Editor’s note: this letter was written in response to a letter written by Lynda Dabson published in the Nov. 19 edition of the Courier-Herald.
Ms. Dabson is a former candidate for the Bonney Lake City Council Ward 3 position and along with Councilman (Dan) Decker is a major proponent to convert Bonney Lake from a code-city to a charter-code city.
In her letter, Ms. Dabson makes the comment “The ‘Save the Lake’ people, who begged for help in their noxious weed fight and stressed the urgency, were told, ‘Keep us informed.’ And then passed over. The whole time the city had done extensive research on the subject and knows that their lake has been treated like a detention pond for 30 years and would be more costly to fix than an election.”
I have to assume that Ms. Dabson is referring to the Lake Bonney Conservation Association (LBCA) who has been working for the past few years to clean up and attempt to restore Lake Bonney. LBCA has had a few setbacks in dealing with some members of city staff, however, they recently attended a City Council meeting and thanked the mayor and council for their ongoing support and to show their appreciation they provided cupcakes for everyone in attendance at the meeting. Perhaps Ms. Dabson was misinformed about the issue.
Ms Dabson also comments: “What about the oblivious quality that they all possess about the general economy?”
I assumed from reading this that I’d see Ms. Dabson at the next few council workshops making suggestions on how best to deal with these budget issues since the council is currently working on the proposed budget for 2009-2010. Had she attended council workshop on Tuesday, Nov. 4, she would have found an excellent presentation given by Al Juarez, director of finance for the city, with kudos being given for the work done by Senior Accountant Kassandra Raymond. As I understood it, we may have to tighten our city belts a bit, but we are fortunate that the city will not have to lay off personnel.
As for any tax increase, Ms. Dabson certainly could have attended the public hearing about the budget held during council workshop on Nov. 18, to voice her concerns, however, she was a no-show. Only one person spoke during the public comment period, and that was to compliment the staff on the great job they did in presenting the proposed budget. Complaining about a problem is simple for even the most ill-informed people. Actually coming forth in a forum that is provided to each citizen who appears at a city council meeting lets our mayor and City Council know how we feel and uses our democratic process as our forefathers intended.
All of us could have taken a lesson in democracy in action from the folks living on Inlet Island and along Church Lake Road. They door belled their neighbors, gathered signatures, and showed up in mass at the council workshop on Nov. 18, to let the mayor and council know how they felt about rezoning their neighborhoods and they were able to function quite well under the current code-city form of government. I applaud them for their actions and support their efforts to rezone their neighborhoods from R-2 to R-1.
Fred Jacobsen
Bonney Lake
Reader proud of police department
I am writing in response to an article written in last week’s edition of the paper, “Judge denies Pacific police chief motions.”
I would simply like to say “Bravo” to the Bonney Lake Police Department. I remember reading about this incident in August, I believe, and thinking how proud I was of our police for treating this police chief from Pacific fairly, and like any other citizen. I expect nothing less of my police department. They have made Bonney Lake, and me, proud.
It isn’t always easy to do the right thing and in this day and age, most opt not to.
Thank you, Bonney Lake Police Department.
Jessie Thompson
Bonney Lake
