What was the point of the plastic bag survey | Letter

Published 12:07 pm Monday, March 2, 2015

As I opened my “single use” plastic bag and extracted my Kirkland Reporter the front-page informed me that the City Council passed a ban on plastic bags.

This same City Council paid for a survey of 400 random residents, of whom I was one, to see what the voters thought about a plastic bag ban in stores and the ideas that stores should charge for the use of paper bags, “to save the planet.” Overwhelmingly, 70 percent, of the respondents opposed any plastic bag ban. Yet we have a ban beginning March 1, 2016.

This raises two questions. What was the purpose of the survey? To get an understanding of what the people think and comply with their wishes? Apparently not. If the survey was window dressing so as to appear that the council listens to its constituents it was money poorly spent since the outcome was ignored and the preferred policy was implemented. The second question is when does a representative government throw out democratic principles and replace them with autocratic mandates.

As tax payers we were abused once by having to pay for a meaningless survey, the results of which were ignored. As individuals who pay the salaries of these oligarchs we are now expected to comply with their wishes so Mayor Amy Whalen can feel good about herself as “the ban is necessary for environmental reasons.” We know how important it is for these elected officials to leave behind a legacy, even when it is laced with unintended consequences and ignores the will of the people.

Stan Olson, Kirkland