Hypocrisy in bag ban ordinance | Letter

Published 12:15 pm Monday, March 2, 2015

Thank you for the front-page story about how the Kirkland City Council, except Councilman Nixon, passed a plastic bag ban despite polling showing that an overwhelming percentage residents object to the legislation and the apparent lack of need for such a ban.

One just doesn’t see grocery bags fluttering in the breeze, littering our streets, or fouling our waterfront. But special kudos for “Do as I say, not as I do” chutzpah go to our Mayor, Amy Walen, who claims that we “need” a plastic bag ban so as to be more responsible toward our environment.  Correct me if I’m wrong, Amy, but isn’t that your smiling face I see in the half-page ads in the Seattle Times for two car dealerships? You make your money selling Ford and Hyundai vehicles. The former has been led in sales (and profits) for decades by selling trucks and the latter, along with it’s corporate partner Kia, got fined hundreds of millions of dollars for overstating their fuel efficiency. How many plastic bags does it take to make up for the environmental cost of even one of the vehicles you and your husband sell? I hope your hypocrisy leads to two results: First, that the people of this community organize an initiative petition to reverse this meddling, nanny-state regulation, and; second, that we vote nitwits who confuse social engineering for good governance out of office at the earliest opportunity.

Bruce A. Haigh, Kirkland