Payload Delivery

Amazon contracts it’s own delivery drivers now. I despise that hegemon, but still, sometimes—what you gonna do?

When the familiar UPS trucks were displaced by vehicles in various states of disrepair driven by alternative-lifestyle looking humans, some, gasp, of different complexions, a few of my neighbors reinvigorated the Neighborhood Watch.

I imagine them checking their assault rifles, that sort of thing.

I talked with a source who told me that the police department is still getting calls about suspicious vehicles which turn out to be driven by nonwhite, gig economy victims delivering the Amazon crap we all think we need.

Last year, I asked a very large, massively bearded African-American man as he delivered to me my Amazon plastic crap if, ‘the good citizens of Ridgefield’ were watching his every movement.

At first he looked at me with what felt like suspicion. Who can blame him? Then, I suspect sensing I was more empathy than pathology, he said that the scions of the Home of the Brave follow him around until they see him deliver a package and realize he’s working, then they leave him alone.

I told him I was sorry and waved good-bye. But, I am pretty sure the Neighborhood Watch vigilantes, guns-a-ready, wait from a safe distance to make sure the package my bearded friend just delivered does not explode before looking for the next Trayvon. 

I’d bet the Asian dude with tattoos who delivered a dog collar to me today elicits paranoid heart accelerations from the same old, white people who’ve spent a lifetime voting for the plutocracy that put that young man on their doorsteps.

He’s trying to make rent in a country where corporate property rights are the primary beneficiaries of state enforcement. I’m sure he smiles as he leaves the package at the doorstep while my frightened neighbors peer through peepholes, FOX News noisily keeping the rear guard. 

It’s us against us, after all. We can’t ever forget that.

The dog collar, btw, works a charm. It beeps loudly when our dog barks. He’s so frightened by it he stops barking and pees on the floor.

Kahena helped me cut stars out of white cloth for our Halloween flag. We’re sewing together an 1865 American Flag for Henry’s costume. He’s going as a Civil War drummer boy. I’ll be a Union flag dude. Tomorrow we will glue the stars in place.

I chose the flag as a subtle statement about what happened to the Dixie flag immediately after the Civil War. They were pretty resourceful back then. I imagine they cut up Ol’ Dixie for various uses, bandages, snot rags, toilet paper.

We’ve got a big display of the ghost of the Dixie flag just outside town, next to the highway.

At first, I was going to follow Henry in his Union drummer boy outfit while wearing a ‘Do I Need to Come Down There Again’ General Sherman shirt, but I think the 1865 flag will do.

I should probably do the 1867 flag, as it would include Nebraska, the 37th State, but also the 14th Amendment which held some sway, at least theoretically, between roughly the late 1960s and 2010.

We hand cut the stars from pristine white cloth (note:not a Southern surrender flag, though that would be appropriate). Kahena’s stars are as awful as mine, but she doesn’t know it.

In a sense, she’s still star struck, while I see that my stars are bumpy, random, and misshapen, not as badly as the 14th Amendment, of course--they still resemble stars--but more like the First Amendment, abused but somewhat operational. 

Today, we learned Kahena will be singing Lee Greenwood’s rancid propaganda vehicle, ‘Proud to Be an American’, as part of a school music performance. This song, Greenwood’s most epic of all his epic pablum, was first used to bind God, Country, and the Flag into a zealous, patriotic triumvirate to glorify Reagan’s destruction of Unions and the environment.

The song continues to impart the glorious gloss of God sanctified militarism to Reifenstahl-proud Presidential Pep Rallies, to this day.

I’m not sure Kahena has told her music teacher, yet, that her favorite God of the moment is Erishkagel, the Babylonian Goddess of the underworld. Henry simply refused to believe in God in Kindergarten, though I did try to sell him on Hephaestus, the blacksmith who made Achiles’ shield and armor. 

There are a lot to choose from!

When I learned my Kindergartener would be singing the Greenwood gibberish I huffed a bit, thought I might call and protest. Then I figured, whatever, let her sing the song.

It’s utter crap and the kindergarteners will do it justice.

Dear Diary, Monday, October 28, 2019

The dog, a hound who bays at will, rode in the back of the van baying, baying, baying. Kahena, 6, yelled over the top and between the dog's howls that humans have eleven fingers. I told her that I would be happy to read the paper when it was published upon which she recounted her fingers and announced that she'd been wrong, that there are only ten fingers.

They really are little scientists, aren't they?

I try to shy away from oxymorons but Megan made an amazing vegan soup.

Walker, the dog, who we should probably start calling him yeller, or loud, just walked by the snare, hitting the sticks and tumbling them to the ground. He didn't notice. Perhaps he's deaf.

Henry, who aims to learn drums for civil war reenacting, aims mighty well at the center of that drum most days. Boom, boom, boom, silence, boom, boom, boom, silence, in the slow walk cadence of battle not yet met, soldiers solemnly taking the field.

I've caused a few rows, lately. I published some podcasts on local political races as well as a police blotter. I had fun with the blotter. But, I've been hit back hard. Apparently, degendering and not naming people in injury free fender benders is not enough to keep people from seeing past a bit of humor.

I can't imagine doing the blotter if I can't make jokes about some poor soul having to call the boss after driving their truck and trailer into a muddy field.

But the real insult were made by a City Councilor I did not endorse because I questioned his judgement. He replied in his public comment online that I lacked intellectual integrity, had personal demons, and some other degrading stuff, even implied he'd sue me for slander.

I should have replied only, 'you have proved me right.'

Ridgefield City Council Position 5, Aichele vs Wertz

Hi this is Chris Dudley and the Ridgefield News and Views Podcast.

With this podcast I hope to create a regular forum for news, opinion, and interviews about the people, happenings, and other important goings on in Ridgefield Washington. 

And just as a side note, my wife and I are not exactly the Kelly Ann Conway and George Conway of Ridgefield politics, but at least know that my wife is not in lockstep with me on the opinions I’m sharing. She’s much more a get along with everyone community member, whereas I don’t mind a neighborly dust up here and there.

I hope you’ll follow along at crisis cycling dot com, where this and other podcasts will be posted and where you can comment.

On Wednesday night, October 16th, 2019,  I attended the candidate forum hosted by the League of Women voters held at the Clark County Fire Station at Dollar’s Corner in Battle Ground. 

The following recording is of the candidates vying for Ridgefield City Council Position Five which features incumbent Darren Wertz and challenger Rob Aichele.

After the recorded forum I will add more information and my opinions and recommendations, so stick around if you’re interested and or go to crisiscycling.com if you’d like to comment.

But please be warned, I give my opinion after the candidates’ final statements.

You can also find my podcast facebook page, crisis cycling, or, and these are on facebook as well, The Ridgefield Community Group, which is an advocacy group we put together, and Meaningful Movies in Ridgefield. We show documentary films at The Old Liberty theater on the fourth Wednesday of every month. We hold a panel discussion after the screening and it’s always free to the public.

Now to the recorded forum. The first voice you will hear is that of the moderator.

So this is an interesting race for me and the first time I have to waid into politics where I don’t really want to, and only because I like both these guys. 

Wertz is diligent and detail oriented. He has attended a couple of our screenings at Meaningful Movies. And he’s always willing to discuss ideas that are outside the box.

For instance, I’m a big fan of locally produced food, agro-ecological approaches to food production, permaculture, that sort of thing, and I figured I knew all the buzzwords, but Wertz was the one who told me about the concept of an agrihood, or homes built around a small farm.

Wertz has spoken out about limiting low employment development that would degrade our community, and he knows the law around development. He hopes to get some high quality signage on the highway to attract people and businesses to Ridgefield.

I even voted for Wertz in his last election. So, I speak with integrity on this race when I endorse Rob Aichele. 

But, Aichele is also very detail oriented, he’s heavily involved in the community, he sits on the planning commission, is an active member of the Lion’s Club, and has a lifetime’s experience in construction so he knows how to deal with unscrupulous developers.

As I said, I like both these guys but I endorse Rob Aichele for City Council Position 5. He’s knocked on almost 3000 doors in his bid to meet the citizens of Ridgefield. He can cite chapter and verse the bylaws of City, and discuss in great detail the Growth Management Act. 

Seriously, like mind numbingly boring detail.

I believe he would make a great addition to the council.

One reason I believe Aichele would make a better city councilor than Wertz, among a number is that Wertz showed questionable judgement when he voted against a basic issue of, for lack of a better term, looking forward when it came to one technically and symbolicaly important resolution. 

Now I’m going to deep dive, and then even go a little tangential, so hang on.

In what might be a much more impactful vote than any of us realize for it’s economic implications, let alone the inherent racist overtones, since the last election Wertz voted against the City of Ridgefield weighing in on a controversy surrounding those abhorrent confederate flags that fly just south of the Pioneer, I-5 on-ramp. 

Wertz voted against the city penning a letter to the Clark County Historic Preservation Commission saying The City of Ridgefield supported de-listing the confederate monument on an official government website. This gets a little wonky, so bare with me. 

Its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man.

A few years ago the Clark County Historic Preservation Commission under rather ideological  leadership had erroneously erred in listing as an official historic sight a confederate monument that had been moved to private property and was, and is still, displayed with large confederate flags as well as a fawning display dedicated to Jefferson Davis.

Just over a year ago there was a community outcry about the official recognition and listing of that monument. Activists asked cities in Clark County to send letters to the Clark County Historic Preservation Commission asking the board to de-list the monument.

So this can be confusing, but suffice to say that the vote was about whether or not it was appropriate for a government entity to officially sanction and, importantly, promote a confederate monument that was not in it’s original place, had little if any genuine historical cause to be in Ridgefield to begin with, and was displayed with garrish, over the top celebrations of the confederacy.

I made the point, during public comments at a September 28th, 2017 city council meeting, that there were numerous technical issues that required the monument to be de-listed regardless of the subject matter of the monument and that any other arguments were overcome by the Historic Preservation Commission’s own rules and regulations. 

In a subsequent ruling, members of the HIstoric Preservation Commission cited exactly these same technical issues as reason to delist the monument, which they rightly did.

But, before the de-listing, and much to my disappointment, Councilor Wertz joined with Councilor Lee Wells to vote against sending the letter from the City of Ridgefield asking the Historic Preservation Commission to de-list the monument. It was Five to two, and the letter was sent.

After the vote Wertz came up to me to say that he appreciated my points but that the confederate display was “part of our heritage”. Though I don’t agree with him on that in this case, and my roots go back on both sides deep, deep into the south (like 1590 Louisiana. The civil war veterans in the family are youngin’s), Heritage was not part of my argument, nor was a negation of that idea of heritage subsequently cited as a reason to de-list the monument.

What this shows is a penchant on the part of Wertz to ignore the rules in the benefit of a belief. And that does bother me. I know he and I don’t share the same beliefs as regards economics, but in the context of a City Council seat that doesn’t necessarily bother me such that I would refuse to vote for him.

But when belief in more fungible areas, like whether or not a rebel flag is appropriate to officially sanction in the Pacific Northwest, when that type of belief overcomes extant and clearly written regulations, I’m given pause.

So setting aside the technical issues now, I saw this as an important vote because those flags and monument are anachronisms to this area, and the monument itself is not anywhere near its original location--Nevermind that it was placed during a revisionist period in US history when the South was, yet again, trying to rewrite its own history and glorify the more wretched aspects of its past. 

But, there’s more. And it’s important to consider Wertz’s hope for some good signage attracting people to Ridgefield on the highway, because those flags are probably costing our City thousands upon thousands of dollars as people who would otherwise stop for goods or recreation avoid our area simply because of those flags.

Setting aside the inherent racist attack on our African American brothers and sisters, we should ask, 'How much is that display costing the City of Ridgefield?'

I have driven all over this country, and walked a fair bit of it. And when possible, I avoid towns where displays of this nature are near the highway off-ramp. I will even turn around and get back on the highway if I see this type of display. I've asked a number of people about this issue and I can assure you that there are many, many people who won't stop where a Confederate flag is displayed.

Nothing says that a community is unsafe for minority families more than a flag that is now a calling card for violent white nationalists.

Over the years probably thousands upon thousands of people have kept driving rather than stop in Ridgefield. How much has that flag display cost our community? And is there a welcoming sign large enough to overcome it? 

How would someone know that we are a forward looking community committed to inclusion and kindness when the biggest, most obvious sign on the freeway is a proverbial welcome mat that says 'You Don't Belong!'

The cost of missed sales and taxes must be enormous. But, think of the other missed opportunities. If all I knew of Ridgefield was that giant confederate display, I would never start a business here. If you were in clean, high tech and needing to attract millennial whiz kid employees, would you see past the message in those flags? I doubt it.

So, I guess I just see it as a bit disingenuous to want a welcoming highway presence at the same time you won’t take steps to lessen the impact of a racist, hateful symbol that’s already on our doorstep.

Sorry, the tenth amendment arguments defy the words of the leaders of the Confederacy. Now I’m really going tangential and only because the idea that the Civil War was not primarily about slavery is simply, knowably ahistorical.

This from the January 2nd, 2011 Hartfourd Courant newspaper, 

“When the war started, leaders of the Southern rebellion were entirely straightforward about (slavery being the central issue of the Civil War). On March 21, 1861, Alexander Stephens, the Confederacy's vice president, gave what came to be known as the "Cornerstone speech" in which he declared that the "proper status of the Negro in our form of civilization" was "the immediate cause of the late rupture."

Thomas Jefferson, Stephens said, had been wrong in believing "that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature."

"Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea," Stephens insisted. "Its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical and moral truth."

So when you here someone say something other than that slavery was the primary cause of the civil war at least now you can simply quote the actual leaders of the confederacy who said that slavery was the primary cause of the Civil War.

Anyway,  you can see why I need to podcast. I probably need my own 3 hour daily talk show, to be honest.

That’s it, though, I like Aichele. I think he’ll be great on the council. And if Wertz wins Aichele will continue to serve our community and I’ll have another chance to convince Wertz of the error s of his ways, just kidding. I listen and learn from him, too, and I hope we can continue to have a cordial friendship.

Catch this and my other podcast, Crisis Cycling where I dig into larger, more esoteric subjects, at crisiscycling dot com. Or find us on facebook at Ridgefield Community Group.

Darren Wertz

, 

Chris I objected to Nextdoor about your "opinion" on your above linked blog "Ridgefield.PodBean.com" but have not received any response so I will correspond directly here. Chris, My first reaction to your “blog” was that your opinion of yourself is exceeded only by your lack of intellectual integrity and your “penchant” for parroting neo-socialist fall back slander. But it seems you are wrestling with your own personal demons and a few facts might help adjust your perceptions. So in the interest of a “cordial friendship”: 1. The issue of the monument letter was one of jurisdiction. “Activists” shopping a letter to council regarding a property not in Ridgefield that is in violation of the rules of another jurisdiction and asking us to overstep our authority and issue a meaningless dictum binding the name of every Ridgefield citizen to a letter they have not read or had a chance to discuss, - that “friend” is wrong in so many ways and I still feel the letter should not have been signed by the Mayor. Different parts of government have different authorities. Slander for example is handled by the courts. If you want to propose the City annex the subject parcel and then address permitted uses and appropriate zoning then you move into the authority vested in the legislative body that is the City Council. If you want to discuss property security, vandalism, trespass and safety issues we have municipal enforcement and protection authority for those properties in the City Limits. 2. Yes I admit to being responsible for caring about the attractiveness of our City. From arguing for additional streetscape requirements on Pioneer, 45th, Hillhurst -because these entry corridors are the gateway to our home. I also am guilty of instituting the concept of Freewayscape where development along the freeway but in city limits has additional requirements on developers to enhance and not mar the face of our city. But even here our authority/jurisdiction ends at the city limits and the boundary between Ridgefield and the Department of Transportation I-5 Right of Way. 3. With respect to your endorsement of my opponent, I as others have paid a price for your freedom. If you prefer a leader who can recite what has been written over one who has authored and is able to see the need for and author new regulations, then go for it. I am interested more in people and their progress than I am in being tied to unquestioned traditions. Finally Chris, I do not appreciate the insinuation of any character flaws to me. Thousands of years of justice have required at least two believable witnesses to raise a claim Attack on my character is more than “a little dust up.”

Ridgefield City Council Forum Position 7, Sandra Day vs Ronald Rowan

Hi this is Chris Dudley and the Ridgefield News and Views Podcast.

With this podcast I hope to create a regular forum for news, opinion, and interviews about the people, happenings, and other important goings on in Ridgefield Washington. 

I’ll also be discussing topics that we will be showing as part of my wife and my regular documentary series at the Old Liberty Theater in downtown Ridgefield. Find us on facebook at Meaningful Movies in Ridgefield (We show films every fourth Wednesday of the month excepting December--though I’m trying to secure right to the film Idiocracy for this coming December).

Please find links to these and my other podcast, Crisis Cycling, which deals with issues less specific to Ridgefield but still important to our citizens, at Crisis cycling dot com. 

On Wednesday night, October 16th, 2019,  I attended the candidate forum hosted by the League of Women voters held at the Clark County Fire Station at Dollar’s Corner in Battle Ground. 

This first discussion is between incumbent Sandra Day and challenger Ronald Rowan for the Ridgefield City Council race, position number 7. 

After the recorded forum I will add more information and my opinions and recommendations, so stick around if you’re interested and or go to crisiscycling.com if you’d like to comment. You can also find my podcast facebook page, crisis cycling, or, and these are all on facebook as well, The Ridgefield Community Group, and as I mentioned Meaningful Movies in Ridgefield.

The first voice you will hear is that of the moderator.

During the presentation Rowan mentions the Ridgefield Multicultural Festival. I really wanted to thank him for that. He volunteered at the festival this year. That’s dear to my heart, personally, because my wife Megan Dudley was the progenitor of the idea of having a multicultural festival, and she’s the main driver behind it. I can’t tell you how many hours she puts into the festival every year. So, thank you to Mr Rowan.

But, my endorsement goes to Sandra Day. I’ve spoken with her many times, she’s come to our community group meeting and made a presentation on growth, she’s always been willing to stop and talk or answer an email. 

Also, I’ve found that she has an open mind to ideas that I’ve brought up in my quest to help make Ridgefield a resilient community. I should probably do a whole podcast on that, but suffice to say, I believe we should be working as a community to prepare for an uncertain future by learning to provide for ourselves in every way, food and energy production, what we do with our waste, and just generally connecting here for goods and services rather then looking over there somewhere.

I’m a firm believer in the social philosophy of degrowth, which advocates for conserving what we already have, and making our communities livable the way they are as opposed to being in a state of always begging for constant growth.

When I brought this idea to Sandra Day she listened and seemed engaged with the underlying hopes inherent in that philosophy despite she and I landing on the opposite sides of the binary political divide we’re currently stuck in.

As another indicator, a couple of years ago I asked the Port of Ridgefield’s Executive Director Brent Grening if he knew of any properties that might be used for a permaculture showcase. Permaculture is an agro ecological approach to sustainable, real organic food production. Grening was interested, knew of a small location and put me in touch with Sandray Day. 

Sandra Day liked the idea and brought me to a couple of meetings with other interested parties. Nothing came of it mostly because I began to realize the actual work was going to be too much for me to do on my own--but that opportunity is still out there and I’m sure Sandra Day would pick it up right where we left if off. 

She works tirelessly for Ridgefield. 

Ronald Rowan is prone to posting memes on his facebook page decrying the rise of Sharia Law in the US, which is just not actually happening from any objective standpoint. 

Rowan does talk about the need for affordable housing here, but didn’t offer any concrete plans.

Of course, that’s a whole ‘nother massive issue. Other than as a band aid here and there, I see houselessness and poverty as being more functions of Federal policies than ones that can be meaningfully addressed by individual communities. For his part, Rowan appears to be of the political persuasion that is currently dismantling what few Federal programs remain that help marginalized people. 

But, I really appreciate Rowan’s advocacy for affordable housing, his volunteer work in the community, and his willingness to stand up and serve his community. 

I’m sure he’ll be around and I look forward to talking to him about community resilience, but I endorse Sandra Day. She’s the most prepared, has the most experience, and has worked tirelessly for Ridgefield. 

Let me know what you think. You can join the conversation on my web page at crisis cycling dot com, or for that matter, join us at one of our monthly documentary screenings at the Old Liberty Theater downtown, every fourth Wednesday of the month, excluding Decembers, doors at 630, films at 7, always free to the public, snacks, wine, and coffee available at the counter. Thank youj.

Ridgefield local Port election forum

This is a recording of the forum that was held October 16, 2019 between Scott Hughes and David Kelly, held by the League of Women Voters at the Clark County Firestation, Dollar's Corner, Battle Ground, Washington.

After listening...

You might have picked up on an important difference in these two candidates. Scott Hughes who has been instrumental in bringing high quality enterprises to Ridgefield like the hopefuly soon to open Rosauers Grocery Store, as well as the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Offices, and a number of other good job providing businesses, has ten years of stewardship of the port under his belt, and he’s been part of the team that’s shepherded the massive environmental cleanup at the port that has so far has cost something like 90 million dollars. So we’ve finally got it almost all cleaned up under Scott Hughes and the team at the Port. The Ridgefield Port has won accolades and is held up as an icon of public stewardship in our state. 

David Kelly wants to sell the properties adjacent to Lake River which are currently owned by the port, and privatize development there. This is why I say this is the most important of the local Ridgefield races. 

If that land, currently mostly empty, and I’m talking for the most part those big empty fields north of the boatramp, if that land falls into private hands, it could easily be bought by a massive, multinational corporation which could, with the right amount of money--and the fossil fuel industry seems to have no end of money--put a coal or oil shipping facility right there. 

So that 90 million bucks the public has coughed up to clean and repair the port would never be recouped and, at least if history is any guide, privatization would necessarily limit the public’s access to those lands, essentially end control of what goes on them, and probably lead to a degredation of the services at the boat ramp as well as increases in prices to use whatever facilities are left standing for the public. 

An important example, and even on point, considering the Port of Ridgefield’s attempts to bring Dark Fiber, or super high speed internet, to Ridgefield, is the internet itself. The US government built at great taxpayer expense the underpinnings and much of the infrastructure of the internet and then, under Bill Clinton with nearly unanimous Republican consent, gave it away for free to private industry. This lead to what we in the US have today, the slowest, most expensive, most commodified, and least competitive internet in the developed world. It’s the reason you only have expensive crappy internet or expensive really crappy internet to choose from in Ridgefield. 

Hughes, on the other hand, and I should add that Scott Hughes and I are probably way far apart on most of the hot button issues, but Hughes prefers that the land the port owns next to Lake River stay in the hands of the citizens in and around Ridgefield so that we will continue to have a say in what facilities and businesses are put there into the future. Hughes prefers leasing and the controls that allows us to have so we can wait for the right, high quality development for our town. Kelly prefers to let the monied interests decide. 

For this reason alone I endorse Scott Hughes for Ridgefield Port Comissioner.

Thank you, Chris