Community Corner

Letter To The Editor: City Attorney Goes Too Far With Denigrating Email

Send letters to the editor to jenny.manning@patch.com. Please include your first and last name and city of residence.

The more I read the attached email, the more steamed up I get.  I'm referring to Larry Warren's email to Rich Zwicker.  It points to a culture of indifference, facetiousness and lack of respect which I find shocking in a professional and in my elected representatives.  Please keep in mind that Larry Warren is the same City Attorney who told the City Council they could ignore citizens who had legitimately and legally complied with state law and successfully pursued the initiative process.  

Please note: the email says “down into the valley of COW go the four”.  Why?   Because there at least three voices on our current City Council who speak for residents.  While I have to admit the literary reference is funny, the satirical tone is not.  This is a prime example of how citizens are mocked and regarded as nuisances.  Our input is not wanted or respected.  We are not nuisances, we ARE  the government.  We pay Larry Warren's retainer and Rich Zwicker's salary!  Frankly, I think that we should stop paying Mr. Warren.

I regard this email on the part of the City Attorney to be prejudicial, using city resources in a manner not consistent with public service, denigrating, and a very telling estimation of the total lack of respect and low esteem in which residents who voice their concerns and seek to work with the City are held.  We're nothing more than joke, is that it?

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This email gives everyone notice as to just how little residents' opinions are regarded.  It certainly tells us just where we stand with the City - nowhere.  It definitely tells us that our input is not valued and will not be used.  We'll be fobbed off with more of what amount to public "group therapy" sessions with dead end scribble pads.  If anyone has wondered why the 76% of voters has been denied representation on the Library Board, this email lets them know.  Because the mayor, certain council members, City staff, and the City Attorney do not respect you.  They do not regard you as intelligent enough to understand the issues.  How funny we must be to them every Monday!  I imagine they and Larry Warren enjoy a hearty laugh at our expense behind the curtains when council adjourns.

I don't regard myself or any other of the men and women who spent hours in the rain and snow last winter during the petition drive as a joke.  I don't find the belittling tone of the email at all funny, and I don't find our use of the legitimate democratic process guaranteed us in the constitution of the United States funny either.

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Sorry if I seem like a stinker, but I'm tired of being pushed aside when I've done more research and know more about the Cedar River Library issue than the mayor and the 4 council members who always vote with him.  I'm not incapable, and I won't be fobbed off as an incompetent.  If Denis and the rest of the council want to mock residents, fine!  Then I'll take my complaints to a higher authority.  If they still want to deny residents a real voice in the Cedar River Library project, then fine!  I'll take my complaint on that to the court of public opinion.  Some may find the email amusing, but I bet those who felt ignored and shoved aside before - that 76% of voters - will not.

I am exceedingly unhappy to see this email.  How daunting it is to be a professional woman, with a degree, someone who has worked as a supervisor in a bank operations center, managed a law library and 24-hour operations for a tax firm, been an award winning rep, is currently a broker's rep handling 60 million dollar accounts, has held down two jobs doing 16-hour days so that my daughter could finish school while I was going to school concurrently, and yet be regarded as a clown.

 —Beth Asher, Renton


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