Opinion: Watch and learn, because this is how it’s done

Published 8:30 am Friday, June 24, 2016

Every once in a while, I am thoroughly impressed with the way people get things done. They identify a problem, make a plan to solve it, get a result and, good or bad, move on.

Wow, do I wish I could do that.

Two prime examples are fresh in my mind. There was the June 10 meeting of the Fall City Community Association, and the series of meetings that residents along Mount Si Road in North Bend had with DNR staff.

In Fall City, the community association discussed the future of the Sno-River Campground, heard from a community group fighting an expansion of the Raging River Quarry’s mining permit, got county, library and transportation updates, heard an unexpected report on a possible septic tank fee now being considered by King County, fed everyone and even sang “Happy Birthday” and served cake for association board president Ashley Glennon within their 1.5-hour limit.

It was also one of the best attended local government meetings without a hot-button agenda item that I’ve ever attended. Maybe it was the pizza they were serving.

On Mount Si Road, residents saw a problem with the DNR’s proposal to build a new trailhead, and they talked about it — with the people who could actually effect that change, the DNR staff.

One might say they complained, and they probably did. I wasn’t at those meetings, but I heard that participants who were, weren’t nearly as interested in complaining about parking and safety problems as they were in finding solutions to them. It probably helped that they were asked for their ideas.

From those meetings, the state DNR organization and King County have collaborated on a plan to empower DNR officers with ticket-writing authority, to install more No Parking signs on Mount Si Road, and to install more informational signs for hikers along the popular trail destinations.

It’s not a perfect solution yet, and there will still be some people who believe the rules just don’t apply to them, but it seems to have satisfied more people than it has angered.

Both of these groups involved people, helped them to feel heard, and I suspect, respected, then incorporated that input into their new and improved plan. It’s masterful, even just hearing about it.

These are the people at whose feet I wish I could study, if they would tolerate that sort of thing.