Who decides what gets listed on the Snoqualmie city calendar? Is there a set of consistent rules and regulations, or is it simply left to someone’s discretion?
I recently asked the city of Snoqualmie to post a non-profit fundraising event scheduled for December. While it will be held in North Bend, the event directly benefits Snoqualmie residents who can’t afford to spay or neuter their pets.
The listing was rejected on the grounds that our charity, Valley Animal Partners, does not provide the spay and neuter services (we contract for those services) and that the event is not being held in Snoqualmie.
When I explained that we raise funds for the surgeries rather than performing them, I was still turned down. Here is the exact response I received from the person in charge of listings: “The reason I would not post it is because there are so many wonderful and important groups that have fundraisers… If I posted all of them, our calendar would become overwhelming.”
So I went back to December’s city calendar — www.ci.snoqualmie.wa.us/Calendar.aspx — and found it empty except for the Santa Train. Pretty underwhelming, I’d say!
Yes, many wonderful and important local groups host events and fundraisers that directly benefit Snoqualmie residents. You’d think city government would want to support such things, at least with a simple listing/link on its calendar. Why wouldn?t it want to support cancer awareness, food for the food bank, the Rotary’s charity work and the efforts of other people who want nothing more than to give back to our community? If it did, maybe a newcomer could look at the city calendar and find that local government is actually involved in and cares about its community.
Citizens of Snoqualmie, what do you think? Would you like to see local community events posted to your city calendar?
E-mail your feelings and your event listing requests to info@ci.snoqualmie.wa.us. Wouldn’t it be something if the city decided to ‘overwhelm’ us by listing all the beneficial community events for us to choose from? And then folks can pass the word about those events via email and Web, bring visitors and revenue to town.
The city of North Bend, by the way, had no problem posting Valley Animal Partners’ “Flix for a Fix” to its overwhelming calendar.
Cathi Linden
North Bend
