Do your research and vote no on Prop. 1 | LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Published 9:14 am Monday, November 2, 2015

To the editor:

Next month, voters decide whether to pay for a new police complex on Madison Avenue next to the new city hall. Cost estimates seem to range from $15 million to $28.5 million.

The recently disclosed high contamination of the proposed site suggests the costs may be much higher.

Three questions have arisen:

First, isn’t the current location better for a police station? From the current police station, police can drive on Highway 305 at high speed to respond to calls. By contrast, running high speed squad cars on sedate Madison Avenue could endanger school children, pedestrians, cyclists and motorists — as well as daycare workers and kids right across the street.

Second, should we follow the money? The proponents apparently want to spend big bucks just to buy properties for this development. Who gains financially? Is another lucrative Bainbridge land deal the real motive for Proposition 1?

Third, can we avoid this unnecessary suffering? Fiscally sophisticated cities in King County contract for police services with the King County Sheriff’s Office and its 1,000-plus deputies. The cities save money. The county handles litigation. The citizens receive professional police services. Everybody wins.

We can win too. The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office has over 200 commissioned deputies and corrections officers on the roster. Islanders don’t have to spend millions on a new and dangerous police complex.

The great philosopher George Santayana said: “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Do your own research. Vote no on Proposition 1.

JOHN MUENSTER, PAUL CULLEN, KIM KOENIG, STEFAN PASKELL AND DR. LOU SAEGER

Bainbridge Island