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Update 11/23/2009
Here are the results from the media blitz
|
Entity |
Reports news |
Does not report news |
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The Oregonian |
|
Has no interest in reporting real news |
|
The Columbian |
|
Has no interest in reporting real news |
|
Fox 12 |
|
Has no interest in reporting real news |
|
KOIN |
|
Has no interest in reporting real news |
|
KATU |
|
Has no interest in reporting real news |
|
KING 5 |
|
Has no interest in reporting real news |
|
The Olympian |
|
Has no interest in reporting real news |
|
KOMO |
|
Has no interest in reporting real news |
|
KGW |
|
Has no interest in reporting real news |
How disappointing. I would have thought that at least one entity would be interested in reporting real news instead of the sensationalistic murder/rape/robbery fear mongering that they usually do. I thought that I was fair in waiting 4 months for them to do their job...
However, there is some good news. Our *cough* wonderful Mayor Pollard that allowed and encouraged contractors and developers to get away with this kind of crap has been voted out of office!
Well I think that the moment has come. On Saturday, Aug 1 2009 I submitted over 10 press releases to TV stations and newspapers for Portland Or to Seattle Wa in hopes that the media will expose our city government for the do-nothings that they are.
Dear Media Representative,
Here is a news story that you may be interested in. I live on NE xxSt Avenue between xxth Street and xxth Street in Vancouver Washington and have been battling the city over a matter of public safety for over 2 years. At the time that we moved onto this street over 5 years ago, the north end of the street was barricaded off making the street a dead end road. One of the main reasons that we bought this house was that it was a one way road with very little traffic. Once a year a privately contracted company would come through and patch the road subsidized by extra money that the residents paid into the property tax fund. Sometime in 2007, apparently, the City of Vancouver decided that the barricade at the end of the street needed to be removed and more housing needed to be built down there. As well as more houses being shoehorned onto single house lots along the road. This has presented several problems that the city refuses to address despite several of the residents making several complaints to the city.
1. The city did not at any time notify the home owners of any kind of plan to remove the barricade at the end of the road to the ruination of the neighborhood. 2 years ago, an email from the city spoke of “4 projects” in the works to improve this road’s condition and now the city claims that there are in fact no plans to improve the road conditions. Meanwhile, the residents are stuck using a substandard road with compromised safety.
2. The removal of the barricade has allowed the traffic along our road to become extraordinarily dangerous to anyone that travels along it. The roadway is barely wide enough for 2 cars to pass each other. Most places in the road cars cannot pass each other without going off the roadway and onto the mud. This is in addition to the crumbling road surface and the potholes that dot the road surface up and down the road.
3. Most of the road has no drainage, curbs, sidewalks or street lights. For the length of the road, we have a total of 5 street lights. In short, the condition and state of the road is totally substandard for a residential roadway.
4. Being that the road is only 16 feet wide; the safety of the residents is seriously compromised. Traffic is allowed to travel along the road at whatever speed the vehicles can get up to. I have personally witnessed automobiles traveling along this road at 50 – 60 miles per hour. Rarely do you ever see any vehicle traveling on this road at the posted speed limit of 25 miles per hour. I have almost been hit by speeding cars on several occasions as I walked along the roadside. The city has informed us that vehicles traveling along this road at 40+ mph is not considered a “problem”. The city does not seem to care that kids travel up and down this road on their way to and from school in addition to the residents of the street.
5. The only answer that anyone that has tried to get answers from the city is that they “are not responsible”. And city officials refuse to give any kind of answer that would reveal why the city considers this section of road “safe or adequate” for public use. Since when are cities not responsible for public safety?
6. Of the 3 elected state officials for this area only one responded to complaints regarding this matter and they only responded to say that the state is not responsible for city actions.
I have been struggling with the city of Vancouver for 2+ years trying to get them to at the very least to so something, anything, to fix the conditions on our residential road. So far, the best answer that I can get out of the city is "We are not responsible". Since when are cities not responsible for public safety? Road conditions? Sanitation? That is what we are paying taxes for! So after 2 years of allowing the city the opportunity of correcting these unacceptable conditioins, I have taken this step to publisize that our city has turned their backs on their constituents. Maybe even start a contest giving others the chance to expose their city misbehaving. Maybe if enough people have had enough and publicly air their greivances the cities won't ignore them anymore. Well we can try anyway. Oh and just Vote the Bums Out!
Thanks for visiting.
The events and data are true and correct to the best of my knowledge. The copies of the emails were edited to protect the guilty. All of the photos were personally taken by me. All content is copyright 2009. fightcityhall AT mycitygovernmentsucks DOT com | 
