First Charles Peterson’s signs go missing and now this.
I noticed something new on my morning drive to the high school today… one candidate finally put signs out. Yes, in the sea of signs I noticed. Are you wondering how?
Well first, they are nice signs – in a good “political shade” of blue. Secondly, I drive A LOT between Snoqualmie and North Bend in my mom taxi and notice things. (Got a little Mrs. Kravitz in me I guess.) And thirdly, both my son and I noticed the not cool (as he called it) sign placement from (presumably) this candidate’s campaign.
You see, the new signs were placed to completely block to the opposition’s signs. Not next to them where there appeared to be plenty of room, but smack dab right in front, almost touching them. In fact, in multiple downtown Snoqualmie locations, the opponent’s signs were even blocked on both sides, sandwiched and shielded from sight by these new signs that appeared overnight.
To be clear, not all of these signs were placed in this teenage described “not cool” way, but probably about half of the ones I noticed (between Snoqualmie Ridge and Mount Si High School) were. I counted it in seven spots, most prominently occurring through the downtown Snoqualmie SR 202 corridor.
I am used to political attack ads on TV, on the radio, etc. But this is small town politics for city council seats and hospital board spots. This isn’t a statewide or national campaign. Heck, even in those I’ve never seen this football-like political sign blocking tactic.
So knock it off. These are local residents putting themselves out there, spending their own money (often times) to win a seat and voluntarily serve the community and its interests.
Stop moving the signs, stealing the signs and blocking the signs. They all deserve an equal shot because most often, in small town politics, those signs ARE the candidate’s commercials. And they’re aren’t cheap.
Give them a break. And like I tell my kids: Be nice. Play fair.
*** And for the record, I haven’t voted yet and do not endorse any candidate in any race. ***
Comments
North Bend Public Works were removing all the signs on the median divide on Bendigo. Couldn’t read many of the signs anyway so they were a wasting of $$$/. They were all crammed against each other to the point of being a distraction (trying to read with vehicles coming and going).
A Point of Clarification: The only time NB Public Works removes political signs on Bendigo is to perform regular landscape / street maintenance. Maintenance includes lawn mowing the median strip, leaf removal, raking, etc. The removal is very temporary (20 minutes at most) so that the maintenance can occur without damaging candidates’ signs. As soon as the maintenance is completed, then the signs are placed in the exact same locations. Due to factors such as windy or wet weather conditions, if a sign is massively torn laying on the grass detached from its metal poles and/or a windblown sign is detached from its metal poles and scattered on the street, then that sign would be removed and kept at PW. A candidate is welcome to call PW if they believe one of their signs is missing.
And, the only location in North Bend public right-of-way where the City discourages and removes political signage is within the Cedar Falls Way roundabout central planter island. The central island is an unsafe location for pedestrians to access, because the roundabout is designed for large double axle trucks to drive over the rolled curb. If a political sign is in that island, then the sign will be relocated by NB PW to a nearby grass median strip near the crosswalks.
Speaking of Public Works employees: it is my understanding a couple weeks ago a Charles Peterson campaign volunteer “found” a stockpile of campaign signs that were dumped beside a common park trail on the ridge [where teenagers are suspected of discarding empty alcohol containers and shopping carts in the past]. This find included signs from the Ryan Roberts, Charles Peterson, and Joe Larson campaigns. Interestingly enough the volunteer returned the Charles Peterson signs but the recovered Joe Larson and Ryan Roberts signs still have yet to be returned. Also interesting is the only thing we heard on Living Snoqualmie is “…Charles Peterson’s signs go missing…” and nothing about the other candidate’s missing signs.
The placement of the Emma signs is bizarre and naive. I recall two years ago on the Snoqualmie Yahoo! Group a vocal minority complained about campaign signs along the Snoqualmie Parkway. One of the candidates commented after the election about 20% of her signs were unaccounted for and she understood this as common [missing signs due to teenage pranks, wind storms, etc.].
In hotly contested local races it seems likely there are deliberate gremlins [as in the case of the Emma sign placement] . As for other allegations of finger pointing withholding judgement may be a good option.
The disappearance of Mr. Peterson’s signs was referenced because it was reported to SPD and due to the large number that have gone missing.
I usually let the rhetoric of others speak to their character and intent, but as this affects my family, I felt a response was required.
My daughter and her friends found the campaign signs in the bog. They came home and alerted me. After that she and I retrieved them. Joe’s sign was the very FIRST one returned (to his wife and daughter since Joe wasn’t home) before we even got home.
Bryan Holloway
Thanks Living Snoqualmie for highlighting this ! I will be leaving my signs where I placed them in hopes whomever blocked them will do the right thing. Have a great day neighbors and feel free to check our my website or shoot me an email if you’d like to learn more about the Snoqualmie Valley Hospital District and why I’d like to continue serving.
Ryan Roberts
Hospital Commissioner
King County Public Hospital District No. 4 Pos No 3
http://voteryanroberts.com/
Emma, Emma, Emma and you were suggesting that Ryan Roberts was unethical and was less then honest. You are the only one in any of these races who is being dishonest, deceitful and just plain unsportsmanlike in you behavior.
WHY SHOULD ANYONE VOTE FOR YOU WHEN HAVE CONSISTANTLY SHOWN YOU ARE NOT WORTHY OF THE PUBLIC’S TRUST. You have lied and cheated at every turn.
I suggest that you go out a put your signs up in a proper and fair fashion.
As a citizen of Snoqualmie (and candidate for Snoqualmie City Council www.bradtoftforsnoqualmie.com) I think it would be a great service to the community by Living Snoqualmie to reach out to the candidates for comment on this. It would be informative to hear how Joe Larson, Charles Peterson, Emma Herron and Ryan Roberts respond to these kinds of shenanigans. Unfortunately you never know who is responsible unless someone comes forward, but you can certainly see who benefits. Responses will tell us a lot about the leadership of these candidates and help voters cast an informed ballot.
Agreed! Another great service to the community by Living Snoqualmie would be to reach out to candidates to comment on untrue and misleading statements they made in the voters’ pamphlet.
Brad, you state you are currently on the city council when you say, “As a member on the council…” [beginning of the 2nd sentence in your statement]
http://info.kingcounty.gov/kcelections/candidatesonballot/pamphlet/pamphlet.aspx?cid=53860&listtype=FILING&eid=1266#c26789
However, when referring to the City of Snoqualmie’s website, you are not listed as a member on the city council.
http://www.ci.snoqualmie.wa.us/CityGovernment/CityCouncil/MeetYourCouncil.aspx
You also state your priority is “…truth and transparency of government…” Why are your words misleading in your personal statement? This same question was asked of you in a previous post but you avoided the question and never answered.
I also noticed Chelley Patterson implies she has been on the city council for four year [first part of her last sentence] when in fact she was appointed earlier this year and has weeks of experience compared to a term of experience. Charles Peterson and Joe Larson appear to be the only candidates who have “truth and transparency” in their statements for the candidates running for city council in Snoqualmie.
I disagree. This is a personal blog. Leave that to the papers. And, I would consider their answers worthless political-speak anyway.
I vote for the candidate that litters my community with the fewest number signs.
+1 Jordan!
Poor, poor, poor ,Jolie,Jolie,Jolie,Tsk Tsk Tsk. Your wicked statement about me truly reflects your poisoned mouth and personality. I don’t know you for Adam and you are surely a great “imperatorsonator.” Just take care of yourself and leave me out of your miseries and your disgust of other people.
Your LOVE and AFFECTION for your candidate Ryan Roberts truly shines outrageously. Here is a SICK CONGRATULATORY WISHES FOR YOU AND YOUR BELOVED CANDIDATE!!!!
Danna,
I hope you will post my comments. The other comment I submitted regarding conflict of interest of Ryan Roberts with the hospital district was never posted.
Please be fair and balance in your news reporting business.
I will be following up on them.
Thank you.
Your comment from 10/18 was posted….. also went thru all the spam comments to make sure there wasn’t another one you were referring to that possibly went to that folder and did not find anything. Please resubmit that comment if it is different from the 10/18 that was posted. Thanks!