Your Feb. 13 article (“Some trying to scuttle Winslow Way grants”) on the funding for Winslow Way misses the key point that the mayor has not been playing by the rules to get the grants.

We live in a city and a county where back-scratching and back-room politics seem to be the norm. The mayor packed her staff into those rooms to get grants for her Winslow Tomorrow project. There is virtually no paper trail of how those grants were made or the requirements they carry.

Last fall I made a public records request of materials received by the city showing either the grant awards or the requirements, and I got not a single sheet of paper.

Imagine my surprise when, after months of hearing council member Barry Peters say that these grants could be redirected without condition, I learned that the city must complete Wing Point Way by the end of 2010. I also learned that the mayor had not told the council about this requirement, and that regional authorities relied on outdated and unrealistic budget documents from the city in allowing the city to shift the money.

In the words of Kjell Stoknes, is it “subverting the democratic process” to caution regional officials that they had better re-check facts and documents that come from a local government not known for being forthright or open? Is it “subverting the democratic process” to ask that the city play by the rules?

Rod Stevens

Bainbridge Island