Friday, October 4, 2013

Congratulations to Issaquah, WA & Save Our Choice on Repealing Bag Ban


On 10/3/13 King County Department of Election has completed verification of the signatures submitted for Issaquah Initiative Petition on the Repeal of Plastic Bag Ban and Paper Fee, and a Certificate of Sufficiency has been issued.

Didn’t it make you want to cry? Especially if you have been hating it and working hard to get it repealed? With the wildfire of plastic bag bans sweeping across our nation, don’t you want to put a halt on it and call for reasons, investigations, and evaluations of the bans and fees?

You might not know; this was a long and hard won victory by Craig, Valerie and several dedicated volunteers from Save Our Choice (saveourchoice.us). They sacrificed summer and many leisure evenings. They spent 6+ months on the streets, knocking door-to-door to turn in 3600+ signatures. It came back early September short of 370, and was given 10 days to make up the deficiency. Every evening, they drove to Issaquah on their own expense and knocked on doors again to get more signatures, to register voters, or to get mismatched registrations corrected. They braved rain and darkness and got the work done. With this kind of determination and tenacity, they could move mountain! We really need to thank them from the bottom of our hearts for their hard work and sacrifices.

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Below is a poem from Craig Keller in response to Seattle Times endorsing legislature action banning bags statewide, or at least "harmonizing" regulations for those cities which vote in these coercive laws. That, along with his studying MacBeth with his daughter, inspired him to write this letter to the editor -- which understandably, was not published.  
(Fairview Ave. is the Seattle Times' address.  Olympia is the state capitol city at the southern tip of Puget Sound.) 


Oh! oracle of Fairview,

Whence my plastic-bagged news daily flows,

Are the gods of Olympia those who only know?

 Anon! see it arrive clean and dry through fog and filthy air!

Were it not, what reader remnant swift would disappear? 

Oh Titan! drop not our orb of fragile blue,

When learnt all wisdom rises not from that Olympic slough.

Yea, though tomorrow and tomorrow your delphic vapors intoxicate,

Be it a vote, by the people, for the people, we come to celebrate.



Yes! Come to celebrate with Save Our Choice on 10/13/13 from 4pm – 10pm at a dinner party.
Contact: craig@saveourchoice.us for more info.

And make sure you come out to vote in 2/11/2014.
It is a very rare opportunity; a hard fought victory by We, The People.



2 comments:

RepealBagFee said...

From Issaquah Press; Letters To The Editor, 11/19/13

I don’t think it’s a good idea, but I can’t vote on it

Once upon a time, I would go shopping and get one plastic bag with handles that I reused in my garden and other messy places. Now, I wind up with five tiny, thin, useless produce bags that are hardly large enough for a celery stick. I need one for the sushi, one for the meat, one for the ice cream, and probably two or three for the eight pack of chicken. Plus, of course, those for the produce.
And since they are small, thin and useless, I throw them out. One reusable bag with handles that I keep versus five or more that I toss. And this is saving the environment, how?

Also, I won’t be able to voice my opinion in the upcoming special election because I live 4 miles south of town. I do all of my shopping in Issaquah.

Where would I go otherwise? Bellevue, a 45-minute drive from my house? Covington, which isn’t any closer? Black Diamond, even further? Renton, which is not on my way to anything?

I drive 15 minutes to Issaquah, where I shop in a dozen or more places. So, tell me why my friends and I just over the border are disenfranchised on this matter?

Regardless of what city politicians say about how 60 percent of the people they talk to support the ban, not a single person I have spoken to about this thinks the bag ban is a good idea or is doing what it’s supposed to, namely cut down the number of bags being thrown away. They all agree that it is useless, added expense, added potential danger (how often do YOU wash those stained cloth bags) and, frankly, a royal pain.

Yvette Cardozo, Issaquah

RepealBagFee said...

From Issaquah Press; Letters To The Editor, 11/19/13

Get out there and vote to repeal the ban, if you can

On Oct. 21, the Issaquah City Council approved the bag ban for a vote. Two of the council members said they voted for the ban because 60 percent of their inputs was for the ban. Folks, 60 percent could be just three inputs were for the ban, out of five inputs total. So, get out to vote and see if the 60 percent was valid.

Hurray for the efforts of Mr. Craig Keller. Now the voters will get a chance to show how well they liked the council ban!

I have seen people:

(1) hand carry out a few items, dropping some, to escape the paper bag fee,

(2) with the whole cart full or partly full of loose items, and spend minutes transferring the cart cargo to the car and then repeat the process when they unload at home, to escape the bag fee,

(3) struggle with the full 5-cent paper bags, which from time to time tear,

(4) struggle with their full self-provided bags,

(5) get to the store door, whoops, and return to their car to pick up their own bags.

The elderly do have the most difficulty without the small free bags, with handles. In addition, the checkout is slower due to the different size and kind of bags, making it hard for the checkers to do their jobs efficiently. With the plastic bag holders, the checkers could get into a groove.
Now that you have tasted the bag ban and do not like it, then vote yes, when the chance gets here.
The best thing about the last election was that Mr. Mullet was elected to the State Senate and thus left the Issaquah City Council. The senator stated in a Press article that he believed the public was instrumental in the process for creating the ban. Now, there will be a real public input to the process! He could be right, if the no votes surpass the number of yes votes. So, folks, get out there and vote yes to repeal!

Ken Sessler, Issaquah