City of DuPont: Plan 2010
ByThe Mayor of DuPont has a plan. No, really, she does.
And to prove it the mayor has developed a tracking sheet, or a scorecard, or a Gantt chart, or a calendar! It is also a “living and breathing document” which is very exciting to the mayor.
However, when you hear it read aloud, it becomes another “to do” list. Another agenda to be buried within the city website, if it is there at all.
Part of what makes this list so exciting to the mayor is that she is the one who gets to tick the boxes and grade it as successful; and knowing her aversion to challenging, let alone criticizing her staff, well she can go ahead and place checks everywhere and declare it done!
The ability to grade yourself comes in handy because those pesky opinions of citizens, from either surveys or public comments, don’t get in the way.
That brings up an interesting point since you have to wonder if the “scientific” survey was consulted, ala Ouija board. Mention of working on some historic sites weighs in this Plan 2010 even though citizens were ambivalent, or lukewarm at best, to such matters in the survey.
Nary a word on development. Nothing about a market. But, doggone it; we are going to have a paved trail to the Methodist Mission site!
What did you expect? Addressing the needs and wants of the citizens? Not to worry, there is talk of a “pet socialization area” (off leash dog park) in the plan. Why the mayor insists on using this clumsy phrase is beyond me. Can I socialize my dog with a ferret? How about a snake? Care to watch someone’s dog socializing with someone else’s rabbit?
I suppose Mayor Jenkins is just carrying on in that grand DuPont Washington tradition of trying to use words to overcome the town’s reality.
So am I correct when I hear that the mine issue will drag on throughout the whole year? Considering how long the town has been talking about it I question whether that is really success. It makes you wonder whether the goal is to block the expansion or just to get it off of the mayor’s list.
Several years ago $250,000 had been set aside for a skate board park. That was never completed, where is the money? Why can’t the money be used for projects that need to be completed in the community. Nothing ever seems to be completed, they talk about it and then it disappears. Ban on fireworks, promised discussion by the Mayor in Jan. Gone and forgotten. There does not seem to be an urgency to keep your word if you’re on the council. We just keep on paying our taxes and their salaries and expect nothing in return.
I think much of this lands on the mayor’s shoulders. The lack of vision has us spinning our wheels. The skate park money is a good point. It was money that could have only been used for such a project, or it certainly could have been used for some other public good. You have to wonder with this proposed dog park where that came in on our parks master plan?
After watching these videos I feel empty inside.
It makes no sense to spend a lot of time in a public council meeting talking about a list of items being worked on by the mayor, and then hide the list. If the meeting is public, then all of it’s content is to be made public as well.
The web site is a disaster and I can only conclude that it is that way by design so you cannot find things readily or easily.
Great. The mayor generates another Word document and she acts like we should throw a parade because of it.
BTW, I like her idea of “visioning.” Make up a word and create a whole new reality! LOL
Q: What are the top two things that may jeopardize the quality of life in DuPont?
We Answered: “Inadequate Local Shopping and Inadequate Fire & Emergency Medical Services Top Residents’ Concerns as Threats to Quality of Life in DuPont”
We paid $25K for that nugget of gold!
Now we hear about retreats, staff raises, the mayor’s to do list, and pet socialization? Help me connect the dots…*POOF*