HomeMy WebLinkAbout112023 email Port Townsend Healthier Together (0002)ALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them.
Dear Commissioner Brotherton,
I am writing to request that you abstain from taxing all Jefferson County residents to help Port Townsend rebuild their aquatic center.
I am completely in favor of the citizens of Port Townsend to raise the funds necessary to build the aquatic center that they can afford.
The non-city use of the current Port Townsend pool demonstrates that the pool is not utilized to any great degree by users who are not residents of Port Townsend.
While the current proposal is a beautiful dream of the pool planners, it is beyond what the good citizens of Port Townsend can afford on their own, and they have asked you, the Jefferson
County Commissioners to secure the necessary funds from all Jefferson County residents to fund Port Townsend's dream.
As long as this aquatic center is built within the city of Port Townsend, Port Townsend must completely fund this project.
I am not opposed to having one entrance fee for city residents, and another for county residents for a pool built in Port Townsend..
I would completely support building the aquatic center on the Jefferson County parcels (901113007 and 963000191 {8.42 acres}) just to the west of the H.G. Carroll Park. This is a central
location, on transit routes, and would create use by a larger and more diverse population.
It is my belief that the four school districts in Jefferson County, Port Townsend, Chimacum, Quilcene & Brinnon, will coalesce into one unified district in the next decade, and the unified
school buildings will be in Chimacum, where the aquatic center should be. Learning to swim, and lifesaving classes should be part of the curriculum for all Jefferson County students.
I understand that water and sewer systems are currently lacking in the Chimicum area, but that is certainly not an insurmountable problem for our Commissioners and the PUD.
Lastly, all reasonable thinkers on both ends of the political spectrum know that sales taxes are regressive in all cases and hurt the poor. Please do not adversely burden the poor with
a new sales tax.
Port Townsend is welcome to build whatever pool they wish. They do not have the right to expect the residents of Jefferson County outside Port Townsend to fund a pool that they themselves
cannot afford to build.
Respectfully submitted,,
Bob Palmer
360.531.2525
bobpalmermd@gmail.com <mailto:bobpalmermd@gmail.com>
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