People keep asking me how I like being Mayor and what has changed in my life. The answers are simple: I’m having a great time in a position where it’s possible to actually make a real difference and bring about positive change. What’s changed for me personally is, I now live downtown, after 23 years in quiet, peaceful Manchester. I never realized how much noise living downtown exposes one to, and now know for certain I’d never want to live in a big city.
My wife and I have what can only be termed very different tastes in music. My taste tends to run towards what is known as “Smooth Jazz” — artists like Chris Botti, Ronnie Laws, Norman Brown, David Sandborn, Jeff Lorber, Richard Elliott, Ronnie Jordan, et. al. And vocalists like Anita Baker, Diana Krall, Sade, Basia, and Randy Crawford.
I also like the music I grew up with — “Classic Rock” — the Stones, The Who, The Eagles, Bob Seger, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, Bruce Springsteen, Led Zepplin, and Pink Floyd, along with few one or two hit wonders like Boston and Huey Lewis and the News. Also, selected — but not all of — The Beatles. And anyone who has read this column any length of time already knows I’m a huge Parrothead — or for the uninitiated, a Jimmy Buffett fan.
Growing up in the South, I’m also fond of what’s called “Southern Rock,” from that same era — Charlie Daniels, Marshall Tucker, The Allman Brothers, Lynard Skynard, ZZ Topp, and the more eclectic Leon Russell.
My wife on the other hand tends to favor Headbanger Rock, what I’ve heard called “Drip Rock” (as personified by Jackson Browne), selected Rap, occasional Classical, and she too enjoys Southern Rock. But mostly she likes Country — artists like Keith Urban, Lonestar, George Strait, Garth Brooks, Emmylou Harris, Faith Hill, Alan Jackson, and Toby Keith.
What has struck me most about all this, is how much today’s Country music sounds like a combination of Southern and 70s-era rock with some steel guitar and a small amount of fiddle woven in.
If someone told me in my 20s, that in my 50s, I’d learn to appreciate Country Music, I’d have told them they were nuts.
When I came here in 1975, one of the first things I saw was a bumper sticker with a picture of a bolt, the word, “is,” and a picture of a couple of nuts to fit on the bolt. Translation: “Boldt is Nuts.”
I had no idea at the time who or what Boldt was, but learned it meant Judge George Boldt, author of the infamous court decision saying that according to a treaty signed back in the 1800s, the tribes are entitled to catch half the harvestable salmon.
As a direct result of the Boldt decision, environmentalists have spent the last 20 years or so insisting degradation of the habitat brought on by development is the one and only reason for the decline of our our salmon, and governments have spent millions of our tax dollars defending land use decisions ever since.
I believe development is somewhat of a contributing factor, but for the most part, think where Judge Boldt erred, was in not decreeing the tribes fish using the same methods they did when the treaty was signed. In my view, the most effective method of increasing the salmon population would simply be for the tribes to stop gillnetting at the mouth of the spawning streams, and live by the same land use rules they keep suing us over.
I have worked very hard over the years, including using this column, to promote local business. I’ve been especially hard on local governments, and public agencies insisting they purchase locally at every opportunity. I’ve never advocated that local businesses should get a free pass from the government just because they are local if they aren’t price competitive, but that they should always be given the opportunity to compete — which doesn’t ususally happen.
In fact, when it comes to buying services, Kitsap County, the cities, and most of our quasi-governmental agencies, seem to have a belief that there isn’t the knowledge and/or expertise here to make it even worthwhile to look within our county. They also appear to think that it’s necessary to spend big money (our tax dollars) to get the best quality services.
My experience has been just the opposite. What I have found is that many service providers located here originally came from Seattle — and in many cases California — in search of a better quality of life. It hasn’t diminished their ability to deliver high quality services, but it has in many cases reduced the price. Understanding Kitsap isn’t Seattle and doesn’t command the prices most service providers there can charge, many of these people have willingly traded money for quality of life.
In Port Orchard, I have instituted a simple purchasing policy. Assuming cost competitiveness, our purchasing priorities are to look first within the City itself (that way, at least we recapture a portion of the sales tax we pay), then South Kitsap, Kitsap County, Washington State and then elsewhere — in that order.
So it was a major disappointment to me when the City posted an RFP to redesign our Web site, and out of 28 bids received, only three were from Kitsap-based firms and two from Seattle. The rest were from out of state and came from as far away as Atlanta, New York City, Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, Michigan, and of course, California. We also directly contacted a number of local Web designers whose work we were familiar with, encouraging them to bid as well. Not a single one of them did.
After reviewing the bids we did receive, we decided to revise the specs somewhat and re-advertise the project hoping to draw additional bidders. Hopefully, this time some will be local.
In spite of itself, it looks like the local Republican Party has actually recruited folks to run against every incumbent officeholder except County Auditor and North Kitsap Commissioner. Is it too much to hope that they’ve inadvertantly uncovered some pragmatic moderates who will be able to work well with others and articulate a common sense message? |
