Archive for DuPont
The Wide World of Larry
Posted by: | CommentsHere is another installment of Larry Wilcox and his bit of the council report. It reads more like a scripture from the holy book of Larry. Can anyone remember the last time Larry Wilcox had offered up anything remotely close to city business? His updates always tend toward keeping the public informed on his side projects. Or, an uninteresting data dump from some other civic meeting where he serves as representative of the city of DuPont. Who can forget last month when Councilman Wilcox informed us of the departure of the Steilacoom Historical School District superintendent?
This month Mr. Wilcox doesn’t want to appear to be egotistical. Whatever that means.
So here is 2:45 of Larry plainly speaking. No intro or outro music. Just the sweet vocal stylings of a man who loves the sound of his own voice.
Gone ’til November
Posted by: | CommentsWhether it is coveted Cadillac fire service or bandwagon jumping to oppose a high speed rail re-route, DuPont is ever ready to hook their star to the fortunes of Lakewood. Is it civic government or synchronized swimming? You are forgiven if you can’t tell the difference. For those of you who need a reminder: DuPont has history, Lakewood has supermarkets.
Lakewood also has sandwich board signs. A government that won’t enforce its sign code. And, frustrated citizens.
Someone call Maury, I think we may be related.
The Tacoma News Tribune published an account in their Sunday edition of the sign issue in Lakewood.
CHRISTIAN HILL; Staff writer
Published: 08/15/1012:05 am | Updated: 08/16/1011:41 am
Local business concerns have prompted Lakewood city leaders to put the brakes on proposed regulations that would largely outlaw signs that many storeowners use for promotion.
The city’s first significant revision to its sign code since 2001 includes proposed regulations that would ban banners and A-frame, or sidewalk, signs except to promote a grand opening or store closing.
Linda Smith, president of the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce, outlined her concerns in a letter delivered before the council’s discussion of a recommendation from its advisory board last week. She asked that the proposed regulations be postponed for a year
While acknowledging the importance of cleaning up Lakewood’s image to prospective businesses, Smith said her members include small businesses that can’t afford mailers or advertisements in local publications and need as much visibility as possible in these tough times.
“Right now, with this economic downturn, I find this to be really bad timing,” she said Monday.
The sign code has been a source of contention in the past. Smith said there was an outcry among businesses after the city incorporated and officials began enforcing its new code. The county had a sign code, but it was rarely enforced, she said.
Newer cities, such as Lakewood and University Place, have been trying to strike the right balance for years. The cityhood movement of the early ’90s was fueled by residents tired of clutter, such as junk cars and signs. But when new city restrictions were enforced – such as a posse of Lakewood volunteers who fanned out in 1996 making lists of illegal signs and tearing some down – a backlash occurred, and the city scaled back.
Lakewood council members this week acknowledged the concerns about bringing back more stringent rules. They expressed an interest in working with the business community to reach a compromise.
“We need to have a deeper discussion,” Councilman Walter Neary said.
The council had been scheduled to take action on the regulations Monday.
Increased regulation of temporary signs is one of a handful of proposed changes to the Lakewood sign code.
The city now allows businesses to display A-frame signs and banners for up to 15 days with a permit. At that point stores must take them down for at least a week.
“It was too complicated for our code enforcement officers to track who had temporary sign permits and who didn’t,” said Dan Catron, the city’s principal planner.
Staff wanted to significantly ease the regulations, such as by allowing A-frame signs on a permanent basis. The city Redevelopment Advisory Board supported such a change.
However, the Planning Advisory Board determined that this would lead to a proliferation of signs and would “result in a negative aesthetic impact,” according to a staff report.
On a 4-1 vote in June, the planning board forwarded its recommendations to the City Council. It included tighter regulations on A-frame signs and banners.
Board member Paul Calta voted no, saying he thinks the city is “business unfriendly” and “it will pay a price for it down the road,” according to the minutes from the meeting.
The second major change to the sign code would increase the maximum size and height of signs along freeways, which city officials view as important as they try to attract redevelopment. Catron said some businesses have requested larger signs than current code allows.
Under the recommendation, the maximum height would increase from 25 feet to 35 feet, and the maximum total size would increase from 120 square feet to 200 square feet.
This proposed revision drew a favorable reaction from council members Monday night.
A couple points of interest. The first is the participation from the Lakewood Planning Board. DuPont has no such input. The other point is the tired refrain of how these are tough economic times and how a sandwich board sign might make the difference between a business staying open or closing in failure. I am not buying that, at least not here. With the rent paid by our businesses, they will need a little more than a painted sign to lure in patrons with our meager traffic volumes. Maybe a place giving $6 haircuts in Tillicum needs that advantage, but not here.
As you can see, we are not alone. Citizens upset at unsightly signs cluttering the city? Check. Businesses cry foul because they require a sandwich board every twenty-five yards in order to stay in business? Check. City leadership not acting in spite of recommendations to the contrary? Check back in November.
Get a Room, Council!
Posted by: | CommentsJohn and Yoko did not share affection as enthusiastically in public.
The July DuPont City Clowncil meeting, sans Mayor Jenkins and Councilmember Grayum, featured a homage to our obsequious benefactor: CalPortland (formerly Glacier Northwest). Over the past three years, CalPortland has been the city’s go to guy for all matters trivial and mundane. Need some pamphlets? Call Cal. How about a sponsor for our lame local events? Call Cal. Do you need fourteen yards of aggregate or concrete? Boy, oh boy, call Cal!
Who can blame them? CalPortland is just carrying on in the tradition of offering up shiny objects to entice the natives. Watch as CalPortland grind the organ as our ignoble savages do a jaunty dance called the Mine Expansion Two Step. Goodbye two hundred acres of wooded land atop an aquifer; Hello trail markers!
OK. Exhale. This is a tad of an exaggeration, but it still looks bad. But if you look at the accomplishments of this council for the past few years, and there are not many, the credit can be linked to CalPortland and their tireless patronage.
You have to tip your cap to CalPortland; they pay attention to the dysfunction of our council and act accordingly. They spend generously because a dotted “i” here and a crossed “t” there and they stand to make hundreds of millions of dollars in DuPont. What is a couple of grand between friends?
“Each man has his price, Bob, and yours was pretty low”
Roger Waters
From Too Much Rope
Ransom Note and Why We Keep Paying
Posted by: | CommentsThere appears to be more movement on Wilmington as Windermere Real Estate appears to be moving into the space nestled between DuPont Chiropractic and DuPont Vision.
What is interesting is the way that Windermere has chosen to announce itself.
The ransom-esque signage arrived the same week that the city of DuPont held a Town Hall meeting to discuss revisions to the sign code. Note, that is revision and not enforcement. Whatever is wrong with DuPont’s sign code has to be fixed before it can be enforced by Masko and company.
Furthering the coincidence is that the Town Hall meeting was held in large part because of the realtors whining that they wanted their voice heard (meaning they wanted some relief) when addressing the sign code. When I asked Ms Masko why the realtors could not work through the DuPont Business Association no answer was given. Remember, the original plan was to have the DBA be a point man in the overall discussion, along with the churches and the citizens.
Perhaps the realtors do not feel that the DBA has what it takes to represent effectively into city hall. After all, those REET dollars have always had some sway over our city council.
The timing is odd to complain that the sign code is too restrictive for our real estate professionals and then to slap up a shabby temporary sign pieced together like a ransom note made of computer paper. Is this the respect for our code we can come to expect from the six-percenters in town?
Windermere has no need to worry themselves, of course. The city of DuPont will end up chasing its own tail before collapsing from exhaustion. The mayor never put code enforcement into the budget; the previous code enforcement activities were a one (and done) weekend exhibition before Bill Kingman lost interest and moved on to other things. And, our council members are too busy grooming their pet projects, that coincidentally also go nowhere, just like legitimate city business.
Nothing will change, Windermere, John L Scott, and ReMax. Just hold tight and play along until the city gets distracted by the next shiny object or military related event. I give them six months from the ratification of the new sign code before it is business as usual.
Same Playbook, Same Result?
Posted by: | CommentsDawn Masko has taken a page out of her mentor’s playbook and called an audible at the line. Evidently, after reading the defense, Ms. Masko decided to run things differently from the way they were called on the sideline back in April.
There is lip service regarding the need to garner additional inputs as a reason to change the play, the format, and the scope from what the mayor and council outlined way back when, but this is Masko’s baby now.
April. That is Baseball’s time to shine; it is not exactly football season but the city team is hoping the sign ordinance issue should resolve itself sometime between the Apple Cup and the holiday bowl season.
To refresh your collective memories, the sign issue was raised as a matter of enforcement. There was a proliferation of signs not conforming to the city code as written. The signage advocates, led by the churches, claimed confusion of the law and the direction given by city. Plausible, but only the part that the city could confuse their own code.
After some hurt feelings the city pledged to enforce the sign code. It was a grandstanding moment for the city to appear to do something but if you blinked then you may have missed the whole of the city’s activity on the issue. Behind the scenes there were letters sent and DBA announcements made, but I am quite confident that if you audit the books that there are still some gaps in the city’s coverage.
That is not to say that there haven’t been some little victories. There are fewer signs at Center Drive and McNeil. Quadrant ponied up their fees for their signs and was forced to conform with their placement. But, you can hardly call the whole a success with this much time left on the clock. There are still obvious examples of rouge signage that hasn’t been addressed.
The solution was supposed to be a huddle of stakeholders. Churches, citizens, businesses, and the city; but that changed and now Ms. Masko seemingly has lost her nerve and decided to let the chorus of the crowd dictate her fourth down maneuver.
A town hall meeting. That is the equivalent of punting in the red zone. There are children’s birthday parties that are better attended in DuPont than their town hall meetings. But just as the clown knots together a few balloons and calls it a giraffe, so does the city hold a meeting and claim citizen input. It is all an illusion.
The last town hall meeting I bothered to attend had exactly 17 citizens in attendance. Is this just another case of the city checking a box and calling it done? There are concerns over this approach. The first is that it takes a seemingly simple task and complicates it unnecessarily. Does the resolution really require more input? There is a law on the books, the concern was over the enforcement associated with the law. That would suggest it to be procedural matter.
The risk the city is running is to muddle the objective with phony “citizen” testimony. This is often referred to as “astro-turfing” since it creates the illusion of a grassroots movement but instead offers up a stacked deck of supporters or opponents. For instance, let’s say I have a business or a church and I really want any change in the sign code to accommodate my needs. If I know that I can fill a public hearing with 20 “supporters” to passionately or emotionally testify in favor of more signs on public sidewalks then they may create the illusion of wider support.
The end result of this exercise could very well mean more real estate and church signs.
The action at hand in DuPont with the sign issue is one of balance between the needs and wants of our businesses and homeowners; but also it is a matter of vision. How do we want the town to appear aesthetically to visitors and citizens alike. Do the mayor, council, and ROA envision a well maintained and tidy community of homeowners or would they rather have the commercial district extend into our neighborhoods? If they opt for allowing more signs or ignoring the code enforcement, then I really cannot see the point of paying homeowner association dues.
In fairness to Dawn Masko, she is trying to engage the community, however it just isn’t the time or place. The history of recent Town Hall meetings suggests more of the same old, same old. Same old people and the same old result. Hurrying the meeting onto the calendar after a long period of silence on the matter also does not suggest a successful new approach. Dawn Masko, in fact, is married to the same old approach and this meeting shows it. There is no city data to suggest the frequency or success of sign sweeps. No information to consider, just more emotion.
Remember, no one really asked for a new sign code, they just asked that the existing code be enforced.
The last point is that Dawn Masko does not live in DuPont. She really has very little idea what the scope of the problem is and she can only assume that if no one is complaining then it must be OK. The reality is that most people will not complain nor will they get involved. This is where our council and mayor should have shown some more leadership on the issue. Mayor Jenkins did offer some leadership and directed Masko and McDonald in April. Can Ms. Masko feel that she has a better idea now?
It is my hope that whatever the outcome of the meeting someone will address the hand held signs employed to direct people to Pageantry’s townhouses for sale in Hoffman Hill. It is a curious sight since the corner of Hoffman Hill Boulevard and McNeil Street is so far from the commercial district. It is also redundant with the other way finding signs directing motorists to the same destination. Perhaps what is most curious is that the sign waver is also perfectly positioned to be seen by those visiting our most well attended tourist destination: The Home Course.
Today, the golfers got an eyeful with our teenage directional sign holder dancing with earphones in place and his female companion sprawled on the ground, passed out on a blanket. Welcoming for 5000 years or until the shift is over. On more than one occasion, passersby stopped to check on the welfare of our city strip camper.
Just because no one complains, Ms. Masko, doesn’t make it right.
Nailing it in DuPont
Posted by: | CommentsIt didn’t take long for the old Cigar-Wine to convert into another business in town. You heard it first here in the comment section and now the sign is up ushering yet another Mani and Pedi establishment.
Who would have thought that a city of 8000 could support three such establishments but I suppose that those in the personal grooming industry are bullish on DuPont for a reason.
It is just too bad that the DBA could not intercept this business and convince them to name their establishment something more befitting the vision of the town only a few see. Too bad they chose the pedestrian Center Nails when they could have been part of the branding solution.
Welcoming for 5000 Years Nails! Or, The Birthplace of Washington State Nails. Or, how about, Old Fort Nails? (I think 1843 Missionary Massage and Chiropractic is reserved)
I wonder if the city issued a permit for that sign.
Two Weeks Without You
Posted by: | CommentsThe mayor was out. So was Councilman Grayum. Deputy Mayor Penny Coffey held the tiller pin and she navigated the agenda for the last televised DuPont Washington City Council Meeting. I was under-whelmed. It was sort of like when Johnny Carson had a guest host. Not horrible, but just not the same.
One of the key differences I noticed when watching Penny lead this meeting was the distinct change in tone from a Mayor Jenkins chaired event. It appears that Penny labored through the clichés while Jenkins brings an aw shucks quality to the description of some lame dedication or boring event during the “mayor’s report.” It is almost as if you get the sense that Tamara believes it while Penny can barely contain her contempt.
At the end of the Mayor’s report, our deputy mayor raised the topic of canceling the second city council meeting for the month of August. The reason cited, and I think it is based more on legacy than necessity, was so that the city staff could schedule their vacations at this time.
Seems innocuous enough until you think about it. Why does the entire staff of the City of DuPont have to take their vacations during this week? If the “Staff” take their vacations en masse then who will be around to, you know, run the city? And, if the Staff of the city of DuPont all took their vacations simultaneously would the citizens of DuPont even notice?
I digress.
Still, it boggles my mind that in a meeting that frequently has one or two members of council or staff missing that our council would be compelled to scrub a meeting from the calendar for no other reason than it is August. For chrissake, the mayor wasn’t even at this meeting!
There was a mild mention of the ever growing and never addressed items on the tracking sheet by councilmember Trotter before she STFU and got back in line behind the rest of the sycophant council. Roger Westman went on record in dissent but what else is new? I guess we know how council feels about that tracking sheet.
That got me thinking about what we can expect not to get done during the end of August. Well, to start, there probably won’t be any more signs erected, way finding or otherwise, because Peter Zahn will not be around to over compensate for a solution in search of a problem. Nor will we have the sign ordinance deviate further off course (and no closer to completion). That will simply have to wait until Dawn Masko returns.
I know this isn’t France, but did I miss something about the vacation policy for exempt employees of the city of DuPont? Do they have to take their vacations in August?
No. At least, not according to their written policy on vacations found on their web site. There is absolutely no mention of compulsory vacation time usage in the month of August, or in any other month, for that matter. The verbiage on their vacation can be found here. If you further read the employment policies on vacation you will find that it is quite generous, more generous than my experience in the private sector.
Well, what is done is done. Now our multimillion dollar Civic Center shall sit idle on August 24th, 2010.
Or, does it? I have another idea for our shared community resource: Let RealDuPont hold an event in council’s chambers that night at that time! We could clear out all of the chairs and stage the inaugural DuPont Adult Dodgeball tournament. Of course, we will need to bring our own balls and orange cones because presumably Amy Walker will also be on vacation that day. We could form teams with names like The Wilcoxes, The Coffeys, and so on. We could write words such as “Responsibility” or “Accountability” or “Obligation” or “Service” or “Duty” on the balls so members of these respective teams can dodge each of those qualities that we expect in our real, elected council members.
It seems unlikely that the city will turn over the keys to the kingdom of a small, select few, but we can still dream. In the meantime, there will be a follow up to this post regarding staff vacation. Let us just wait and see who took time off during this week and how they handled the coverage at City Hall. Only then will we know who is irreplaceable in those hallowed halls.
But, until then, one thing remains perfectly clear, as conveyed to us by the actions of the city council: the needs of our paid city staff are more important than the needs of the citizens of the city of DuPont.
Posh Paw Put Down
Posted by: | CommentsIt looks like DuPont is about to lose another business in the City Center’s Business District. The second in the month of July. This comes after a period of relative stability in spite of the economic times.
I have been informed, but it has not been verified, that Posh Paw will close tomorrow. This is particularly distressing since Posh Paw is the only retail business in the city.
You will be able to read more details in the Home Town Clipper in the days to come.
DuPont’s Cigar-Wine Packs Up
Posted by: | CommentsYesterday morning several of the parking spaces between ISushi and Starbucks were consumed by a moving truck. The large truck was being loading with fixtures and some inventory from Cigar-Wine, perhaps DuPont’s most esoteric shop. By this evening, the store was loading a new truck more of its inventory.
Kids Quote The Darndest Things
Posted by: | CommentsOne of my most influential teachers was Mr. Witherspoon. I had him for sixth grade.
We were required to keep a journal where we recorded the “quote of the day” that resided on the upper right hand corner of the blackboard. It was a quote, in quotes, followed by the author, if known. At the end of each quarter we were required to choose on of the quotes and write a short essay on why we chose the quote, what we thought it meant, and how it may apply to our lives.
It was really a brilliant way to get us in the habit of critically thinking while simultaneously requiring us to write a coherent essay, hone our penmanship, as well as hold us accountable by keeping a journal updated. We weren’t reminded to copy the quote daily, it was an expectation with a consequence.
To date, I still have those journals saved. Not to bear witness to my penmanship but to re-read so many of those quotes whose meanings have changed over the years.
Mr. Witherspoon is long gone but the lesson still remains.
Of the numerous quotes I can still remember a few. I suppose we remember such things because they represent wisdom; those universal truths that withstand the test of time.
“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.” - Plato
Brother, ain’t that the truth.