September 25, 2015 [5]
www.redmond-reporter.com
Tom Hinman Redmond
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Letter on Syrian refugees is cowardly and ignorant Stephen Decatur’s recent letter, arguing that the U.S. should not allow Syrian refugees into the country because they include many young Muslim men, is cowardly, ignorant and plain wrong on the facts. Decatur argues that “almost all terrorist attacks in the U.S… have been perpetrated by Muslim young men.” In fact, according to the Feb. 26, 2013 issue of US News & World report, “of the more than 300 American deaths from political violence and mass shootings since 9/11, only 33 have come at the hands of Muslim-Americans.” In other words, 89 percent of terrorist killings were perpetrated by non-Muslims. Terrorism is a real and scary problem, but it looms much larger in our imaginations than in reality. About 16,000 Americans are murdered annually. By terrorists?
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Just 18 in 2014. Statistically we should be almost 1,000 times more afraid of murder than of terrorism. And even more afraid of car crashes (which kill twice as many as homicides). But we aren’t. Why is that? We aren’t rational. Humans mistrust difference. We are all tempted to blame and denigrate persons who speak, believe, love or experience life differently than ourselves. As a nation, we all too often indulge this dangerous xenophobic temptation. For example, witness slavery, Japanese-American internment during WWII and the denial of women’s suffrage until 1920. And yet, the U.S. aspires to be better and often succeeds. With protections like the freedom of religion guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and the equal protection under the law provided by the 14th Amendment, our nation has slowly made progress toward according all individuals the dignity they deserve. And as individuals, we must be vigilant and courageous in our use of reason and the defense of our rights in order to overcome the fears and prejudices that continually threaten to overwhelm the most vulnerable among us. I love Redmond, and I am proud of our diverse, usu-
ally tolerant community that includes many dimensions of difference. There might be valid reasons to not accept refugees from Syria into the U.S., but Decatur’s fact-blind xenophobia is not among them. His letter does not belong in a reasonable debate about immigration policy. Decatur and the Redmond Reporter should do better.
Kirk McGettigan Redmond
Adding to the climate-change discussion Beth Lipton with Public Health — Seattle & King County (who was featured in last issue’s article, “Constantine, others discuss climate change”) is mistaken to imply that climate change is leading to an increase in extreme weather events. This is one of the few areas of agreement between the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC). In 2012, the IPCC asserted that a relationship between global warming and wildfires,
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rainfall, storms, hurricanes and other extreme weather events has not been demonstrated. In 2013, the NIPCC explained, “in no case has a convincing relationship been established between warming over the past 100 years and increases in any of these extreme events.” Instead of wasting money vainly trying to stop extreme weather events from happening, we should encourage governments to harden their societies to these inevitable events by burying electrical cables underground, and reinforcing buildings and other infrastructure. Yet, of the $1 billion that is spent globally every day on climate finance, only 6 percent of it goes to helping people adapt to climate change today (ref: Climate Policy Initiative, San Francisco). This is the real climate crisis that should concern Lipton and others.
Tom Harris Executive director International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC)
Cartoon quandary I read the Redmond Reporter to get local news that is not available in the Seattle Times. Things like information about projects being planned or done in Redmond and the police blotter — small stuff like that, not big issues. For too long I have been irritated by the political cartoons. It is not that I necessarily disagree with the viewpoint of the cartoonist, but I find the cartoons simple-minded and obvious. The stye would be totally appropriate for a middle school newspaper. Last issue’s cartoon concerns charter schools. The cartoonist obviously blames the teachers and the judges for making charter school students suffer. OK, so what? Is it really that simple? Perhaps you can print my cartoon concerning the cartoons. Have the rectangular area used for the next cartoon left totally blank except in the center print THANKS.
Phillip Daaga Redmond
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city’s agenda and how the city is handling their tax dollars.” Quality of Life survey data for 2015 reports a continued decline in citizen satisfaction, despite frequent claims that citizens are engaged in two-way conversations and have their views valued in city decisions. In fact, for the last six years, trend lines for communications, quality of life and city job ratings are not positive. Redmond’s citizen survey data shows that a large portion of our community does not feel engaged with city decisionmaking or feel confident of its strategic direction. Further, based on my experience with land-use matters, citizens concerned about specific development issues do not have their views regarded as much as those developer customers who have benefitted from the touted LEAN initiative in City Hall. Initially, Budgeting by Priorities program development engaged more citizens earlier in the process than is the case today. Now, there is just a small citizen panel that reviews and ranks for consideration budget proposals from city staff. Although 1,400 people completed a simplistic online survey this year, more substantive comments were received from residents during the hearing process. Eighteen pages of testimony and public comments were ultimately either ignored or summarily dismissed without any explanation — hardly the sign of an administration that is responsive to commu-
nity input. Fields’ candidacy has raised the level of discourse on community issues significantly. I applaud his courageous leadership in challenging the machine. I’m voting Fields for mayor and ask that you will, too.
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PUBLIC NOTICES KING COUNTY DEPT. OF PERMITTING & ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW (DPER) 35030 SE Douglas St., Ste. 210, Snoqualmie WA 98065-9266 NOTICE OF PERMIT APPLICATION REQUEST(S): Building Permit (ADDC) & Shoreline Exemption Request (SHOR) File No(s).: ADDC15-0358 & SHOR15-0029 Applicant: Stanbrooke Custom Homes Location: 11715 Kelly Rd NE Duvall Proposal: Replace exist. 16x24 foot bridge w/new abutments for S/F residence driveway/access Project Manager: Kim Claussen 206-477-0329 COMMENT PROCEDURES: DPER will issue an environmental determination on this application following a 21-day comment period that ends on October 19, 2015. Written comments and additional information can be obtained by contacting the Project Manager at the phone number listed above. Published in Redmond Reporter September 25, 2015. #1401090.
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KING COUNTY DEPT. OF PERMITTING & ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW (DPER) 35030 SE Douglas St., Ste. 210, Snoqualmie WA 98065-9266 NOTICE OF PERMIT APPLICATIONS REQUEST(S): Conditional Use Permit File(s): CDUP15-0011 Applicant: Steven Jewett Pavillion/PRM Properties LLC Site location: 13533 Odell Road NE Duvall WA 98019 Proposal: Construct 5 enclosed greenhouses to produce wholesale recreational marijuana & utilize existing indoor structures for support operations. Site is 8.6 acres zoned Rural Area with a based density of one dwelling unit per five acres (RA-5) Production area is limited to a max. aggregate total of 30,000 Sq. Ft. that is no more than 10 percent larger than that combined area Project Manager: Nancy Hopkins Goree COMMENT PROCEDURES: DPER will issue a decision on this application following a 21 day comment period ending on October 29, 2015, written comments and additional information can be obtained by contacting the Project Manager listed above. Published in the Redmond Reporter on September 25, 2015. #1419507.