Skykomish Mayor, Tony Grider, received kudos from Monroe Monitor reporter Chris Hendrickson in her article ‘Deception Falls Trails Open Again‘ which outlined how the Town would now be responsible for maintaining the trails.
While it’s certainly great to see the trail open, let’s review the facts:
This effort was reported as being necessary because the USDA’s U.S. Forest Service has experienced funding cutbacks and could no longer maintain trails and facilities, resulting in their earlier closure.
Why doesn’t the Forest Service have the necessary funding?
Washington State and Federal tax revenue collections are at all time record highs, so funding cutbacks are not due to ‘hard times’ or declining tax receipts.
Is the Forest Service spending all its money on assault rifles, body armor, ammunition, gnarly war wagons and other preparations for the coming Civil War?
- We spend more money on defense than all other nations in the world combined?
- We have more citizens locked up in prisons than all other nations of the world combined?
- We spend more money on surveillance of our own citizens than all other nations in the world combined?
- Our elected representatives allow crony capitalist friends to pay no taxes, pay substandard wages, and along with international banksters, fraudsters and oligarchs, steal everything that isn’t glued down or screwed down?
- We won’t pay our bills, instead we borrow more money than all other nations combined, money that we must then pay interest on to the privately owned, Zionist controlled Federal Reserve.
Are we sitting on bar stools and watching too much TV while our nation, our children and grandchildren are spiritually and financially bankrupted?
SkykomishHotel.com understands the long term value of the Deception Falls trails being open once again. We champion and support the extension and fusion of walking, hiking and bike trails into Skykomish.
But is it wise that Skykomish property owners should have their taxes siphoned off to pay for obligations and services large, powerful, well funded government agencies already agreed to provide?
Skykomish property owners pay local property taxes to maintain public property within Town limits and nowhere else.
If Skykomish were a successful, wealthy town, maybe we could afford to maintain other properties miles away from town.
Do Town employees have so much slack time that they can take on this new burden without neglecting other duties and responsibilities?
Should Mayor Tony Grider be applauded for giving away Skykomish taxpayer money? How much skill does it take to give away other people’s money?
The Bottom Line
While we’re off doing the Forest Service’s work and minding other people’s business, our town has become a disaster area. Unlike a hurricane, this has not been a natural occurrence. We brought this condition upon ourselves by making very poor decisions over the course of many years, all while allowing corruption and political cronyism to flourish.
While it’s certainly time to begin turning Skykomish around, this won’t happen if we continue to do the same things that got us into the present fix.
Mending fences and taking care of business right here in our own town would be a good place to start.
With all the money that’s been thrown at our town this past decade, Skykomish streets should be paved with gold. Instead, this money has gone to line attorney’s pockets, grease politician’s hands and pay for grown men’s hobbies.
Despite over six years of disruptive ‘cleanup’ efforts, our soil and groundwater remain severely contaminated with BNSF Railway diesel oil and bunker fuel.
Ratepayers cannot afford our new waste water treatment facility and when the reserve fund runs dry, a painful financial reckoning will be at hand.
The Town has turned the Skykomish Hotel into a wreck.
The Sky River Inn has been completely destroyed.
Businesses, investors and families avoid Skykomish like the plague.
The Carson Law Group, King County’s 4Culture.org and Historic Commission, BNSF Railway, Kevin Weiderstrom, former Mayor Fred Black (Blax Professional Project Management), Henry Sladek (Cascadia Inn) and other snake oil salesmen have skinned us alive.
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