Sunday, July 20, 2008
RURAL REDNECKS
I was shocked and dismayed to read the transcript from the GHAAC meeting held on July 8, 2008. The GHAAC discussed the perception of the community that a poor job has been done in letting residents know who they are, what neighborhood they represent, and how to contact them. The group talks about their concerns in letting the residents of the neighborhoods they represent know who they are and how to contact them. The discussion begins on page 22 of the transcript. On page 24, a GHAAC representative stated, "I vote to associate our names with our representative areas". Another GHAAC representative stated, "I have rural rednecks and I'm not sure". RURAL REDNECKS?! What's really shocking is that not one of the other members of the GHAAC, or the County Representative, Jim Bolger, responded to the use of this "label". These are the leaders of our community that want to speak for the residents of the area? I'm sorry, but the person that made that comment should be removed from the board and an apology should be given to the entire community. We should never condone this type of behavior.
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3 comments:
This is a bit like the slip of the lip from the lady down near Point No Point, who at the July GHAAC meeting pointed out that she and her neighbors (who don't like the dirty unwashed people from other parts of the county like Bremerton coming out and using the PNP park) have "million dollar homes . . " She quickly tried to correct that statement, but by then the cat was out of the bag.
The basic message from GHAAC is that if you disagree with their game plan, or ask hard questions about how GHAAC came about and how it claims to speak for all of Hansville, you are labeled as a "troublemaker", "malcontent", "someone who doesn't appreciate all the good GHAAC does", etc.
At the July GHAAC meeting, it is my understanding that the members voted NOT to publish their full contact information for everyone in the community to see. I spoke briefly at the start of the meeting and explained that they really should do this, because why would the members of a supposedly legitimate, truly representative body want to remain hidden from the people they claim to represent? I guess that message did not get across very well.
If someone is going to be a representative to the GHAAC they need to be willing to represent everyone in their neighborhood, even if they are RURAL RED NECKS! In the Hansville Preferred Futures Elements document it states that the preferred future in Hansville includes "increased the number of residents with professional background" - sounds like a snub to blue collar workers and rural red necks to me!
Indeed, the preferred vision for Hansville's Future not only called for increased professional people, but also envisioned that the place would have incomes above the county average. Can't tell you how many Hansville people have begged my neighbor-for-sale not to lower her price any more, as "we" wouldn't want to let in a low class of people.
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