Citizens spoke up after swearing in

Your Thursday coverage of the swearing in of our new Snohomish County leadership was dutiful. However, it was incomplete. I understand space limitations, but it is beyond me why the reporter, who was in attendance, did not notice a cadre of civic activists. How could not a single paragraph have been allowed to describe the fact that citizens of Snohomish County took time out of their busy lives and work schedule to attend a ceremony such as this?

For those who were not able to attend, you might like to know that the hearing room was crowded with at least 50 or more citizens who wanted to begin the New Year by creating a new relationship with our county government. Most followed the ceremony by waiting for another hour to attend the council’s first general legislative session. Chairman Dave Somers kindly allowed community comment at the beginning of the session, at which time nearly a dozen people came to the podium.

Without fail, each citizen who spoke asked the council to consider the demands of growth while incorporating the needs of the existing citizens for vibrant and livable cities, and the real desire to maintain the character of our rural lands and the quality of our farmland and floodplains.

This is the heartfelt cry of Snohomish County’s citizenry. We have organized, not just as individual communities and neighborhoods, but under the umbrella of Livable Snohomish County Coalition. Neighbors are talking to neighbors and we are organizing together for a single voice. We are demanding change.

Ellen Hiatt Watson