Letter submitted to Kingston Community News to counter previously published Rotary articles about the Raydient Rezone. It was refused by Kingston Community News.
My Take
Twice now I have read here comments that would like to invite comparison of the plan to site a sports complex on Pope (now Rayonier) land .. . with the popular Village Green project in Kingston.
Having lived in Kingston for 40 years and been involved in the evolution of the VG, I would like to object to this comparison and point out how these are two very different animals. To review ... the need for a new community center was an issue 35 years ago when several Kingston visionaries began looking at the prime parcel downtown that had been acquired by the federal government during the cold war era and used for military housing .. . and which was becoming obsolete 35 years ago. Volunteers (and yes, some of the same folks now trying to find a place for more athletic fields) worked with the powers that be to get the land "surplussed" so the county could purchase and then community volunteers went to work first developing the park, then the senior housing and finally fund raising over a number of years to build the facility for the library, Boys & Girls Club and the community center. This has been a wildly inspiring story that still continues today.
Now contrast the proposal to build new recreational facilities by obtaining land from a private corporation with a long history of extracting wealth from North Kitsap. By definition it needs to make a profit. It can't make this contribution without finding a way to also extract more profit from the land ... hence the re-zone.
There is a troubling history associated with this land and its corporate owners. First, Pope and Talbot extracted millions over about 150 years on land that was obtained unjustly. They took timber and when that was exhausted they turned to land development and sales. New owners whose headquarters and most shareholders reside out of state continue the same philosophy of extracting profit from the land.
If the arc of history truly bends toward justice then Pope (now Rayonier) would explore ways to divest themselves from the business of profiteering off land with a painful past. We need to ask "How much is enough taking?" How much of the wealth has gone toward the public good or reparations to the indigenous peoples? Couldn't the land be turned over to some public/private coalition to manage the land in the interest of all residents (including animals, trees and fish).
The good folks trying to locate new sports fields need to find a different site or convince Rayonier to make a more forward thinking offer to benefit future generations.
Alan Chessman Kingston (former board member Village Green Foundation)