Election 2012: With days till voting, annexation opponents take a YouTube turn
King County says ballots go in the mail this Wednesday – which means voting will begin on North Highline annexation as well as many other issues and races. The final City of Burien-presented annexation-information forum is in White Center this Thursday (6 pm October 18th at Cascade Middle School). Annexation opponents, meantime, have taken their campaign to YouTube. A series of videos has turned up, including clips promoted by commenters including the URLs in comments on the WCN report about the October 4th North Highline Unincorporated Area Council forum.
Cross-referencing back to YT, the channel where these were posted (partial screengrab above) features 14 anti-annexation videos as of this writing, 10 featuring White Center resident Pat LeMoine, four featuring White Center resident Mark Ufkes, who in two of them holds a sign reading BURIEN IS GOING BROKE. In one of LeMoine’s videos, he calls Burien “unpatriotic” with a “commie, fascist, pinko attitude” for having a fireworks ban (as do 60 other cities around the state, including two of Burien’s neighbors, Seattle and Tukwila); he also takes on taxes, police, and fire services, as well as saying he’s concerned that Burien is not prepared to handle White Center’s ethnic diversity.
P.S. The King County Voters’ Guide page for the North Highline annexation measure, with pro/con statements and rebuttals as well as a link to the full text of the resolution sending annexation to the ballot, is here.
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October 15th, 2012 at 2:20 pm
I thought this was a Yes on 502 advertisement.
Seriously though, I hope this guy is registered with the PDC otherwise he could be in trouble.
October 15th, 2012 at 2:35 pm
When you say “…White Center resident Mark Ufkes,” you mean the president of the White Center Chamber of Commerce right?
October 15th, 2012 at 4:55 pm
So when the annexation passes does that mean Mark and Pat will be moving to a still unincorporated area of the county?
October 16th, 2012 at 12:02 am
Amanda – Yes, the same person. However, he is not representing himself in these videos (so far as I’ve watched) as the WCCC president, therefore I am not describing him as such.
October 16th, 2012 at 5:04 pm
Mark never represents anything but himself and his interests, so that works
October 17th, 2012 at 9:06 am
Burien will add seven new taxes, and we will not get any additional services for those taxes. No more police, no better fire service. Recently, King County has paved 16th, added sidewalks downtown, installed lighted cross walks, and redeveloped our three largest White Center parks. Burien confirms that there is no money for parks in Burien. If we annex, three of our parks will shift to Burien’s pocket book. In 2014, Burien will have to pass a Burien Parks levy to keep its parks going, yet we will still have to continue paying the King County parks levy, like all county residents pay, but county park funding will no longer go to Lakewood Park or White Center Heights park. Is paying two parks levies a smart decision for us?
Last winter, our arterial roads were plowed one full day ahead of Burien roads. These, and other King County investments will immediately stop if we annex to Burien. And since Burien is hiding the fact that it will add an additional tax this year (waiting until after the annexation vote), and has cut $430,000 from the Sheriff’s budget in 2013 (equal to three full time police officers, by the way) Burien will be adding apartments and dense housing everywhere they can, to cover annexation costs. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Fairwood said No to Renton annexation and is doing just fine. Annexation out of fear, fear of Seattle or fear born by general ignorance, is stupid. And Joe “who ever you are”, the more this community fights for our independence and against this demand by government to conform to their plan for our future, the more King County invests in White Center. And I can assure everyone that eventually the state legislature will grant King County additional revenue generating authority, which will solve their current financial challenges. If we are part of Burien at that time, we will longingly dream of the days we were unincorporated King County with 1.8 million taxpayers helping pay our bills. Signed with my full name; Mark Ufkes
October 17th, 2012 at 10:11 am
“And I can assure everyone that eventually the state legislature will grant King County additional revenue generating authority, which will solve their current financial challenges.”
—
I’d pass your remark on to the Speaker of the House, Mark, if I wasn’t worried that he might need emergency surgery after he split a gut laughing at this statement.
The sheer gall here, claiming to “assure everyone” what the state legislature might or might not do, is all that anyone needs to know about your credibility on this issue.
But let’s look on the bright side, shall we? Once you are in Burien, you’ll have a voice in city government, and you’ll be able to stop all those apartments you’re so afraid of.
October 17th, 2012 at 11:48 pm
I find it hilarious that Mark has been advocating for years that Seattle is the way to go, and now suddenly wc needs to be independent. So which is it Mark? Are you lying now or before?
“Burien will be adding apartments and dense housing everywhere they can, to cover annexation costs. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” You seem to like the ones Seattle are putting up. So dense housing is good if it is done by the city that you like?
Mark have you seen the arterial roads north of Roxbury?
You have spent years advocating for Seattle Mark, just be honest and tell folks you are holding out for them to annex White Center, instead of bringing in a new set of lies.
October 18th, 2012 at 9:53 pm
Hi I’m Pat LeMoine and I am against being annexed by the city of Burien.
I have lived at my house for over 16 years. I am happy with both the King County Sheriffs and our Fire Dept. Both seem to show up when you need them. All the services I need from power, water, sewer, and phone work just fine. Roads in my neighborhood are adequately maintained. I live in a neighborhood that loves to celebrate its nations birthday through fireworks and looking across the horizon we are not the only ones who do. I am an environmentalist and I like trees but some times they have to come down and I like the fact that I can cut down a tree on my property without having to ask permission or pay an exorbitant fee for some stupid permit. Frankly I see absolutely no viable argument on why we should join Burien.
What I do see is an argument based on fear and fantasy. Fear that we will loose our fire dept. Fear that we will loose our police. Fear that we will loose any number of other services. I see no reason why I should believe the fear mongers and am reminded of a speech from a great president “All we have to fear is fear itself.” Then there is the fantasy in the belief that Burien can afford taking on White Center. The BERK Report is packed full of questionable financial expectations. Examples include Burien’s Human Services annual estimate of only $100,000 which becomes laughable when compared to the more experience Seattle’s estimate of $1.7 to $1.9 million. For police Burien estimates a cost of $3.1 million where the once again more experienced Seattle estimates between $6.9 to $8.7 million. It is almost as if the City of Burien is living in a world of unicorns and pixies.
I don’t know about the rest of you but I was born in the United States of America and was brought up to love and respect the ideals of freedom, and free speech. Freedom in that my neighbors and I have a life style that we like and we see Burien interfering with so why join. Free speech in that I am a private citizen and I have the right to get on YouTube and voice my opinion and help others to do so also. So sorry to the easily offended PC crowd that the concept of getting peoples attention through entertainment is problematic, much better sitting at a controlled meeting that resembles a morgue where sanitized information is spoon-fed to the dieing corpses. And we wonder about voter apathy.
October 30th, 2012 at 5:24 pm
I will pay the seven new taxes. Heck, I hereby volunteer to pay nine new taxes if NH annexes to Burien. This is a chance to avoid ever becoming Seattle.
December 30th, 2012 at 1:35 am
hi i have seen Pat LeMoine videos on youtube and when i posted a comment on his videos about burien police he was a complete buffoon about the situation and since he could not deal with the truth he decided to try to attack my comments with a bunch bs then it now looks as if he has block me and yes i did use a couple of not so good words in my last comment do to his bs made me a little upset that grown man would act in this way as most of the no annex people tend to do now iam not trying to take any sides but i have seen a lot bs from the no side so if someone post a comment why can’t you people on the no side just be nice about things instead of attacking everyone it has happen to me on the b-town blog and lots of others and on youtube to and most of the same people are going to try to attack me on here to
its a tough situation but we all play nice dammit!
January 1st, 2013 at 1:37 pm
just as update pat lamoine has came back and unblocked on youtube to try to bicker some more and make fun of my spelling so sorry mr. lamoine but i was born with some learning disabilities if you have a problem with that then that is your stuff to deal with but as for the bickering lets just end it you have opinions thats fine have a nice new year see you around town
January 3rd, 2013 at 11:21 pm
another update mr. lamoine has decide to harass me now about my disability’s claiming that iam using them as a defense sorry mr lamoine but when you make fun of someone disability they have the right to defend them self so now i have had to block you on youtube and i hope the community will now know the type person you are all i want to do was give you a little info and you decided to attack you could say hey thanks for info but no you attacked and you just happen to attack a disable person well that realy show’s your true person you are so anyone who happens to know’s mr lamoine please have a talk with him about manners and how to treat people with respect or if you just happen to see him out in public stop him and have talk with him thank you and have a nice day