Letters to the Editor

Edmonds Crossing

Spend money on roads, not ferry terminal

In November Snohomish County voters will be asked to fund Edmonds Crossing, a proposed new ferry terminal that is on the Regional Transportation Investment District’s (RTID) list of road projects.

The cost will be $157,000,000: $127 million from RTID and $30 million from Sound Transit.

A new terminal is wasteful. The existing one was rebuilt in 1995 and will be in good shape of several years. Because of the new site’s bad location, millions of dollars must be spent to correct exposure and access problems. These facts have been known for a long time.

Recent action by the state Legislature has further complicated the matter. It places a two-year moratorium on terminal construction while the accuracy of ridership and cost figures are reviewed. Approval of the November ballot measure would provide funding for a terminal that may receive no priority. The ferry project has always been Edmonds’ idea as the Washington State Ferry system has consistently refused to fund that old pipe-dream.

Money appropriated for a needless ferry terminal would be better spent fully funding those state highways that can now be only partially upgraded because of increased construction costs.

Vote no in November. RTID is gambling that it can please every one by putting their pet project on the roads list, and then get the measure passed because of voter fear that it’s their only opportunity to approve worthy projects. Not so. By law RTID is allowed three chances to get if right. If it continues to reject real need as the chief criterion for requesting voter money, let it come back with its list a few more times.

Natalie Shippen

Edmonds

Terrace council

Reprimand of council member long overdue

I read with interest Evan Smith’s comments in his 6/8/07 forum. I take issue with his statement that the actions taken by the council’s reprimand in May of “one of its members for communicating with representatives of other cities without proper notice to a fellow council member” as meaning “the council does not want members who express minority views or members who take independent initiative.”

My understanding of the matter was that the council member had specifically been directed at a prior council meeting to take the action with another council member. This directive was ignored. This by the same council member who is on record as stating she will absolutely not be held accountable to the established protocols the rest of the council try to adhere to.

The matter was not one of taking initiative; it was one of blatantly ignoring a directive given by the mayor. Wouldn’t this same action by an employee be considered insubordinate and subject to discipline?

Editor Smith either does not have all the facts, or chooses to spin them to give the perception of narrow-mindedness on the part of the Mountlake Terrace Council. I would differ with editor Smith on this. The council has made great strides to move our city forward with the Town Center Development Plan. This has been the result of a lot of debate, but ultimately coming together to by the majority of the council to achieve positive steps for our future.

The council is not trying to make joining their ranks unattractive. They are, however, standing on their protocols, and expecting appropriate behaviors from all their members. The action taken by the council with the May reprimand was, I believe, long overdue for the council member receiving it.

Linda Rogers

Mountlake Terrace

National news

Bush can’t take government from us

On June 8 the Enterprise printed a letter in which the writer asserted that the “National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive” enacted a month ago laid the groundwork for our president and his cohorts to permanently take over.

For at least 50 years, our presidents have issued, re-issued and revised similar directives outlining means to ensure the U.S. survives a national emergency in a recognizable form. Until recently, this planning was motivated by fear of a coordinated, massive attack on our major cities and installations by the Soviet Union. The scenarios we envision now, horrifying as they are, are miniscule by comparison. Mass panic can be easily triggered though, and having plans in place to preserve continued functionality of our government, business and financial systems makes good sense.

As for a coup, I don’t believe this or any administration can take our government from us — unless we let it. In Albert Speer’s “Inside the Third Reich,” we see a chilling picture of a progressive, democratic society that did just that. They allowed themselves to be manipulated by men who played to their fears and their pride, and they relinquished control to them. The scary thing is not that the German people were different somehow, but that we all have the same fear and pride inside us, waiting to germinate.

We can control these weeds by informing ourselves about the world, by limiting individual power, and by assuring mankind’s rights to liberty, equality and justice. If we spend as much time on this as we do keeping up with “American Idol,” the standings in the various pro sports leagues, and the opinions of the pundits, we’ll have nothing to fear.

R. Cuplin

Brier