Your Jan. 10 editorial “Everett City Council meetings: Make them worth attending” was of a great deal of interest to me, partly because I spent eight years as a Mukilteo City Council member, but more so in how your editorial could have applied to Lynnwood as well as Everett (perhaps other cities as well).
The more politicians talk about transparency, from Washington, D.C., to Lynnwood, the less we see or hear. The Lynnwood elected officials have joined many others in becoming elitists who know what is best for “we the people.”
Some years ago, when Lynnwood Mayor Don Gough was on the council, he pushed for a good many restrictive and controlling rules — one being that during meetings there would be no interaction with Joe Citizens. Others and I have attended meetings and in order to speak we were required to fill out a form with name, address and phone number. When the citizen comments agenda item came up, we were required to walk to a podium and speak into a microphone. On the two occasions I spoke, my comments must have gone into a black hole because I heard nothing from the mayor, council members or city staff.
Decisions made by the council, such as the one that provided them with full health benefits, are made prior to the business meetings when citizens are most likely to attend. The health benefits are on top of the roughly $1,800 a month they get for about 15 hours a month of work. I remind folks that the population of Lynnwood is only about 35,000, much smaller than Everett. The mayor-council budget is insufficient to fix the many broken curbs and cracked sidewalks abounding in the city, but has funds to pamper the elites and pay for $60,000 branding studies.
I believe Americans across the land and here in Lynnwood increasingly are fed up with arrogant and self-serving politicians. I know I am.
Ron Siddell
Lynnwood
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