Plug Into Your Progressive Community!

Location(s)

There is a rally at Capitol Lake at 4:30 and then a march to City Hall.  Please bring sunflowers or other flowers, bring signs, banners that demonstrate your support of the Nuclear Free Zone Ordinance.

 ATTEND THIS CITY COUNCIL MEETING AND HAVE YOUR SAY!

The vote to repeal  from the government committee came after city staff told the committee that out of all of the correspondence the city has received on the issue since January 1, 2004 through today, 216 people favored the ordinance, 38 opposed it, and 28 had no opinion. In other words despite the fact that 76% of the people who weighed in on the issue favored the ordinance, the committee voted to repeal it.

City staff also reported that they had done research to determine whether the contracting provisions of the ordinance were a burden for city staff, and whether any potential contractors had refused to sign contracts because of the nuclear free provision. They found that the contract language was NOT a burden on city staff, and that only one potential contractor (a local carpenter) had refused to sign and decided he did not want to work for the city. In other words, the ordinance has no significant administrative burden, yet the committee voted to repeal it.

Responding to question from Ottavelli, City Attorney Tom Morrill said that he does NOT believe the ordinance poses any additional risk or liability to the City. Yet the committee voted to repeal it. In other words, there is no legitimate reason to repeal the ordinance. Yet the committee voted to repeal it anyway.

While there were numerous ludicrous comments offered by the committee as they made the case for repeal (“all vets oppose the ordinance” “we don’t live in a democracy”) one of the most outlandish came from a member, who said that taking stands on important issues reduces the council’s moral authority. Huh? What good is moral authority if it’s not used to advance important issues?

It’s very clear that the decision to overturn the ordinance is pure politics and is designed to appease a small minority. 

Meanwhile it’s a slap in the face to the hundreds of Olympians that educated the community, attended the public hearings, and voiced support for the ordinance.