The Lakewood Examiner

Last year, on May 1, Said Joquin was shot dead by Lakewood Police. He had run a stop sign, and Officer Michael Wiley killed him. At this stage I don’t want to go into details, but when I get the information I’ll give my thoughts. The important details are that Said was a young African American, who needlessly lost his life.

The Black Panther Party of Washington took an immediate interest in Said’s case, and organized a demonstration, to coincide with celebrations for the City of Lakewood’s 25th anniverserty, on Saturday, September 25.

I should say that the Black Panthers are not as scary as they sound. Although they fight for social change, they are prepared to work with the system, and the bulk of their activites are charitable – for example feeding and clothing the homeless.

Before the demonstration started, the Panthers set up a tent, and marshalled their supporters. Some of Said’s family from North Carolina were there, and so was a sergeant from Lakewood Police Department, astride his bicycle.

As a foreigner, coming from a country with some of the strictest gun control laws in the world, it was a strange scene. The Panthers, in combat gear, were open carrying rifles and pistols, and were almost treating the thing as a military operation. The police sergeant was discussing politics with them, in a way that was measured and civilized. He even sugggested, if I heard him right, that some of the Panthers could best serve their community by themselves joining the police.

Then the march started – and as the demonstrators left the marshalling ground, the sergeant called after them “Be nice!”.

Unfortunately attendance at the march was disappointing – I would have said no more than 25 people. If the Panthers had been able to get four times that number, they might have been able to seriously disrupt the City’s big day. And no one attending the celebrations wanted to interact with the marchers – except Lakewood’s mayor, Donald Anderson, who suggested to the Panthers that their open carry was a sign of insecurity.

I don’t know the exact reasons why the Panthers had guns. It might have been a good way – perhaps the only way – to get attention to their cause. Or perhaps they were signalling that they, rather than regular law enforcement agencies, are best positioned to defend the community.

On Tuesday August 3 we had primaries in Pierce County, and in Lakewood four out of seven council seats were up for grabs. This reflects the Lakewood election cycle. Council elections happen in odd years, with three seats in the 2015–2019–2023 cycle, and four seats 2017–2021–2025.

The results were unsurprising.

Mary Moss, the incumbent in Position 1, was unopposed. This meant that she wasn’t on the ballot paper, and there wasn’t an opportunity for a write-in. Republican Jason Whalen, on his Facebook page, quoted Mary Moss, regarding his 2020 run for Pierce County Council: “Jason doesn’t have a partisan agenda; he works on behalf of the people – not of special interests or Party ideology. That’s why – though I am a Democrat — I am endorsing Jason…”.

Jason Whalen and Mary Moss have both been council members since 2010, and under their watch parts of the City have witnessed environmental devastation. Someone should be standing against Mary Moss, and we’re now relying on a write-in long-shot.

Looking at the contested primaries, in Position 2 Mike Brandstetter topped the poll, with 5,293 votes, which was 71.09% of the total. Brandstetter, like Mary Moss, has been a council member since 2010, and it looks like he’ll be on the Council another four years… unless Amelia Escobedo, who came second with 22.63% of the vote, can do something special.

Then there’s Position 5. This is interesting, because Patti Belle, the current incumbent, is an appointee. She took over from John Simpson, when he moved out of the City. Patti Belle wasn’t the only person who applied for the vacant seat. Another person who applied was Ria Johnson-Covington, who stood against Simpson in 2017 and got 32.92% of the vote. This year Johnson-Covington came second in the 2021 Primary for Postion 5, so she’s still in the race.

Position 3 is occupied by Jason Whalen. He won the primary convincingly, getting 4802 votes, which was 64.04% of the total. In second place was Siabhom Ayuso, with 1501 votes.

From a statistical point of view, Whalen did signficantly worse than Brandstetter and Belle, who respectively got 71.09% and 69.64% of the vote. The effect was small — if you’re interested, Cramer’s V on the chi-square test was .07. Yet there was *some* effect, and it does seem that there were a few voters that Whalen turned off, that Brandstetter and Belle didn’t. It’s now up to Siabhon Ayuso, between now and November, to leverage the WNE (Whalen Negativity Effect) in her favor.

Lakewood, Washington, is fast becoming a byword for environmental destruction.

It may not be on par with the destruction of the Brazilian rainforests, but the City’s unique natural heritage is being undermined on a daily basis. The City is home to a unique concentration of Garry Oaks, which take over a hundred years to reach maturity. Unlike conifers, they put down deep roots, which make them resistant to drought. Yet the City is allowing Garry Oaks to be torn down, through lax tree preservation codes and large-scale rezoning. It seems that the City’s prime directive is letting business have its way… rather like a computer organized society, in a science-fiction dystopia, that is programmed to put commercial interests first.

To give an example of the City’s messaging, I came across a website they appear to control, buildyourbetterhere.com. This website is pushing Lakewood to investors, and when I last visited had the photo and contact details of Becky Newton, the City’s economic development manager.

The website had the following message:

If you’re looking for better, we’re building better here in Lakewood. Better looks like affordable starter homes in established neighborhoods. Or lakefront living on some of the most luxurious properties in the state. Pick your lake. Lakewood has seven. Better is also a streamlined business climate. With business-friendly policies and development incentives, Lakewood invites investment and bulldozes barriers. How will you build your better here?

On the face of it, the message is that businesses can come to Lakewood and do what they like. Most importantly, Lakewood will facilitate businesses, by “bulldozing barriers.” As was commented at a City Council meeting on July 19 2021, the word bulldoze is very emotive. According to Merriam-Webster, bulldoze as a transitive verb has three possible meanings:

 to coerce or restrain by threats: BULLY

to move, clear, gouge out, or level off by pushing with or as if with a bulldozer

to force insensitively ruthlessly

The implication seems to be that if you’re a business, the City will, if need be, do what ever it takes to clear the barriers. For example, being insensitive to people’s concerns about the environment, bullying people making objections, and ruthlessly using the power at their disposal to allow business interests to get their way.

Hopefully the use of the word “bulldoze” was a mistake, and when you visit the website you won’t see it anymore. It was a week ago that the comment was made, and changing the wording of websites can take a long time. However, as it stands, businesses can be confident that the City of Lakewood will bulldoze whatever barriers they face. The machine knows its priorities, and they aren’t those of the ordinary residents of Lakewood.