Dear Commuter,
Make a Date for Apr. 23, 7 p.m., at the Hansville Community Center
Set a New Bump-Free Agenda for Road Safety in Hansville
Tell Bauer Hansville Citizens Want a Smooth Future, Not a Bumpy One!
Commentary by John Hostvedt
April 15, 2008 -- Commissioner Steve Bauer is worried about you. He thinks the speed bump issue here in Hansville is a little too tough for you to understand so he plans to educate you at an April 23 meeting that he set up. Aren't we lucky! I wonder if there will be a test at the end.
We have to wonder if he's read the textbook we sent him. It's a big fat petition that most of you in Hansville signed. Maybe we can quiz him on it just to find out if he's read it. It does have a lot of bullet points and might be a little complicated for Mr. Bauer to understand. So while he's educating you on the complicated issue of our speed bumps, perhaps he can listen long enough to be educated by you. We're not going to hold our breath, however.
Frankly, most of us feel this meeting isn't necessary since the voices of those wanting these speed bumps removed have been overwhelmingly. The process by which these bumps were installed was badly flawed. Spend five minutes at this website or go straight to the "horse's mouth" and spend five minutes with a stack of county records and it's very plain to see.
We're sure that you'll hear all the horror stories about a dog getting hit by a car on Twin Spits road. You'll hear about the crazed speeders on Hood Canal Dr. Bring your violins, my friends. You'll hear it all, again and again and again. On video Feb. 25th, Bauer said the speed bumps are protecting people in wheelchairs rolling down the road. He said we need these bumps to protect the llamas. Yes, no kidding. He said that. And to protect pets not on leashes. Your travel is disrupted for this. And he's OK with it. Sure, why not. He doesn't have to drive them.
Bauer wants to soldier on with more evening meetings and committees to see how long you'll last before you throw in the towel in disgust. He's blind to your petition and blind to your emails. The arrogance he exhibited as a Bellevue city manager in the late 90s is still alive and well. See Seattle Times article.
Doesn't Hansville deserve better leadership? Bauer insists on having this meeting so lets give him a meeting to remember. Join us!. We know it's inconvenient. We know it's annoying. And we know that Bauer is likely to manipulate this Apr. 23 meeting in any way he can to favor retention of the speed bumps. But don't let him get away with it. As a primary architect of these speed bumps, we think he's the least appropriate person to run this meeting and we've told him so. But he refuses to step aside. It's for our sake after all. He has to explain it to us all. It's oh so complicated.
So join us April 23 at 7 p.m. Join us in telling Bauer that his bumps and his "road committee" campaign contributors don't represent the values of Hansville. Tell Bauer that the folks of Hansville want a smooth future, not a bumpy one!
If anything else, it's sure to be a night to remember. Be sure to bring your cameras and camcorders to capture all the fun. We'll be happy to publish your best shots.
March 3, 2008 -- The Road Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC), a group sponsored by the increasingly controversial Greater Hansville Area Advisory Council (GHAAC), canceled its Tuesday, March 4th, 7 p.m. meeting today giving mixed messages to inquiries as to why the meeting was canceled.
The meeting was to be held at the Driftwood Key home owner's association clubhouse despite protests by home owners who have raised objections to allowing the political group to continue to convene there.
Committee Member John Wiegenstein indicated that he was told the meeting was canceled due to the illness of other committee members. At the same time, a hearing-impaired Hansville resident had requested an interpreter for the meeting and was told by a committee co-chair that the RSAC was a private organization that wasn't obligated to provide hearing-impaired accommodation. When the resident called Kitsap County Commissioner Steve Bauer's office, she received a different story. A Bauer aide explained that RSAC was, in fact, acting on behalf of the county as an arm of its government and would comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act request. This is consistent with a Washington Assistant Attorney General opinion that GHAAC and its committees are subject to laws that govern governmental groups. For more, click here.
Later Monday afternoon after the call to Bauer's office, the RSAC meeting was canceled by co-chair Patricia Pinkham. A need for a larger venue was cited as the reason. It remains unclear what actually prompted the meeting cancellation.
The RSAC has not meet since Dec. 4, 2007, when committee members were confronted by angry area residents demanding the immediate removal of speed bumps (also known as speed tables) on Hood Canal Dr., Bridgeview Dr., and Twin Spits Rd. The bumps were installed in October of 2007 by Kitsap County at the urging of GHAAC and RSAC followed immediately by accusations by committee members that the county's public works crew failed to comply with "speed table" specifications.
Committee members accused the county of making the bumps too high, however most residents opposing the bumps want them removed regardless of their size, saying such "traffic calming devices" are extremely inappropriate for commuter, thoroughfare, and emergency response routes. The bumps also violate the county's policy against placing such devices on collector/arterial roads.
Repeated requests for actual engineering drawings and "as builts" of the speed bumps by this website and by other area residents have been ignored. The county did provide some crude child-like drawings of the speed tables that don't clearly show how the devices were to be constructed.
Petitions containing the signatures of more than 600 area residents who are demanding the immediate removal of the speed bumps were presented to County Commissioners Bauer and Jan Angel on February 25th. An additional copy was left for Commissioner Josh Brown who didn't attend the meeting. Seven days have now passed and there has been no response from Kitsap County to the petitioners demand, causing speculation by many that direct legal action may be necessary.
As of this March 3, 2008, website update, no information was available on future RSAC meeting dates or locations.
NOTE: If you have information about RSAC and its activities, please contact info@beep4bumps.com. Neither the RSAC nor its parent group GHAAC has responded to records requests and all information obtained by this website regarding RSAC's activities had to be obtained via public disclosure demands of the Public Information Office of Kitsap County.
March 2, 2008 -- Authors of Beep4bumps.com and other Driftwood Key concern citizens are asking that the Driftwood Key Board of Trustees stand behind its recent unanimous vote disavowing a relationship with the Greater Hansville Area Advisory Council (GHAAAC). In a vote last month, trustees voted to tell Kitsap County that it was not represented by GHAAC and that it wants its own relationship with the county.
In conjunction with that, some DK residents are asking that the trustees ban GHAAC and its committees like RSAC from using DK facilities. GHAAC is a political interest group and as such, is prohibited from using DK facilities by rules set forth by the United States Internal Revenue Service. In addition, GHAAC does not pay DK homeowner dues and has no inherent right to the use of Driftwood Key community facilities.
Despite that, however, the "Greater Hansville Log," a publication of the Greater Hansville Community Center, which must also abide by similar IRS rules as a non-profit, says in its March 2008 issue that the road committee plans to meet at 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 4, at the Driftwood Key Clubhouse. DK residents are urging DK members to attend the meeting with both still and video cameras to record the event (see article below) and to ask that RSAC hold its meetings elsewhere.
"GHAAC has had a free ride for far too long in inappropriately setting public policy for the citizens of North Kitsap County without being elected by anyone. It's time to ask them to fold up their tents and go home," said one angry DK resident.
Such a meeting at DK facilities calls into serious question Driftwood Key's non-profit tax status according to at least one former DK trustee who did not want his/her name used.
A DK resident, who has researched this issue extensively, says that to allow GHAAC and its committees to use clubhouse facilities could have dramatic and long-lasting and highly negative effects on homeowner dues if DK's delicate non-profit status were revoked by the IRS. Property taxes on communal waterfront and view property would be substantial. The resident provides the following report:
Non-profits are exempt from federal income tax, state and local property taxes, from state B&O taxes. This applies to income received as grants, donations, membership dues & fees.
IRS law: "With the enactment of the Revenue Act of 1954, Congress barred section 501(3)(3) tax-exempt organizations (including churches) from political campaign intervention by adding language to the Internal Revenue Code that disqualifies them from exemption if they participate in, or intervene in (including the publicizing or distributing of statements) any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for political office. In 1987, Congress amended....with "in opposition to" as well as on behalf of.
"If a non-profit engages in a political campaign activity, it becomes classified as an action organization and may be disqualified for tax-exempt status."
"Prohibited Activities:
"Although the IRS allows 501(c)(3) organizations to deal with moral, social, or economic ISSUES during election years, non-profits are not allowed to engage in political intervention by using "code words" (e.g. Conservative, liberal, anti-gun)." Nobody in the room is permitted to have signs, T-shirts or buttons for or against a candidate.
Steve Bauer's Kitsap County Commissioner bio mentions "his active leadership in his Hansville community includes serving as president of the Hansville Community Center Board (2006). While he is not currently an executive board member of GHA, he was the founder and minutes of their meetings indicate he is the single most influential person at every one of their meetings. He is now a candidate for election, in an election year.
I maintain that no conversation about the speed bumps makes sense if it does not talk about the 2 commissioners who got those bumps (Endresen and Bauer) and the commissioner who now will not let us speak to him unless we go through his GHAAC.
By the same token, GHAAC is a political action committee. They were founded by and are currently intricately wound up with Steve Bauer, a politician who is now running for election. For DK to give anything of value, including shelter or any other assistance, to GHAAC or to Bauer would violate the non-profit laws.
If DK lost non-profit status it would cost us fines, attorney salaries, and probably a 10-fold increase in our dues, to pay the going rate on view property, waterfront property, docks, clubhouse, pool, and parkland.
February 27, 2008 -- Beep4bumps.com was asked to post a notice on this website by Patricia Pinkham, co-chair of the Greater Hansville Area Advisory Council's Road Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC), saying that the RSAC Feb. 28th special meeting set up by appointed Kitsap County Commissioner Steve Bauer is canceled. The meeting was to be at the Hansville Community Center at Buck Lake.
In an email to beep4bumps, Pinkham said, "The scope of the meeting has widened partly due to your delivery of the petitions to the Board of Commissioners meeting this past Monday. As well as giving representatives from the County enough time to schedule their attendance at such a meeting. There is the apparent need for a larger venue because of what appears to be a wider interest than at first thought."
Even as the email came in, residents phoned beep4bumps to report that road-side signs were just placed on Hood Canal Dr. and Hansville Roads announcing the Feb. 28th meeting and there was some confusion as to whether it was canceled or not.
Pinkham said that the meeting would take place sometime in March and did not specify a location.
Concern North Kitsap County residents, who collected over 600 signatures demanding the immediate removal of Hansville speed bumps have made it clear that their demands are directed at Kitsap County government, regardless of what GHAAC or RSAC decide to do.
See related petition story by clicking here. Also see "Help Us Bring GHAAC Out of the Shadows" below.
On an amusing note, one speed bump advocate wrote to Bauer saying the speed bump opponent petitioners aren't from Hansville. See the Gordon Fountain letter by clicking here. One has to wonder if some rascals in Nebraska have busily signed petitions to remove Hansville bumps and actually went that extra step to sign with 600-plus actual Hansville, Washington, addresses. Thanks Nebraska!
February 24, 2008 -- Beep4bumps.com is recommending that you help us bring the Greater Hansville out of the shadows. Bring your camera to GHAAC meetings that you attend and distribute photos to the local media, including this web site, so concerned North Kitsap County residents can see who is making public policy in their names.
Timothy Ford, Washington's Assistant Attorney General, rendered a legal opinion recently saying that because of GHAAC's status as the "official" voice of Hansville given to it by the Kitsap County Commission June 18, 2007, the GHAAC is accountable to the state's laws regarding open meetings and open records. As such, their meetings are public and participants are subject to being photographed. Any wholesale prohibition of cameras at such meetings is illegal.
GHAAC has not responded to requests for records, studies, and minutes related to the speed bump and other traffic issues. All records on this site have been obtained through records requests through Kitsap County.
On Feb. 28th Residents Urged to Join Road Safety Advisory Committee and Committee's Working Groups to Demand Immediate Speed Bump Removal
February 10, 2008 -- The Road Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC), at the directive of Kitsap County Commissioner Steve Bauer, is holding a special meeting at 7 p.m., Feb. 28, at the Greater Hansville Community Center, Buck Lake Park, to form two working groups that will make recommendations on the Speed Bumps.
In December, the road group adjourned until March amid controversy over the speed bumps. However, at Bauer's urging, they're cutting their vacations short to meet this month.
The lone anti-speed bump RSAC member, John Wiegenstein, was not informed of the Feb. 28th session. See his e-mail to committee officials by clicking here.
Beep4bumps and other concerned citizens of North Kitsap County urge community members opposed to the bumps to join one of the two groups or the committee itself and demand immediate removal of the speed bumps. No criteria has been given on who may join the working groups or the committee. If you are refused membership, we ask you to contact info@beep4bumps.com to let us know so that we can convey that information here.
One working group, according to Bauer's directive to RSAC, is to not consider removal of the controversial bumps, but rather, "the goal should be to minimize the impact as much as possible while still achieving the original goal of limiting speeds to the posted limit or slightly above." It's unclear what this means. See the Feb. 2008 Hansville Log, page 4.
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RSAC Hears Complaints at Dec. 4 Meeting; Adjourns Until March 2008
Beep4bumps provides this page to publish commentary and observations on the Road Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC) of the Greater Hansville Area Advisory Council (GHAAC). We invite you to submit your thoughts for this page buy emailing us at info@beep4bumps.com.
How You Can Help
Commentary by Therese Reilly --
I attended the December 4th RSAC meeting at my community center in Driftwood Key. I was there with approximately 40 residents, many of whom I recognized as fellow DK’ers and new friends from Shorewoods. I went to the meeting to state publicly my disapproval of the actions RSAC has taken in deference to our communities of Driftwood Key, Twin Spits and Shorewoods, as well as support those who also resent the committee for creating the controversy, and others who now see this once benign “garden club” growing into a malignant mess, with way too much influence with our county representatives and our taxpayer money.
My belief in the utter overextension of this group was underscored by some very simple actions these “hands-on” people did during the meeting:
This RSAC have shown their true colors. Do they take responsibility for their actions? No. Instead they blamed their detractors. They blamed us.
We, the 36% of which, for employment and other reasons, have other residences outside the community, some out of state, for not being at meetings advertised just days before.
We, the 24-7 residents who spend hours going to and from work every day, and putting in a full day’s work in between, for being just too tired to attend meetings or join committees, or spend our evenings and weekends looking at websites and researching public policy.
We, the few who did speak up at meetings when we could, for being discouraged after repeatedly being shouted at to “shut up” and “go home”.
We, the Kitsap County constituents, for trusting the Fire Department and the county to say NO to slowing down emergency vehicles by placing barriers on collector roads- the only roads to our three communities.
We, the DK and Shorewoods residents, for expecting the GHAAC and it’s subcommittees to represent us not just the residents on a scant four miles of North Kitsap. Hell, they don’t want to represent all of us – they don’t even want us to know what they look like!
This group and its parent committee GHAAC don’t know the BASICS of representing the public. They don’t follow established rules for public meetings. They ignored and violated established criteria for county roads. And during the decision process for these bumps the committee was overrepresented by residents on a scant four miles of North Kitsap County, and LACKED representation of larger communities, such as the approximately 1,000 homes in Driftwood Key and Shorewoods.
But I think they played their hand too early. Yes, for now they, (and unfortunately, US) have their bumps. And I along with many many others am beeping mad about it. But now we know what they are and what they are capable of. And we can still fix this problem.
Join me in writing and calling our STATE representatives to step in and help repair the damage to our county. Ask our state and county representatives to assist in getting real funding for a real solution – curbing, sidewalks, and bike paths.
Write to the Hansville Post Office to ask for better ways to distribute mail. Ask for ways in which the elderly can get their mail WITHOUT crossing OUR roads.
Write to the Attorney General for an investigation on the misappropriation of county funds, lack of open meetings, lack of public records, and the misrepresentations and deceptions of GHAAC and RSAC in obtaining nearly $50,000 of our taxes for ten speed bumps infront of their own homes.
File complaints with the Washington State’s Human Rights Commission if you find yourself physically hurt by being forced to take the bumps in order to travel to and from your home.
File a complaint with the County and State Commerce division if your livelihood is being compromised, your trucks are being unduly stressed, your fleet maintenance costs are increasing, your goods damaged, or the costs for goods delivered increasing, all because you or your vendors are being forced to take these bumps to do a job.
Write to the Driftwood Key and Shorewoods boards to DEMAND DISBANDING THE GHAAC AND REPLACE IT WITH A TRUE N. KITSAP COUNCIL UNDER THE FOLLOWING MANDATE:
COMMITTEES REFLECT THE POPULATION AND NOT THE POPULAR
If the RSAC and GHAAC truly represented north Kitsap, half of the committee would NOT live on these four miles of road, and these scant four miles would not have the influence they have now.
REJECT the notion that it’s too late. It’s not. And because you didn’t make a meeting, or didn’t read a website, or live too far to make a 7pm meeting, or can’t afford to take time off to join a committee, does NOT mean you don’t have a voice. Take action in another way. Together we can remedy what has happened here.
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Committee Needs to Stop Hiding in the Shadows
Commentary by John Hostvedt --
What do the Road Safety Advisory Committee members have to hide? They met Dec. 4 to a full house at the Driftwood Key Clubhouse and set aside 30 minutes for opponents to vent their anger with the speed bumps on Hood Canal Drive and Twin Spits Road. When a couple of audience members, including Therese Reilly, raised cameras to take a few photos at this "public" meeting, they demanded that their photos not be taken. And after the public had its precious 30 minutes, they had the nerve to insist on spitting back a "rebuttal" only to further insult us by adjourning their bumpy little group until March. What should we make of that?
They are so fearful that you, the citizens they pretend to represent, might discover who they actually are -- at, for example, the post office or grocery store by seeing their faces on a website or in print -- they squirm in fright at the prospect of having their photos taken at a public meeting.
We all need to ask some important questions. Let's start with: Is this what we want for our community?
This is a committee with a plainly obvious conflict of interest. Most of them live on or very near the new speed bumps. Imagine the coinsidence involved here! Wow! And at least one committee member, Steve Minor, of bumpy Hood Canal Drive, couldn't even show up for meetings in November and December. What's the matter Steve? You got your bumps, so don't you want to play this manipulative game any more? Is the fun all gone?
The RSAC and its parent group, the Greater Hansville Area Advisory Committee (GHAAC), along with former County Commissioner Chris Endresen, manipulated the county into coughing up nearly $50,000 of your tax dollars to install speed bumps to, in effect, appease themselves. Ms Endresen had the sweetest deal of all. She cast her vote for the bumps and left, leaving her replacement, Commissioner Steve Bauer, holding the bumpy bag. But does Bauer display any sense of accountability for this mess? Nope. He's AWOL, but he did take the time to give conditions by which he'll engage folks in the debate. Don't take my word for it. Read his comments here for yourself. My take on Bauer's conditions is this: First agree with me, then agree to do things my way, and then we'll talk.
As I told the committee Dec. 4, I'm angry and I make no apology for it. These selfish bump-front residents, aka committee members, don't care about the fact that you use these roads. They only care that they can get their mail or walk their dog along roads that are made, not for people, but for cars. When proposals were made for sidewalks or bike paths in the past, many of these same residents squealed in anguish at such an idea. They'd rather force you and your neighbors to a crawl when driving past their homes. And some actually have the audacity to complain that many residents are expressing their frustration with their car horns. If you need the bumps, take your damn beeps. We've had enough.
I own a house on a dead end street and I'm glad of it. They should have purchased homes on dead end streets too. But they didn't. They bought homes on North Kitsap County thoroughfares, highways that we ALL use. The county calls them "collector" roads. They're not, according to county policy, eligible for speed bump devices at all. These residents knew their homes were on these roads before purchasing them. There are no sudden revelations or surprises here. But despite the fact that they bought their homes with that knowledge, they now want to treat our county thoroughfares as their dead ends -- their own personal driveways. That's wrong. Their selfish actions are putting our emergency responses at risk. They're creating inconveniences for delivery trucks. They're wasting our tax money. They're making life miserable for disabled people who experience physical pain in transit over the bumps again and again. And they are, in a word, degrading our quality of life.
They probably think this website is stirring up opposition. And they're right. But it certainly isn't creating any hostility that isn't already aimed squarely against them as a result of actions that they took.
Its time North Kitsap County residents reject GHAAC's road manipulating activities and take a strong proactive approach. Write to your state representatives. Write to the Washington State Department of Transportation. Write to the Washington State Attorney General.
After what I saw on Dec. 4, RSAC and GHAAC are just not worthy of your time or mine. A committee that, in effect, says "Please hold. Your call is important to us. It will be answered in the order it was received sometime at the end of the first quarter of next year -- how about March-ish -- if we're not busy lowering your speed limits or.... beeeeep!"
No thanks!
Just remember, when the RSAC members start pointing their fingers at agitators who are pitting neighbor against neighbor in this ugly mess, they had better be doing so in a mirror.
