Disqus - Latest Comments for KirstinB

Re: Recommendations for Northshore School District/ Letter - Bothell Reporter

KirstinB — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:24:33 -0000

Most often when people are unhappy within an education system they go to the level above where the issue lies because they are too afraid of the confrontation. Parents who are unhappy with a teacher go to the principal. Parents unhappy with the principal or something at the school go to the Superintendent. Parents unhappy with the district go to the school board. Parents unhappy with the school board go to the paper or legislators or form groups. Again, most often, these misplaced actions are done with defensiveness and frustration rather than looking for resolution.

My recommendation is to confront the issue at the level where you have the concern in the interest of coming up with a solution.

For example, if a teacher is not posting grades online, ask the teacher how your child can best stay informed of their progress. If you want a secondary school conference, call the teachers or counselor and set one up. If you are unhappy with a teacher, talk to the teacher.

Re: Public should be heard first - Bothell Reporter

KirstinB — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:12:03 -0000

Great point. People do get fired up every election and then complain until the next round. Regardless of who is in office remember we have a government of the people, by the people, for the people. Except for a select few, most of who are probably the same names posting comments here, "people" are missing from the process. People think that the reason we elect people to office is so that we can become complacent for 2 more years and bury our heads in the sand.

Become informed, stay informed, become involved and stay involved.

Public officials will tend to respond to us more if we do that. But not so much when we react just from anger or emotion. I know there are some who get up to speak at council meetings and inwardly at least, people are rolling their eyes because their comments are so predictable.

I hope more people come forward and become involved.
I hope more than 25% of registered voters, vote.
I hope.

Re: Bothell City Council / Bothell’s Guinn challenged over ambulance service - Bothell Reporter

KirstinB — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:24:00 -0000

Kool-aid? BonBons? What level have we fallen to here?

I'm amazed at the numbers. In school, math is taught with one correct answer...2+2=4. But if math was taught through Political Science there would be a whole variety of answers depending on how you spin the numbers. It never fails in any election that one side claims one thing about the numbers and the other side claims something completely different. You know what happens? No one believes anyone. The website you promote supports certain candidates and spins the numbers in their favor. The candidates the site is against would spin the numbers in a different way. What happens? No one believes anyone.

Re: Bothell City Council / Bothell’s Guinn challenged over ambulance service - Bothell Reporter

KirstinB — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:22:20 -0000

Nola's numbers 136,000 to 125,000 give even more evidence to the fact that we are in desperate need for health care reform. It costs more to provide benefits to 7 people than to address traffic calming within Bothell.

And...they are not still receiving the benefits. Old news. What are the candidates planning to do in the next 4 years to improve our city? That's what I keep looking for and wondering.

Re: Bothell City Council / Bothell’s Guinn challenged over ambulance service - Bothell Reporter

KirstinB — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:28:17 -0000

Health care. Interesting that in this day and age we are complaining about people receiving health care coverage. I understand the issue of money spent out of the budget. I understand that the money could have been on other things, probably even better things. But I could pull other items out of any budget that I would say “this money” would be better spent on “that”. I’ve been through the process and it’s a give and take. I also think that people who serve in public office deserve some compensation. Yes, they are paid, but not much compared to the time that some of them spend, in my opinion. And then there is the issue that they don’t even receive the benefits any more, but we don’t tend to give people credit for changing their minds. I’ve never understood why we criticize politicians for this and then criticize them in the same breath for not listening to the public. Maybe people changed their minds for the election, but then doesn’t that mean that some part of the process is working? Our voice, the voice of the people, worked!

Re: Maximum signage - Bothell Reporter

KirstinB — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:11:51 -0000

I’m not sure why I’m so surprised at how divisive politics are at the local level. I guess I had some hope that we could step up, view the issues and have healthy debates. But it tends to end up with mud slinging in the end. One side dredges up old issues because it serves their arguments, but criticizes the other side when they do the same and vice versa. I hope people will consider the issues that are most important to them, “try” to decipher how each candidate stands on those issues and vote from that. Please don’t just vote based on how many signs are on your street. That sounds like an ASB election at a school. We are adults and should expect more than that.