by Stephen Schumacher | Oct 17, 2023 | General
Recently uncovered public records include a draft September 2022 City of Port Townsend Newsletter article, where Mayor David Faber wrote about his emotions while hearing elder people at the August 1 city council meeting “repeatedly call trans persons ‘pedophiles’ and ‘rapists’.”
Mayor David Faber’s draft article for the city newsletter following the August 1, 2022 City Council meeting, disclosed through a public records request.
City staff prudently advised Faber to scuttle his article, concerned that “it might do more harm than help” as part of “a shame spiral.” Police Chief Thomas Olson admirably expressed that “Everyone should be encouraged to engage with city council without getting ridiculed, no matter what their opinion is on a specific topic.”
Though Faber’s accusation was never published in the newsletter, this incident does speak to the frame of mind and knowledge base of council and staff that elder women were being demonized at this critical time period preceding the coordinated physical assaults on elder women outside the August 15 council meeting while police looked on but were directed not to help. And this mindset continues today.
A review of the August 1 meeting video and transcript remarkably reveals that Faber’s accusation was provably untrue: NO public commenter at the meeting ever called “trans persons ‘pedophiles’ and ‘rapists’.” So how did this false and prejudicial narrative arise and continue to haunt the mindscape of our town?
Public Comments to Protect Vulnerable People
Julie Jaman started her August 1, 2022 public comment by summarizing her July 26 “experience while showering after my swim was hearing a man’s voice in the women’s dressing area and seeing a man in a women’s swimsuit watching little girls pull down their bathing suits in order to use the toilets in the dressing room. I reacted by telling him to leave, and the consequence is that I had been banned from the pool.”
She warned council that “women and children are being put at risk” and YMCA “staff seems to have received little professional training on how to handle reactions to such a radical cultural change, particularly for the most vulnerable, older female patrons and children who may be exposed to inappropriate behavior, the dignity and safety of unsuspecting women who have trusted to use these facilities for many years.”
Contrary to Faber’s claim, Jaman maligned no trans person in her comment to council, instead recounted her personal experience of YMCA management neglecting to protect vulnerable people (including herself). YMCA staff are supposed to enforce strict Child Protection Policies and Procedures, but no such policies appear among the Olympic Peninsula YMCA Pool Rules nor were in evidence during Jaman’s experience.
Searching the meeting transcript finds just this one use by any Jaman supporter of the words “pedophiles” and “rapists” quoted by Faber:
We have seen what can happen when pedophiles and rapists can and do populate careers and locations where they have easy access to women and children.
This was in the context of a nuanced, well-articulated call for protection from predators, which was NOT saying that trans people are predators as Faber claimed. Instead, it said the opposite: that predators can pretend to be trans just like they can lie in other ways, so vulnerable people (including trans) need protection:
Do men transitioning to be women understand that discrimination and violence are part of being a woman, and that we do need protection from predators? Do women transitioning to being men understand that they are also vulnerable to male harassment and violence?
All that this commenter urged were common-sense protections against predators and that “women’s concerns about our safety and privacy are and always have been legitimate.” The meeting video and transcript show that neither this commenter nor any other Jaman supporter called trans persons predators as Faber claimed to hear “repeatedly.”
Public Comments Hallucinating Words Never Said
In fact, the only people at the August 1, 2022 council meeting repeatedly talking about trans persons being “pedophiles” and “rapists” were Jaman opponents — falsely putting those words in the mouths of Jaman supporters while stirring up hatred against them:
- “When they label trans people as pedophiles and predators, that’s a problem. Thank you. I think you all should be ashamed of yourself.”
- “Comparing transgender people to pedophiles is absolutely disgusting. As somebody who has been a victim of sexual abuse myself, it is horrible to go that low to call a group of people who are just trying to live their lives these horrible things that aren’t even true. Pedophiles exist in the world and not every transgender person is a pedophile.”
- From a former mayor: “The people who are standing at the podium this evening expressing fear need to really think about the terminology and get ‘pedophiles’ out of their language.”
- “Do you know what trans people are? They are not pedophiles. They are teachers and they are leaders and they are the bravest people I know. And so I just encourage all of you who have such a short-sighted vision as to what trans people are and have the absolute hurtful audacity to call them these terrible names: Please stop.”
- “But I would just like to reiterate the fact that a lot of people have also been calling trans people pedophiles, which is also a statement of calling people things that they aren’t. … As has been stated many times today, trans people are not pedophiles.”
- Major Faber’s response to comments: “LGBTQ people, trans people in particular in this case are entitled to basic respect and they have not been receiving that in much of the commentary tonight on the pedophiles and rapists and predators.”
These speakers fell into a feeding frenzy of confabulations and repeated self-reinforcing misstatements, confusing primary evidence with one’s own side’s overheated false claims about words never said just minutes earlier. The end result was group hypnosis leading to the hallucination expressed in Mayor Faber’s draft city newsletter article about being “appalled and disgusted to hear people — all of them my elders, to shame — repeatedly call trans people ‘pedophiles’ and ‘rapists’ … with utter contempt.”
Nothing of that kind took place.
The Psychology of Totalitarianism
It’s hard to understand how this could have happened in less than an hour of real time, but some insight may perhaps be gleaned from clinical psychology professor Mattias Desmet’s 2022 book The Psychology of Totalitarianism, whose thesis is summarized in a physician’s review as follows:
Desmet’s central thesis is that when the correct conditions are present within society, a collective or crowd consciousness emerges which causes unspeakable atrocities to be permitted by, and in many cases directly conducted by large masses of the population (this process is termed “mass formation”).
This is a critical point because the majority of the individuals who commit the worst crimes of totalitarian regimes are not evil or psychopathic, but rather simply had a level of consciousness that allowed them to be swept into a mass formation. Similarly, this provides an explanation of why so many political zealots throughout the ages will feel it is justified to distort the facts in whatever way is necessary to promote their ideology. …
The final component necessary for mass formation is to have an “enemy“ to attach all of these negative feelings (that largely arise from disconnection) onto.
It is very disturbing and dangerous for Mayor Faber and others in Port Townsend’s power structure to mishear the words of vulnerable elder women asking for protection, dehumanize these women as appalling/disgusting/shameful/horrible/hurtful/etc., and project their own negative feelings onto these women as if they were an enemy. The end result was the city’s incitement and collaboration with the hooligans who physically assaulted vulnerable elder women outside city hall just two weeks later.
Such demonization continues to be leveled against vulnerable people in our community. By falsely accusing them of attacking trans people with “utter contempt,” labeling them “transphobes” and “bigots,” valid concerns are dismissed and hatred is fomented towards them.
And the hits just keep on coming. Continuing its run of censorship and tendentious misreporting about these events, The Leader‘s lead op-ed for October 4, 2023 was ironically titled “A Golf Course For All Must Transcend Division” by new columnist Jason Victor Serinus, which trotted out these false narratives to smear and demonize:
…championship of Julie Jaman, whose outrage at a trans employee of the Port Townsend YMCA made it all the way to Fox News, attracted Proud Boys to our community, and got her permanently banned from the pool.
Talk about blaming the victim for how mismanagement of a whistleblower situation blew up into a nationwide disgrace! First zealots beat up on Jaman and those who championed her verbally in the council chambers. Then they beat up on these women physically in the streets. Now they continue to beat up on them in the press and social media.
Stop the madness! If ever there can be accountability and reconciliation to transcend division, maybe it can begin by understanding the truth of this pivotal meeting where council listened but did not hear, decided to protect only selected vulnerable persons, and enabled events to spiral out of control.
Can YMCA Be Trusted to Protect the Vulnerable in a New Aquatic Center?
The proposed new Aquatic Center is planned to be managed by the same YMCA that mismanaged the Jaman incident and never resolved questions raised at the August 1, 2022 council meeting. This effectively excludes not only Jaman but also other potential pool users who no longer trust nor feel welcomed by YMCA management, raising another major red flag (alongside financial red ink) for the Aquatic Center.
Circling back to Jaman’s original concern about protection of vulnerable children, the Silicon Valley YMCA’s restroom policy requires that “Children must always be sent in threes (known as the rule of three) with a staff member.” Accounts differ about how many little girls were present during the July 26, 2022 incident, so it’s unclear whether Olympic YMCA violated the rule of three that day, or bothers to honor it on days when only one or two children are present.
But local staff seems to have been violating other YMCA rules such as “staff will stand in the open doorway of the restroom while children are using the restroom.” Much of the uncertainty about local YMCA child protection policies and procedures is because there is nothing on their website or Pool Rules about them.
Given Olympic Peninsula YMCA’s stonewalling, duplicity, and “attack the messenger” behavior in the Jaman case, there is lack of trust that vulnerable people would be protected under its management.
The Aquatic Center project should not ignore the elephant in the pool: its non-inclusive, untrustworthy YMCA management who responded to earnest child protection concerns by banning and bullying a vulnerable whistleblower with no due process.
by Ana Wolpin | Sep 16, 2023 | General
In August 2022, incendiary events in Port Townsend brought social media posts by then 39-year-old Mayor David Faber to national attention. Internet writers began discussing tweets like this:
And this one, publicizing his ultra-low Rice Purity Test score (17/100) to demonstrate that, as “legally-required,” he is a “pervert and deviant”:
The Rice Purity Test is a 100-question survey that asks about a person’s experiences with potentially “risky” behaviors such as drugs, alcohol, sex, crime, deceit, and other deeds considered immoral or non-virtuous. Scored out of 100 possible points, the lower the score, the less virtuous. The average score is 60-75.
Another, about having sex with dead chickens:
At the October 17, 2022 Port Townsend City Council meeting, Port Townsend Free Press founder and ongoing contributor Jim Scarantino read some of the above tweets into the public record. While those social media posts may be old news to some, the story isn’t over.
Nearly a year later Scarantino was back with an update at the September 11, 2023 city council workshop. There were new tweets to be added to the record.
Following the workshop, Scarantino recounted on the Free Press‘s Facebook page:
“He makes such comments on a Twitter account that right up front identifies him as Mayor of Port Townsend. And he holds himself out as the Mayor while discussing city business on the same account where he also writes about masturbation. Not nice stuff to read, but this is the Mayor’s behavior in a public forum where he is representing the city of Port Townsend.”
Faber’s Twitter/X banner today is pictured below. The “cold feet” handle and licking dog are gone, replaced by a new photo, his political yard sign, and “Mayor of Port Townsend, WA” identifier.
Should we care about the tweets of David J. Faber, Mayor of Port Townsend? Why continue to bring them up? How did we get here?
The Backstory
The dive into Faber’s online persona began after the Free Press broke the story in August 2022 of 80-year-old Julie Jaman’s expulsion by the YMCA from our community swimming pool. That’s old news, too, but revisiting what unfolded provides important context for the mayor’s social media conduct.
Naked in the women’s showers after a swim, Jaman was shocked to hear a male voice. She became more upset when she looked past the flimsy shower curtain and saw a teenage boy in a woman’s bathing suit “helping” little girls with their swimsuits.
She didn’t know that Clementine Adams was a Y employee, a quite-obviously biological male who just months earlier had announced a new identity as a transgender woman. Jaman asked “Do you have a penis?” and demanded that Adams get out of the locker room. When management intervened, rather than de-escalate the situation, naked Jaman, dripping wet, was told that her reaction had been “discriminatory”. On the spot, she was banned for life from the pool she had been swimming in for 35 years.
The story went internationally viral, putting a magnifying glass on our little town. As the saga unfolded, Faber’s response as Port Townsend’s mayor brought him under intense scrutiny.
Less than a week after Jaman’s ouster, dozens of citizens showed up to give public comment at the next city council meeting. Two distinct groups spoke.
Those upset about Jaman’s treatment voiced discomfort over allowing biological men in women’s spaces. They requested that the city honor traditional safeguards for women and girls and work to develop a solution to meet all pool users’ needs. Some asked, why not allow for privacy and designate an all-gender space?
The second group attacked the first. Those asking to be safeguarded, they said, were “transphobes” and “haters”. “Trans women ARE women,” they chanted.
None of the concerns over Jaman’s abrupt lifetime ban or requests for privacy solutions at the city pool were addressed by the council. Instead, at the conclusion of public comments, Mayor Faber lectured that Port Townsend was a welcoming community, sternly rebuking those requesting consideration for private spaces as hateful and discriminatory. (Mayor Deflects Backlash Over Men in Women’s Showers at YMCA, Virtue Signals About Trans Rights Instead)
The only discussion among the council was a proposal to develop a statement “to formally support the Y and its staff.” In the days that followed, that “statement” was elevated to a Transgender Proclamation.
Local women’s rights advocate Amy Sousa tweeted the proposed proclamation out to her national audience and attempted to have an exchange with Mayor Faber. He responded with juvenile taunts and name-calling. Rather than discussing Sousa’s concerns, much like the group chanting at city council, Port Townsend’s mayor called her a transphobe.
“The transphobes have found me,” he tweeted out in response to her post. “Fuuuuuun”.
That wasn’t enough, there was more to say. Five minutes later he re-posted Sousa’s tweet that shared the proclamation, and responded with the nonsensical dismissal “Zoopity boop.”
“The mayor of Port Townsend doesn’t seem to think my concerns deserve respectful consideration,” Sousa wrote. “I think women/girls deserve the sex based provisions that our foremothers battled for centuries to attain, privacy, safety, & dignity for our BODIES.”
She later told media, “This is a little ridiculous to me that this is how the mayor is choosing to respond to women and girls who have legitimate concerns… he’s not taking these concerns with seriousness and the gravity that I think we are due.”
Sousa then organized a press conference to be held prior to the next City Council meeting, when the proclamation would be up for public comment. That event across from City Hall (covered in multiple Free Press articles – 1, 2, 3) brought yet more national attention after trans activists violently attacked the predominantly elderly women speaking, while Port Townsend Police watched passively from across the street. Citizens begging for help were told orders had come “from above” not to intervene.
Those who participated in the event were intimidated and assaulted; some were injured. They were locked out of the council meeting as well, unable to give public comment. Meanwhile inside City Hall, Mayor Faber descended from his dais and took off his mask to ceremoniously read the “welcoming” proclamation to a local trans “leader”.
Following the mob attacks and proclamation reading, a later tweet by Faber further inflamed the situation: “What an incredible night. The Port Townsend community showed up in beautiful fashion,” he wrote. “Tonight reminded me of why Port Townsend is home.”
While the police stood guard outside City Hall under orders “from above” to protect the mayor and council — not the citizens — during their special proclamation, below is what “home” had become for people speaking across the street that evening. “The Port Townsend community that showed up in beautiful fashion” looked like this:
How the Mayor Has His “fuuuuuun” on Social Media
This series of explosive events reverberated far and wide. Writers covering women’s issues took notice. After his puerile responses to Sousa and his “beautiful community” tweet the night of the assaults, they wondered what else Mayor Faber was broadcasting online.
Former New York Magazine and Penthouse contributor Mandy Stadtmiller was among the national writers to bring attention to Faber’s social media posts. The day after the city-permitted women’s rights press conference drew violent assaults from trans activists while police stood watching with detachment under orders not to protect them, she asked:
But first out of the gate was Substack writer Mattie Watkins. “This was supposed to be fun and snarky,” she wrote, “but as I researched David J. Faber things got progressively weirder and more serious.”
Watkins was the first to republish the tweets at the top of this article. Along with his sex with dogs and dead chickens comments, and the post that mayors are required to be filthy and deviant, she discovered Faber defending actor Paul Reuben, aka PeeWee Herman. Reuben had been arrested for masturbating in public and charged with misdemeanor possession of child pornography in 2002.
Faber’s tweet responding to someone claiming that Reuben had been targeted as part of a sting operation was that “PeeWee did nothing wrong.”
Yet in addition to masturbating in public, Reubens had confessed to possessing 170 images of children in sexual acts and positions.
Watkins also tagged this post:
In a follow-up article she asked “What does that mean?”
Social media influencer Vaush describes himself as a “dirtbag leftist” with an online presence geared predominantly to radicalizing young people. Watkins documents his insulting, aggressive and misogynistic attitude toward women.
Typifying that attitude, she says, are statements like, “I wish this dumb bitch wasn’t in high school so I could fully go off on her.”
And demeaning tweets like:
While degrading women is a common theme in “Vaush politics,” he is equally “notorious” for comments advocating pedophilia and lowering the age of consent, Watkins said. He influences his mostly young audience with messages that endorse the legalization of child pornography.
“What does this mean for Mayor David J. Faber?” she asked. “Well, he isn’t a complete idiot and is not on record agreeing with these specific ideas from Vaush. However, he also hasn’t condemned them and continues to align himself with Vaush as a whole.”
Faber Looks Amused
At the October 3, 2022 Port Townsend City Council meeting, Rebel News reporter Katie Daviscourt posed some of these same questions during public comments.
Daviscourt quoted Faber’s tweets about bestiality and asked him if his alignment with Vaush reflected his moral views. She asked if “his history of inappropriate and controversial tweets are a good representation of an elected official.” The mayor did not answer her queries. The video of the meeting reveals only a grainy flash of Faber grinning as she quotes his tweet, “As mayor, I am legally required to be a pervert and deviant.”
She asked, does the City Council stand by his comments or denounce his behavior?
The only councilor to offer a public response to citizens’ call for the city council to censure the mayor — and in some social media discussions, to remove Faber from office — has been Owen Rowe.
“I fully support our Mayor David Faber,” Rowe said. “I am entertained by his Twitter account, and do not understand that as in any way representing the city organization.”
Watkins notes that Vaush and his supporters “love to hide behind the ‘it’s a joke’ excuse.”
The File Grows
More of Faber’s online “humor” soon surfaced.
His post of a selfie wearing eye liner and mugging inside what appears to be a public toilet stall:
Delight over wasting a church’s money on prayer card mailings to his deceased mother:
And new tweets defending PeeWee Herman’s possession of child pornography and public masturbation. “I’ll say it again,” he wrote, “Pee-Wee Herman did nothing wrong.”
“In another tweet,” Scarantino informed council, “he said he adored this pedophile [PeeWee] for never losing his childlike innocence and joy.”
And “earlier in the summer,” Scarantino added, “between discussing housing policy and promoting one of the Financial Sustainability videos done by the city,” Faber was inspired to re-post someone else’s musings about masturbation:
“[I’m] thinking about that guy who died beating off at Pompeii” the post said. To which Faber commented, “Every day. Sometimes twice.”
“I don’t know what it says about the city that for over a year the council has known about this conduct and has not said one word about it,” Scarantino told council. “And as I pointed out over a year ago, were any other city employee to engage in such conduct, you’d have a very hard time disciplining them with your mayor doing things like this.”
“This is the mayor. The mayor,” Scarantino later emphasized. Not only does Faber use his Twitter account to discuss city business, “he even communicated with at least one state legislator.”
“Seriously, imagine if a police officer—make it the police chief—identified himself by his public position, then said that stuff. But apparently they approve of his conduct enough to let it go, even when reminded that he was still at it a year later.”
“What does that say for Port Townsend and the government of this city?” Scarantino asked the council.
Are all of our elected officials who chose to place young Faber in the mayor’s chair entertained by his mix of city business with tweets about bestiality, perversion, deviance, and the joy of masturbation? Do all of them find his public defense of pedophilia funny?
by Jim Scarantino | Sep 10, 2023 | General
Lowballing costs. The feasibility study for the proposed Port Townsend aquatic center appears to grossly underestimate likely operating costs. Annual deficits may be far worse than being reported to the public. Even greater subsidies — and higher taxes — may be required.
The flawed feasibility study prepared for the city and the PT aquatic center task force relies exclusively on hypothetical numbers.
No on-the-ground research in and around Port Townsend was conducted.
In every scenario, a future PT aquatic center (architect’s conception featured above) would run deficits of around $400,000. And that’s being treated as good news.
We have a comparable facility nearby that could serve as a yardstick in accurately estimating costs for a future PT aquatic center. The William A. Shore Aquatic Center in Port Angeles has real-world data collected from real-world experience of its operations over time.
The consultants chose not to consider the Shore center’s real-world experience on the Olympic Peninsula. We will do it for them — and for the benefit of taxpayers who are being asked to foot the bill.
The William A. Shore Aquatic Center
The Shore aquatic center was built in 1961, two years before the construction of Port Townsend’s Mountain View pool. It has undergone many upgrades and renovations and is now a modern, attractive 30,000 square foot natatorium. It had been owned by the city of Port Angeles until 2009 when voters approved creation of the Shore Metropolitan Park District, which now owns and operates the facility.
The expansion of the facility to twice its original size was completed in 2020. In addition to the original competition pool and diving tank, it now offers a spa, a wellness pool, and an activity pool that includes a “lazy river” and vortex ring. All pools are heated. Other additions include a multipurpose space, universal changing hall and locker rooms, and support spaces for staff and patrons. The enlarged building has a dedicated space for the Splash, Play and Active Recreation for Kids after-school program for children, and an outdoor playground with multiple features above a synthetic turf.
In 2017 voters increased the park district’s debt capacity from $6.5 to $10 million. The $20 million renovation was funded with bonds, state and federal grants and cash reserves.
Here is a video tour of the completed facility:
PT Aquatic Center Feasibility Mixed Up
With Upper Macungie, Pennsylvania
The feasibility study for a new PT aquatic center was prepared by the consulting firm Ballard*King & Associates from Highland Park, Colorado. I have written two articles (here and here) examining flaws and red flags in their report. One of the red flags was that these consultants compared PT’s cost of living and housing expenses to those in Pennsylvania. This, combined with other absurd extrapolations (such as concluding we likely had 1,305 adults playing basketball), led me to wonder if they had mixed up their report for PT with work for another community.
It appears that hunch was correct. The Ballard*King report is now posted on the city’s website. There is no title page. It is entitled “Upper Macungie Report 3.22.23” according to the tab that appears on the search bar when the link is clicked.
Upper Macungie is a rapidly growing township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. That township had been doing work on a community center. It appears that the report for Port Townsend was cut-and-pasted, commingled and confused with work for a very different community on the other side of the continent.
Here is that curious page from the study comparing PT’s cost of living to its counterpart in… Pennsylvania:
Now add to these reasons to question the validity of the Ballard*King report indications that their operating expense projections appear to be way off. Shore’s real-world experience shows that running an aquatic center costs a lot more than these consultants are revealing.
We have obtained Shore’s recent financial data from Steve Burke, who has been with the Shore Metro Park District since before the facility underwent its expansion and remodeling. You may study that information at this link: 2018-2023 Shore Aquatic Center Financials.
Lowballing the Likely Costs
of a PT Aquatic/Fitness Center
Three versions of a possible new PT aquatic/fitness center have been under consideration. Ballard*King purported to project operating costs for each of them. The three versions are described in their report as follows:
The future PT aquatic center “base” model would be similar in size and offerings to Shore Aquatic Center in Port Angeles. Ballard*King estimated the annual operating costs for Port Townsend’s base model at $1,268,557. This doesn’t square with real-world expenses projected by the already-running equivalent nearby facility. Shore anticipates significantly higher operating costs in 2023.
According to its latest financial data, Shore expects expenditures this year to be close to two million dollars — $1,932,770.
The Ballard*King estimated annual operating cost of $1,268,557 is for a period of time in the future, no sooner than 2026, the year upon which they base their hourly wage predictions. If that figure were adjusted to 2023 dollars, it would be even lower, by a factor that backs out the cumulative effects of inflation.
The current annualized rate of inflation is 3.2%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If we applied this rate of inflation to adjust the Ballard*King operating prediction figure to 2023 dollars, it would be about $1,191,106 or $741,664 lower than the Shore center’s experience this year. (You can verify this and the following present value calculations using this handy present value calculator.)
How could a similar facility hope to operate in Port Townsend for almost 40% less?
The projected base model is the least expensive version of a proposed new PT aquatic center. At their most recent meeting on August 25, 2023, the steering committee focused on the larger and costlier base-plus-gym and the full build out versions.
The base-plus-gym is projected to cost $37.1 million to build, nearly twice the Shore center’s $20 million expansion and upgrades. Port Townsend, with half of Port Angeles’ population, could thus be building a pool twice as expensive as the one that serves the much larger city. The full build out is projected to cost $45.9 million.
From somewhere, the steering committee believes it will obtain $15 million in grants, gifts or other support for each version, leaving $22.1 million for local taxpayers to shoulder for the base-plus-gym version, and $33.9 million for the full build out.
Ballard*King’s hypothetical annual operating costs for the two larger versions appear to be seriously off when compared to the Shore center’s experience just 45 miles away.
The base-plus-gym version would require, according to Ballard*King, operating expenditures in 2026 dollars of $1,617,810. That is $1,519,036 in current 2023 dollars, compared to the Shore center’s 2023 expenditures of $1,932,770.
How could a larger facility requiring more upkeep and staff incur such significantly lower operating expenses?
The projected operating costs for the massive full build out version — more than a third larger than Shore, with a gymnasium, weight/cardio space and a larger staff — are somehow almost exactly the same in 2023 dollars as the much smaller and simpler Shore aquatic center at $1,957,076 versus $1,932,770.
How could that be possible?
Doesn’t Pencil Out
At the most recent town hall presentation, July 13, 2023 at Fort Worden, the public was shown the slide copied above acknowledging that this project can’t “pencil out.” All three versions are projected to run deficits of $352,000 to $434,000, requiring an annual subsidy paid by city taxpayers on top of any property and/or sales taxes they would be paying just for the pool.
Those subsidy estimates may be another instance of lowballing what this project is likely to cost taxpayers.
At a July 2, 2023 workshop — as opposed to a public town hall meeting — the steering committee was provided a much grimmer projection, showing a subsidy of $1.6 million, four times what was presented at the public meetings. Unlike the slides shown the public, this one included the annual financing cost for a new aquatic center:
We’ve Seen This Before:
The Cherry Street Project
“I wouldn’t change a single thing about what we did,” Mayor David Faber has said about the failed Cherry Street Project. The city is now seeking bids to demolish that “affordable” housing project that has taxpayers on the hook for $1.4 million in bond principal and interest. Over $100,000 more in other outlays has been poured into the century-old derelict building barged here from Victoria, B.C. in 2017.
As we’ve reported, city council had in hand the equivalent of a feasibility study — a pro forma — that showed the project would default within two years of securing financing. The project’s cost estimates had been derided as “bogus” by the president of Homeward Bound, the organization that was going to complete the project. Costs were lowballed in repeated efforts to hook the city and taxpayers, and then extract more from them as the project demanded more and more investment… until the costs of finishing it became utterly prohibitive and the project was abandoned.
In its push for a new pool, the city is again being offered a questionable feasibility study. The consultant leading the effort, Opsis Architecture of Portland, Oregon, stands to secure a lucrative contract if the project moves forward.
Every member of the steering committee wants to see a new pool built. There is no one outside the loop providing critical, objective analysis. There is no “red team/blue team” constructive give-and-take to drag into the open all the possible weaknesses and flaws in the work being done by Opsis and Ballard*King. The city and the aquatic center steering committee are going with only one estimate, the estimate that suits their agenda.
The flawed feasibility study comparing Port Townsend’s cost of living to Pennsylvania and reaching absurd extrapolations from statistical data, while also missing the Cape George pool and placing Port Ludlow’s pools in Kitsap County — that study has been in the steering committee’s hands for months. Apparently no one read beyond the numbers they selected to pitch to the public to see how the study may be seriously flawed. They have no reason to critique the feasibility study on which they are building their case for higher taxes.
No one on the steering committee apparently was troubled by the fact that the feasibility study relies only on hypothetical numbers and did not bother to consider the real-world costs of the nearby Shore aquatic center. The Olympic YMCA holds a seat on the steering committee. They could provide real-world data from the Sequim YMCA to show how much it costs to run a larger facility. That does not seem to have been done.
Taxpayers are being asked to buy into a massively expensive-to-build, expensive-to-operate amenity solely on the basis of hypothetical numbers.
Ballard*King has already given itself an out. They do not guarantee that they got any of their cost estimates right. Proceed at your own risk, they say.
Ballard*King disclaimer of responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions in their cost projections
Taxpayers won’t have such an easy out. Once they bite, there’s no getting off the hook.
by the Editors | Sep 4, 2023 | General
In the spirit of offering Letters to the Editor as a traditional platform for lively, wide-ranging conversations in the public square, we invite you to write about whatever is on your mind.
Because we require comments under articles to be “on topic”, we found that readers who want to speak to other important issues, events and concerns that our small crew can’t cover don’t have a place for that. This Off Topic! feature allows readers to bring up other subjects, post news flashes, announce community events, or express concerns outside of the selected topics we write about.
A new Off Topic! forum is posted monthly. The post is open throughout the month for new letters and your responses.
How this works:
Submit your letter in the white box below Comment Guidelines at the bottom of the page containing the muted prompt “Enter your comment here…”
Either provide your own title to the letter as a top line or we will title it for you.
To respond to someone else’s post, hit the REPLY button under that specific letter or comment you wish to respond to.
by Jim Scarantino | Aug 25, 2023 | General
Self-sufficient, profitable, a benefit to the community. That can be the future of the Port Townsend golf course, says the city’s consultant in a May 24, 2023 report that has started receiving serious consideration only within the past week or so.
The city’s consultant says the golf course can be turned around, double its revenue in four years and actually produce income for the city. Why in all the furor at city council meetings over the golf course’s future have we not heard about this consultant’s optimism and pragmatic plan of action?
David Hein, a golf course professional with more than 40 years experience managing golf course operations, maintenance, and business operations, was hired by the city as part of its “Envisioning the Port Townsend Golf Course” project, which needed “an updated evaluation … to accurately assess and understand the current status” of the golf course, including “a thorough review of the existing conditions and factors that have impacted the financial performance of the golf course over the past 5 years under the current Lessor/Lessee agreement.”
He concluded:
“Port Townsend has a very manageable asset in the golf course that could one day in the near future be a self-sufficient and valuable asset to the community. With the correct lease and management structure in place along with an operating plan and appropriate oversight, the Port Townsend Golf Course can support the golf and recreation needs of the immediate community as well as those visiting Port Townsend.”
He departs from an early assessment of the golf course by the National Golf Foundation. He does not see a need to invest the nearly $1.3 million in capital improvements the NGF recommended. He identifies as the first priority evaluating, repairing and improving the greens and irrigation system, with a starting budget of $150,000. That may seem like a lot for a cash-strapped city that is heading over a financial cliff.
But Hein’s estimate of a budget to repair and improve the greens — the critical feature of any golf course — is less than it is spending on “public engagement.” Carrie Hite, the contract employee given the title of Parks and Recreation Strategy Director is being paid $130,000 to lead the push to remake the golf course and put a tax measure on the ballot to fund a new aquatic center. She is being paid more than the city pays engineers and police officers. Groundswell Landscape Architecture, the firm participating in public engagement and drafting proposals for a golf course remake has a contract costing the city at least $125,000. Their combined $255,000, which has produced not one golf course improvement, is significantly more than Hein’s first step in getting the golf course to where it is self-sufficient and shares profits with the city.
The rest of his priority items — landscaping, equipment repair and acquisition, and clubhouse improvements — would require expenditures of $165,000, for a total of $315,000.
Hein’s total projected expenditures come in well below the $4.4 million required for the so-called “hybrid plan” presented to city council by the Groundswell Landscape Architecture — a huge sum the city does not have.
Hein recommends raising greens fees and expanding food and beverage operations. He sees ways to generate additional income from facilities, while also accommodating community interest in using the course for activities other than golf. Some holes might need to be relocated, buildings need to be cleaned out, management has to up its game. He does not see any financial viability for golfing if the course is reduced to an executive or par 3 course.
“I don’t foresee,” Hein writes, “a scenario where the golf course is materially reduced in size and scope that would accommodate all of the needs of the community and still attract golfers that would pay the required green fees to cover minimal capital improvements and the maintenance expense of the property.”
To reach his conclusions he examined the grounds and its buildings, even basements, which he believes can be converted into income-generating meeting and event spaces. He interviewed current management and golfers, and also contacted comparable 9-hole courses in Washington and obtained financial information from them for points of comparison.
Golf course supporters are encouraged by Hein’s report and have been crafting proposals to the city to implement his ideas so that the city need not subsidize operations and maintenance, as it does now, and will receive a percentage of gross receipts.
Hein’s 23-page report can be read in full at this link.
The city council is scheduled to tour the golf course and Mountain View commons on Monday, August 28, 2023 at 6pm with discussion to follow.
by Jim Scarantino | Aug 24, 2023 | General
The closer you look, the more problematic a new Port Townsend aquatic center appears. Operating costs would greatly exceed initial projections, according to the feasibility study prepared to boost the city’s promotion of a new aquatic/fitness center. The estimated annual operating expenditure of almost $2.1 million is more than twice the cost once projected by the city’s Sustainability Task Force and more than six times current operating costs for Mountain View pool.
To have any hope of avoiding financial failure, the new aquatic center would have to generate revenues as much as seventeen times greater than current operations, and hit that mark as soon the second year of operation.
And still a new P.T. aquatic center would run annual deficits of around $400,000.
Its projected operating costs would be greater than those of the Sequim YMCA and the Shore Aquatic Center in Port Angeles, and yet its revenue would be less.
These are just a few of the red flags that abound in the feasibility study for a new $38-$53 million aquatic/fitness center for Port Townsend. I discussed some of the problems with this document in “Drowning in Red Ink: Mountain View Pool and Proposed Aquatic Center.” Here I will delve deeper into why this “feasibility study” is a clanging alarm bell that should stop any responsible and prudent decision maker in her tracks.
A View of Port Townsend from the Rocky Mountains
The feasibility study was prepared for the city and its aquatic center steering committee by Ballard King & Associates of Highland Park, Colorado. They did not conduct any market research in and around Port Townsend or the rest of the county. Based on their report, it’s easy to conclude that they’ve never even been here. Their 69-page analysis exclusively uses census data and other exogenous statistical information, then extrapolates those statistics to our area.
They required pages of data, charts and graphs to reach the conclusion that we are an unusually old, childless and poor community, something we already know too well. Yet, despite heavy doses of data on demographics and economic conditions, they manage to say not one word about what is recognized here as our number one problem: our affordable housing crisis.
Anybody who had spent a little time on the ground here would know that our affordable housing crisis is driving demographics and economic challenges. It pushes young people and families away, and deprives employers of workers, depressing economic activity and stifling growth. Yet, not a peep about our biggest problem from these consultants in the picture they paint of Port Townsend’s population, economy and culture. Addressing that towering problem would push the pool way down the priority list of our immediate needs, and leave little money for the costly amenity of a new aquatic/fitness center.
Some of Ballard King’s statistical extrapolation produced manifestly absurd results, such as concluding that in 2022 the Port Townsend area likely had 1,305 people engaged in basketball, 173 adults participating in cheerleading, and 313 adults doing gymnastics. Other absurdities riddle their computations.
At the same time that they were crunching numbers to tell us how our community recreates and exercises, they ignored bicycling completely. Notice there is no entry for biking in the above table. Yet, we have one of the premier biking trails in the nation in the Olympic Discovery Trail and the gem of the Larry Scott Trail running from the Boat Haven to Four Corners. Those trails see heavy bicycle use every day, as do our roads and streets. But, again, not a peep from consultants sitting at their desks in Colorado trying to guess how we spend our time and stay fit.
They purported to exhaustively survey existing swimming pools in the area. But somehow they missed the fact that Cape George has its own pool and they placed the Mountain View Pool at Kala Point. Then they put the Kala Point pool in Port Ludlow. The Port Ludlow pools they relocated to Silverdale. This map also indicates two pools in Port Angeles, when there is only one, the William Shore Aquatic Center.
Map of area pools from page 41 of Ballard King feasibility study.
So detached are they from reality in Port Townsend, that on page 13 the Colorado consultants compared us to the State of Pennsylvania. One has to wonder if their report mixed us up with work they were doing for a community in the Keystone State instead of on the Quimper Peninsula, and where else in their report they confused us with other communities. This following graph, by the way, was used to make the case that our community is capable of spending quite a bit more money on recreational activities because the level of our expenditures for necessities — such as our very affordable housing — is below the national level and below that of… Pennsylvania(?)
The “primary service area” in this graph is Port Townsend, Cape George, Discovery Bay, the Tri-Area, Kala Point and Marrowstone; the “secondary service area” is everything in Jefferson County to the south of Chimacum.
Ballard King & Associates of Highland Park, Colorado, also concluded that over a thousand residents around Port Townsend and from the south county go to Planet Fitness and LA Fitness.
Table from page 30 of Ballard King report showing percentage of population they claim belong to fitness clubs.
The percentages in this table apply to the “primary service area” around Port Townsend. Ballard King estimated the population of that area at 21,551, meaning they believe that in and around Port Townsend, 884 people (4.1% of the population) patronize Planet Fitness and 280 (1.3% of the population) go to LA Fitness. There is, of course, neither a Planet Fitness nor an LA Fitness in Jefferson County. The nearest Planet Fitness would require a ferry ride to Oak Harbor or a drive to Bremerton. There are no LA Fitness outlets on this side of Puget Sound.
But there are two fine full-service gyms, Port Townsend Athletic Club and Evergreen Fitness. Ballard King didn’t bother to inquire as to the membership and usage of those facilities.
How much were they paid to churn this stuff out?
Risky Business
Several versions of a future aquatic center have been proposed: the “basic” model (pool only); the “basic plus gym”; and the Full Monty, a large swimming facility with several pools, gym, exercise rooms, meeting rooms, etc. — something on the scale of a large urban YMCA. Ballard King projected that the annual operating costs of the Full Monty would be nearly $2.1 million, with revenues of about $1.7 million and a deficit requiring public subsidy of about $350,000.
The subsidy for any aquatic/fitness short of a Full Monty would be somewhat higher because it would have fewer profit centers, e.g., weight room, yoga studio, etc. As I reported in my first article on this feasibility study, Ballard King recognizes that the many private gym and exercise studios existing in our community already, from full service gyms, to yoga and pilates studios, pose a “challenge” for the financial success of an aquatic/fitness competitor.
Herb Cook, a current Director and Past President of the Olympic YMCA, weighed in on the financial feasibility of aquatic centers in a Nextdoor comment on this issue. He wrote that the Sequim YMCA in 2019 (the last year before the pandemic lockdowns) had “more than 3,000 membership units (family and single) and 6,000 total members. Total revenue was slightly less than $2.2 million, total expenses slightly more than $1.8 million, net operating surplus more than $300,000.”
The Sequim YMCA is a Full Monty and then some. It offers a “six lane lap pool, a shallow family pool, hot tub, dry sauna, gymnasium, racquetball courts and wellness area.” It also offers basketball and volleyball and personal training and a steam room.
6,000 total members, 3,000 “membership units” make the Sequim YMCA feasible, according to Cook. Ballard King’s projections for the number of individual “membership units” for a Port Townsend aquatic/fitness center don’t come close. They project only 1,435 purchases of monthly and annual passes, 485 ten-visit pass sales, 55 daily passes per month.
The Sequim YMCA’s financial picture is the opposite of what Ballard King projects for a potential full-scale PT aquatic/fitness center. Where the Sequim YMCA brought in $2.2 million in revenue, PT’s top model is projected to bring in $1.7 million. On the expense side, PT’s projected operating costs would be almost $2.1 million versus just over $1.8 million for the Sequim YMCA. The amount of the projected PT aquatic/fitness center’s loss would be almost what the Sequim YMCA has seen as an operating surplus.
Proponents of a new PT aquatic center like to point to the William Shore Aquatic Center in Port Angeles. In my prior report, I showed that the projected admission fees for a new PT facility would be almost twice those charged at Shore. The Shore center relies heavily on property taxes to cover the difference between its operating costs and earned revenues.
Shore was built in the same era as the Mountain View pool and has undergone much maintenance, renovations, upgrades and expansions. It is now a very modern, attractive facility with several aquatic recreation offerings and a few “dry land” programs like yoga and personal fitness classes. It is situated in a younger community with a population more than twice the size of Port Townsend’s.
Yet it still requires a public subsidy of about $1.7 million annually, according to its 2022 budget. Those funds are collected through property taxes imposed by a metropolitan park district.
The Shore center’s 2022 budgeted operating costs were $1,622,715. This is a number generated with years of learning from actually operating the facility. The Ballard King projections for the comparable PT facility are $1,268,557, significantly below what the Shore center has found it needs to operate.
But we are supposed to believe that a PT aquatic/fitness center with higher operating costs, in a smaller community, with a very old and poor population, will need a subsidy only a quarter of the size of Shore’s? To hit that target, Ballard King assumes the aquatic/fitness center will enjoy a geometric jump in revenue that requires our old and poor population to pay admission fees about twice as high as those charged at the Shore Aquatic Center.
At least Ballard King, on page 50, near the end of their study, tells us not to take their projections to the bank. They disclaim any guarantee that their numbers may be relied upon fully. Do so at your own risk.
We Can Do That
No engineering analysis of what it would cost to upgrade and/or keep the Mountain View pool going as it is currently built was conducted before the push for a new aquatic/fitness center became public. Carrie Hite, the city’s Director of Parks and Recreation Strategy, stated in an email that, “We have opted not to spend close to $100K on a current full systems and structural analysis.” I have seen nothing to suggest that the city sought competitive bids for such an analysis. Hite could be pulling that number out of the air.
A full systems analysis was done for the city in 2001 by The ORB Organization, architects-planners-engineers, of Redmond, Washington. That analysis concluded, “The existing pool is quite adequate for basic instruction, training and aerobics,” but was not suitable for competitive swimming or diving. ORB examined all aspects of the pool and concluded it could be upgraded to meet current code requirements for $167,714 and its life extended for another 30 years–to 2031–for $355,113.
The roof does require replacement. Hope Roofing of Port Townsend conducted an inspection that found significant leakage and structural issues, such as soft spots where it would be unsafe to stand. City council recently had the option of fixing the roof properly, with a long-lasting, multi-decade solution, at the cost of $1 million. It opted for a temporary membrane fix that will last only a few years.
Hite wrote in her email that, “Parts for the pool are not manufactured anymore, so the pool is one breakdown away from closure.” We have also heard this at the town halls from Opsis, the Portland, Oregon architectural firm responsible for the conceptual illustration at the top of this article. They claim that parts for Mountain View’s pumps and filters cannot be purchased, so the pool only has a few years left before it must be scrapped.
But that is not necessarily true.
Workers at the Port Townsend Foundry
“We can fabricate anything for the pool,” Pete Langley, owner of the Port Townsend Foundry told me. His business is a custom and production nonferrous foundry in operation since 1983. They fabricate products from architectural castings to industrial castings to maritime hardware to antique replacements.
“I can build a pump from scratch. The equipment for a pool is not complicated. We can make anything the pool needs right here. We are a maker’s community,” Langley said. I was standing with him outside his operation in Glen Cove. He waved at other businesses that design and build sophisticated equipment and machinery. His “we” referred to his neighbors as well as his own highly skilled workers.
Langley is a current board member and the 2022 chairperson of the city’s Maritime Trades Association. “Look, we build boats. Some of the machinery in the mill is a hundred years old. The people in this town can fix a pool.”
Port Townsend’s annual Wooden Boat Festival is around the corner. The Port Townsend Foundry and other businesses here keep those magnificent classic boats going. They fabricate the hardware and parts “that are not manufactured anymore.” A pool’s simple filter and pumps are a lot less complicated and demanding than anything that heads out to the open ocean.
I have written Hite to ask if the city has consulted with Langley about fabricating locally any parts needed for the Mountain View pool. I am still awaiting a reply.
A Rigged Game
A decision was made by someone that a completely new aquatic center is going to be built. Opsis was brought in from Portland not to critically evaluate whether the existing pool could be renovated and upgraded, as the Shore Aquatic Center has been, but to promote a new pool through highly orchestrated “town halls.”
Opsis stands to land a lucrative architectural contract if the city gets the funding to build one of the versions of a new aquatic/fitness center.
At these “town halls” Opsis handed out colored circles with adhesive backing. Audience members were instructed to vote their preferences by sticking the dots on the artist conception of a new facility and selected features they liked (see our January 2023 article). Opsis did not make available any “No new aquatic center” option.
When questions were raised about the feasibility of addressing Mountain View’s needs, Opsis dismissed them out of hand. It was either go with one of the Opsis renderings of a new aquatic/fitness center or go without a pool — a stark choice that alarmed many of the frequent, elderly users of the pool who attended these “town halls.”
In the latest on-line survey people could vote only for which taxing method they like to raise the funds to pay for a new aquatic/fitness center. A “no new tax” option was not offered. At the last town hall held at Fort Worden on July 13, 2023, in response to a question from the audience Hite revealed that only about 150 people had been participating in the survey that was providing direction to the process.
“The Mountain View pool is nearing the end of its life,” has been the drum beat from Opsis and city manager John Mauro. That is an urban myth unproven by any engineering analysis. It is a talking point, and a talking point only, to drive people towards approving taxes to build a completely new, and vastly more expensive facility with implausible financial viability.
A responsible approach would have been to do a full engineering systems analysis at the beginning of this process. Instead, someone in City Hall launched a campaign to go after $38-53 million in new taxes to build a new aquatic/fitness center on a scale seen in larger urban areas.
The first installment was the $175,000 paid to Opsis for its drawings and “town halls” and whatever was paid to Ballard King for their “feasibility study.” Throw in the six-figure salary being paid to contract employee Hite whose job as “Strategy Director” is promoting the new pool (and a remake of the golf course), and all the time spent by city employees and others on the town halls and behind-the-scenes meetings to secure taxes for a new pool. We will never know what could have been accomplished with those funds if instead they had been invested in addressing Mountain View’s needs and finding a way to keep what we’ve got as they did in Port Angeles… and also Anacortes, by the way.
Opsis presents its final recommendation to City Council on September 5, 2023. Hite has said the goal is to get a proposed tax measure on a special election ballot in February 2024. The two tax measures under consideration are a property tax hike that would hit properties in Cape George, Discovery Bay, Irondale, Port Hadlock and Chimacum (and areas to the south), Marrowstone Island, and Kala Point, as well as Port Townsend. The other tax measure being considered is a county-wide sales tax.
