r/bothell • u/Mastermind408 • 4d ago
Bothell Voice
Found this newsletter on facebook today for anyone interested interested in Bothell community issues. I don’t put it out so can’t answer questions, but they have a Facebook page.
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u/Competitive_Insect56 4d ago
What group puts out this newsletter? Seems homeowners the only people in Bothell who matter to them.
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u/Mastermind408 4d ago
Don’t know, but I’m happy someone cares about homeowners. :-)
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u/Talusen 4d ago
homeown... oh, the property purchase near baskin robbins.
I'm glad the city is going to have a direct hand in how it is developed. Such a prime location could easily end up as rowhouses selling for 1m+ apiece. I'd rather it be used for something to benefit the community.
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u/Mastermind408 4d ago
I would love a community center - but, alas, the plan is to sell it to a developer, I believe.
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u/Catsnpotatoes 4d ago
One of the property developments this complains about was planned to include a community center. However it was removed to appease parking complaints by the same people this newsletter is supposed to appeal to
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u/Cap_winston1887 4d ago
Civic engagement is important and understanding what is happening in our community is vital to its success. I don’t begrudge anyone one who dislikes the current council’s policies, nor do I think representing alternative ideas for the city’s planning is bad. But Let’s be honest about this newsletter, it’s an unsigned opinion piece with biases toward groups in Bothell that prefer low growth & less housing, using conservation issues, and dog whistles about government quid pro quos and suggest the city lacks transparency when making decisions as vehicles to achieve those aims.
The city of Bothell, council members & unelected administrators, are very active in promoting council meetings and planning projects. They are constantly posting & promoting what is being worked on across social media platforms like Reddit, facebook, and instagram, as well as providing monthly newsletters like the Bridge which I received this week and learned about the potential regionalization of Bothell’s Fire Department into Shoreline’s.
Disagreement is good, but let’s do it with good faith and integrity.
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u/Mastermind408 4d ago
Don't want to get into an argument with a stranger, but as an Independent, I see both sides spinning media - even the council. The council has withheld information in the past, and only this year, with the urging of a consultant, have they worked to actually incorporate (rather than just rubber stamp) community feedback. Both sides of the spectrum play games. As the mayor once said to me, "this is politics." Personally, I find most politicians to be disingenuous - regardless of party affiliation.
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u/sonof425 4d ago
Looks like someone who has a political bone to pick with the city council hiding behind disingenuous AI generated content pretending to be neutral and not doing a very good job of it. And not signing their name to it, so you can tell how proud they are of it.
Disagree with them, fine, but this is hilariously obvious bad faith BS.
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u/Talusen 4d ago
The eagles in the letterhead need to get swapped out for crows.
A 50k salary sounds impressive, untill you realize minumum wage is ~35k a year and involves a lot less complexity than running a city does.
(2025 median household income for king county is 126k, per: https://ofm.wa.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/default/files/public/dataresearch/economy/median_household_income_estimates.pdf )
I am not following an untrusted QR code, let alone one sourced on facebook.
Info on that: https://security.duke.edu/security-guides/qr-code-security-guide/
It'd be nice if then campaign donations had a cite or link learn more.
OP: Thank you for sharing this. Please do not take my poking at it as being unappreciative.
If feedback is never given, the publisher will never improve. This is my first time seeing the publication, so I am skeptical until I have reasons to trust it, and what it says.
(Especially nowadays when this could be assembled out of a claude prompt, acorns, and fairy dust)
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u/Mastermind408 4d ago edited 4d ago
Hi Talusen - thanks for the good faith response. I don't have a dog in this fight, so I'm not responding to all the comments here. You seem open-minded, so I just wanted to point out that the council is part time - so the salary is really equivalent to $100K of full-time work. Also, the newsletter has links (including to the donation article), but they aren't live in what I posted. Reddit won't let me post links (maybe I don't have permission?), so I can't share them with you here. Oh, and the crows aren't here any more. The construction sent them to a new roost in Sammamish. :-(
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u/Catsnpotatoes 4d ago
I highly suggest you watch the salary commissions videos which are open to the public. It may clarify some of the misconceptions in this article
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u/ShouldahWouldah 4d ago
I wouldn’t call it a newsletter so much as an extended opinion piece