The blog entries published in a recent issue of the Kitsap Sun debating universal healthcare seemed to me to totally miss the point. One side argued we have the best health care available on the planet, and socializing medicine will significantly reduce the quality, but not necessarily the cost.

The other side claimed the problem is not enough people have access to healthcare because of the cost, which is driven up by greedy drug manufacturers and insurance companies.

Neither side explored the real reason for much of the high costs — the one missing in most other countries — lawyers. Lawyers have made suing healthcare providers — as well as just about everyone else with deep pockets — into a uniquely American industry.

This isn’t to say there aren’t justifiable lawsuits. But the bottom line is medical costs are so high because doctors and other healthcare providers are forced to protect themselves from frivolous lawsuits by ordering myriads of high-dollar tests, x-rays and more, they believe are unnecessary, for no other reason than to protect themselves from lawyers.

The fact both sides ignored this simple truth is indicative of just how invested we’ve become in the polarization resulting from the unending class warfare perpetuated by both political parties.

The Port of Bremerton will consider an annexation petition by the City of Bremerton on its April 22 agenda. Given the existing Inter-local agreements, established County-Wide Planning Policies, and Urban Growth Area (UGA) association templates already in place, which require a joint process for annexation by any jurisdiction, that’s somewhat, but not totally, surprising.

However, it’s the private landowners whose property adjoins the Port, and is part of the South Kitsap Industrial Area (SKIA), that are driving the request. They want to develop their land, and have been stymied for the past decade by Kitsap County’s planning dictates as well as Hearings Board rulings brought about by GMA appeals. They want their land annexed into a city, so they can develop under that city’s planning rules. The closest city to SKIA with a possible future contiguous boundary, is Bremerton. What stands between Bremerton and the privately-owned land inside SKIA, is the Port property.

SKIA was initially created as the main location for new jobs in Kitsap County, with a projected build-out of about 9,000 jobs over 20 years. In over six years, not a single job has been created because of the county planning rules environmentalists politically muscled through, amounting to what is in essence a “Poison Pill” making development prohibitively expensive. They hypocritically got to have it both ways — being able to publicly posture supporting economic development, while assuring it couldn’t happen.

While the landowners’ actions are certainly understandable, the taxpayers have a significantly larger stake in SKIA’s development than all the landowners combined — and their interests must be considered first and foremost, since they’re expected to foot the bill for the needed infrastructure.

An existing inter-local agreement Memorandum of Understanding for Joint Planning between Kitsap County, Bremerton and Port Orchard, which was signed in 1998, mandates a joint process for Planning, Annexation, Growth Assumptions, Infrastructure, Future Agreements of Responsibility, and Governance.

The Gorst/SKIA Sewer Feasibility Study found having Port Orchard provide sewer service rather than Bremerton, saved taxpayers nearly $2 million. Port Orchard and the Westsound Utility District (formerly Karcher Creek Sewer District) have demonstrated a commitment to SKIA by completing a $21 million expansion of their Joint Wastewater Treatment Facility. The upgrades were sized specifically to satisfy the increased sewer capacity required to service SKIA.

Meanwhile, Bremerton, which claimed it needed a bond issue (that failed) just to fix it’s streets, must not be in a financial position to fund the necessary sewer infrastructure — which is miles away from its first priority, downtown and the waterfront. For the Port to try and levy even more taxes to do so, would be seriously inadvisable in this political climate, and the landowners certainly aren’t standing around with their checkbooks open. So who is expected to do what Port Orchard and Westsound Utilities have already done?

Meanwhile, Bremerton’s own Comprehensive Plan concludes its industrial land capacity needs have already been met within its existing city limits — for the next 20-year planning horizon. Bremerton annexing the Port is guaranteed to generate a GMA appeal (rumor has it one is already being prepared), which could further stymie the landowners for years to come.

It simply makes sense for everyone — the landowners, the Port, Bremerton and Port Orchard — to honor the existing agreement and negotiate within that framework, rather than risk the wrath of a Hearings Board, which has already demonstrated its propensity to rule punitively against anything Kitsap.

Finally, this issue marks our 20th anniversary publishing the Business Journal, and April 1, the 29th anniversary of our company, Wet Apple Media.

Chronicling how local and state politics impact the business community has been a dream job for me in many ways.

I’d like to take this opportunity to express a humble and heartfelt “Thank You” to all the people who have contributed to our success. — but especially our crew at Wet Apple whose dedication has allowed me the freedom to become involved in public service, and to our advertisers. Without the support of both, this paper simply wouldn’t be possible.

But most of all, I want to recognize my partner, confidante, sounding board, advisor, wife, and all-time best friend, Dee. “Thank You” doesn’t begin to express the huge debt of gratitude in my heart.