HomeMy WebLinkAbout013024 email Break out the smelling salts_ you need themALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them.
Good evening commissioners and staff,
We have a problem. It is serious and it has the potential to cost us tens of millions of dollars, or you could just do the right thing. Let’s start with the fun part of the conversation
and run some numbers...
1. 1- The estimated cost to do nothing is, well, nothing.
2. 2- The estimated cost of the repair and upgrade is under $5M.
3. 3- The estimated cost of a Sprung Structure is $13M* (see footnote).
4. 4- The estimated cost of the complete renovation is $21M.
5. 5- The estimated cost of a new aquatic center is $37-52M.
I thought I would just put all these numbers in one place because I have not seen anyone do that yet. Seems like it would be an easy decision to paint a full picture of our options for
you to review before you make any decisions that could cost us millions of dollars and/or scorch bridges with such an overwhelmingly substantial number of voters/taxpayers.
I do not know why City staff have refused to show you the truth, but there it is, the truth. Not only have City staff NOT shown you these numbers, but they have also withheld these numbers
and refused to provide them to City Council even after the data was requested several times. Instead, City Council has repeatedly been told the data does not exist. But wait, there’s
more, they also lied to you about the facts of the comparisons of various estimates. Oh wait, it is even worse than all that, as if that were not sufficiently appalling. You might want
to sit down for this.
One City staffer is not just dishonest and overly controlling about the situation, but he is hostile and verbally abusive about it. Ok, it is not just this that he is hostile and verbally
abusive about, he is generally just an ill-tempered thug about lots of things. You read that right, and I am not overstating the situation. In fact, I am withholding a tremendous amount
of very damning info. Dude has been lashing out at nearly everyone who asks questions about what is going on. He lashes out at citizens. He lashes out at staffers. He lashes out at
numerous elected officials.
This is your come-to-Jesus moment. Since when is it acceptable to treat elected officials this way? Since when is it acceptable to treat taxpayers this way? Since when is an unelected
City staffer the all-powerful dictator who unilaterally makes all the decisions and somehow talks you into rubber stamping his every whim?
This is your wakeup call. Nothing that came from the steering committee can be taken at face value. Nothing. Everything from that committee is highly suspicious. You have been lied
to, misled, and pushed around by a wannabe dictator. The jig is up.
This is your off ramp. If the voters decide to build this, after they know the facts, then so be it and we will all be better for it. Shouldn’t they be given the honest truth about the
options instead of being force-fed lies from a City staffer and a black hole process from City Hall? Do you really think our county would be willing to spend $37-52M for a fancy aquatic
center deep in the bowels of overcrowded Port Townsend if they knew that they could instead spend $13M on a Sprung Structure in Hadlock? I do retail politics. I talk to strangers all
over this county every day. I am telling you this fever dream is just a bad trip brought on by the arrogance and ignorance of a very, very, VERY small number of people who are stopping
the momentum we should be experiencing. You’ve been hoodwinked. Get out now. Demonstrate some spinal fortitude and stand up to the bully. Do not go down with the sinking ship. Explore
other options. Make wise decisions. Reject this siren song which will undoubtedly end in demise.
* Footnote: I would like to draw special attention to the Sprung Structure estimate because that figure is directly from the manufacturer, free from any City staffer taint. Free from
any sweetheart deal with a City staffer. Free from any gross over or understatement from a City staffer’s contractor buddy. This number is real and actual, not an attempted coercion
to get you to enter into an agreement with the City staffer’s other contractor buddy who would be happy to build the $37-52M aquatic center and bilk the taxpayers. Sprung has contacted
DCW and City staff to correct the comparative estimate, but nobody seems to want to return their call. When do the smelling salts get deployed?
Jean