Letters to the editor
Published 1:30 am Saturday, December 19, 2020
Racism persists
To the editor:
Councilmembers Carr, Hytopoulos and Schneider do not care about people of color or following a consistent process. This was flagrantly demonstrated at the Dec. 8 City Council meeting when they were tasked with weighing the qualifications of North Ward council seat applicants Jane Lindley, who is white, and Brenda Fantroy-Johnson, who is Black.
Bainbridge Island has never elected or appointed a Black American to the council. These councilmembers had the opportunity to make history on Dec. 8, but deadlocked when Carr, Hytopoulos and Schneider voted for Lindley—an applicant who for all intents and purposes are mirror images of themselves.
The council received more than 80 emails in support of appointing Fantroy-Johnson—two times more than emails for Lindley. During public comment, Fantroy-Johnson received nearly three times more comments of support, many from historically marginalized community members who have never participated in local government.
When Councilmember Carr was recently selected for her seat, numerous councilmembers cited the overwhelming public outpouring of support for her as an influential factor in choosing her. Fantroy-Johnson received almost twice as many letters of support than Carr did.
Based on facts and qualifications, Fantroy-Johnson should have been the obvious selection. However, Carr, Hytopoulos and Schneider decided to ignore the will of the people and contribute to the structural racism that persists on Bainbridge Island.
Janna Chan
Bainbridge Island
Test asymptomatics
To the editor
We appreciate that the Bainbridge Island School District and state Department of Health are coordinating a testing pilot study to return students to schools. It is disappointing, however, that critical data is being ignored about how COVID-19 is spread by asymptomatic individuals.
The DOH study dictates, “…only students exhibiting COVID symptoms would be tested…” Data has proved COVID viral loads peak before and around symptom onset. Research by University of Colorado scientists concludes,“…the maximum viral loads for SARS-CoV-2 are during the pre-symptomatic stage…” Testing only symptomatics and waiting 24- 48 hours for results will miss the majority of transmission events.
To prevent transmission, the BISD must frequently test asymptomatic people, so that they are detected before they spread the virus. With the vaccine on the horizon, an asymptomatic screening plan would not be a long-term commitment. Asymptomatic screening is a short-term imperative. We remain committed to supporting BISD through this pandemic and are available as a resource.
Cynthia Bellas
www.Rapidtests.org
Bad leadership
To the editor:
Bainbridge Island is a small town. Our council has major obligations and limited resources. In addition to ongoing infrastructure maintenance and possible building projects, there are now two significant work projects that were developed over thousands of hours by knowledgeable citizen volunteers. Those are the Comp Plan and Climate Action Plan.
Good leadership requires picking the person most qualified to do the job. A handful of councilmembers efforts to fill the vacant North Ward seat have failed to focus on expertise. Of the two leading candidates, one has years of demonstrated civic leadership on a local and state level with a great deal of expertise in both major work projects. She would be able to hit the ground running and contribute to the actual implementation of above projects.
Some council members (Pollock, Nassar and Deets) have promoted a second capable candidate who shows a limited track record and far less expertise in the areas listed above. Pollock suggests that anyone who objects to that candidate is racist. That kind of slander is shameful and inaccurate.
The candidate with expertise has now dropped out of the race, and we are less able to meet our objectives as a city.
Thanks to councilmembers (Hytopoulos, Carr and Schneider) who continue to exercise good leadership by supporting the candidate with the most expertise. Too bad the best candidate was hounded out by Pollock innuendo and slander.
Ellen Lockert
Bainbridge Island
Pollock give up seat
To the editor:
Regarding Councilmember Michael Pollock’s letter to the council, is he ready to follow and live up to its No. 1 suggestion? Will he give up his self proclaimed white power by resigning the South Ward seat so that Black, Indigenous, People Of Color (BIPOC) residents can apply for your City Council seat?
I am not asking you to do that instead of the North Ward appointment process; I am asking you to do it in addition. It would be a tremendous opportunity for you as an entitled white man to show just how much you have learned about race equity and the anti-racist movement.
Equally, it would be you showing the community that your leadership matches with what you are asking others to do who share your white privilege. I hope your actions match your words and you are ready to provide an opportunity to a BIPOC.
I pray everyone in this email is as excited and hopeful that you will practice what you preach and give up your seat in the name of race equity. What an amazing opportunity you have.
Sal DeRosalia
Bainbridge Island
Pollock resign
To the editor:
Councilmember Michael Pollock likes to have his fun. Apparently that fun includes insinuating people are racists, intentionally embarrassing our community with inappropriate suggestions via emails to county and state officials, continually holding up crucial decision- making by City Council with inane musings, walking in and out of council Zoom meetings according to his level of interest in the topic and calling other council members names.
Pollock was not elected so he could act outrageously and have fun on council. He is supposed to be helping council codify our comprehensive plan so we can legally avoid another Winslow Hotel and other outlandish creations of developers. His shenanigans are costing our community precious time and attention needed to actually create sustainable transportation options, implement our climate action plan, help our local businesses survive COVID and act responsibly on issues like race equity.
If Pollock is really serious about his assertion that “we are going to have to turn over power to black people and other people of color” let him – a white male – resign and turn over his seat to a person of color or just anyone who is not bent on destroying local government rather than serving our community.
Erika Shriner
Bainbridge Island
Police station
To the editor:
Finally, some welcome scrutiny is being brought to bear on the boondoggle of the police station. Not wanting to miss a chance to lay into this terribly conceived project, I want to point out two small inaccuracies in the Review article on Nov. 27. Concern about the process did not begin with the ethics complaint against Kol Medina. I had raised the issue with him and the other three pro-voters as far back as April, and got that same letter published in the Review at that time.
Further your mention of perhaps a $1.5 million overpayment as compared to the county assessment, references the wrong barometer. The city appraisal came in at $7.04 million, much more accurate than the tax assessment. So, the overpayment is $1.935 million not $1.5 million.
I like to think we are therefore done with the “what” happened and are just now getting to the “why”.
Some might argue all of this is water under the bridge, but remember the remodel process is already being re-evaluated, with prior cost estimates inadequate, and not accounting for the necessity of “green” construction. I am sure that is just the beginning. Complete gut and remodel projects rarely cost less than building new, and this one will be no exception.
Anthony Gibbons
Bainbridge Island
City overspending
To the editor
The city of Bainbridge Island wasted $5 million of our tax dollars, give or take a million, for development of the new police station. Jan. 29, 2019, in a 54-minute special City Council meeting (on the City website), council approved $8.75 million for the Harrison site/police station. The vote was 4-3 with Kol Medina, Leslie Schneider, Sarah Blossom and Matt Tirman voting for and Rasham Nassar, Ron Peltier and Joe Deets voting against.
Here is the rub. Harrison is not worth $8.75 million to anyone other than possibly another medical clinic. According to two independent surveys it is worth $7.5 million (approximate) only as a medical facility — far less as office space to be renovated. A fair value for Harrison as used office space would be in the $3 million range.
How could that happen? Well, there also was a $9.7 million appraisal commissioned by Harrison for Harrison. Morgan Smith, former city manager, negotiated and promoted paying $8.75 million. Why anyone would pay a premium for a building likely unsellable at anything other than a fire sale due to use and geography escapes explanation but council has a tendency to accept what the city manager promotes.
Unless there are contract irregularities, and there may be, we now own Harrison. Thankfully, Pollock and Nassar are listening and acting on behalf of
Bainbridge citizens. The rest of council either denies there could be a problem or thinks it’s too late to do anything.
You can help by asking your council representatives to evaluate these facts because it is still possible to take corrective action. But we must not delay as council will be asked to fund another $9 million for the project (approximate) in January – as they say, good money after bad.
Dick Haugan
Fiscally Responsible Bainbridge Island Citizens
Great meals
To the editor
We would like to thank Town & Country Market, Ann Pearl Catering, BIMA, BI Senior Community Center, St. Cecilia’s, Grace Church and Eagle Harbor Congregational Church for their help creating the 150 beautiful Thanksgiving meals for our island neighbors. The meals were made even better by the cards created by many schoolchildren and adults that were then attached to each meal. Preparation and delivery of the meals was led by the Nikunen, MacGregor, Strevell, and Targett families and supported by too many Island Volunteer Caregiver volunteers to name.
Laura Van Dyke and 4 others
ICV, Bainbridge Island
Please give
To the editor:
Please remember Kitsap Immigrant Assistance Center (KIAC) when making your One Call for All donations this year.
KIAC serves immigrants in our region with legal services and family support. Although the pandemic has upended people’s lives, KIAC staff and volunteers have continued our work, mostly remotely. We file applications for green cards and citizenship, and represent clients in removal cases. Our Family Services program is a crucial hub of support for immigrant families, who have been hard-hit by the pandemic.
We’ve added pandemic-specific services to our programs. We’ve distributed emergency cash assistance to immigrants who have lost their livelihoods due to stay-home orders. We’ve hosted drive-up flu clinics. We make food deliveries to churches and food banks.
We’re now facing new demand, particularly for legal services. The DACA program has been restarted, and we’re gearing up for an influx of DACA-eligible clients. Asylum seekers who’ve been stuck in deplorable conditions at the border may soon be allowed to pursue their cases in the U.S. Some will come to our region, and we’ve been proactive in meeting their needs. We’ve hired a seasoned immigration attorney. We have a staff attorney, and we’re adding pro bono lawyers and lay volunteers. Please give generously.
Althea Paulson
KIAC board president
