Longmire Park flush toilets facility
Photo Copyright 2010 Yelm Community Blog

A Yelm citizen returned to City Council last night in follow-up with an observation about the berating he received from Council member McGowan May 11th when he commented the $400,000+ spent on Longmire Park flush toilets was not a priority for funding.
[The City of Yelm requested a grant from the state via the district’s legislators to build flush-toilets & a small concession stand at Longmire Park, rather than use portable toilets. The flushing-toilets building cost almost a 1/2 million dollars, money requested and appropriated at a time of great distress with annual state budget deficits.]

Council member McGowan stated last night,
“the previous criticisms I believe had nothing to do with the actual bathrooms, but were just done for political stabbing at the city…

I am very sensitive when things that are promoting the children of this community get criticized I believe for other purposes other than just observation…

When the criticism is leveled at the city and it involves the children of the city, I have a tendency to get very defensive.”

This is a typical political tactic used by politicians in-and-of itself – emotionalizing an issue to deflect attention off of the subject “under the lights.”

Criticism on $460,000 for flush toilets as opposed to continued use of portable-toilets has nothing to do with what McGowan terms criticism of “things that are promoting the children of this community.”

As the public commenter stated, “it’s about priorities.”
Especially in this economy with annual state budget deficits & cutbacks in all sorts of state projects.
The commenter said the Council should listen to the public instead of putting them down, regardless if they disagree with the council’s actions. The commenter said the Council can then do what they want anyway.

I went to summer boys camp in the north woods of Minnesota & Wisconsin for 5 years as a teen and used portable-toilets frequently. When I was a resident in San Francisco and hiked in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, I used portable-toilets every weekend, as do all of the families & visitors there and in many national and state parks, as well as ball fields all over this state.

When the City of Yelm puts as much effort into building a Public Library on-behalf of city & county library taxing-district residents as they did for flushable-toilets in a ball-park located outside of the city’s core & away from a majority of the public’s use, [as stated by Council member Joe Baker] & will be patronized only by a small portion of the public each year, then perhaps my criticism will be tempered, Mr. McGowan.

While your support for flushing-toilets in a ball-park for our children is admirable, where is that same passion about standing-up for our children using the Yelm Timberland Library? They are there every day the facility is open thoughout the whole year, not just on Summer nights & weekends?
The city has had 8 1/2 years so far to get a public library facility with nothing to show for it, to date.
And, you are a library staff member!

IT’S ALL ABOUT PRIORITIES, SIR!
THIS BOILS DOWN TO FLUSHING TOILETS IN A BALL-PARK OR A LIBRARY FOR OUR CHILDREN, DOES IT NOT?

The Mayor announced to Council last night the flushing-toilets ribbon cutting is set for July 7th.
I trust Mr. McGowan will attend, for the sake of our children!