March 2005
Sleepless in Lakewood
"I say we go with Coach Cannon's definition."
They say a man's worst fear is that he'll hear his wife say another man's name in her sleep. This was a name I did not know. I wasn't too worried to hear Coach Cannon's name -- not in that context. And besides, Coach Cannon could be a woman. I'll have to remember to ask Cindy.
I am more worried about being awake in order to hear my wife utter those words at 4:30 a.m. I've been up since 2:30, a little earlier than usual in my occasional pattern. Yep, it's a pattern. Everyone measures stress is different ways. On my meter, stress shows up when I start to bolt awake every day at 3 a.m. In my life, this pattern first showed up when my mother was ill, and then later when my father was ill. I'd worry about many events of the day, many possibilities, and all the approaches and actions I might take.
The insomnia surfaced again in 2003 when I had the strange idea of running for public office. And then it surfaced again in early 2004, when, as many of you know, my supervisor in my day job resigned and I became an acting director of a very busy office.
So now the insomnia is back.
Wonderful.
I suspect much of it has to do with the fact that Steve Dunkelberger and I have a signed contract to provide a publisher with 220 photographs of Lakewood, with captions. Yikes. Yes, that's part of it. But heck, Steve and I have been on publication deadlines before. We're writers. This is what we do.
No, I think at least part of what's waking me now is that our city chose a new city manager.
You would think, of course, that choosing a city manager would resolve worries, not create new ones. Have you ever been able to talk with me about Lakewood without me bringing up the challenge of hiring a new city manager?
Part of the platform I ran on in 2003 was that it was important the city focus on hiring a good city manager. The job is incredibly important to the conduct of public policy in a new city. The job is vital to all that public policy entails: fiscal responsibility, transparency in the conduct of government, wise manager of public staff, and all the customer service responsibilities that come with the taking of tax dollars.
So now we've chosen a city manager. And now I find myself in the same spot I was in when the issues that caused my insomnia resolved. I ask the same question I asked when my parents passed away, which was the same question I asked when I was elected - and the same question I asked when the chaos at UW stabilized.
What do I do now?
So Lakewood has a new city manager. What does Lakewood do now?
The things that wake you up are often not the good things. And while we were choosing a city manager - a process that really began when our retiring city manager announced his plans years ago - some of those things have built up. The people who voted against cityhood, or chose not to vote, are still my neighbors. They have been able to find many reasons to say that cityhood was not a good idea or that the city made mistakes. A number of tough choices had to be made, and not everyone was happy.
The fact that the cityhood campaign has continued has added a layer of complexity to Lakewood. In most cities today, if you want to write a letter to the editor complaining about something or demanding action, you write something to the effect of "I pay taxes, so I want everyone to do ____" But in Lakewood, the cityhood campaign has never ended. That's fair. The debate has continued about whether cityhood was the right thing to do. The debate continues about whether cityhood is exercised responsibility. Perhaps that is why we so often look back. A letter to the editor in Lakewood has an extra twist, "I pay taxes, so I want everyone to do ____ because this is why we became a city."
People predisposed to find fault with the city - to emphasize the negative - have found a lot of traction:
- The choice of a fancy looking City Hall that requires expensive maintenance;
- The odd detour of the whole theme park proposal;
- The ham-handed idea of putting sex shops only in areas largely owned by Korean-Americans;
- The police bond issue which lost, and after which the city government miraculously came up with a plan to build a station without any damage to our budget (and did I mention the budget is burning through more than $2 million dollars in reserves during 2005 and 2006?)
These are only a few examples, and there are explanations and rationalizations behind all of them and the others. Those explanations range from indefensible, to honest error and misunderstanding - as well as "Hey, it sounded like a good idea at the time...".
But all these events have reinforced the concerns of people who believe that cityhood is being handled badly. Sometimes it was. But that’s no reason to assume massive fault and keep looking back – it’s reason to step forward, to learn from our mistakes and missteps, and do better next time.
It is only right to complain about poor policy. I'm on record as saying we botched our budget this year in bad ways. We're overspending, and we failed to explain our finances to the public in a responsible way. So don't forget I still stand by those criticisms when I say the following: In my most depressed moments, I think it’s grossly unfair and short-sighted that hardly anyone in Lakewood is putting the same level of scrutiny and expectations on other governments that spend your tax dollars: the Clover Park School District, the fire district, the water district, the library district, or the boards of the community colleges - or, for that matter, the the state agency that controls Western State Hospital. I don't mean just in the sense of criticizing - I mean in terms of paying attention to them and demanding accountability from them. Heck, do you have any idea how the state government is spending your money?
I can pull out the one-volume Lakewood budget and go into pretty decent detail. Try that with Washington state budget.
I'm not asking you to file a bunch of public records act requests on those agencies, or start going to their meetings. But I do hope people put their interest in Lakewood city government in perspective. Just because it is the most-watched government does not mean it needs to be watched more than other governments. For example, it's not uncommon to hear people criticize Lakewood city staff. Individuals are sometimes accused of being overpaid, and not working hard enough. In any large organization, these issues come up, but in general, that's a hard-working group in the city. It is much easier to monitor the performance of one person in a small city than to monitor one person in a state agency of 20,000. I worked in state government, folks; I know this is true. But the people in the three-story building across from Gottshalks make a convenient target in a political battle that is, as I say, been going on for a long time and shows no sign of ending.
Of course, there are reasons people care so passionately about their city government, more so than other governments. The city of Lakewood is you and me, and it has enormous responsibilities. And those responsibilities, such as police protection, are pretty high profile. Because Lakewood is so accessible, it is easy to find fault with it. And I have no right to complain - I did not run for the school board or water board. I ran for City Council. You elected me. I remain grateful. I remain hopeful.
The thing that gives me hope is that, if you wipe away the colorful bug marks on the windshield, and take in the whole scene, the picture is pretty clear. Crime is down. Period. Violent crime is down by 45 percent since 1997. Overall crime is down 23 percent. If nothing else had been said or done, and despite of everything else said and done, that alone is a reason for pride in Lakewood. The streets look better, with more sidewalks and lights. More than 12 miles of sidewalks have been added (yeah, I know, not always in the right ways) Kids have sidewalks near many of the schools. The city has hauled away more than 3,000 junked cars.
And the one thing we could promise with certainty - that local government would be accessible to citizens - is true. Sure, there's bureaucracy in government. That's true of City Hall. But if you want to raise an issue with Lakewood - if you want to get attention - it's pretty easy. Things may not change right away, or you may not like the answer, and some issues inevitably get lost or misplaced in the shuffle. But I challenge you to go to Pierce County government and get the same level of response.
Hey, go get the Pierce County Council to spend the sewer fees we pay here in Lakewood to extend sewers for the poorer parts of our community. Convince them not to spend Lakewood tax dollars on a luxury golf course suitable for entertaining the rich and holding soirees to kick off statewide election campaigns.
Good luck to you. Don't forget to write.
The greatest challenge may be that as Lakewood gets ready to celebrate its 10th birthday, the critics seem louder than the optimists. It's simply too easy to criticize any level of government for not spending wisely, because it is always possible to spend more wisely. It's simply too easy to criticize public employees for not providing enough customer service, because you can never provide enough customer service. It's too easy to blast away at City Hall when, in fact, the city of Lakewood accounts for 15 percent of your property tax and pretty darn little of your federal taxes.
Perhaps the underlying issue is that we all lack this sense of proportion and context. Maybe it's just me - and if so, tell me - but I sense that the people who proposed cityhood are a little tired and on the defensive. The critics have had a field day, because some actions of the city were mistakes.
The city grappled with surprises that could never be predicted in the original campaigns. The original idea of cityhood never envisioned that the revenues of the city would be cut by 30 percent by political actions on the state level. But we return to the original theme. We will soon welcome a new city manager. This is equivalent in your life to welcoming a new teacher or supervisor. It's a big deal.
Will we be able to turn new management into a refreshed and invigorated city? Or will we lose our vision amidst the latest controversy? Now that we have a city manager - what do we do next? How do we build, and not wallow?
I have my ideas, and I know you do as well. Hopefully, you’re not waking up at 2:30 to think of them! My April column will be a modest proposal to perhaps help our city feel a little better as a city - the equivalent, I hope, of a shower and outfit of fresh clothes. Or not. You may not agree with my next column. But hopefully it will inspire you to suggest alternatives.
We will carry on, look ahead – not back - and do our best. All of us are united by the same interest in our community. I am sure other people wake up in the middle of the night as well. They wake up because they worry that tax dollars are misspent, or that government is doing bad things in their neighborhood or city. Here's just one example: Another level of government sold valuable property in the middle of one of my old neighborhoods near Lake Louise. The people nearby worry about the effects of those new homes. I wouldn't blame those people for waking up at night. The struggle to save Lakewood, and make it better, will continue as long as there is a Lakewood.
We wouldn't be waking up in the middle of the night unless we cared. We care deeply about this town.
And while we worry, our shared concern for our community is something of great comfort.
It's 5:20. The alarm goes off at 6:30. Dang. Time to get some rest.