In response to Rep. Hans Dunshee’s recent comments regarding the countywide ballfield shortage, it should be obvious that he is blowing smoke to cover his tracks.
The Community, Trade &Economic Development letter that Dunshee has posted on his Web site does not consent to Snohomish County allowing ballfields on designated agricultural land, as Dunshee claims. Indeed CTED points out in the letter that the Supreme Court prohibited it in December of 2000 and remarks, rather ominously, that any such ordinance can be promptly appealed to the Growth Management Hearings Board, even by CTED itself.
Dunshee has said that that the ballfields enemies are “unknown.” Hardly. They are, in fact, Dunshee and the radical environmental organization euphemistically named 1000 Friends of Washington. Dunshee is on record as opposing the legislative bill that would have allowed the ballfields. The so-called “friends” of Washington managed to block House Bill 1955 the past two years in spite of its passage in the Senate and bipartisan support in the House.
Interim use of fallow agricultural lands for limited recreational use under certain conditions makes perfect sense to almost everyone, except to extremists.
The Dunshee/1000 Friends proposal that they wouldn’t oppose an illegal spot-zone of the Snohomish fields in exchange for the Little Leaguers’ withdrawal of its support for a change in state law is nothing more than a thinly veiled bribe and a cynical attempt to manipulate the law.
People need to understand the agenda of forced urbanization and rabid environmentalism that is being advocated by the 1000 Friends and politicians like Dunshee. The ballfields issue is yet another case where their extremist policies have trumped common sense.
We must work together to find long-term, reasonable solutions that will meet the needs of those who live here now and those who will be arriving in the future. Those who would continue to thwart the essential needs of our community and youth athletic programs need to put their political agendas aside and come to the table for a serious discussion of a reasonable and legal solution to this matter.
John Koster, Chairman
Snohomish County Council
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