While sad does seem to be the word of the day with the regards to the Black Diamond City Council’s decision on the master planned developments, I also feel very empowered as a citizen. I no longer have a doubt in my mind that my local government has failed me. I wanted to trust they would act appropriately, demonstrate some degree of reason and common sense, but they didn’t. But now it is very obvious they weren’t thinking about me, they weren’t thinking about you, or the majority of citizens who will feel the negative effects of this decision. They sent all of us a message loud and clear when they accepted the MPD’s despite all the concrete evidence that said they should have been denied as submitted. Well, lucky for us the founders of the United States established a long time ago the purpose and function of government, and that is to serve the people.
When government fails to represent the people being governed, then the people have the God-given right and duty to do something to remedy that situation. Each was elected to represent us, and I’m now more confident than ever that is definitely time to seek better representation.
During the closed-record hearings it was blatantly obvious they were not prepared to even begin to discuss this important topic let alone make any kind of decision on it. It appeared that some council members were obviously looking out for their personal gain and were far from unbiased going into the process, they were not capable of representing us. Were others strong armed into their decisions by the big, bad legal threats from YarrowBay? Now that is sad.
No one even took the time to go back and look at the agreed to conditions that were made prior to the property YarrowBay purchased, was even annexed into Black Diamond. City leaders back then fought to be good stewards of the land, water and to represent what the people who lived here wanted. They were adamant about placing very conservative caps on the units per acre for any future development. They pledged there would never be traffic dumped on the Green Valley Road, and promised they would do whatever it took to see that no amount of phosphorus was ever dumped into Lake Sawyer, but this mayor and this council sold those promises down the river, without even looking back. I’m sure those individuals who dedicated time and effort to find ways to preserve the integrity of Black Diamond are disgraced and feeling betrayed, just like the majority of Black Diamond and Maple Valley residents who will be negatively impacted by this decision.
These elected officials have failed there is no doubt about that, and even with this dark cloud hovering over our city something good has come from it. A community has come together on its own in a unified effort with more knowledge and understanding of what is right for us and will demonstrate its abilities to exercise our rights and our responsibilities. Power to the people.
Lisa Garvich
Black Diamond
