for instance, a somewhat innocuous presentation made by a Pierce County duo called Economic Development Board.
The EDB came to deliver some encouraging news to some; or, it may have been pandering to our current economic unease. They spoke of cooperation and partnerships and opportunities. They also spoke of something that sounded straight out of a made for TV movie: Project Tango.
Ooooooo.
Attached to the dumb, clichéd sounding name was a project linked to an unnamed Multi-national U.S based company in need of a warehouse and logistics center. And what DuPont can do to better position itself to claim their “prize” would be to have the assets and infrastructure ready for this “shovel” ready opportunity.
I wish I were making this up, or even embellishing it. However, this is pretty much what was discussed and how it was presented.
However, there is a catch.
That’s right; DuPont could possibly stand to benefit from this lucrative project Tango if only they amended a minor ordinance. The council would have to allow larger trucks to navigate Center Drive and offer up to them access to Exit 118. Just think, for a moment, how that would change DuPont. Large tractor trailers gaining access through the business district and slowly entering and exiting Center Drive. This is a terrible idea, not just for the added sight of traffic but also for what it could do to the cost of maintaining the roads affected by this change.
It is another call to abandon the “plan” that many of us were sold on and to share a sacrifice. But let’s not forget why. So that we can have warehouses as our primary economic development. What is wrong with warehouses? Plenty if you read the documentation I posted from 2006. Council was quite bothered at the thought of warehouses pocking the landscape. Now, as it turns out, that is all we seem to be attracting.
I suppose this is what we get for not valuing a Community Development Director for the past few years. It may also be a product of what I wrote about last time where we have been living in a void without vision for this community.
We may want to pay closer attention to these agenda items so we are not forced to relive history.
A Theory of Evolution
Posted by: | Comments
The Monumental Inertia of Change
Posted by: Mike G. | Comments (13)If you require any one piece of information that will summarize the lack of leadership in the City of DuPont, this blog post will be all that is required. Any one thing that could be saved and buried in a time capsule to be unearthed generations from now, this blog post is all that is required. Any one paragraph to cover the true nature of a town so historians and social scientists of the future could learn from the past, then this blog post is all that is required.
It is July, 2011. Mayor Jenkins is still in charge. The town council is still fossilizing before our eyes. The City Administrator is gets paid handsomely without the encumbrances of the expectation of results. And, as in every July, the subject of fireworks is discussed at the first televised DuPont Council meeting after the holiday.
It never changes. How could it? Nobody does anything beyond scratching their head; throwing their hands up in exasperation; reading email from upset citizens; or pledging to address it in the future.
I will have two Big Macs, a large french fry, an apple pie, and a Diet Coke. Nice try, council. Madam Mayor.
This year it was more of the same. This time, it was another letter writer contacting City Hall. It wasn’t me. And, it won’t matter if it was Christ himself who wrote the email. Nothing will change because the eight people sitting at the table do know how to change it even if they wanted to. Sure, there was John’s pet scientific survey they could have consulted. That wasn’t enough. And, there were past citizen’s reaching out for clarification and a solution. That wasn’t enough. There was testimony during public comment about the fires and noise and animals and anything else. That wasn’t enough. A blog post, public comment, email to city leadership, nor fire report will ever be enough to change or clarify a policy. It doesn’t even matter if the subject is different (Sign code, trees, parking). Nothing ever changes in DuPont.
Not with this bunch.
It is as if I have seen this movie before…