Peltier will take on the tough issues | LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Published 10:45 am Saturday, October 31, 2015

To the editor:

When I heard that Ron Peltier was running for city council I was delighted. My husband and I have known him most of the 30 years we’ve lived on Bainbridge.

Ron is genuine, honest, caring, thoughtful and very much concerned about the future of this beautiful island of ours.

Ron is also not afraid to bring up unpopular questions such as: Can our island support this unlimited development that seems to prevail these days? Is there water enough to sustain us and future population increases? We are now in the month of October, and we are still very short of rain. Have we given adequate attention to this very basic fact? What will be the state of the aquifer on Bainbridge after a few more dry summers like we had this year and a dry autumn? Instead of building an expensive police department, we might be better off building a reservoir to catch a little rainwater. Ron will keep us focused on such vital issues.

Whenever I hear an islander say unthinkingly: “There is a lot of money on this island” I despair. Sure, some of us are quite wealthy, but most of us are middle class, and quite a lot of us are barely hanging on, hoping just to afford next year’s property taxes. Ron brings a well-tested sense of economy to keep our island livable and sustainable for all of us.

Ron, his family and his parents have lived on Bainbridge for many years. Ron has seen many changes in the interim, some good, some not so good. With new looming problems like climate change, growing population and many other concerns, Ron has the courage not to dodge the difficult aspects, that otherwise might be unpopular at council meetings.

I say, good for Ron. We need a fresh voice, with a promising future.

I truly hope Ron will get the votes needed for him to get elected to the city council. We all need Ron Peltier. The island needs Ron Peltier. NOW!

HAJNI JOSLYN

Bainbridge Island