Council devalues island treasures | Letters | Nov. 5
Published 4:25 pm Thursday, November 4, 2010
Last week the City Council confirmed its commitment to undoing the work of hundreds of people over a period of decades by ignoring the Comprehensive Plan and cutting funding to the arts, humanities, farmers and to most of the community’s social services.
No question, this council inherited problems from previous administrations. Still, responsible stewardship of our island’s finances does not necessarily imply destroying the character of our island.
An exaggeration? I don’t think so. One of our singular qualities is the island-wide integration of culture into our daily lives.
What makes Bainbridge unique? If you stop and compare us to other places, wouldn’t you say that what gives Bainbridge its special character isn’t so much its great roads and stellar police department, but that amazing quirky combination of a lively cultural element combined with lovely open spaces?
Well, the City Council is doing its best to get rid of both of those things.
Most of the arts and humanities organizations’ funding has been (or is currently slated to be) cut to zero. And, in a truly ironic turn of events, council is planning on “re-appropriating” the Public Art Fund.
So the artists, who have been carefully building up a nest egg for the good of the whole island, will lose it all in one vote; because they (and their predecessors) have frittered away a $9 million reserve account.
And no, it was not the farmers and the artists who were part of that frittering.
When Bainbridge Island was incorporated the driving force was a desire by islanders to preserve our special character.
There was an overriding feeling, even fear, that Kitsap County didn’t appreciate our individuality and that only by controlling all aspects of the island, could our character be preserved. Hmmm, more irony.
What seems especially tragic to me is all of this cutting is truly more symbolic than bottom-line. The city’s budget is $51.8 million. The cultural element cost $260,000 in 2010. Not insignificant, but cutting it altogether will not solve the budget woes.
And at one of the city’s budget hearings, pleas were made to “cut us, don’t kill us.” Organization after organization, individual after individual, made the same argument that these dollars get leveraged.
The money from the city is used so efficiently that the city is actually getting MORE for its money, not less. But, to no avail.
This council is moving like a unified force. Even a token budget allocation would send the signal that the city will honor the decades of work that went into building these funds and programs.
The clear signal from the city is, however, that these do not matter. That the soul of Bainbridge doesn’t matter.
The only good news is that these organizations will go on. The funding from the city was leveraged and it wasn’t anyone’s entire budget. Things will be harder, but the work will continue.
No, the bottom line, the message from council members is just that they see no value to these activities.
The final irony that the very outcome we feared, that our culture would not be understood or appreciated, will come from inside us.
Now that is a tragic legacy.
Juliet LeDorze
Henderson Road
