David...Huh??? Ummm...thanks, I think?
You definitely win the Award for the Most Obscure Reference. 

Thank you, Jon, for the 8 or more years you've spent volunteering your time to educate three different City of Bellingham mayors, two public works directors, various city and county council members, other elected and hired representatives, and the general public on the value of public fiber broadband. All to no avail, sadly. 

As you've stated repeatedly, the game is rigged. It's rigged to favor Big Telecom, to favor big developers including the B.S. immense waste of time, money, and other resources on the Harcourt waterfront "development" debacle, for a couple of examples. Most of the so-called Bellingham and County "progressive" representatives are definitely not progressive and are not getting important shit done. Most of our elected and hired representatives do not seem to care about affordable internet access for homeless people or those with lower or moderate income levels. They did not care about businesses, entrepreneurs, teachers, and school children who had to try to work or study online during COVID without affordable or reliable internet. They didn't care about us then and they don't care about us now. They just don't seem to care about what is best for the greater good. Oh...but Holly St. has a new bike lane...a poorly designed and dangerous bike lane....but there's that "accomplishment."

When I saw Ziply Fiber contractors digging up locations all down my street and streets all around town this summer, the last little bit of hope I had for the City of Bellingham to do good work for the benefit of all disappeared. 

I've been thinking about writing about homelessness again for NW Citizen but I just can't muster the energy because nothing much has improved on that issue. I was thinking about writing about the missed opportunity that the COB had to preserve affordable housing by purchasing Lakeway Mobile Estates. As expected, the out-of-state developer who purchased the property has already started to raise rents which will force more people out. Where will those folks find other affordable housing? Not in Bellingham, that's for sure. It's only a matter of time before the Lakeway Estates owner ends all the leases and redevelops the mobile home park into expensive condos or something else that will make them lots of money. 

Is Bellingham the City of Subdued Excitement? Or is it really the City of Poor Choices, Lack of Leadership, and Missed Opportunities?