LETTERS
CITY COUNCIL
Strong, sound government needs debate
From the front page of Jan. 7 Redmond Reporter, it appears that the Redmond Reporter is almost as enamored with Redmond’s elected politicians as they are with themselves.
The six pictured white, middle brow, conventional males and two females seem content and smugly satisfied to march in lockstep.
As former Speaker of the House of Representatives Sam Rayburn once remarked, when two people agree on everything, only one of them is doing the thinking.
The question in Redmond is which one of the eight is thinking for the other seven.
In the Jan. 7 article, Councilmember Richard Cole claims that boring meetings are a good problem to have. He may be an expert on that subject, but he is wrong.
Good government comes from a rigorous debate, from a clash of ideas, from opposing philosophies bumping up against one another until there is a synthesis that results in sound policy. Ennui in a community’s politics more often than not brings on apathy rather than vigorous, enlightening involvement.
The poet William Blake noted that “without contraries is no progression.” Dissent from the commonplace wisdom of the day clarifies issues through robust discussion.
Perhaps in the next council election cycle, someone will stand who is willing to spike the Kool-aid punch bowl that the current crop is drinking from.
As a concluding aside for the record and for the Reporter’s readers, it should be noted that the two urban centers are not Mayor Marchione’s vision for Redmond. They have been city policy since the mid-1990s.
Richard L. Grubb
Redmond
SNOW STORM
Trade police officers for snow plows
So the Mayor of Redmond’s excuse for the pathetic response to the snow fiasco in December is that since it only happens so infrequently, every 15 years or so, it does not warrant funding of more snow removal equipment.
Well, in my opinion, every 15 years is too many.
Poor, poor Redmond.
It is unbelievable that a city the size and income of the residents of Redmond can’t afford more equipment.
I have a solution.
Why doesn’t the city get rid of some of the police officers who seem to be on every street corner within the last year and also the gas- guzzling Ford Explorers that some of them drive around in all year long? You’d think with the increase revenue from all the tickets given out that the city could afford to buy a new snow removal truck.
Leslie McCormick
Redmond
